Alternative TitlesEnglish: My Ordinary Life Synonyms: Everyday Japanese: 日常
Information
Type: TV
Episodes: 26
Status: Finished Airing
Aired: Apr 3, 2011 to Sep 25, 2011
Duration:
23 min. per episode Rating:
PG-13 - Teens 13 or older
L represents licensing company
StatisticsScore: 8.451 (scored by 28426 users)
Ranked: #1132
Popularity: #214
Members: 61,187
Favorites: 2,174 1 indicates a weighted score
My Info
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SynopsisWhile the title suggests a story of simple, everyday school life, the contents are more the opposite. The setting is a strange school where you may see the principal wrestle a deer or a robot's arm hide a rollcake. However there are still normal stories, like making a card castle or taking a test you didn't study for. |
Related AnimeAdaptation: Nichijou, Helvetica Standard
Prequel: Nichijou Episode 0
Side story: Nichijou: Tanken Nichijou no Machi
Characters & Voice Actors
Staff
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Ishihara, Tatsuya
Director, Episode Director, Storyboard |
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Tsuruoka, Yota
Sound Director |
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Takemoto, Yasuhiro
Episode Director, Storyboard, Key Animation |
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Yamada, Naoko
Episode Director, Storyboard, Key Animation |
Reviews
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Ryhzuo
251 of 355 people found this review helpful
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26 of 26 episodes seen
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| Overall |
10 |
| Story |
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| Animation |
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| Character |
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| Enjoyment |
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Conventional wisdom has always taught us that more is usually better. We think that the more expensive car should have more completely unrelated features, the better ice-cream sundae should have a bigger pile of fresh fruit on top, and the better statistics report should be able to pull more numbers out of it’s arse. We compare phones by the multitude of apps it can run, our enjoyment of horror films is based on how many different ways the various victims die, and we often rate anime by how many story arcs, characters, subplots and themes it can cram into it’s 26 episode season.
As the modern entertainment sector continues to emphasize excess and surplus, Nichijou is a much welcome, and frankly much needed throwback to a more old-school approach to entertainment. Nichijou’s frugal yet distinct style reminds us that something is perfect, not because there’s nothing more to add to it, but because there is nothing more to take away.
Nichijou brings to us a fusion of gag, moe, slice-of-life and slapstick comedy. It’s humor is very reminiscent of Azumanga Diaoh while it’s art style borrows heavily from the distinctly colorful palette of Lucky Star. Nichijou adopts a very light-hearted approach with it’s tone; it’s jokes are played fast and loose, and while there is a constant shift of pacing throughout each episode, Nichijou never seems to take itself very seriously.
Perhaps the most noteworthy thing about Nichijou is it’s production value. Frankly speaking, Nichijou is GORGEOUS to look at; it’s animation so incredibly fluid and it’s art so crisp and vivid that it actually puts other supposedly competent studios to shame. The artwork selects it’s palette very sparingly, with a result that is both vibrant yet easy on the eyes. This gentle tone is then frequently punctuated by segments of metaphorical (and in some cases literal) animation explosions, showcasing KyoAni’s talent with a huge variety of styles from gritty realism to crayon slapstick.
One can’t help but wonder if KyoAni isn’t deliberately showing off their workmanship with this anime. Many originally very short panels from the manga are translated into incredibly imaginative and stunning sequences of animation that simply scream “because we can.” Show off or not, Nichijou’s cinematography is nothing short of outstanding; it’s liberal interpretation of the original source material has really allowed the creativity of director Ishihara Tatsuya and the KyoAni animators to shine through like nothing we’ve ever seen before.
Special mention to Nichijou’s OP and ED songs, which are creative shorts (incredibly well sync’d I might mention) in their own right. As a fun fact, both of Nichijou’s OPs are sung by Hyadain, who is ONE guy. No female backing vocals at all, he does it all himself. Seriously I’m not joking, go look it up.
The aforementioned dynamic pacing forms the basis of Nichijou’s entertainment value. Each episode tackles it’s structure with a large degree of unpredictability. You never know what’s going to happen next, be it a humorous dialogue scene, a fast paced action sequence, an amusing random still image or a hilarious but completely unrelated skit. Despite this seemingly chaotic approach, Nichijou still manages to find a good balance between all it’s various styles so that no episode feels too weighted. While such a haphazard approach may seem counter-intuitive for a slice-of-life anime, this style ends up working greatly in Nichijou’s favor, adding another layer to it’s texture of absurdity.
