「日常26」 (Nichijou 26)
“My Ordinary Life 26”

It takes something special to give a series a good ending episode — especially for series longer than one-cour and this last episode of Nichijou didn’t just push the envelope. It stared at that envelope, ripped it in half, ate the pieces, and then lit itself on fire in order to make sure that there was no trace of an envelope.

In terms of animation quality, I’m sure that Kyoani blew the rest of the budget on this final episode. Not only did the animation look great, but all the character designs and backgrounds were so clear and sharp that I had to re-watch an older episode just to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating.

What was unexpected was how spot on the jokes were this week. I’ve missed watching Principal Shinonome end up in various situations — be it fighting a deer or watching students leap through window panes, it was always funny. But I never really enjoyed it when the Vice Principal tried to toy with him. I wish you could have seen the look on my face when the Vice Principal’s joke not only turned on him but even started to insult him.

Something about watching Yuuko never ceases to surprise me. Not only was she somehow imparting some really good luck to anything that she approached, but it’s crazy how she can never get this lucky. If you remember back in episode one when things were just falling from the sky and smacking her straight in the head, maybe the world is just making up for all the crap it gave to Yuuko — indirectly.

In the end, I never expected the sharp turn Nichijou made before concluding its 26 episode run. Unlike another show that I’m covering, it was quite surprising when such a huge life lesson decided to pop its head out in the most unexpected place. I personally love the screw on Nano’s back, and I’m glad that she’s finally come to accept it. If you take a second to think about it, Nano’s screw could be the representation of something that all of us dislike about ourselves. Whether it’s something obvious like a giant screw sticking out of your back or something that’s hidden deep inside, it’s something that makes you, you.

Not too bad of a conclusion for a comedy slice of life, am I right?

ED14: 「旅立ちの日に」 by 相生祐子、長野原みお、水上麻衣、東雲なの、はかせ、阪本さん (Aioi Yuuko, Naganohara Mio, Minakami Mai, Shinonome Nano, Hakase, Sakamoto-San)
Watch the 14th ED!: Streaming ▼

 

Final Impressions:

After two seasons of watching my favorite girls end up in strange and often mind-blowing situations, I am quite sad that there won’t be more adventures next week. Watching Mio flip people in the air, Yuuko sprinting off into space, Mai doing things at Mai pace, and Nano just being cute are all things that I’m really going to miss. But even more so than our main girls, there are so many things I still want to see! Does Takasaki-sensei ever get the courage to ask Sakurai-sensei on a date? Did Sekiguchi and Kenzaburou actually have a conversation? Will Princess Starla ever be entertained?

I have to give props to KyoAni for making Nichijou such an enjoyable show. After K-ON and Lucky Star, I was fairly confident that there was no way for them to mess things up. Other than deciding when to show what, it’s quite clear that the people in charge of Nichijou did a good job. Even with random drops in quality throughout the series, the series as a whole didn’t disappoint.

I don’t normally talk about the openings of a series, but Nichijou’s are too good to not talk about. I actually followed Hyadain’s work before watching Nichijou, and was pleasantly surprised when I heard his unique voice ring out when Hydain no Kakakata Kataomoi-C started playing. But what I never expected was such a crazy awesome opening sequence. With the animation following the beat and lyrics of the song, I remember rewinding it a few times just to catch everything KyoAni stuffed in there. Then came the second opening, once again done by Hyadain and while the song itself wasn’t as catchy as the first one, the opening sequence more than made up for it. My favorite part has to be toward the last 30 seconds after Nano is shooting her corn gun; there’s this gradual accelerando that just keeps on building and building and still gets me pumped up to this day.

With hundreds, if not thousands of comedy slice-of-life shows to pick from, Nichijou is definitely one of diamonds hiding in the rough. Even with a plain name like Nichijou (literally everyday life), there’s so many things that appeal to such a wide audience that it’s difficult for someone to not find something they like among those 26 episodes. There are a lot of laughs, a few really good laughs, and a handful of scenes that will even make you shed a few tears. For a show that spanned two seasons, I’d definitely recommend this show to anyone.

P.S. Yes I know it’s a BB gun and not a corn gun, but if you’ve been reading my posts, you should get the joke.

