Every time I sit down to write a review, I am reminded of my admiration for people who do this professionally, particularly for something as difficult to sum up as Nichijou.
This is weird and fun and I don’t know how to describe it in a way that captures its appeal.
The anime is now 10 years old, first released in 2011 and originally released subtitled in the US, but the dub was released just 2 years ago. Actually, I did a double take the first time saw the year listed online, because I wouldn’t have guessed it was old at all. The animation is good–at times amazing–and the absurd humor feels fresh.
Each episode is made up of multiple mini stories. Some follow the closest things we have to main characters: schoolgirl trio Mio, Mai and Yuuko; and robot Nano, her 8-year-old creator/charge Hakase, and their newly-adopted cat who can talk via another invention, Sakamoto. Other stories follow secondary characters, classmates and teachers. Sometimes stories interact, but other times they’re completely separate.
As the series goes on, though, we find the characters are more connected: the mohawk student is the son of the dumpling salesman; one teacher is the older sibling of a student; Nano the robot appears in the background doing chores while another character is the focus of a story. But those are also bonuses: a story will call your attention to a connection if knowledge is needed to enjoy the episode, so you don’t have to remember a large cast.
Some stories are just barely removed from regular slice of life: a daydream, not wanting your embarrassing manga to be seen by your friends, gym class. Other stories take it farther: the principal wrestles a deer, a teacher plots to trap her student into revealing she’s a robot, one guy rides a goat to school.
I initially turned this on just to play in the background as I did other stuff, but within a few episodes I found myself constantly rewinding to catch things I’d missed while distracted.
Absurd and surreal are the keywords here. It’s not zany, not million-miles-a-minute gags and slapstick, but it’s also not doing weird stuff without reason. There is a story here, one that goes through all 26 episodes, and the show’s strength is how it can turn something simple like getting coffee, or a classroom chat with friends, into high drama while still providing an actually funny story.
The art is beautiful, but deceptively simple at first. Standard clean lines and colors, you may not notice at first how fluid the animation gets, particularly during an action sequence. And action sequences abound, whether they be a gym class, a chase, a daydream, or a fight. Stylized art pops up, too, to great effect.
Verdict
English Dub? Yes, and it’s fantastic. Some scenes released below, when Funimation announced the dub cast, are great, but don’t show the wide-ranging cast.
Visuals: Beautiful, though they seem deceptively simple (good, clean lines but simple) at first.
Worth Watching? Yes. It would work fine for the reason I first started it: to be on in the background, but after watching I can also see why it’s so well-regarded as a comedy.
