1 What in the world are you talking about? There's no Yomi in GA. I guess you can stretch Tomokane to fit Tomo's mold, but even so it's rough.

2

The one I was thinking of is the tall one there. In the first few minutes of the first ep, she mainly seems to be looking at what the others are doing with a sour demeanor, and crabbing at them. Pretty much it felt like Yomi.

3 Ah, thanks. So it's not Kyouju then. I suppose if one squints just right, and only looks at the first minutes, there's something common. In Azumanga, however, Yomi was very much defined by her adversarial relationship with Tomo, and that angle is missing from GA.

I think one thing that really sweetened me on GA is their "Tomo", Tomokane. I hated Tomo very passionately, but Tomokane turned out very different. For one thing, the girl got talent. Also, she's given a much better background (we later meet her brother). But most importantly she does not revel in antagonizing others, she's just energetic.

All other archetypes are throroughly mixed up, and we also have a larger array of characters.

4

'Take 40% Azumanga Daioh, 40% Lucky Star, 20% paint, and mix thoroughly.'

You say it like thats a bad thing

Personally I really liked this show, the discussiona on paintings and techniques are quite cool if you're interested in art. Plus any show which has a homage to Escher gets my vote.

5 They even double upon Escher. At some point, the girls get into representing famous works of art, like Rhodes' "Thinker" and such, and Tomokane does the "OH NOES" by Van Gough (forgot the proper name) -- because she's such a (relative) simpleton, and it's a painting that's referenced in popular culture a lot.