49 Comments

  1. Recently, if there a series that i truly miss when it about to end, it’s Nichijou. A pleasant walk from beginning to the end. People can say that Nichijou is all about the odd and over the top joke, but for me there’s thing like “Like Love”, the small details here and there that show me how an everyday life can be, despite how extraordinary thing goes, all end with a mellow note. That how an anime show should strive to be, “Simplicity”.
    It’s just an everyday life after all, isn’t it?

    AmusementEngineer
  2. While I did (thoroughly) enjoy the wtf-humor that was so rampant in this series at the beginning, I’m really glad it transitioned to more concrete story lines and character development. Thanks for blogging this series, Takaii. Your posts were the icing on the cake called Nichijou.

  3. aw shame, what’s gonna replace Nichijou in its time slot? Oh and I never saw Sekiguchi having a crush on that guy…or so it appeared to me. In all the comedy I have ever watched this show really does take the crown, I don’t think any other slice of life comedy in the future can top this.

    gawrshness
  4. Such a ridiculous show. In a good way.
    From the return of the Rock-Paper-Scissors bit to the over the top green pumpkin smashing sketch, this show is what it is, and I’m glad to have decided to watch it from the start, and not be fooled by the slow paced OVA that came out in March. The show was overly funny.

    What I’d like to see is Nano going over to Nakamura’s and the likely failing of Nakamura to keep or experiment on Nano due mostly to politeness. We never did see Mio’s sister’s trolling of Mai some people mentioned from time to time when Mai is generally classed as the master troll.

    I’d like more…because it is funny.

    Ithekro
  5. What was unexpected was how spot on the jokes were this week.

    Ditto. I found the jokes to be spot on. I laughed more compared to last episode. Although the, impact of ep 25 was greater in terms of high intensity action.

    Apparently this episode’s director wasn’t Tatsuya Ishihara which is weird. The episode director in this ep was Taichi Ishidate and the script writer was, none other than, Arawi Keichi himself(Nichijou’s Mangaka). So I’m wondering if he’s going to handle the OVA(Obviously there will be)? Aside from him the being the episode director in ep 1 and the script writer in 13, he hasn’t been credited for doing something in the same line as that since ep 13.

    On to the episode.. They’ve left a very open end for the series. At least though, they’ve manage to give a little bit of closure to Misato and Sasahara. But so much more is left. Yeah I know this series isn’t a comedy romance genre but give me a break. 😛

    In any case, it just screams of S2. I want to see more of this show. The manga is good, but I enjoy this one more. But… You know.. circumstances may say, no S2. Which is very sad. As much as the comedy consists of hits and misses, I found that the amusement found in this show is great.

    In any case. Great show. An 8/10 for me. Enjoyed it so much from the masterful animation of KyoAni to the great line up of VAs. Not to mention the music tied with this series was splendid. Will miss this series so much. Awaiting for new KyoAni project(sucks that they didn’t announce anything after this finished).

    PS:Yukko is a true wonder idiot in this ep. Just like what Mio said in the past episodes.

    megalith
  6. It was a fun episode, and the Nano segment was sweet, but the final Igo Soccer club segment utterly and completely broke me. Sekiguchi’s pseudo-confession was just too much for me.

    Hats off to KyoAni’s legendary sense of humor, timing and subtlety.

    Athos
    1. they are all normal japanese girls. It is everyday life. Although it tends to go a bit wild and anime like, it is still about anime life. And noticeable chest would be a distraction since this is more slapstick and random humor than a romantic comedy

      deafvader
  7. It wasn’t funny all the time, in fact it just kicked of for me by the 2nd half… Somehow I want more. 🙁
    Anyway, this looked like a shonen boss battle. Weird enemy though. 😀
    And Yuuko will save the world someday – indirectly! :p

    MrRei
  8. I still haven’t watched the episode since having had this bring me laughs and now having it end after periodically having it on my mind for 26 weeks is too much! Oh my gosh, how the time flies! So much has transpired since… Well let’s do this! Im gonna go greet that show for the last time.

    Relic
  9. @Takaii: have no idea what pushing or burning and envelope means so I went to read up on it. The envelope actually refers to a part of a plan or something, not the envelope used to hold letters.

    deafvader
    1. The meaning I was going for was
      “To attempt to extend the current limits of performance. To innovate, or go beyond commonly accepted boundaries.”

      Which in turn, if you destroy the envelope, you’ve completely obliterated the accepted boundaries! 😀

      INNOVATION!

