Nichijou

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.

If I had to sum up all of Nichijou in one word, it would be "beautiful." As a slice of life, this anime can't be for everyone, as most people like to have a story that is actually driven by the plot. But even if you aren't into slice of life anime, there is something in Nichijou for everyone to enjoy.

Story:
Every episode is a series of semi-random "moments" in each of the characters' lives. As far as an actual storyline goes, there is no distinct beginning or end to Nichijou. No goal, no real conflict - as to be expected of a slice of life, ... "storyless." However, at about the halfway point, I started to question whether all of Nichijou somewhat revolves around Nano and her dreams of leading a normal, everyday life (which is what "nichijou" roughly translates to). There are some really beautiful moments that do advance the plot, which is part of what makes Nichijou so special as a slice of life.

Art:
Stunning. Characters are distinct, cute, and thoroughly enjoyable to look at. Animation has very fluid movements, and the "camera" work, especially during the funny scenes, is just brilliant. One thing that I particularly adore about this anime is the fact that, as opposed to some anime like Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, in which the art style becomes overly-simplistic during moments of comedy, Nichijou's art style becomes vastly more serious and dramatic for almost all of the hilarious moments. Without losing an ounce of fluidity, Nichijou will abruptly switch from cute and colorful to intense, fast-paced action with over-the-top explosions and yelling. Everything about the art in this anime is something to behold.

Sound:
Hats off to Hyadain, as he did both of the OP songs and one of the ED songs, which are fun and upbeat, as expected of him. The background music is also very well-done, it's unobtrusive and mellow, allowing the characters themselves to set the mood more so than the music.

Character:
This is the glue that holds the entire thing together. The characters make up for the lack of a concrete story and then some - this anime is definitely NOT just something pretty to look at. During the few times that the plot progresses, so do the characters. They learn and grow, they have problems and they help each other. I found myself growing attached to all of the characters, I don't think there is a bad one in the bunch.

Overall, I love this anime. It is certainly beautiful in more ways than one, and it stands above many other anime in terms of being a slice of life and a comedy. If you like Lucky Star and Gintama, I can almost assure you that you'll have a blast with this anime. I know I sure did!

Overview:

This is an anime that I went into with high expectations. I was told OVER and OVER online that this was one of the funniest anime series to ever exist! I don't think I laughed once. I'm not just saying that I didn't get any sidesplitting laughs out of this, I don't think this series made me smile more than 2 times! Nichijou is certainly a series with an outstanding online reputation, but in this case I don't feel that the reputation was well deserved.

Background:

Nichijou was actually a bit of a flop in Japan and wasn't able to build a large Japanese fandom. However, ... it became a massive hit on the English speaking internet after 4chan latched onto it. For the last 3 years, Nichijou fans have been to /a/ what the bronies are to /b/! They are an absolutely devoted cult that recycle the same tired image macros OVER and OVER and team up the attack anyone that doesn't worship this piece of shit. Much like the Bronies, it is very difficult to tell how many actually like the show and how many embrace it entirely out of irony. Considering Nichijou is a comedy that is less funny than dropping a hammer on your big toe, I would say the latter is likely. Most of the humor consists of Japanese language puns and wordplay that doesn't translate well to a non-Japanese audience and even Japanese audiences didn't like it! This places Nichijou in a similar humor category as Vampire Holmes, which I also hated. The rest of the humor is "uber moe UGUUU" BULLSHIT, and tired slapstick gags that were old when Charlie Chaplin used them in the 1920s.

Story and Characters:

The story is simply the everyday life of a group of schoolgirls. Nichijou seems to borrow elements from both Azumanga Daioh and Cromartie High School without ever coming CLOSE to achieving the same level of humor and charm. A portion of this was that Azumanga and Cromartie had hilarious characters, while Nichijou just has really obnoxious characters. If I had to compare Nichijou to another anime it would be Lucky Star, but a version of Lucky Star that toned down all the anime and gaming references, leaving only the most mundane topics like finding a skirt that fits. Each of the characters fits into a well established archetype, but that alone doesn't explain why it's so bad. The Italian "commedia dell'arte" plays recycled the same stock characters and still won over audiences with their farcical humor. It is the combination of bland characters, linguistic humor lost in translation, tired gags, and horrible comedic timing that all come together to make this show a nearly un-watchable clusterfuck. If the show told a purposely bad joke and stretched it out until it became awkward for the audience, that would actually get a few laughs. When used right even "dead air" can be a useful comedic tool. Consider the opening of the famous comedy movie "Spaceballs". The joke is that the ripoff Star Destroyer is absurdly long in comparison to the ones in Star Wars, but that alone wouldn't be funny. It becomes funny because it just keeps going...and going...and going until the audience laughs because they don't know how to react. Nichijou just hits the audience with one bad joke after another in rapid succession like a machine gun of FAIL.

Animation and sound:

Here is where Nichijou got its points from. The opening theme is at least kind of catchy and the animation has moments where it shines. Having said that, I fucking HATE the art style of this series for taking even "moe" to a new rock bottom.

Overall:

If you want to tell other people online that Nichijou is great in order to fit in, go for it! However, I warn you to NOT actually bother watching Nichijou yourself because it is a massive waste of time. There are few experiences more annoying that watching a horrible comedy with no laughs. Avoid this anime like the plague!

Nichijou is to me, one of a kind. It emphasizes what seems to be the essence of slapstick comedy, but induces your favorite lighthearted scenario all within the same episode. If you were keen of Lucky Star, Azumanga Daioh, Hidamari Sketch, or Pani Poni Dash, then you would definitely know what I'm talking about. Except, Nichijou, or "EveryDay", takes a twist and turn every now and then to let you know this is not so ordinary, and from there, you're on a wonderful ride to a pure fun and blownout comedy.

