「日常」 (Nichijō)
“Everyday”

Slice of life is basically split into two parts, comedy-based and ..not comedy-based. I’m not a huge fan of “not comedy-based” types. People argue that there aren’t “points” to slice of life. I disagree. A good slice of life always has a point somewhere. Nichijou however, is a comedy-based slice of life, so this discussion is moot.

The trick to making a comedy-based slice of life funny is to create a huge cast, give them insanely quirky behavior, and make up quirky situations for said quirky behavior to bounce off all the characters. Hilarity should ensue. That’s basically Nichijou in a nutshell. It’s Lucky Star, except a lot weirder, and no references. Being comedy-based, it’s also hard to appeal to everyone, and makes my life difficult because I can’t tell you if the show is truly funny or not. But I can tell you that I thought it was funny, and I enjoyed how weird the characters are. However, most of the first skit became boring after the first 5 minutes, and while the second skit was better, the subject matter was a little juvenile. Third skit was just… wtf, but that’s the best thing Nichijou’s got. Wacky characters doing weird things like pretending they’re sleeping on a three stack bed on a train, and remarking the fact that sleeping on the floor doesn’t really make her feel cheated. Plus, Shiraishi Minoru returns as a mature cat that can’t help his cat tendencies. Yes, he talks.

And yes, this is a Kyoto Animation show. If you haven’t noticed by now, Kyoto Animation is not about the animation. No, KyoAni is about the adaptation. They choose the weirdest things that no one likes in the beginning, then spits out a money making machine in a matter of weeks, making unknown 4koma artists much richer than they should be. This is what they excel at. I think it’s one part business on why they chose Nichijou, and the other part venturing into unknown territory. KyoAni tends to add a lot to the shows they choose to adapt, although it can be good and bad things, depending on your stance. Nichijou seems to have had the moe injection required to ensure business, but is also purely based on comedy, which is new for the studio, but definitely one of their fortes. Their shows always have some great humor, so I’m hoping they can make Nichijou funnier than it already is. The lack of your expected KyoAni sarcastic male protagonist is a bit disappointing though.

It can be argued that the “moe” KyoAni utilizes is with fairly innocent notions. Think about it, people love babies because they’re cute, and KyoAni is pretty much taking that attraction and marketing it. Hakase attempting to eat a pill and failing because she didn’t take water was so cute I could die, but I don’t have to feel guilty because it’s somehow “pandering.” K-ON proved successful because it could appeal to a wide variety of audiences, including adults and females, being a family friendly series. In that aspect, it’s not a bad thing. Does that mean it’s a great thing for them to keep on marketing moe? No, I think it’s a waste of their superb adaptation skills, because I’m hankering for some actual storyline, but beggars can’t be choosers.

I’ve come to enjoy the polarizing effect KyoAni shows have on people. It’s always an extreme love it or hate it thing ever since Lucky Star, and it’s pretty amusing. I’m seeing some terrible scores for this show already. It’s interesting because at the end of the day, almost every show the studio has done has created incredibly large fanbases, and enjoy relatively great success as well as influence across the medium. I wasn’t as into K-ON as I was their previous shows because of the lack of varied substance, and I’m not too high with hopes for Nichijou either. Still, I enjoyed K-ON, so I’m curious to see how far this one goes. I mean, when you’ve got a freaking deer on the front cover of the first volume, you know some weird stuff is going down. I’d watch it just for the wtf factor I feel this show is going to bring. It’ll be like watching Panty and Stocking, except the extreme opposite. The TV series will be airing this Spring season.

 

38 Comments

  1. The episode was subtly funny at times. So this is kinda like a showcase of what is to come. As expected, the animation is well done and it just shows that they really offer quality on that division. One could argue that it’s not high quality because of the art direction or art style, but art style!=animation quality. Those are two different things.

    Anyway, patiently waiting for this guy to show up in the TV series.

    “…No, I think it’s a waste of their superb adaptation skills, because I’m hankering for some actual storyline, but beggars can’t be choosers.”

    Given that this is only a short running series with only 12 episodes, this falls something on the likes of testing the waters. I’m already expecting an announcement of a new season of Haruhi this year or another new project in the making. Then again they have K-ON! movie at the back so I wonder..

    Although if there’s a miracle and Aniplex somehow gets involve with a new KyoAni project then that could be something.

    megalith
  2. Well, like Lucky Star, it’s hard to gauge it on the first episode. I was pretty bored during this episode, but if the characters manage to latch on, might be in for some fun.

    So far it’s pretty dull though.

    yanipheonu
  3. Yeah, not sure how big this will get. Would it be worse for KyoAni if they made their first flop in years? Probably, but I said the same thing when I heard of the premise for K-On, and look what happened!

    ****** deer on the ****** cover. Weird **** gon’ go DOOOOOOOWN.

    starss
  4. That’s a pretty ambitious statement. that slice of life needs to have a “point.” Read Kant’s Critique of Judgement, particularly his argument on the sublime to learn more.

    Jah'Rakhal
  5. “However, most of the first skit became boring after the first 5 minutes, and while the second skit was better, the subject matter was a little juvenile. Third skit was just… wtf, but that’s the best thing Nichijou’s got.”

    Basically what I thought, though I found the follow up reaction on the paper airplane bit of it to be quite a laugh.

    Hopefully, the rest of the episodes start to show more of the weird stuff that it advertised. (eg. Principal wrestling with a deer)

    Soiyeruda
  6. Lovely 00 episode!

    I love subtly funny comedies and shows that has gags in its style. Kind of like a slightly more existential version of Azumanga. Hard to describe, but that’s how it feels.

    Shippoyasha
  7. its the light chuckling sensation the makes slice of life worth it… You may not belly laugh, you may not cry, you may not feel the liquid romance drip from your soul, you may not feel the same shounen mecha rage and it may not make you wanna practice powering up dragonball Z style in the mirror, BUT…. (if you can live without all these things)

    IT Will Make you HAPPY!

    Let it in to your heart 😛

    LoL anyway there’s a merely thrice watched episode of Gundam Unicorn that requires my attention

    WingZeroZXT
  8. I likied it. Had me laughing quite a bit. I think the scenes kinda ran on a little too long to the point I was waiting for it to end to see something else. Perhaps 4 shorter scenes would have been better then 3 long ones?

    Karmafan
  9. I find it amusing, it’s like the secret love child of Azumanga Daioh and Lucky Star. I’ve been waiting for something like this to fill the gaps left by those two gigantic series, not to mention SHIRAISHI MINORU!

    T.K.
  10. Oh professor, why are you so cute :3.

    Btw, I’m expecting Sakamoto to be one of the crowd favorites. His observation of the medicine being in plain sight (even I didn’t notice) was win.

    Zanibas
  11. While its real fine and dandy that the Slice of Life genre gets a chance at movie-quality animation, I really hope KyoAni will do another Drama, Sci-fi, or Action series at some point

    In Fact, I REALLY wish for KyoAni to do some more Full Metal Panic at some point. Less than half of the novels are covered into anime, and the novels finished last year. So there’s definitely reason to do more anime for FMP.

    Regardless, This looks like it could be a good watch, and I’ll give it a go.

    Vertigiggles
  12. 1st part remind me of Azumanga, but too long IMO.
    2nd part remind me of Pani Poni Dash! just wierd
    3rd part.. now that’s funny. and the pace is definitely better.

    judging from 1 episode. I think I like Lucky Star more. Wayyy too soon to match Azumanga BTW LOL! 😉

    and I agree 100% with Vertigiggles; come on KyoAni, we need MORE FMP!!

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