, more commonly known as , is a character from the anime

Anime

is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....

 and manga

Manga

Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...

 series Azumanga Daioh

Azumanga Daioh

is a Japanese comedy manga by Kiyohiko Azuma. It was serialized by MediaWorks in the shōnen manga magazine Dengeki Daioh from 1999 to 2002 and collected in four bound volumes...

.

She was voted 7th in the top 100 poll, "Anime Heroines of 2002" by readers of the Japanese anime magazine Newtype

Newtype (magazine)

is a monthly magazine publication originating from Japan, covering anime and manga . It was launched by publishing company Kadokawa Shoten on March 8, 1985 with its April issue, and has since seen regular release on the 10th of every month in its home country...

in 2003.

Biography

Ayumu Kasuga is a transfer student from Osaka

Osaka

is a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe...

. Tomo Takino

Tomo Takino

is a fictional character from the anime and manga series Azumanga Daioh. Tomo is voiced by Chieko Higuchi and by Tomoe Hanba in a Azumanga Web Daioh short episode. In the English version Mandy Clark voices Tomo. Tomo's surname means 'waterfall field.'...

, expecting her to act like the stereotypical Osakan—loud, exuberant and fond of bawdy jokes—chose for her the nickname "Osaka", although Ayumu's behavior could not be more different. Ayumu considers herself "slow" and "spacey" - but she lacks the energy or motivation to dispute it. The nickname sticks so well she is called 'Osaka' by teachers and even in the class roster, to the point that no one even remembers her real name (Yomi

Koyomi Mizuhara

, usually known as Yomi, is a character from the anime and manga series Azumanga Daioh.Her name was left unknown until the second volume, in which Azuma dedicated an entire strip to her in response to readers asking for her name...

 has a similar problem). In the manga, Osaka mentions that she lived in Kobe

Kobe

, pronounced , is the fifth-largest city in Japan and is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture on the southern side of the main island of Honshū, approximately west of Osaka...

 when she was in elementary school and was born in Wakayama. Tomo, who says she doesn't know where Wakayama is, tells Ayumu to "just be Osaka".

Despite her non sequiturs and a tendency to nod off during lectures which upset her teacher, Yukari Tanizaki

Yukari Tanizaki

, also known as "Miss Yukari" , is a character from the manga and anime series Azumanga Daioh.-Biography:...

, she remains in Yukari's homeroom class for all three years. Because of her poor performance on exams, she is a member of the "Bonkurazu" (translated as "Knuckleheads" or "Bonkers" in the anime and "Numbnuts" in the manga). Her decision, on Chiyo's advice, to seek a teaching career after graduation is viewed by Yukari as a deep personal insult.

Osaka often acts like a "space cadet": slow, inattentive, and stuck in her own world. Although she seems slow and easily distracted, she merely has a mind that works quite differently from that of most people. This makes her prone to daydreaming, absentmindedness, and non-sequiturs

Non sequitur (absurdism)

A non sequitur is a conversational and literary device, often used for comedic purposes. It is a comment that, because of its apparent lack of meaning relative to what it follows, seems absurd to the point of being humorous or confusing....

, but it also makes her unusually good at answering certain types of riddle

Riddle

A riddle is a statement or question or phrase having a double or veiled meaning, put forth as a puzzle to be solved. Riddles are of two types: enigmas, which are problems generally expressed in metaphorical or allegorical language that require ingenuity and careful thinking for their solution, and...

s. But while some people assume that she lacks focus, the truth is that in quite a few cases, Osaka is really a little too focused. When she daydreams in class she tends to dream about Chiyo and her pigtails. When she gets a thought in her head, she focuses on it so intently that the rest of the world simply disappears, causing her to often miss what's going on around her (in episode 2, Osaka was focused on eye floaters when a cockroach invades the class and Tomo enthusiastically tries to exterminate the bug, literally sending desks flying). During a vacation, she tried to wake Miss Yukari

Yukari Tanizaki

, also known as "Miss Yukari" , is a character from the manga and anime series Azumanga Daioh.-Biography:...

 by banging a frying pan, but, in her drowsiness, took a knife from the kitchen instead. She is especially close to Chiyo

Chiyo Mihama

, also known as Chiyo-chan, is a fictional character in the manga and anime series Azumanga Daioh. In Japan Chiyo has been voiced by Tomoko Kaneda for the TV series and movie, and by Ayaka Saito for a "Azumanga Web Daioh" short...

, since even though Chiyo gets much better grades, both are bad at P.E. (Osaka is unusually stiff, even when stretching out, shown on multiple occasions to not be able to reach her toes even with Chiyo pushing her), and both seem to approach the world with the same sense of childlike wonder and curiosity, though Chiyo's is usually tempered by common sense and information, while Osaka's is not. In fact, Chiyo provides this for her, habitually reaching to grab Osaka's shirt sleeve when Osaka begins to muse about doing potentially dangerous things, and presumably might follow through if not restrained and "brought back to earth."