Story: 7/10
Not at any point, did I criticize Nichijou for its direction of plot, ... because first of all, I knew what I was getting myself into, whoever reads the synopsis, or look at the cover even, can obviously expect slice of life and nothing else. It baffles me that there are still idiots (trolls) out there who complain and complain about these shows as if they expected some sort of abysmal plot (I know I might be feeding them at this very moment lol). That's besides the point, Nichijou is episodic, and it's good at it too, that's that.

Art/Animation: 9/10
This. If it did not have this, such a high production value, the enjoyment to this show would be severely cut in half. From your principal wrestling a random wild deer, to chasing down your best friend to retrieve a notebook that contains indecent sketches of your crush you accidentally handed over, it is all done, with the utmost 'epic' of animations I have ever seen in a slice of life, and given that there's no plot, this is a strong and important point to my overall enjoyment.

Sound: 8/10
First thing that caught my attention, wow that opening song, I didn't have to watch it a second time to know that it would become something that will eventually be like a broken replay button stuck in my own head. It's cute, catchy, fun and it captures the feel of the show perfectly. Other than the brilliant OP's, the sound effects for small things, like pouring a cup of tea, or the clear brilliance of using almost every famous and hardcore VA to voice-over an assemble of no-faced soldiers who are just a figment of Yuuko's (The airhead of our show) stupidity. No complaints.

Characters: 9/10
This show is character driven, it is almost impossible to dislike any character, because he or she provides you with entertainment despite what they might be doing. This show is separated into segments for the most part, meaning within the episodes of this episodic show, its episodic within itself. You switch from the school life of Mio, Mai and Yuuko, 3 best friends who let us wander upon their lollygagging, all to just live in the moment. Then we go to the home of the Professor and her robot friend, who she created herself, and happens to be about 8 years old, where the light-hearted part of the show shines, if you can't "Awww" at least once to the Professors' charades then I think your moe button needs to be repaired immediately. There is an extreme variety of characters, so you will be entertained.

Enjoyment: 10/10
An honest score, to say the least. I truly am happy I stumbled upon this show because for one, I saw the entire thing with my girlfriend, and she loved it, and now the both of us are sad that it's over, and two, there just needs to be more animes out there like this. I know, I know! It's too much to ask for more than one brilliant anime a year but come on, be real, it's what we want!

Overall: 9/10
So If you want a good laugh, or more than a laugh.. If you want to "lmao", then yup, I recommend!

Reviews of shows that haven't finished are utterly pointless. They are only good for a couple of weeks at most, and of no use to anyone once the show is finished.

And yet I sit here, writing this review. I am fully aware that this review will become useless waste of space, it is inevitable, but having seen the series average MAL-score of 7.6, I decided to make a statetment:

Nichijou is fucking awesome.

The animation is outta this world (at least as far as slice of life is concerned) and the execution is flawless. The timing of the jokes is so, so good, and the physical nature ... of almost every scene really floats my boat. I love the characters, I love the voice actors, I love the music and I love that goat guy's butler. This is the show that could actually beat Azumanga Daioh at its home turf, and damn, I've longed to say that.

This score should by no means be viewed as final. It is work in progress, like the series itself (I usually don't rate unfinished shows). But at this point in time, at episode two, Nichijou has done a wonderful job of launching itself as a top dog of the 2011 spring season. Hell, maybe even the entire year!

So... here we are. Another review to make you decide if this anime is worth it or not. Let me tell you something, this anime is FUCKING WORTH IT! I swear to god, this anime is so funny, you'll squeal like a school girl when you see a new episode come out.

So what's so special about this anime? As the name suggests, it says My everyday life, right? Guess what? Chicken butt.
...

Okay back to the guess what, it's not. As much as we were to taught to read the title to learn what the story is about, this anime is not the case. ... This anime is FAR BEYOND being "everyday" as much as this story can be a slice of life, it's not always. It is SO RANDOM that my "guess what" joke could be part of that anime and it would be like me saying, "Hey, I found these egg head guys playing jump rope half naked." and no one would think it was weird or random I said that.

So enough of my praising, let's go on to the review.

Story: So the story is this... nothing. Just absolutely nothing except that it's about the life of Yukko, Mai and Mio at school and everyone around them. At first you see also Nano-chan and the mini professor, but later on they are also part of the story of the three main characters. Other than that... everything is just shorts of complete and udder randomness and chaos, full of hilarity that you'll roll on the floor laughing.Sometimes even laughing your ass off.

There is also the helvitica standard shorts, which are just complete random shorts that sometimes don't make any sense, but sometimes do. They do leave you laughing and a WTF? face.

Art: The art is very simple but yet, it really meshes with the randomness. It seems like its really part of the story. You know you are in for a treat when you see the OP and EP, all mixed around and random.

Sound: The music in the OP and EP are so... in tune with the randomness of the story and the visual art of the OP and EP.

Character: What can I say about the characters? They are so random that it seems normal in their world.

Like there's this girl who always have a gun with her and blows the head off this guy, and yet no one even hears the gun shots or see them or how she even got some of the weapons or where they came from.

Another example is Mai-chan... she is as someone said in a comment below one of the videos I was watching, "A Ninja Troll" She always has a serious face, everything she does is so random and funny, you don't know if she's really just joking around or is plain serious. Not only that, she always does it to mess with one character for no reason, which makes it funnier and random. She always has some kind of weird artifact with her at school and no one says anything to her, she can get away with anything (which is also funny).

Yukko is also one that does so much random stuff, for attention as a reason, sometimes the characters ignore her (which makes her want to try harder for reactions.) or they give in to her weirdness and react. (I guess to stop her for try again. lol)

Mioi seems to be the only one who's normal, as she's the one who reacts as one would react if we saw the weird stuff all the time, but sometimes exaggerates (but her motions are so funny, you can't help but laugh at her outbursts). But at times has days were she's as equally as random as others.