The humor itself is very simplistic, almost to a fault, and one would normally attribute this as one of Nichijou’s flaws. That is of course until you remember that “Nichijou” translates to “My Ordinary Life” and as such, the simplicity of the jokes are a fitting homage to the show’s title and premise. Many of the jokes are simply exaggerated normal events like missing the train or a waiter forgetting your order, relying on witty dialogue delivery and clever timings to get the humor across. Some may consider this a hit-or-miss sort of comedy, which is only a fair judgement. All the same, you don’t necessarily have to laugh at jokes like these to appreciate them, which is one of the main reasons why slice-of-life can have such a widespread appeal (remember K-On?)
The characters are very likable, despite the obvious utilization of moe in many of their design. If you can shed that manly exterior and look past the few excessively “cute” scenes, there’s actually an abundance of things to enjoy about Nichijou’s characters. Conventional archetypes are few and far between in this anime, and all the characters harbor their own quirky habits and flaws that you’ll quickly grow fond of.
The best thing about Nichijou’s characters however, isn’t their individuality, but how they interact with each other. The personalities of various character groups clash, contrast and complement each other in extremely interesting ways; the conversations and activities of the two golden trios of Nichijou: Yuuko/Mio/Mai and Hakase/Nano/Sakamoto make up the abundance of material in each episode and just their hilarious adventures by themselves could probably carry an entire show. This is furthered by the great voice acting that the Nichijou provides; Nichijou is one of the rare shows where the seiyuus genuinely sound like they’re enjoying themselves. Dialogues are delivered with copious amounts of enthusiasm which really helps sell the spirited relationships that the various characters enjoy with each other.
With all that has been said though, I would like to come back to that idea I mentioned when we began, that idiom of “less is more.” The thing I love most about Nichijou, isn’t the amazing artwork, the clever cinematography, the light-hearted humor or even the imaginative characters. What I love most about Nichijou is the fact that, behind all the technicalities and production values, lies a very simple ideal. Everything about Nichijou revolves around this central principle of being enjoyable. All that it does, every scene, every character, every line of dialogue alludes back to this principle. Because at the end of the day, all Nichijou wants you to do is one thing; it wants you to enjoy yourself. With Nichijou, there is no story, no subplots, no recurring themes, no character development, no product placement, no lessons to be learnt, no obscure references to pander to a niche audience, no obvious fan-service pandering or ploys to sell related merchandise.
Fun is the only thing that matters, and it's this frugality, this ingenious simplicity, that allows everything to just click together like magic.
When you finally get home after a long tiring day, the only thing Nichijou wants to do is to give you an excuse to prop your feet up after and wash that blue feeling away as it slowly puts that grin back onto your face. read more
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leingodf8
42 of 65 people found this review helpful
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26 of 26 episodes seen
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| Overall |
9 |
| Story |
5 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
10 |
| Character |
9 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
How does one describe ordinary. Any dictionary will probably describe ordinary as "Something that is commonly encountered, usual" or something to that effect. So how does a show like Nichijou (which roughly translates to Regular Life) get a title like... well Nichijou. A show with robots, wigs, deer, and all manner of unusal things is anything but... ordinary right? Perhaps they titled it like this as a bit of a joke, to bounce off all the crazy stuff that is to come. But I think there is a little bit more behind the title than first meets the eye. Lets find out shall we?
Ok, lets start from the beginning. Waaaaaaaayyyyyy back in 2011, Nichijou first aired. I was in the motion of looking for something new to watch so I was keeping an eye on the new releases. When I glanced over Nichijou, my initial reaction was "hmmm high school slice o'life comedy... heh". Nothing immediatly jumped to my attention as a "must watch anime". Slice of life has always been very hit and miss with me... so I decided it probably wasn't worth my time and moved on to watch other things.
But... and I'm not entirely sure why... something stuck with me. When I first saw the ad for Nichijou, there was a picture of a girl, standing somewhat alone on top of a trash pile (with a few characters in the background), holding a flower pot. The most notable thing about the character was a giant wind up toy screw sticking out of her back. At the time I dismissed it but the image somehow stayed floating around somewhere in my subconscious. The art style just appealed to me, it was so simple and yet somehow a little bit elegant. And so, a couple of months after it finished airing, I decided to watch the series. I loved it.
Nichijou is a very odd series to review. Like most slice of lifes (slice of lives?), there isn't really a plot. Its just that... a slice of life, a little piece of a characters life. Or in Nichijou's case, many characters lives. Its a formula that is almost entirely dependant on how well the audience can relate to the character in question. There are other factors too of course, being a comedy, the humor itself is obviously important, and things like art and sound add bits here and there, but above all else, characterization is the key to its success. And well, in that regard I think Nichijou succeeded far beyond my expectations.
