Azumanga Daioh is a Japanese comedic manga by Kiyohiko Azuma. It was published in the young adult manga magazine Dengeki Daioh by MediaWorks from 1999 through 2002, and then it was compiled into four bound volumes once it was finished. In May 2009, in celebration with the manga's tenth anniversary, three new chapters began publication in Shogakukan's Monthly Shnen Sunday under the title Azumanga Daioh: Supplementary Lessons. These chapters were published under the name Azumanga Daioh: Supplementary Lessons. The manga is told in a succession of vertical comic strips of four panels each that are called yonkoma. These strips chronicle the life of a group of girls as they progress through their three years of high school together. Kiyohiko Azuma has been lauded as a "master of the four-panel form" for both his artistic style and humorous timing, and the series has been lauded for its comedic value, which is mostly attributable to the eccentricity of its characters. Azumanga Daioh: the Animation, which was produced by J.C.Staff and aired on television from the week of April 8, 2002 until the week of September 30, 2002, is an adaptation of this manga that was turned into an anime television series. It was shown on the TV Tokyo network and AT-X in five-minute parts every weekday, and then it was shown again as a 25-minute compilation that weekend. In total, there were a total of thirteen hundred and twenty five-minute segments that were compiled into twenty-six episodes. Starchild Records distributed the compilation episodes via DVD and Universal Media Discs; each of the five-minute pieces has a unique title that may be used to differentiate it from the rest of the compilation. In addition to the three Azumanga Daioh video games, a number of soundtrack albums were also made available.