As for the mini professor and Nano, they are half random and half normal.

The mini professor is so smart she made Nano (Who is a robot... to our surprise) she's very sweet and polite, but because she's a robot she has certain... malfunctions that make her random without her trying to be. (example a swiss roll coming out of her arm or a sweet coming out of her forehead.)The one thing that she wants that is always (but not always) a running gag is her trying to get the professor to take off her key from her back which she says "Makes everyone think she's a robot and she want's to be normal" and the more she hides it and says she's not the more is obvious that she is a robot.

The professor is so interesting, yet she acts like a little kid, which is funny and cute at the same time. I love her to death! She's so cute and so childish you can't help wonder if she's really acting like that or she's really smart and just acting like for some reason.Or if she's really a genius at all...

Then there's sakamoto the cat. He's a talking cat, and is very serious... but sometimes gives in to his cat-ness. Always the butt of Professor's antics and in turn a bit mean to her. Everytime she does something bad and Nano yells at her she says, "Sakamoto-san told me to do it." And he's all like, "What?" Sometimes blaming him works, sometimes both of them get blamed, other than that its funny when she does that.

Enjoyment: Ever since I seen the first episode... I have loved this series. I love the randomness, I can try to compare to azumanga diaoh but really they both seem the same but Nichijou seems more random to me. It's very funny, sometimes the jokes seem like it won't make you laugh but when you see the looks at the characters for their reactions,you can't help but laugh. I say it's a good show to have if you want a good laugh and randomness.

Overall: Watch it.... I know if you like comedy as much as I love it, you'll laugh at the randomness and the WTF? moments.

Scores:

Story: 10
Art: 10
Sound:10
Character:10

Overall:10

Edit: I'm sorry if I posted this twice, I had to edit it and it kept showing the pre-edited one.

My first impression of this show after finishing the first episode was a simple "what the **** is this?" And now, 15 episodes in, Nichijou has done nothing to change that.

From the epic imaginative world of Suzumiya Haruhi to the everyday laughter filled schoolyard of Lucky Star to the soul-wrenching vicissitudes of life that is Clannad, I had great expectations for Kyoto Animation's newest anime. However, Nichijou managed to somehow ignore all of them.

Lacking in story, continuity, character development, setting establishment, and everything else that goes into making a book, manga, anime, etc., Nichijou is completely devoid of substance. It doesn't provide the creative ... plot and story-boarding of Haruhi, it has none of soulful depth of Clannad, and it fails utterly in replicating the smart humor and rapier wit of Lucky Star.

Instead, Nichijou seems to focus on drawing random people with random personalities doing random stuff in random ways. Every episode begins with random unfunny lines and end with random unfunny lines. And after every episode, I find I still don't know what's going on, still don't care at all about the characters (except maybe for Mio), and still don't know why I just sat through another 24 minutes of this thing.

In fact, the only two areas this show does not fail are sound and art. And though the sound track doesn't fail, it doesn't succeed either - it's "okay", acceptable, not noteworthy in the least. The art, on the other hand, is done beautifully; without having to worry about developing plots, characters, and scripts, Kyoto Animation could afford to splurge on art. The animation and presentation too, I suppose, is acceptable; it's clearly an attempt to emulate the style of Akiyuki Shinbou over at Shaft... though, if one wants actual artsy presentation, one should directly check out Mr. Shinbou's works.

A final note: if you're a fan of Kyoto Animation, don't watch this show.

"Selamat Pagi!"
Haremu Kingu at your service.
Yeah, yeah I know I'm using the word wrong since I'm writing this in the middle of the night but somewhere out there in the world, one of you are reading this in the day so yeah....

Another SOL anime? From KyoAni? Yes, the good people in KyoAni once again wants us to feel like "Gods" viewing from above on significant event of people just doing what they do. Living.

Nichijou or "My Ordinary Life" may be viewed as paradoxical to it's title but I beg to differ. I feel the entire content of the whole story generated by the author ... basically describe my entire daily routine. I greet some of my friends in a foreign language, I take a test that I didn't study for, I copy over my friend's homework, I draw two naked guys having sex in my notepad... etc, etc... Yep, pretty normal to me. Except I don't have a loli professor and I don't ride an animal to college. (Calling my roommate an animal would just be insulting) Damn, that's a huge let down.

As suggested, the story is simple. Just your average daily life varying from the different unique characters. Random encounters (No, not those pokemon encounters) normal daily conversations, you know, "Hi, I ate your chocolates" "GO TO HELL!" Those sort of things....
These are those boring life routine which most viewers want to escape and that's the main reason why many of you choose to dwell in the anime world.

Art wise was pretty refreshing to me. Once in a while, I would love to see those sort of "grainy" animations which is exceptionally suitable for this genre of SOL/ comedy. Sound? Wow, one of the most random and best opening theme song I've heard so far. It perfectly summarized the entire series. The selection of seiyuus was suitable for each character. Doesn't everyone love the cat's voice? Yes, I know you do.

Every KyoAni's SOL animes have very distinctive character.
Aioi Yuuko, the laid back girl, provides most of the punch line in the series, watching her reactions never fails to amuse me.
Mio Naganohara, the studious type, have to put up to much of Aioi's antiques. Sounds familiar? Yep you should, she's the best friend that you keep on bugging to let you copy your homework but she gives it to you anyways because she secretly had a crush on you but you let her down when you started dating with her best friend. Yep thats her.. Sigh.. Story of my life... Anyways...
and last but not least, Mai Minakami, the quite, nerdy looking one with long black hair but very susceptible to bad jokes.. How susceptible? Remember Binkan salaryman and his susceptibility to pigs? Yep.. THAT susceptible..
Other than that, character are balanced out, especially the age difference. Equal number of old and young people. Yes, I can here you lolicons out there booing but I'm sorry your days of loli girls and tentacle rape is over...

