TLDR at the end.
Selamat pagi!!!
Tophbbq, a prominent smash bros melee commentator, rated Nichijou as one of his favorite anime of all time. On his recommendation, I ended up watching it, and I'm super happy I did. Nichijou has become an instant favorite.
The first episode really caught me off guard with its goofiness. When I started watching I thought it would be just another slice-of-life anime. It’s definitely not. I don’t frequently review shows/anime so I’m having trouble putting it into words but: the series just felt so nostalgic. Even as a first-time viewer I felt that happy/warm feeling that I can only call nostalgia. I can’t think of any other similar anime I have watched that might be a reason for this either.
The animation here is top notch, and one of the selling points for sure. The only recycled animations (as far as I could tell) were often for comedic effect and didn’t feel lazy. You can tell they put a lot of effort in.
You can tell the author, Keiichi Arawi, is very clever and wise- there is a lot of meaning hidden behind some of the cute jokes, and sometimes there is just straight up life advice. I believe the overall message they were trying to get across is that of embracing who you are and learning to look past that (through Nano). You see bits of it here and there, and it cumulates in that beautiful last episode, where she embraces the key on her back.
As a professional pessimist and disbeliever- I don’t really see a point to life. I liked that the series didn’t try to put some cheesy spin on the “moral of the story” and instead tried to show the beauty in life as it is. I particularly felt this way during the mini cutscenes that showed random mundane things like a convenient store shelf, or an empty office desk. It’s kinda like taking a step back and enjoying the moment- strangely like meditation.
By the end of the series I found myself wanting to be more like Yukko lol. She is so carefree while also being considerate and kind. Sakamoto was a close second favorite. At first, I felt he was a bit out of place in the series, but he really grew on me as the show went on. Honestly, they were all great, and I will definitely be rewatching this series in the future.
