Title: 12 December
Published: Approximately December 1999 – January 2000 in Dengeki Daioh
Volume 1
Previous Chapter → 09
Next Chapter → 11
Synopsis
Part 1
- What have I done?
- Is that true?
- Chiyo's panda
- Osaka's panda
- Change of pace
- Yukari of the wind
- I'm Hide
- Yukari the striker
- I told you, I'm Nakata
- Run, Chiyo, run
- Hither and thither
- Broken VCR
- Vacation plans
- I bought it
- Always wanted to see it
Part 2
- Something nice
- New ones
- Thoughts
- How inconsiderate
- Back to work
- Shame
- Results
- Learning
- Christmas party
- Wrong
- Impostor?
- Work for it
- Golden pipes
- Run for it
Referbacks
- Osaka dreams about Chiyo's pigtails twice in this chapter, first of them being detachable (this later became the basis for the plot of Azumanga Daioh: The Very Short Movie) and then of them also being replaceable. She also dreamed about Chiyo's pigtails earlier.
- Tomo asks Osaka if she is going to work at Magnetron Burger again over winter break, in reference to Osaka and Chiyo's summer job.
Trivia
Characters
Cultural References
- Osaka and Chiyo go to buy a new picture book about pandas, which Sakaki is also very interested in.
- Osaka says she saw a panda on TV.
- Yukari cancels her English class for a P.E. lesson, and they play soccer. Yukari says she is going to "be" Hidetoshi Nakata, a famous soccer player.
- Yomi asked Tomo to record a show for her, since her VCR was broken, but Tomo forgot about it.
- Tomo talks about the old Japanese name for December, and wants Yomi to reply her like in a comedy show. Osaka sees the significance of this.
- Osaka talks a whole lot about the issues with the Christmas carol "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer."
- The girls go to sing karaoke together. Sakaki's singing ability is compared with that of a pop star.
- Kimura shows up as if from nowhere and refers to a "white Christmas," like in the song of the same name.
Unanswered Questions
- We do not find out what show Yomi wanted Tomo to record.
- It is unknown from where Tomo got the idea that Magnetron Burger used cat meat for their burgers. Yomi rejects the theory at once.
- We do not know when exactly Tomo saw a panda in real life.
- Yukari asks Tomo to answer an English problem, but they do not say what the problem is.
- Osaka asks the others if anyone of them has a boyfriend, but no one replies, hinting that they don't.
- Chiyo is nervous about singing karaoke, but it is not revealed how good she and Osaka are at singing (in the anime, Osaka's a decent singer, though).
- Someone calls one of the girls a bad singer. The person referred to is most likely Yomi, in which case the person addressing her would be either Osaka, Chiyo or Sakaki.
- Where Kimura comes from all of a sudden is left to the reader's imagination.
Memorable Moments
- Osaka's two bizarre dreams about Chiyo's pigtails.
- We see here how worthless Tomo is at cleaning because she doesn't even bother trying.
- The girls' Christmas celebration, consisting of "walking around," "going to karaoke," "eating cake at Chiyo-chan's house," and a slumber party (though only the first two activities are actually included in the chapter).
- Yomi is a terrible singer, while Sakaki is very talented.
Quotes
 Whatever it is, it's not a panda. 
|
| — Chiyo (on the panda drawn by Osaka)
|
|
| I'm getting tired of only ever teaching English! TODAY, YOU'RE GETTING A MATH LESSON, COURTESY OF ME!
|
| — Yukari
|
|
| SENSEI! THAT'S YOUR OWN TEAM'S GOAL!
|
| — Yomi (to Yukari)
|
|
| Was it black on white, or white on black?
|
| — Osaka (to Tomo, on the panda she had seen)
|
|
| You see … They're new ones!
|
| — Chiyo (on her pigtails, in Osaka's dream)
|
|
| When I look out and see all my friends cleaning … It just tears me apart not to be able to help.
|
| — Tomo
|
|
| START CLEANING, THEN!
|
| — Yomi (to Tomo)
|
|
| Chiyo-chan is already near the top of the school year! Of course, none of this stuff is going to help you out in the real world.
|
| — Yukari
|
|
| You all know Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer? That's messed up, y'know? Sayin' his nose will help light the way ain't no way t'make him feel better about it. If you told a bald fella you needed the light reflecting off his head to see, he'd like to punch you.
Santa's a cruel bully.''
|
| — Osaka
|
|
| She can study and play sports with the best of 'em, but she can't sing worth a lick. This girl.
|
| — Tomo (on Yomi)
|
|
| WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE!?
|
| — The girls (to Kimura)
|
|