Like Hen Zemi, Nichijou uses quite a number of word play which may confuse our younger audience but fear not, the comedy department already covered that quite well even though the usage of comedy is not that heavy. You may hear a lot of critics about this anime, saying it's too boring, too much talking or what not, it's boring watching people living etc etc but you should always take a stand for yourself. If you enjoy SOL animes coupled in with a few gag jokes, then Nichijou is for you.

Yes, many of you think it's boring but that's what the Almighty one had to do for all these millennium. So instead of spending 24 hours on anime, go out there once in a while. Life isn't boring because it is fated that way. Follow Nichijou's example, and make life as interesting as possible.

"Selamat Malam!"
Yes, I used that right because I'm going to sleep now!

Haremu Kingu,
Signing off!

Great animation won't save this slice of life comedy from absolute failure.
--
Overall: If you are looking for the fast-paced, pop cultured infused humor of Lucky Star, the strangeness of Azumanga Daioh or the cuteness of K-On, look elsewhere. Nichijou features obnoxious characters, jokes that drag on and a uneventful setting.
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Story: There is no real story to Nichijou. Minor events that happen before are acknowledged later on, but don't have any impact.
--
Characters: The characters fall flat on their faces. Obnoxious, their "character traits" are over-exposed and take away from the almost-jokes the series try to tell.
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Comedy: Most jokes drag on for too long and lack ... a proper punchline. Random jokes are just dreams or imagination from a character with no fantastic element. Unfunny running jokes. Fail everywhere, everytime, hard.
There are a few interesting scenes and funny moments, such as an principal suplexing a deer, but that's a one second scene in a 5 minute joke. Watching a 25 episode for 10 seconds of almost-laughter is just not worth it. Watch something better
--
Art: The only praise I can give to Nichijou. The animation is fluid and contributes to the (few) funny jokes, and the character design is quite nice. However, without proper content, it's not enough to call Nichijou a decent anime.

I gave this anime a fair chance due to the high rating and glowing reviews. Having sat through 10 episodes of this, maybe I can save someone else the trouble.

I love good slice of life and I love good gag. This fails epically on both counts. It is too surreal and too absurd to be considered slice of life. It is not funny at all either.

Worse of all - and the reason why I stopped watching - the characters are completely dislikable. It renders the anime simply unwatchable because the end result is about as pleasant as hearing chalk squeak on a blackboard. This anime ... will waste your time with: Absurd, nonsensical non-storylines, which could be funny, if it wasn't so damned infuriating because the characters are not endearing, but disgusting.

The formula is this: A couple of characters are down on their luck. Nothing they do ever works out. Their wishes and actions are always frustrated. Sometimes by circumstance. Most often however, by the rest of the huge cast, who conspire to make their lives miserable. NOT my idea of fun.

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.

"Our everyday lives may, in fact, be a series of miracles."

Nichijou is the anime adaption by Kyoto Animation of the eponymous manga by Arai Keiichi. In a way, it might be one of the most important series in recent years, and in another way it's just a loveable comedy dense in quality and unadulterated joy of the art of animation. At 26 episodes, setting and keeping the bar high can be a tough job, but Kyoto Animation tackles any issues head-on and what remains is an awe-inspiring amount of everything that keeps anime fans in the medium. Nichijou translates to roughly “everyday”, as in ordinary ... or regular. But the show stays true to the quote above and is able to present unique, bizarre and completely ridiculous situations taken from “everyday life” but turned up to 11.

Before I explain why, I’ll declare right away that after much consideration I’ve named Nichijou my absolute favorite anime that I’ve ever seen. I want readers to know and consider my bias, as a review will never be truly objective.

I've been wondering what word I would assign Nichijou. One single word to define the experience as a whole. The word I'm leaning towards is 'modern', mainly because of its presentation. Nichijou takes place in a crisp, colorful, detailed and absolutely beautiful, animated world full of quirks and memorable little doodles and characteristics. As first-time viewers will soon come to realize: A LOT of money went into Nichijou. Art and animation is treated as not only a way to convey images or adapt them from the manga, KyoAni frequently experiments with the art direction and animation to create some of the most brilliant moments of anime where the art and writing come together to not only complement one another but to carry a joke or situation to heights previously impossible. I don't say this lightly, but Nichijou may be (in more ways than one) the most beautiful anime I have ever seen in terms of visuals. No matter if you've seen over 300 series prior to this, you will find something new and something impressive. But it's not only beauty, detail, experimentation and innovation Nichijou's art does--it's also memorability. Nichijou’s strongest 10 goes to the art.

The opening and ending singles all offer something refreshing and new while tying the show together in a way that few songs manage to do. The two opening singles by Hyadain are memorable in the best of ways, but also set the stage with the fast tempo and energetic sound. The word “modern” comes to mind again. The first opening, Kataomoi, feels especially fresh and lively. I could not imagine a better pick for this show even if the lyrics don’t belong quite as well as the second opening with its theme around friendship. The two songs capture the insanity of the gags, but also tie into some of Nichijou's underlying themes like love and friendship. The result is a duo of openings that not only represents the series but brings it to life while bringing the viewer into the right frame of mind while the equally beautiful ending themes closes up each episode. The ending themes, particularly Zzz, is the perfect closer. The music slows down the frantic pace of the rest of the show while its lyrics will urge the listener to take a breath and think about what’s been going on. It’s like a review of the episode, letting the viewer appreciate and reflect on what they’ve seen as they “go to bed”, fitting the theme of the ending track. The second series of endings has a different animated short which I felt I had to mention. The fly-by of the town at dusk and seeing all the characters off-camera making their way home is entertaining every time. I never skipped the ending as there was always something to look at. The soundtrack itself can either be subdued or bombastic depending on the scene, building tension or releasing it. Not only does the soundtrack work, the way the sound interacts with the scenes is what sets it apart. I’m mainly reminded of the temple scene in the rain, where the total absence of music raises the tension to an unbearable level.