Lets start with the main characters. We basically have 2 groups, one being a young High school girl named Yuuko, with her 2 friends Mai and Mio, the other being a Robot named Nano, who lives with a child professor and a talking cat named Sakamoto. Wait what, talking cats, child professors, ROBOTS... do go on. Yes Nichijou certainly has its fill of odd and wacky characters, but to be honest, they are all very relatable and loveable characters. Each of them are funny in their own way, but they also have some very down to earth, even touching moments.
But, to be honest, the side characters are also pretty hilarious. Its funny, the series kind of jumps from story to story, sometimes lingering on one for less than 10 seconds, sometimes lasting for over 5 minutes. And yet it never feels confusing or cluttered. I don't think there was a single character I didn't at least somewhat enjoy watching, and it became very enjoyable to wonder in the little 5 second breaks between each short segment, as to who we are going to meet next.
Ok, so the characters are all well and good, but that can't be it can it? Well no, theres obviously more to it than that. Lets start with the comedy. To be honest... this is the part that tears me apart a little (just a little mind you). There are some freaking hilarious scenes in this show, but there are also some jokes that fall kind of flat. A lot of the jokes in this series (especially the ones between Mai and Yuuko) are more... "weird" than funny. I feel like there are a lot of puns in this series too, which isn't a bad thing, but seeing as I can't speak a lick of Japanese they usually won't mean anything to the average english speaking viewer. But I don't think the bad or the weird jokes are enough to do the series any harm. For each joke that falls flat, there are 2 or 3 more that will have you grinning from ear to ear. So I think the comedy holds up very well as well. As a final little touch, I think the art and music are both very well done. The art is so simple, but it just works so well. It captures the mood of the series perfectly I think. The sound too I think is amazing. There is a little bit about half way into the series that has no dialouge, about the girls building a tower of cards. I won't give away what happens, but the orchestra accompaniment makes it feel like its straight out of Fantasia. Overall very well done.
Looking back over this little piece on Nichijou... I still think something is missing. My head tells me that it isn't exactly that amazing of a series. While quite strong.. the characters are good and the comedy is good... its not anything special right? It doesn't step over any boundries, its not the funniest thing I've ver seen... so why do I love it so much? I think the reason is, above all else, this series has a wonderful beautiful atmosphere to it. While there are some very wacky moments, the series will always take time to slow things down and create a very peaceful and relaxing atmosphere as well. Everytime I watch an episode, a feeling comes over me. I feel safe, I feel at home. I'm in a world that I'm used to, that I've come to love. Its not perfect, there are some flaws here and there, but here it is cheerful... peaceful... ordinary.
If theres one thing this series has to teach... its that ordinary is in the eye of the beholder. What might seem ordinary to you, might be completely alien to another. But its that regular stuff you take for granted... Your Ordinary Life... that makes you who you are. Enjoy it to the best of your abilities. read more
Recommendations
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Similar humour and episode layout/development. However, Azumanga has a stronger storyline than Nichijou, which is literally just clips from the character's obscure lives.
Flagship comedy of Japanese animation. These names are pretty-much Mr.Bean of anime world at its time. High-profile, funny, not plotless but whogivesashit, feature stereotypical moe girl of its era, and appeal to majority male anime audiences (a.k.a. freaky otaku.)
Both looks at the daily lives of high school girls that often display very mundane conversations/activities into hilarious outcomes. I do have to mention, however, that Norio Wakamoto had a larger role in Azumanga Daioh than Nichijou. Just sayin'.
Nichijou is based on a similar idea as Azumanga - it shows everyday life of a selected group of schoolgirls. But where Azumanga drops the laughing parts and gets on a more mellow and heartcatching atmosphere Nichijou keeps its pace. Personally I consider Nichijou to be a much more wonderful, memorable, emotional experience. It made me laugh so many times and also cry so many times. And it is the first anime I truly and sincerely wanted to continue forever.
Both are random humored anime with slice of life involved.
Random is my name, chaos is my game.
Slice of Life and Randomness :D
If you enjoyed watching either one, I'm sure you'll enjoy the other one as well!
but Nichijou is a little bit more random though, but they almost have the same wavelength
At the first look Nichijou looks like an imitation of Azumanga, the humor and characters are very similar but Nichijou have his own value too, both are really funny and may convert your worst day into a happy one.
