When young people fail to appreciate Azumanga Daioh, I usually tell them "wait until you're 35". Another truism I'm fond of repeating is how there are two kinds of Azumanga watchers: those who laugh when Osaka loses her soap and those who cry (sadly, I never saw Attack No.1, so I cannot appreciate Kagami's riddle directly, but it may be something similar). And almost a decade since the show premiered, there are now people who watched from both sides:

I really do need a better way to take this pictures. Anyway to the point, Azumanga Daioh was a series I watched with my sister in 8th grade, and have fond memories of us rolling on the floor laughing our heads off as well as me singing the “Cooking is so fun” song with my friends at recess. I tried to rewatch this series as a junior in high school, just to find that while I was still mildly amused at the jokes in Azumanga Daioh, they were no longer laugh out loud funny for me. However, I had over time developed a deeper understanding of some of the deeper themes in the show – yes, I believe they exist – as well as a deeper understanding of Japanese culture.

What really stuck with me however was the ending of Azumanga Daioh when the first time around I had previously found it lame. What had changed was now 95% or so of my friends were graduating and going on to college, and I actually find some comfort in the ending of Azumanga Daioh as we go our seperate ways. As Chiyo-chan said, it’s not really the end. Not really.

I am not quite certain how much culture Azumanga brings to us, aside from practical things like teaching how to hold chopsticks, but in general I think it's an indicative testimonial.