The real stars of Nichijou’s sound is the sound of its stars, the main characters and their excellent voice actors. I especially want to offer my appreciation for Mio and Yuuko’s actresses for pulling off some amazing cries and screams. Unlike the high-pitched whine of usual anime girls, they’re raw, hoarse and the resulting contrast is absolutely hilarious. Of course, the entire cast does a great job at getting the humor of each situation across, as well as each individual character’s personality. For example, Nano isn’t only the motherly high-school robot because she’s written that way, it’s because it’s in her voice.

Nichijou’s format is basically loosely-tied sketches with short animation snippets like “Love-like” and “Helvetica Standard” thrown in-between. I feel that Nichijou uses this format to its limit, picking and choosing the best parts for jokes while being able to throw in unrelated jokes now and then. The show centers on mainly six characters in two separate environments: Mai, Yuuko and Mio together in their classroom, and Nano, Hakase and Sakamoto in the Shinonome Lab. While it is a standard, the girls come visit the laboratory and Nano joins the three in school later on in the show. This way it feels much more fluid to watch and the characters can mix and interact. Unlike other comedies and slice-of-life shows, Nichijou has a rich cast of side characters with their own lives, sketches, quirks and jokes. What really impresses me is the attention they give to each character and how well-written the mains are. Yuuko isn’t just the dumb, genki girl that Mio has to keep in check, she has a different relationship with Mai as the one who has to retort her jokes and “troll attempts”. Not only that, she’s misunderstood and even a relatable character to someone who is a “black sheep” while still being funny.

You’ve probably entertained the thought “what if a certain studio had unlimited funds and worked on something they really wanted to do?” That’s what I think Nichijou answers. It’s a labor of love for the KyoAni staff, and proof of the talent they have on board. When I watch this show, I feel the creativity and love they put in, and in the end it’s what makes Nichijou what it is. The finale is a heartwarming ode to friendship and the everyday, and the overarching message is revealed like something that had been right in front of you all this time. It’s so obvious and so basic you can’t help but smile and wipe away a tear. Underneath all the insanity and surreal situations lies something humble. It wants you to love what you have, even if it’s been there so long you hardly ever notice it. In its own way, Nichijou heals you.

New generation anime sitcom has arrived…
A spiritual successor to two of my favorite anime sketch comedies of all time (Azumanga Daioh and Pani Poni Dash), Nichijou delivers the comedy 110% percent. Based on the manga of the same name, this is a perfect example of how a situational/sketch comedy should be made.

Anyone trying to find some objective story to this will ultimately blow their minds in front of their faces, as there is none. Hence Situational comedy, because its basically a group of people in high school and we’re there to watch the hilarity ensue. Typically things like this center themselves around a few ... main characters, but this series lends itself to a few dozen characters. For anime novices, I would recommend not to watch this sort of stuff considering, the sheer amount of Japanese popular culture references will make anyone’s head spin. But if you know what an Arikawe Prize or yakasoba or Japanese word games, this show makes learning about J-culture fun and entertaining.
As many series tend to steer towards fanservice central, this series bumps the moe factor from a 10 to a 11. Even so much as putting little 5-10 second spots having Nano and Hakase dance around or play kids games. Nothing but a white background and them just having fun. This pretty much sums up this whole series in my opinion. The sheer power of how these characters can emit so many emotions and enjoyment out of the viewer is something to behold. I highly suggest watching only a few episodes at a time as you will probably laugh so hard you’ll soon run out of laughter, which CAN happen. Among the normal high school comedy that is Nichijou there are little sketch segments called Small thoughts, Helvetica Standard, and Igo Soccer Club. Each type have their own little charm and feel right at home in this series. It’s hard to really hate this series.
Normally comedy series have very average to poor production value, in which they rely on the characters and the comedy to carry the series to popularity (Gagyu Biyori Manga). In a rare event, this series easily has the highest production value of any Slice of life sitcom. The HD quality really shines; each sketch segment has their own style and just really made my jaw drop at the quality I was looking at. I mean I found myself wondering many times how long it took them to draw a broken melon bread still in its package or how they managed to properly draw a Blue popsicle run over by a bicycle. It’s crazy how many man hours this 26 episode series took. I wouldn’t be surprised if they spent 1-2 million yen per episode as its quality is comparable to Gunsligner Girls (1st season episodes were worth roughly 1million yen each)
I’m glad that I can finally see an anime sitcom of high quality that also has a high quality production value. I can’t bring myself to say this is better than Lucky Star as that series holds something special in my heart (on a personal level) but I can easily say its ranked between #1 and #2 as my favorite comedy of all time. Please please PLEASE, make more like this Kyoto Animation.

"A beautiful disaster-piece" is what I use to describe Nichijou. While watching, I couldn't help but find myself to be so engaged, eyes literally almost glued to my screen. That's how great it was. There are many things I loved about Nichijou which makes it one of my personally favorites..

I'll start right off the bat and say that what I loved most was the characters. In my many years of watching anime, many shows have come close, however none can touch the amount of likable and hilarious characters Nichijou provided with. A few of the things I liked and loved about the characters was ... that each of them "as the shows title gives it away" live their own unique daily lives. However, no life can be complete without any problems or distress, and that's were comedy comes in. I really enjoyed how even though the characters were in either really ridiculous or bad situations their was always something hilarious or heartwarming to lighten my mood.

Another thing I loved about the cast of characters was their personalities. Personality, Personality in character is something that helps you decide whether you like a character or not, (in my opinion of course.) In Nichijou there were too many characters with certain personalities that I could either relate to or enjoyed seeing which really earned the show some respect points from me.