In contrast to most of her peers, Osaka always keeps a quiet, accessible mood. It's extremely rare to catch her in a fit of anger or losing control (as seen in the January chapters of Vol. 4 of the manga or Episode 25 of the anime, when she sports a maniac grin after finally learning how to break a pair of chopsticks evenly, and gets mad at Tomo for not doing it properly).

Osaka has been known to use the phrase "O-ha!" (short for おはよう, ohayou, "good morning"), which was popularized by Shingo Katori

Shingo Katori

is the youngest member of SMAP, a popular Japanese idol group from the agency Johnny & Associates, and he is from Yokohama, Japan. Shingo Katori has acted in several dramas such as Three Peace, and has appeared as a voice actor in such anime series as Akazukin Chacha, in which he voiced the part of...

 of the pop group SMAP

SMAP

SMAP is a Japanese boy band formed by Johnny & Associates. While originally consisting of six members, the current group members are Masahiro Nakai, Takuya Kimura, Goro Inagaki, Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, and Shingo Katori...

, as an example of how "normal" Japanese people talk. As Tomo points out, this is not a correct assumption.

At the same time, Osaka has a habit of being able to point out obvious things nobody else seems to notice (such as the fact that none of her core group of friends has boyfriends, or that Kaorin is possibly homosexual) and has surprising levels of knowledge on unexpected topics such as marine biology and obscure kanji

Kanji

Kanji are the adopted logographic Chinese characters hanzi that are used in the modern Japanese writing system along with hiragana , katakana , Indo Arabic numerals, and the occasional use of the Latin alphabet...

. She also seems to have a strange obsession with sea slugs. In both the manga and the anime, she was also every bit as interested as the other girls to hear what Nyamo

Minamo Kurosawa

, also known as , normally called Kurosawa-sensei by her students, is a fictional character from the anime and manga series Azumanga Daioh.-Biography:...

 had to say about sex. However, her sense of humor is sometimes unusually morbid. On a trip to Chiyo's summer home, Osaka tells a scary story where all of the girls are murdered one by one, only to reveal that she was the killer. When the other girls couldn't decide between a haunted house, a cafe, and stuffed animals as their theme for the second-year Culture Festival, she suggested a cafe full of cat corpses as a compromise. She is also easily amused by things that most people would consider bizarre. During the Sports Festival, she made a big deal out of running the obstacle course because she thought the event of sticking her face in flour to get a candy (a penny in the manga) was funny and had a giggle fit when she got there, and well afterwards, her face still covered in flour. The manga also revealed that she actually likes to run outside and play in typhoons, yet is easily spooked by thunder.

Osaka's real given name means 'to walk' or 'to go on foot' and her surname means 'spring day.'

Appearance in the English versions

In the English translation of the manga, her Kansai dialect

Kansai-ben

The is a group of Japanese dialects in the Kansai region of Japan. In technical term,it is called ; Kansai is also known as "Kinki", hence the alternative term. They are typified by the speech of Osaka, the major city of Kansai, which is referred to specifically as Osaka-ben...

 was rendered as a Brooklyn accent, which has sometimes been done for other anime characters with Osaka accents, such as Naru/Molly from Sailor Moon

Sailor Moon

Sailor Moon, known as , is a media franchise created by manga artist Naoko Takeuchi. Fred Patten credits Takeuchi with popularizing the concept of a team of magical girls, and Paul Gravett credits the series with "revitalizing" the magical-girl genre itself...

. The English dub of the anime, which was done later, gives her the Southern United States

Southern American English

Southern American English is a group of dialects of the English language spoken throughout the Southern region of the United States, from Southern and Eastern Maryland, West Virginia and Kentucky to the Gulf Coast, and from the Atlantic coast to most of Texas and Oklahoma.The Southern dialects make...

 accent from around ADV Films' headquarters in Houston, Texas

Houston, Texas

Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...

, "which shares the business-oriented attitude with Osaka, as well as the country image that color both the Southern and Osakan accents."

Voice actors

Television series and movie:Yuki Matsuoka

Yuki Matsuoka

is a voice actress from the Hirano-ku ward of Osaka. She graduated from Otemae Women's University in Nishinomiya. She is affiliated with Production Baobab.- 2001 :*Mo~tto! Ojamajo Doremi *Cosmic Baton Girl Comet-san...

Azumanga Web Daioh short:Ayako Kawasumi

Ayako Kawasumi

is a Japanese voice actress and J-pop singer. She is affectionately referred to by her fellow voice actors and fans as "", "" and "". She is a skilled pianist, having practiced the piano since childhood....

English dub:Kira Vincent-Davis

Kira Vincent-Davis

Kira Vincent-Davis is an American voice actress who works for Funimation Entertainment, ADV Films, and OkraTron 5000...

Character songs

• "Shikkari! Try La Lai" Words by Aki Hata, music by Masumi Itō
  Masumi Ito
  born May 21, is a Japanese singer and composer from Ibaraki prefecture in Japan. Itō has composed the soundtracks to many anime television shows and is part of the bands Oranges & Lemons and Heart of Air.- Singles :...
  
  
• "Time Pavement" Words by Aki Hata, music by Masumi Itō