"I just realized daydreaming is totally free."

Nichijou is about jokes. Not just superficially since it's a comedy, but the show itself is about how fun it is to tell jokes, especially to your friends. Friendship is another strong theme in the series, and these two combined together make me resonate with Nichijou like very few anime before it. Making my friends laugh is just about the greatest joy life gives me and if you know me at all, you know I'm always trying to crack jokes at any given opportunity. So it's no surprise that Yuuko, Mio, and Mai all came off as extremely relatable characters that I grew to love dearly. Watching them make all of life's awkward situations better/worse for each other with jokes made me miss my old friends in the same way.

As a show, it's pretty different in its approach to slice-of-life, somehow having a unique mix between having one-off, disposable skits and a grand over-arching narrative. That narrative being of two groups of people coming together and making one big family. Nano's arc of learning to love herself is also a major focus and seeing these story arcs evolve through a-day-in-the-life-style skits is pretty clever. I think it's brilliant, seeing the characters and their own individual stories develop over the course of all 26 episodes was extremely satisfying. It gave way for lots of unexpected moments too, almost like a game of baseball.

I don't need to tell you that Nichijou looks great, too. The art style is very up my alley and the expression of these characters is realized so goddamn well. The budget allocation in this show is almost a joke in and of itself, with most of it seemingly going to these quick outbursts of rage and emotion. It's always hilarious seeing every new way the animators choose to metaphorically represent the character's feelings. Abstraction is Nichijou's expertise, and they really want you to know it. The best part is, despite how exaggerated these sequences are, they still feel true to life. I've been there right where the characters are, and it definitely felt like that. I joked about the budget, but the show always looks fantastic no matter what's happening. Such a treat for the eye.

Everything else is spot-on as well. The voice acting being able to match the animation in intensity and verve is extremely impressive and hilarious. The music's great, very fitting of the all the antics going on. Both OPs and every single ED are fantastic as well, some of my favorites in all of anime. And I just gotta say, the show nails it with such a perfect ending. It's incredibly sweet and made my heart grow three times in size. I could watch 5 more seasons of this show and be happy but there's something to be said about the happiness you feel in closure, and Nichijou's final ep couldn't be more perfect in that sense.

No complaints about this show. One of my new favorite anime series. The best high-school comedy piece of media out there. A comedic masterpiece that I'll hold close to my heart forever.