Nichijou - My Ordinary Life

The Ordinary ROSSMAN

Anime series based on "gag manga" (typically 4-paneled manga set up like our newspaper comic strips [nothing but fast, silly jokes, usually involving physical humor or goofy word play], or sometimes several-page long stories based upon ludicrous slapstick plots with bizarre characters) are a mixed bag. Sometimes they really work well and cause the viewer to piss his/her pants every 10 to 50 seconds from gleeful laughter (see the Cromartie High anime), sometimes they're okay and make the viewer laugh on occasion (see Lucky Star and Azumanga), and sometimes they just aren't funny in the least, and suck your soul out from your eyes with their insulting treachery (see Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei). And then there's Nichijou - My Ordinary Life... The cutest, most bizarre, most random, most harmless show that ever kept me in constant fits of giggles throughout its entire run, and all that with not even one dirty joke that I can remember. It is truly epically amazing.

"Whaaaaaaaaaaaa?!" you spit at your screen like a dickless fucktard after I just told you I'm fucking your mom every Tuesday night while I have her tied to a chair with huge nipple clamps turning her ginormous tits purple (and I am). "You actually LIKE a silly show about silly high school girls doing nothing?! That's what Nichijou's about, right? Isn't that the biggest fault you found with Lucky Star?! That it's just silly high school girls sitting around gabbing about inconsequential shit?!" Yes, that's my biggest problem with Lucky Star, but NO, that's not at all what Nichijou - My Ordinary Life is about. And yes, you have no dick.

Yes, Nichijou features three friends in high school (the quiet genius who likes to mentally torture others, Mai; the normalish blue-haired girl who likes to draw the boys in her class in her personal and detailed yaoi manga, Mio; and the stupid, but fun-loving daydreamer, Yuko), but added to its main cast are a cute robot girl with a giant turn-key on her back named Nano, and Nano's creator, Hakase ("Professor"), who happens to be an adorable 8 year-old girl. Oh, and Nano and Hakase's talking cat, Sakamoto-san. And rarely (if ever) does Nichijou feature a scene where it's just 2 to 4 girls sitting around saying silly things (with only their mouths moving) for minutes at a time (like all of Lucky Star). Most likely, if a scene like that would even begin in Nichijou, Mai would quietly remove her hair behind everybody's back except for Yuko, then put it back in place without saying a word. That's how Nichijou rolls.

Let me back up (or at least clarify some things): Nichijou's about Mai, Mio, Yuko, Nano, Hakase, and Sakamoto-san as they do everyday, daily things (involving eating lunch [that was dropped and caught 5 times, blasted through a classmate's mohawk, and then landed on the floor]; watching the principal wrestle a deer and finally put it in a suplex; and turning Nano's body parts into storage spaces for snacks). That's pretty much it. There's no real over-lying plot to the whole thing (something I typically dislike when it happens in my entertainment), but the stories (that last anywhere from 10 seconds to 5 minutes) are almost always goddamn hilarious, and usually so fucking ridiculous that just being introduced to their absolute strangeness is enough to get me rolling even before any punchline presents itself.

What makes the whole thing seem even more random is the fact that Mai, Mio, and Yuko don't even interact with Nano, Hakase, and Sakamoto-san until the series is half over... But you don't even care. Both groups (and some bit characters who get specialized screen time — like the girl in the giant red ribbon who keeps meeting even stranger characters than our main cast, the beat-down natural mohawk boy, the kids in the Go-Soccer Club, and the terrified of confrontation teacher) just do silly, goofy, funny, cutesy, weird-ass-shit stuff all the time, and you are constantly entertained (or you're retarded). What I love about Nichijou's humor is that yes, this weird shit happens, but it's weird to pretty much everybody involved too. It's not like the whole universe is wacky and everybody accepts it as so. And there's no hamming it up for the camera or breaking any fourth wall barriers in order to look straight at the audience and wink like it's telegraphing "Did you get that one? Wasn't it funny? Yeah, we silly!" It's like a toned down (well, not really THAT toned down) Cromartie High. That would have been too easy a trap to fall into (hamming it up like some shittily written series that just don't get the idea of "humor" *cough* Zetsubou Sensei *cough*), and it would have ruined the brilliance of this show.

I really don't want to give away any more of the jokes, one-liners, and brilliant punchlines than I already have, and if I keep rambling on about this show I know I will. So I'll just stop right here. I will tell you that although the art style and character designs look fairly simple, the animation for this series is superb! Very fluid and not chintzy in the least. It's like the anti-Lucky Star in that regard. Holy shit, the scene where Mio and Yuko are confronted by the police officer who wants to see if Mio has any counterfeit bills in her bag is one of the best drawn action sequences ever animated. Oh, and Nichijou is filled with catchy, upbeat music — from the opening and ending songs to the light but perky background melodies. Hell, even when the bgm gets all super melodramatic as a ridiculous counter to the slapstick happenings on screen it's still brilliant (and even funnier than the fluffy stuff). Honestly, this show is nothing but fluffy, feel good fun. Fluffy.

So in the end, what did I think of the anime series known as Nichijou - My Ordinary Life? It is one of the funniest, cutest, least likely to offend shows I think I've ever seen. It's like a Japanese Looney Tunes: it's just as funny to a ninety year-old as it is to a 4 year-old. I loved the holy shit out of it, award it 12 out of 12 Robotic Keys of Awesomeness, and only wish there were another 26 episodes I could watch. When a dub comes out for this bad boy you can bet your ass I'll be showing it to my nieces and nephews.

And did I mention that one 5 minute silent segment with no talking or sound effects where Mio and Yuko try to build a house of cards despite a destructive sleeping Nano and Mai doing her best to be Mai? Or the time Mio witnesses her worst fear and runs away from it at full-tilt-speed, breaking the school break-out record, flinging herself over the school gates after spinning around the uneven bars 30 times, becoming the best shadow boxer Mr. Gentleman has ever seen, and giving that old lady a piggy back ride while carrying a tour guide flag before jumping into the river for a power swim and rescuing that drowning boy? This show is just plain awesome.

Bitchijou ANGRY AMY

Okay, I was planning to rail this thing a new a-hole sight unseen... But then I accidentally caught 5 minutes of it and then I couldn't stop. It was just too damn cute, and really fucking funny. *Sigh*... I'm guessing that me liking only ONE thing that the Rossman likes too doesn't mean a thing. I mean, a stopped clock is right twice a day, right? And this doesn't mean I have to stop pouring bleach into his gas tank or through his mail slot on his front door, right?

I admit it. Yes, I liked this show. It was lighter than a fluffy cloud filled with kitten dreams, and kookier than a baby monkey trying to ice skate (because the ice is so slippery, and monkeys are all irrational). Blah blah blah. I'm not proud of it.

JOE PESCI

What the fuck?! You fuckin' expect me to fuckin' watch this faggoty goo-gah Japanesey piece of shit girly show and then give a fuckin' review about it? Yous expect me to actually sit down, for like 13 fuckin' hours of my important life and fuckin' watch a little hoowallah pussy show like this cutesy made-for-little-girls show? Little fuckin' girls who wet themselves when a man puts out a fuckin' cigar in their eyeball? Fuck 'em! Fuck 'em all, and may God piss on their fuckin' ashes! Fuck you, you little butt fuckin' fudge packin' sissy boy freaks who watch this fuckin' filth! Fuck yous alls, and I'm goin' back to my mansion and fuck 3 girls at once. Goddamn nancy boys...

Fuck you! I didn' watch this garbage, an' neitha' should yous!