If there was ever a definition for the word "Random" then that title would have to go to Nichijou or My Ordinary Life by Kyoto Animation, the masterminds of moe behind anime such as K-On!, Lucky Star and even Clannad. Although all of these are adaptations of manga or games, Nichijou seems to be one of Kyoto Animations first original animations. Although I enjoyed the first episode thoroughly, something was missing that stopped me from really liking this show as much as I'd hoped to...
EDIT: Turns out this is an adaptation of a manga. Apologies for that.
EDIT: Turns out this is an adaptation of a manga. Apologies for that.
...And that, of course, is structure. Nichijou has no real structure so to speak and for a person like myself who enjoys watching characters/story develop and progress, I feel that this will be absent from the show as Kyoto Animation have gone for a more disjointed comedy following random moments in the life of the characters; Lucky Star is definitely the anime most comparable to Nichijou and I feel that Lucky Star succeeds where Nichijou has failed for me on the first episode. I won't be too quick to judge though, as there is potential for a hilarious, braindead series here on in.
So as you might imagine from my above comments, there is no story to speak of. We seem to be following a myriad of different characters, the main seeming to be our blue-haired moeblob Mio Naganohara. Her character is completely adorable and theres nothing to hate about her, she's just one of these products of Kyoto Animations amazing moefication powers. Mio's main plot seems to be more of school-life humor like in K-On! and parts of Lucky Star. These parts were the highlights of the episode for me, especially the scene where Mio's friend Yuuko Aioi fools Mio into setting of the fire alarm in school.
Our secondary story seems to follow a robot girl, Nano Shinonome, and the professor who made her, Hakase Shinonome. What I don't understand from the first episode is just why we're following these two and this all comes back down to the lack of structure in the first episode, though it was hinted that she may start school and therefore become part of the school life with the other girls. Don't get me wrong, Nano and Hakase had some of the funniest moments in the episode, but it just felt so disjointed that I couldn't quite enjoy it as much as I could have.
Back onto the topic of structure, the show does seem to be set into a series of shorts. One moment we were following the main characters, but then suddenly we had a scene with the grim reaper floating around asking people what "Clueless" means. This is what I mean when I say Nichijou is the definition of random, it is the only word that can fit a situation like that, never mind the students riding goats to school. I don't know if the director and script-writer were high while making the show, but it does make for some hilarious situations and while not all of the comedy quite hit the mark for me, the parts that I did find funny I found very funny.
To make some comments on the art and sound, the soundtrack was catchy and I really liked it. The opening and ending were great, with a little song and dance for the opening which is standard for KyoAni. The art style feels like a mixture between Azumanga Daioh and K-On!, there isn't much detail on the characters to speak of but it works really well for the type of show it is. The animation more than makes up for any dislikes in the art style with some great exaggeration and facial expressions during conversations and a fairly amazingly animated scene of a runaway wiener. The colors are all soft which looks very pretty to say the least. I wouldn't give it any awards for its art style, I've seen better from the same studio.
I highly recommend this show to anybody who really loves the less serious side of anime. It was cute, it was funny, you don't really need to think while watching it and the whole thing has a feel-good attitude to it that could really brighten up your day. To people who may be more into the serious side of anime, if you're curious give it a look as you may be pleasantly surprised, but I would generally call this as unserious as it can get.
Back onto the topic of structure, the show does seem to be set into a series of shorts. One moment we were following the main characters, but then suddenly we had a scene with the grim reaper floating around asking people what "Clueless" means. This is what I mean when I say Nichijou is the definition of random, it is the only word that can fit a situation like that, never mind the students riding goats to school. I don't know if the director and script-writer were high while making the show, but it does make for some hilarious situations and while not all of the comedy quite hit the mark for me, the parts that I did find funny I found very funny.
To make some comments on the art and sound, the soundtrack was catchy and I really liked it. The opening and ending were great, with a little song and dance for the opening which is standard for KyoAni. The art style feels like a mixture between Azumanga Daioh and K-On!, there isn't much detail on the characters to speak of but it works really well for the type of show it is. The animation more than makes up for any dislikes in the art style with some great exaggeration and facial expressions during conversations and a fairly amazingly animated scene of a runaway wiener. The colors are all soft which looks very pretty to say the least. I wouldn't give it any awards for its art style, I've seen better from the same studio.
I highly recommend this show to anybody who really loves the less serious side of anime. It was cute, it was funny, you don't really need to think while watching it and the whole thing has a feel-good attitude to it that could really brighten up your day. To people who may be more into the serious side of anime, if you're curious give it a look as you may be pleasantly surprised, but I would generally call this as unserious as it can get.
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