  10. I’m glad it ended on a good note, even with Yukko! This show has been the sole reason that cheered me up most of the time for the past 2 seasons, seriously gonna miss this!

    By the way, how rich is Kenzaburou to come to school on an SR-71 Blackbird?! Holee shyt!

    T.K.
  11. aada kouda ittetemo tomodachi WASSHOI! ..*cough* That is to say, These opening themes have been top notch, I am going to miss my weekends being invigorated by this wonderful series ^_^;. Between absurdity, insanity, and hilarity, this show has been amazing.

    Yukko’s antics pissed me off most of the first half. I really only cared for when the show focused on Sakamoto, Hakase and Nano. (“Nano~ Nano~ owo~~”) But by the end of it, I’d come to love all the characters, good points and flaws. I look forward to rewatching this with friends at some point in the future. It will be a laugh ^_^.

    Kumakaori
  12. Waaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!! It’s over!!!! It really over!!!!! I’ll really miss this one *sob*. I didn’t really enjoy the first half of this anime that much (though the OP and ED was always good), but the second half won me over. What will I do now???!!! Waaaaa!!!!!!

    Okay, enough wailing. Next season anime coming up, I doubt any will be as good as this one though 🙁

    x
  13. Got blindsided by the Prof again. I seriously thought she was going to replace the windup key with the new thing. Should have expected Prof to be trolling Nano there.

    Too bad its ended, it a great way to just relax and watch it (like K-ON)

    Zaku Fan
  14. damn either we need more of this show, or they should just get us another season. I bet the manga author didn’t just stop here: many things were not explained…

    for everyday life, this sure stands out among the many ordinary lives we lead…

    kaineng
  15. Much like Lucky Star before it, Nichijou is yet another Kyo-Ani comedy slice-of-life show that initially lacked oomph, but slowly it started to gather momentum, to the point that I’m actually feeling sad that it’s finally finished. And much like its name, this last episode had a “everyday life” feel to it.

    I expect an OVA sooner or later to cover other interesting loose ends concerning other characters.

    Now for Kyo-Ani to start considering going back to their excellent collaboration with Key and start animating Little Busters (once they’re done with the K-ON movie this Christmas, of course), it’s been nearly 2 years since Kyo-Ani’s last Key collaboration Clannad ended.

    Kinny Riddle
  16. Boo! This day finally came… I’m going to miss this show, truly a gem in the slice of life genre.

    That said, I’m totally looking forward to next season’s WORKING’!! and Shiryaku!? Ika Musume! 😀

    Xitorot
  17. What can I say? I’ve enjoyed this show from beginning to end. There are so many lovable characters who feel like friends now, and I’m really going to miss them! I will always laugh when I think of the four girls, Hakase, and Sakamoto, but I’ll also laugh just as hard when I remember the side characters! If there’s one thing this series needs is a conclusion for those guys, (I’m looking at you Starla.) I bet there will be an OVA to show this.
    It was adorable seeing Nano finally accept her screw, and I think you’re right that it says something about the series. Nichijou is, of course, an ironic title. Nothing seems ordinary about this bizarre world they live in. But maybe that’s what they mean to draw attention to. Maybe everyday life is just as strange as what we see in Nichijou, and maybe we need to accept that, because, let’s face it, nobody’s perfect. And it’s more fun that way.

    innerchihiro
  18. Nano without her turn key means the world should be ending!
    Start from 100
    Sight Sasa X Misato romance bull -5
    95/100
    Very good, wasn’t expecting Nakumura to find Sakamoto, should have been more of Mio’s sister trolling people (mainly Mio).
    We need either a 2nd season with 12 eps or 5 OVA eps.

    jingoi
  19. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

    It is ended!

    NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

    LQY
  20. Well played Nichijou. I had a lot of criticism throughout its first half, but once that point passed it somehow had me firmly planted along with its pace and loving every step of it. I am very much going to miss my weekly dose of it.

    Thanks for the coverage Takaii!

    Xin
  21. Nichijou I’ll miss you!

    I really wasn’t convinced at the beginning, as it seemed so random (and I normally love random stuff) and to be honest, hit and miss with it’s humour. Then at some point I was hooked. I still didn’t laugh out loud that often, but I smiled a lot and most of all I’d become really attached to the characters. I LOVE the Nichijou universe. Fingers crossed there will one day be more (or maybe I’ll just seek out the manga…).

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