uhh mini thread i've been wanting to do for a while. in 2009 when azumanga daioh was re-released a lot of the art was redrawn, and i wanted to go through volume 3 in particular because i find it interesting how much it says in terms of what *isn't* changed compared to what is

volume 1 received the most changes because it has the wonkiest art (azuma was still figuring out the characters and his personal style), which i might go into more detail on at a later date. the other two volumes received fewer changes due to being closer to his current style

the main differences you can see are lesser use of screentoning and more usage of hatch-line textures, as well as a better understanding of anatomy and less details in the eyes. it more closely matches the style he uses for yotsuba&. it's most noticeable in the full page spreads

i'm currently in the process of translating volume 2, but volume 3 is interesting because at this point azuma's style is finalized, so there are long stretches of pages that're either untouched or barely touched. here's an example, the only difference here is the screentoning

and here's one where minor touch-ups were done. tomo's face in the first comic (on the right) was the thing that was changed, while in the second comic (on the left), three panels were redrawn with one being untouched. azuma is particular about the panels he chooses to touch up

there's also a *much* better grasp of perspective, which can be seen when he draws shots that have much more complex floor plans and posing. this'll be the start of the closer direct comparisons, which usually tend to just be singular panels. i tried to get one of every character

chiyo doesn't change all that much, but she looks a little bit more like yotsuba in the newer panels with a rounder face

in earlier comics the pigtails are drawn realistically, but in later ones they're that distinct football shape. this is kept in the remake even in the new art

osaka isn't changed much, she has slightly clumpier hair and somewhat rounder eyes but for the most part she's basically the same in the old panels as the new ones. her changes mostly come from older comics where her design wasn't fully decided on yet

yomi is probably the most different, she has a longer face in the new art than the others. it makes her more distinct facially, which i think is a nice touch. you can see in the second panel how azuma redrew a "super deformed" shot to have more natural proportions

this entire comic was redrawn to give yomi a new cheerleading uniform and i think it's interesting to see the ever-so-subtle changes. slightly better framing, simplified detail in the first panel and on her pom poms, less screentoning and more hatching

he didn't actually redraw tomo too much but she has good butch energy in the new bumper art, which there's a lot of that i'm not always showing here

the ones kagura is redrawn in are barely different but there's quite a few of them. i'm not sure why since they seem basically fine in either one. she does have slightly fluffier sideburns now which are cute

yukari and nyamo are also barely redrawn but the ones they are redrawn in have them look slightly older. a bit smaller eyes, a bit thinner heads, a bit broader shoulders. compared to the adults in yotsuba they're still very Anime but i like that some steps were taken forward

sakaki by far got the most redrawn panels and considering iirc he's azuma's favorite that makes sense. she's drawn with a much leaner face that gives you more of her intended intimidating impression. you can see in the first panel that chiyo is the same while sakaki is redrawn

in the okinawa arc her outfit is redrawn so her shirt is over her pants rather than tucked in and this change is made consistently in all the panels she's in, even ones that aren't otherwise altered

both of the long-form story arcs in this volume were also redrawn, with the color special redone in black-and-white and the maya special completely rewritten and restructured in places. i'm looking forward to translating that

i guess this ended up being more thorough than i intended but i do want to emphasize that quite a lot was left the same. even the ending was totally untouched, which i feel like was a good move since it didn't *need* to be changed really

thank you for reading me ramble about obscure azumanga changes. i would like to close this thread off on this hilariously intimidating kamineko

oh right i should probably plug the actual link to the scanlation i'm doing, i'm halfway through volume 2 and working my way through the rest of the chapters. they'll be uploaded here first and then i'll post them zip files with translation notes later https://mangadex.org/title/49172/azumanga-daioh-2009-print