Both of them revolve around the everyday life of several school girls and the weird happenings that they get into. They have similar humor, so I think you'd definitely like one if you liked the other. Nichijou is a little more weird and it has more characters, while Azumanga Daioh spends more time focusing on one group of characters.
Randomness... But nichijou is more just randomness and azumanga has a story... a bit.
Simillar art, except that Nichijou uses a more colorful art than Azumanga Daioh.
A lot of randomness here. Slice of Life randomness as well.
If you enjoyed Azumanga Daioh, you won't be disappointed with Nichijou.
Nichijou and Azumanga Daioh are both high school comedies that follow a segmented format (where each episode is divided into a number of "mini-episodes"). Both rely more on physical comedy and non-sequitur or absurdness than wit as the base of their humor. Neither of the two pay very dedicated attention to realism, with Nichijou in particular being quite surreal for certain segments.
A cast of female characters in a school setting. Both contain very little, if any, storyline, but rather focus on pure comedy. Nichijou is much more random in comparison, but both pull off jokes extremely well.
Both are amazing slice-of-life anime about....well.....nothing really. Though Azumanga is relaxed and Nichijou is hyperactive.
The cuteness and randomness make these two animes similar in style.
similar artwork and over to hilarious comedy XD
Both are extremly funny, randomness, the character staffs are really similar, main characters are girls, crazy teachers and moe :33
The same plot with the same sense of humor and funny characters.
Both highschool comedy with a group of odd girls as friends
I feel that Nichijou is the spiritual successor to Azumanga Daioh in that Nichijou is like Azumanga Daioh on crack. Some of the character designs are reminiscent of Azumanga Daioh, and it has a similar short-skit kind of feel to it, but Nichijou's art, cast of characters, and jokes are more fast-paced and crazy, showing how the genre has progressed over the 9 years difference between the two.
The anime also centers around the daily life of school girls and has many humor elements, some characters are also similar (thick headed type, burning-spirit type, gullible type). Nichijou has more twists and fantasy related content
Both have chibi art styles. Both are school-based slice of life, with bizarre comedic gold. Both mainly focus on school-girls. Both are happy/uplifting and sure to put a smile on your face.
Both are about everyday life of a very likeable group of high school girls dealing with a bunch of pseudo-random and funny moments.
Think of Azumanga Daioh as a slower paced, slightly less random Nichijou. And vice versa. Both are set in school settings. Both have 2 of the best casts in anime, and most importantly they are two of the funniest anime ever made. I have seen a lot of comedies, these two top the list.
Nichijou is hilarious, has some abnormal cats, and it's about what? SCHOOLGIRLS! if you like Azumanga Daioh, then you will AD-ORE Nichijou
Both have a very similar plot, are "slice-of-life", and share the same over-the-top randomness.
It's just related to the simplicities in life,just taken up many,many levels. I love it honestly. If Azumanga didn't exist,Nichijou wouldn't either..I love both of these shows honestly and highly recommend them
Plus Nano looks like Osaka
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Two major qualities are fitted into both shows. First, they are the exemplary Japanese "high-tension" comedy, meaning characters in it got ADHD and turn the comedy into something fast-paced, fast-forward Mr.Bean video if you fail to understand. Second, both feature mild sex sale, the real identity of what they call moe.
The comedy part, both are considered fast-paced-high-tension comedy because you know why. They play jokes fast, get it fast, and move on to the next joke fast. Difficult to follow but considered funny if you have some mental rewind ability, or get yourself a remote and a easy-to-read fansub. If you feel a serious need to understand unserious joke, study Japanese.
Oh and the moe part, both are considered mild sex sale because Lucky Stars give character traits that are likable in its era, specifically this era. Boke(airhead), megane(glasses), tsundere(googleit), and otaku-girl stereotype are becoming more prominent as moe anime lead. Nichijou has got some different stereotype but should be considered equally likable. I interchangeably use the word moe and sex-sale in case you have not yet notice.
Both anime series revolve around the every day life in a comical way. They each have the "cute school girls" who do funny, yet common things we can relate to.
If you like random humour and cute and simple animation you'd probably like these :3
Both school life anime about high school girls with a very light-hearted, comedic tone.
-Both contains School Life/ Slice of Life/Romance and is centered around comedy.
-Both animes are compiled of short stories, and are full 30 minute episodes.
Also a funny slice of life comedy.
They're both funny and slice of life, the animation style seems similar, even some of the characters seem similar. If you liked one you should definitely like the other.