Now, with the story, it was there, however like some slice of life shows, Nichijou doesn't actually have any specific story.. to say the least. It's again, just what you expect from the title a bunch of moe characters living an somewhat ordinary life.

Some things that I did like about the somewhat existent story was that there was always some sort of moral or lesson behind certain things that took place during the show.

Something else that really stood out to me was the artwork done in the story. The show transitions to and from different styles at times which I found rather unique. However, the biggest thing that I liked, which really worked well with the show it that the artwork is simple. What I mean by that is that there isn't anything that stands out too much. (Other than Nano's key lol) but jokes aside, the simple settings and character designs work out well because you really get to focus on what's happening to certain characters without getting distracted much by lets says flashing backgrounds, large settings, etc. So keeping things simple really worked with it.

The music in Nichijou is really delightful, cheerful, and overall a bit above average. I really like the opening and ending songs, which was one thing that I didn't like at first. The first intro song I got sort of annoyed with it but after a while it grew on me, then when it changed, I started to dislike the second opening and just like the first, it grew on me.

The voice actors were also really good, there was a pretty great cast in Nichijou. Some of my favorites were Mai Aizawa, who does Uryuu Minene on Mirai Nikki or Future diary, Minoru Shiraishi who also provides vocals for another character on the Future diary, and lastly, I seriously adore Konno Hiromi because she does lots of voices for other shows I like such as (Future diary. Lucky Star. and Air.)

Something really amazing that I loved so much about nichijou was no matter whose life I was watching in Nichijou, again, I was completely engaged, there is so much enjoyment, joy and laughter in the show that I can say without any doubt that the show is family friendly.

Overall I'm giving this show 9/10 not only because it's one of my personal favorites, but because it left a very good impression on me. If I had more time to watch it I would, Nichijou was a really great show recommended to me from fans of Lucky star, and I'm really glad that I was able to watch it.

When your entire show relies on gag comedy, and the majority of that gag comedy relies on subverting expectations, and most of those subverted expectations end with something random rather than clever, you've taken comedy and beat it down to its worst form. The lolrandom form, which is the form that Nichijou loves best. It's a sketch show, and all sketch shows are bound to be hit-or-miss. Nichijou is just a lot of misses with maybe a hit or two sprinkled in every five episodes. Maybe it's just my sense of humor, but a lot of the humor relies too heavily ... on being "randum", and being random alone, to me, isn't very funny at all.

Story: 1

There is no story. They attempt to build something resembling a plotline nearing the end but it just ends up feeling unnecessary. Nothing much to say here, you shouldn't be expecting a story from a sketch comedy.

Art: 7

Damn, those backgrounds. The artwork is beautiful, and why wouldn't it be when that was where most of the budget was pumped, and in incredibly large amounts, too. The backgrounds are great, the characters are simple, and occasionally the animation gets really good. Of course, the quality of animation doesn't stay consistently good enough to get the show anything higher than a 7, because for most scenes it's pretty standard animation for the complexity of the characters and objects that are being animated.

The characters are very cutesy, and the whole style of the show is simplistic, which adds a childlike charm to it all. I just wish that instead of 26 episodes of interspersed quality animation, there had been something like 13 episodes of really good animation.

Sound: 3

Definitely nothing I'm going to remember in particular. The OPs for both cours were nice, but that's about it. The background music is forgettable, and the themes aren't good enough to be memorable.

Voice acting is fine, for most of the characters. Nothing really spectacular outside the main duo, Yuko and Mio. Those two alone really pulled up the score for the sound, since the voice actors did such a good job. Can't really say much about the other characters, because while the voices were fitting they weren't really anything spectacular. The forgettable music drags the score down to a three.

Character: 3

The characters at least have some personalities. The main problem with the characters is that their respective gags get played out too soon and too quick, and then get replayed for the next 13 episodes. Nano is embarrassed about being a robot, Mio gets really angry sometimes, Mai is just... weird, we get it. Too many of the jokes rely on the same personality traits for the main characters, and it gets old. The characters lose a lot of quality when they're made so one-dimensional by allowing one certain trait to define them.

At the very least, the characters have personalities that fit a comedy setting. The main trio complements each other nicely, if that's even something you can complement shows for, considering you'd expect that main characters wouldn't be polarizing in a comedy show.

All in all, the characters are rather forgettable because the characters themselves are walking gags. If you turn your characters into jokes, then they're only going to be remembered as jokes, not as characters, and Nichijou crosses that line.

Enjoyment: 2

I'll be honest, I laughed a couple of times and there were some moments that were genuinely enjoyable. Does that mitigate the rest of the 26 episode series that I spent waiting for something enjoyable or funny to happen? Obviously not. It isn't worth the time to watch the whole series just to watch the handful of actually funny scenes scattered throughout.

You'd have a much easier, and much better, time just going on Youtube and looking up the funny clips from Nichijou. You'd save a lot of time by just watching the clips that are actually funny and avoiding the time spent being confused and bored with the show. The characters aren't memorable or interesting enough to justify watching the whole show just to get the experience. You'd get the same experience watching those few select scenes and only lose out on a couple of hours you could have wasted waiting for those scenes to show up.

Overall: 1

The show should have been shorter, so as to not spread out the good scenes so much, because that's really what kills it for me. The writers experiment too much. It's like a comedian who writes down a bunch of jokes but doesn't edit any of them out before a show, so he stands in front of the audience and tells 20 misses and 2 hits. Do people laugh at the hits? You're god damn right they do. Does that justify sitting through the 20 misses? No it does not. Nichijou runs into the same problem. It spends too much time alternating between comedic scenes and ones that are just either serene, sad, or just slice of life rather than comedy. If you ask me, the writers should have cut out a lot of the scenes. I know humor is subjective, and that different people think different things are funny, but a lot of the scenes in Nichijou feel unnecessary and could have been left out so that you don't have to spend too much time waiting for the next scene that will tickle your subjectively unique sense of humor, because you are a special snowflake.

