A Year at the Top (Extremely Rare 1977 CBS Sitcom)

Alright, I can't be the only one who's seen this.

It all started back in December 2012, when I bought a Malaysian DVD of Azumanga Daioh off of eBay (sort of a Christmas gift to myself). I knew it was probably a bootleg, but it was dirt cheap - $9.99 for all episodes, even if it is subtitled-only, incredibly cheap...one strange thing I noticed is the fact that the front cover said "1-27 END". I knew that Azumanga Daioh only had 26 episodes, but maybe The Very Short Movie or Web Daioh was on there or something and was counted as an episode. Didn't think much of it at the time.

After two weeks, it finally came in the mail. I had fun re-watching Azumanga Daioh now that I've experienced high school (unlike my 5th grade self...who still loved it)...until it came to that last episode on the DVD.

The opening began to play as normal, except a note at the top reading "Translator's Note: This is my favorite episode of Azumanga Daioh!". This was...odd. Perhaps there was an episode 27 and I just don't remember the series all that well?

The first segment was entitled "Where's Chiyo-chan?" It opened up to Osaka talking to Sakaki about how Chiyo hadn't been to school in a week.

Sakaki didn't seem that concerned just saying, "Maybe she's got the flu or something."

Osaka then proceeds to say, "I know! Let's go and visit her as a nice surprise!"

Tomo overhears this, and in her usual overenergetic self, is excited by this plan and decides, "Let's surprise Chiyo-chan with the best soup in the world!"

I chuckled a bit at this segment, thinking it would turn out Chiyo was on vacation or something.

The second segment was entitled "Making Soup". It was just a simple segment about Tomo trying to make the soup for Chiyo, but getting distracted by various things. This segment was funny too.

And then the third segment, entitled "The Visit" came on. Tomo, Yomi, Sakaki, Osaka, and Kaori were there. The door opened...to the infamous Chiyo-chichi (Chiyo's cat "dad")

"Hello, Chiyo's dad! We're here to deliver some soup to poor sick Chiyo-chan!" Tomo yelled, flinging the soup around.

"Oh..." Chiyo's dad began to say. "Chiyo's...not sick."

"Huh?" Osaka asked. "Then why hasn't she been at school for a week?"

"Umm...umm...why don't you girls come inside for a little while? It's cold out there, you need the warmth of a heated mansion."

I was starting to worry a bit at this point. What was going on with Chiyo? I brushed this outside, calling myself crazy to think something like that would happen in Azumanga Daioh.

Then the girls sat down with Chiyo-chichi and talked about school and other things like that, until Sakaki excuses herself, asking where the restroom is.

"Down the hall, take two rights." Chiyo-chichi says. Sakaki thanks him and goes in that direction at first...until she takes a wrong turn and starts to head towards Chiyo's room.

"Chiyo-chan?" Sakaki asks, peeking in the door. "Are...are you in there?"

No answer. She asks again.

Cold silence.

Sakaki then proceeds to look for a light switch, but can't find it. She then takes out a flashlight from her pocket and aims it at Chiyo's bed...

The screen cuts to black and Sakaki screams. Then the eye catch came on, except it was upside down this time.

Okay, now I was worried. This wasn't the Azumanga Daioh I knew. When the eyecatch was over, it came right back to Sakaki, with a horrifed expression on her face. Then it showed why she was horrified. Chiyo's body was in the bed.

Covered in blood.

I yelped and paused the DVD for a minute or two to calm myself down. I considered destroying it, but then part of me didn't want to let go of episodes 1-26, which were great anime classics. I decided to unpause the DVD...couldn't be that bad, right?

The screen cut back to Sakaki's horrified expression...except this time Chiyo-chichi is behind her.

"Oh, so now you know." He then proceeded to close the door.

"What...what did you do?!" Sakaki asked, still scared.

"It's a long story, but I guess you've got time." Chiyo-chichi said, sitting down on Chiyo's bed.

He then proceeded to tell a story about Chiyo starting to ask questions about her real mother and father after learning she was adopted a couple of months back. "I wanna see them! I wanna see them!" Chiyo-chichi eventually listens to her pleading and asks her, "Do you really want to see them?"

"Yes! Yes!" Chiyo said, jumping up and down.

Chiyo-chichi then proceeds to take the excited Chiyo down to the basement and turns on the light.

Chiyo's mother and father's corpses were down there, covered in blood.

Chiyo screamed at the top of her lungs as Chiyo-chichi sighed. "I knew this would happen some day..."

"You're a BAD, BAD, BAD man! You're not my dad!" Chiyo screamed. "I'm calling the police!"

Chiyo-chichi then closed the door behind them. "Do you really want to do that?"

"Yes! You're evil!"

"Oh, so the man who raised you for most of your life, took care of you, fed you, and listened to your every need is evil?"

"You're not a man! You're a cat! An evil, stupid cat!"

"Okay then, fine. Call the police." Chiyo-chichi then opened the door. Chiyo went up the stairs to call the police...until the screen shows that Chiyo-chichi has a knife behind his back.

The screen cuts back to Sakaki, horrified by the story.

"Yes, it is a sad story." Chiyo-chichi said. "Too bad now that you know it, you have to die." He then pulled a knife out of his back and attempted to hold it to Sakaki's throat, who kicked him in the face.

"Hold still, you bitch!"

Then it cut back to the rest of the girls, worried about where Sakaki and Chiyo-chichi are, going down the hall, until they hear screams. They then attempt to open Chiyo's door, but it's locked.

"Sakaki? Chiyo-chichi? Are you two okay in there?" Osaka asks. No answer.

Chiyo-chichi then aims the knife towards Sakaki's throat and says, "One last thing... thank you for always being so good to my daughter."

The screen cuts to black for about 10 seconds, and then a loud scream is heard, which really made me jump. The credits then rolled like any normal episode... until the screen was black again, and there was a flicker of a frame.

I then went back and did frame-by-frame, expecting the worst... and it was. It appeared to a man and a girl, dressed up in Chiyo-chichi and Chiyo cosplay...except the man is sticking a knife into the girl's skull, while she still has a frozen smile on her face.

I took the DVD out right after that, and burnt the entire box set, including the other DVDs (there were 4 discs in all). I fear that I might never be able to enjoy Azumanga Daioh again.

I partially write this as a plea; please, if you know anywhere online where episode 27 is available, please notify the host of said website to take it down. Also, if you ever see this on eBay like I did, send a notice to eBay to take it down. Also, if you know someone who might have the box set...help them.

I wish someone could help me.