A lot of Randomness and Comedy.
Both shares the Slice of Life genre.
Lucky Star && Nichijou have similar style of random comedy regarding everyday life.
They both are slice of life and random, in a funny way. The characters are great and adorable. If you want comedy, i highly recommend both Lucky Star and Nichijou
-occasional references to pop-culture
-form: short scenes, sometimes, very short
-characters are mostly females
-child-looking characters
-lot of humor, sometimes irrational jokes
Both made by the same people. Both are moe high school girl slice-of-life comedies, where the main characters deal with everyday things: school, boys, food, family, friends... whatever. They are extremely similar in almost every way, except a few:
1. The main character archetypes are radically different.
2. The humor in Nichijou is more random, silly, and dumb. The humor in Lucky Star is more intelligent, and is almost entirely embedded in conversations.
3. The main characters in Lucky Star receive 99.9% of the focus, whereas the side characters in Nichijou get a good chunk of attention by themselves.
Both are extremely funny highschool comedies
Characters, artstyle are very similar to eachother, you might like Nichijou if you love Lucky star.
Highschool girls doing "random" things. They're both funny and cute, but Lucky Star is cuter while Nichijou is more funny.
Both of these shows center around a light-hearted, comedic, slife-of-life, and school type of genre, while also containing a similar type of art style and targeted audience.
It could be the same anime, just different seasons
If you like Lucky Star, you should love Nichijou.
slice of life~ and very funny!
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Opening Theme#1: "Hyadain no Kakakata☆Kataomoi - C" by Hyadain (Kenichi Maeyamada) (eps 1-6, 8-13)
#2: "Hyadain no Joujou Yuujou (ヒャダインのじょーじょーゆーじょー)" by Hyadain (eps 14-16, 18-23, 25)
Ending Theme#01: "Zzz" by Sayaka Sasaki (eps 1, 3-5)
#02: "Zzz (Bossa Nova version)" by Sayaka Sasaki (eps 2, 10-13)
#03: "Zzz (Acapella version)" by Sayaka Sasaki (eps 7-9)
#04: "Tsubasa wo Kudasai (翼をください)" by Sayaka Sasaki (ep 14)
#05: "Kikyuu ni Notte Dokomademo (気球にのってどこまでも)" by Nano Shinonome, Hakase & Sakamoto-san (Shizuka Furuya, Hiromi Konno & Minoru Shiraishi) (ep 15)
#06: "My Ballad (マイバラード)" by Sayaka Sasaki (ep 16)
#07: "Kaijuu no Ballad (怪獣のバラード)" by Yuuko, Mio & Mai (Mariko Honda, Mai Aizawa & Misuzu Togashi) (ep 17)
#08: "Green Green (グリーングリーン)" by Sayaka Sasaki (ep 18)
#09: "Yasei no Uma (野生の馬)" by Takasaki-sensei, Sakurai-sensei, Nakamura-sensei, Makoto Sakurai, Yuria Sekiguchi, Haruna Annaka & Ogi (Tetsu Inada, Mami Kosuge, Kaoru Mizuhara, Takahiro Hikami, Ai Hirosaka, Kaori Sadohara, Ryouta Takeuchi) (ep 19)
#10: "Ano Subarashii Ai o Mou Ichido (あの素晴らしい愛をもう一度)" by Sayaka Sasaki (ep 20)
#11: "Sudachi no Uta (巣立ちの歌)" by Sasahara, Misato, Nakanojou, Weboshi & Fecchan (Yoshihisa Kawahara, Chika Horikawa, Kazutomi Yamamoto, Youko Tamaoki & Yumi Higuchi) (ep 21)
#12: "Aogeba Toutoshi (仰げば尊し)" by Sayaka Sasaki (ep 22)
#13: "Sora ga Konna ni Aoi to wa (空がこんなに青いとは)" by Hakase & Mai (Hiromi Konno & Misuzu Togashi) (ep 23)
#14: "Yuuki Hitotsu wo Tomo ni Shite (勇気一つを友にして)" by Sayaka Sasaki (ep 24)
#15: "Let's search for Tomorrow" by Yuuko, Mio & Mai (Mariko Honda, Mai Aizawa & Misuzu Togashi) (ep 25)
#16: "Tabidachi no hi ni (旅立ちの日に)" by Yuuko, Mio, Mai, Nano, Hakase & Sakamoto-san (Mariko Honda, Mai Aizawa, Misuzu Togashi, Shizuka Furuya, Hiromi Konno & Minoru Shiraishi) (ep 26)
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