This isn't to say that the show isn't funny. It just isn't funny TO ME. Which is why I gave it a one. And like I've explained previously, it's because I don't really take enjoyment from lolrandom type comedy, and that's what most of the show is. You could think it's the funniest damn thing on Earth, but that's all a matter of what you consider to be funny.

This show is still airing, so opinions are subject to change.

Story: (6/10)

The story is alot like Lucky star, or K-on in that sense, that it simply is about cute girls doing cute things. It doesn't have the most catching plot, but if you enjoy randomness, filled with cute girls, then I guess this is your cup of tea.

Art: (10/10)

KyoAni has done it once again. The art in this show is simply marvelous. Not because it is super detailed, but because it is unique. The use of colours and animation makes, this a very enjoyable experience. The characters in the show have those very big ... eyes, which Kyoani are so well known for.

Sound: (8/10)

Wow... To put it into words, will be very hard, but I will try my best. Let's start with the voices. The voice actors do a very good job. KyoAni is known for using voice actors who ære relatively new, but even if that is the case, they don't fail to impress. The music in this show is unique in that sense that it is almost never used in Japanese animation. The music reminds me alot of the music you hear in animation from the west, like Curious George, or Oggy and the Cockroaches, and various Disney films. It is nice to see this used in Anime for once, and I think it fits perfectly with the art style and the story.

Characters: (7/10)

The characters are very intriguing. Most of the cast is compromised of cute school girls, which most slice of life anime today are. The difference here from other anime isn't that stunning, but it doesn't fail to impress because of that. Their wacky and yet subtle personality makes the characters enjoyable. With that said, you will sometimes still feel like "What the heck were they talking about right there?" since there are ALOT of
"BLA BLA" conversations between the characters.

This anime is overall very enjoyable, but I can't help thinking, that this anime might be more suited for minors instead. Nonetheless, if you enjoy randomness and occasional "what in the..." moments you should definitely watch this.

Nichijou is a comedic manga/anime/PSP game written by Keiichi Arawi. It's had very limited releases outside of Japan with the North American versions even being canceled for reasons I don't know. The question is, were audiences thankfully spared or are they missing out on something? I'm going to examine the anime to find out.

This is yet another comedy without an over-arching story. The episodes do have a definite order, however. The setting is that a bunch of characters live their ordinary lives. It's mostly about high school girls but there are some teachers, animals and other assorted characters as well. Now for the all important ... question: is it funny? The answer is on occasion. A lot of the humour just relies on complete randomness. And it's not randomness that leads to an amusing moment most of the time. It's just something completely random happening, like a vending machine not working properly. Sometimes it's funny but it's usually just something stupid that leaves you waiting for a nonexistent punch-line. The non-random humour is generally very predictable and a lot of jokes get repeated.

The cast of the characters is really too big. As a result most of them are used for one or two jokes. There are maybe six core characters who get involved with more than that and they're still pretty bland.

The art is boring. The technique shifts pretty frequently and none of it is particularly good. Noses are largely absent and animals barely resemble what they're supposed to be in most cases. It's passable, but it's not decent.

The voice acting isn't bad. The cast does a fine job, nothing spectacular but it's fine. One issue that I do have with the voice acting is that there are several loud tirades that just feel like pointless noise. Because shouting for about five minutes straight is funny? No, it's just annoying. Speaking of annoying, a lot of the music in this is badly sung and just obnoxious.

The yuri factor is a 2/10. There are a couple moments that border on homoerotic but there aren't many and they never go anywhere.

My final rating for Nichijou is a 3/10. There are a few funny moments but it's mostly just loud and boring. If you think that random=funny you'll probably find it hilarious. Otherwise, I would stay away from it.

Nichijou means "Everyday Normal (Life)", and this anime is nothing close to that.

Are drugs illegal in your country? Well, most likely they are. But assume that you had access to all of them, then you bought one of each kind, and then you mixed them all in one big pot, and then you drunk a spoon of that drug-soup. The final effect? Something close to Nichijou.

You'll be living with a state of mind, where you imagine you're living in reality and experiencing all kinds of daily life, but actually you're lying on the floor and staring at the ceiling, yet you don't realize it. That's ... how it feels to watch Nichijou. For someone sane like me this anime is nonsense from beginning to end, but if you're drugged enough you'll call it slice-of-life or something like that.

Examples? Too many too mention - pretty much everything. Just watch one episode, and you'll understand.

Genre - Comedy. Where?

Some people claim it's funny. Are talking cats funny? Is it fun to watch a retarded kid talk sloooooowly. Is it fun to see a clumsy girl forgot her homework? Or is it funny to see someone suddenly take out a bazooka from out-of-nowhere and shoot at their friends? If you find those things funny, then you really need to check out 9gag, and if you still continue finding Nichijou funny, check yourself with a local psychiatrist. More than likely they'll successfully diagnose you with some disorder.

Relaxing? More like headache-inducing!

The so-called-humor is so over-the-limit that it's not funny. It's either pitiful to watch or disgusting or simply boring. Technically, it gives you a headache if you watch it for long enough. In the whole period of 26 episodes I haven't laughed even once, but after 26 episodes I'm close to puking.

Creative?

Yes, I haven't seen anything as creative as this since 2girls1cup! The abnormality is over-the-top and I have to agree, I wouldn't be able to come up with so much b.s. no matter how long I would spend thinking.

Characters:

If you find a group of druggies in the back-alley somewhere, then I bet you it's gonna be exactly the same atmosphere. The characters of Nichijou are really not much different from druggies. Their personalities are unrealistic, and don't occur in real life unless you make someone take a bunch of drugs.

Art:
Possibly the only thing acceptable about this anime.

Regarding Recommendations:
Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou - this one stays in the realm of reality, while Nichijou flies to the planet of druggies.
Azumanga Daioh - very similar, but Azumanga had better characters.
Lucky Star - this was at least funny, Nichijou lacks any humor what-so-ever.
School Rumble - similarly unrealistic, but School Rumble was a bit more funny.
Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei - this is a parody of all kinds of characters, nothing in common with Nichijou.
Nisemonogatari - someone took too many drugs and added this completely unrelated series as a recommendation.
Arakawa Under the Bridge - this is a story from the land of dreams, not the land of drugs! Don't mix up the two!
Gintama - how can you compare a masterpiece like Gintama to a crap like Nichijou?

I'll finish here, in the end I was only pissed off about seeing Gintama as a recommendation...

Final Question:
Why did I rate it as 1/10?

Because my limited brain is slowly running out of space for watching crap, and every 100 anime or so my scoring gets harsher and harsher, and I was going to score this as 2/10, but then I'm a cat lover, and I don't have enough fingers to count all the scenes that involve physical abuse of a poor Sakamoto (the cat).

Some people find animal abuse funny, especially when they're on drugs, so I'm not surprised that the "humor" of this anime revolves around this kind of "fun".

By the way, previous sentence is also a very good one-sentence summary of the whole anime.

Most anime I watch are completed simply for the sake of completing it, because I made a vow to myself never to list an anime in my own list as "dropped" the moment I started it.

Nichijou will never be one of those types of anime. It is amazing. Never in my life have I watched an anime filled with so much randomness. Even Lucky Star which has held the undisputed king of randomness anime spot on my list has been dethroned within minutes of the first episode being aired.

This is my first review BTW so forgive me if this review sucks or anything. All the ... ratings are just my personal opinion

Story: 10/10
I give 10/10 in story for an anime which has no story, but this is precisely why it is so damn amazing. There are jokes placed at almost every corner of each episode, with the timing of each being so perfect that I wonder how much time the producers take to come up with each joke at each precise timing. And where else can one find anime that has people bringing in machine guns to school, riding a goat to school, or even wrestling a deer in school? And I haven't even gone to what happens outside of school. I have found myself laughing time and again that my mother has knocked on my door plenty of times to find me in a laughing fit.

Art: 9/10
The art is not perfect, I've seen animes with slightly better art than this, but I find this kind of artwork suits this anime very well. It looks simple at times but it fits in very well, while scenes that required plenty of details are, well, very detailed. I find myself to be rather amazed by the artwork at times.

Sound: 10/10
With such a wide cast of characters it's gotta be hard to find good VAs for every character who can bring out their true personality and colour, but thankfully they have done it. Most characters, if not all, have VAs that have successfully portrayed their characters style and personality, while others have not gotten enough air time for me to determine that. The BGM is great too, often going well with the scene that is going at that moment.

Character: 10/10
I love the characters here. Yuuko as the dumb one, Mio as the sensible one always keeping Yuuko in check, and Mai as the silent one who always own Yuuko (and sometimes Mio) in whatever she does. These 3 make the perfect combination within the confines of their classroom. Outside the classroom, however, we have Hakase the childish one (literally), Nano the caretaker robot who is oft abused by Hakase, and Sakamoto the cat as the one maintaining the sensibility within the household. And not forgetting the side characters, the teacher (whose name I don't remember) who is scared of students, the goat rider whose looks reminds me of Katsuragi Keima of The World God Only Knows, the mohawk guy, and the principal, among many others. All of these characters converge together to make one of the most entertaining animes I have ever watched.

P.S. Sakamoto is my favourite. The moment he made his introductory speech I knew I was going to love him, and he hasn't disappointed

Enjoyment: 10/10
Need I say more? This entire review has been about how great this show is and how much I enjoyed it.

Overall: 10/10
This anime is very very much enjoyable, but it probably is not suited for people who don't like randomness anime, who'd rather be able to tell what's going to happen next. This is personal preference, and as a person who watches a lot of such animes filled with randomness, I have to say it's one of the best such animes I've watched.

This review will be hard to write, as I will probably laugh at certain parts.

Story: 8
So... Nichijou isn't much of a story, rather a collection of short stories, a bunch of them. These short stories are divided based on the characters. In the beginning we have mainly separate stories all happening around the same time, but are not interconnected. I found this a bit boring, just a collection of stories with characters who had no idea the other characters of the anime existed. Towards the end though, the stories become interconnect as the characters meet each other. These episodes were more interesting, ... seeing the stories all fitting together.
The only parts I didn't really enjoy were the Helvetica Standard, the humor was to weird or didn't have enough context for it to be funny (At least to me)

Art: 10
The art of Nichijou at first glance is very simplistic, but as you watch more episodes, you will notice the different art styles used in Nichijou. Nichijou covers a multitude of genres, with the art matching whatever genre the short story is about. The art and animation for scenes such as Mio losing it or Mai and Yuuko playing coin soccer are some of the best art.

Sound: 8
Both OPs are very catchy and addicting to listen to. The first ED was really good as well, but I found the other 6 EDs used during the second half of the series not as enjoyable. The background music was nice, with a few added to my music playlist. The background music help set the mood for each short story.

Character: 9
Characters were all enjoyable, with very unique roles. My favorite being Nano, as she is a very mature character with a bunch of moe. Maturity and moe? What. The only problem was character development, there is none, but it doesn't matter much in an anime like this. Misato taking Tsundere to another level as well.

Enjoyment: 10
Boy I wish I could rate this higher, I enjoyed this anime so much. There so many parts in where I: questioned what happen, laughed hysterically, and stared blankly as I was speechless. These all kept my attention and was very enjoyable.

Overall: 10
One of the best if not the best comedies I have seen, in where I will definitely rewatch.