Remember, remember, the Nichijou of 2011

In two years, you’ll be scratching your head and saying, “what was this from, again?”

2009 was not a good year for anime, and many people focused on how bad Haruhi S2 was or on… how bad Haruhi S2 was.  There was really nothing to talk about that year.  That’s exactly how SHAFT boosted out of obscurity and got mainstream attention with a sub-par anime like Bakemonogatari.  It and Eden of the East were the two memorable anime of the year (unless you really liked tea time).  If you included the winter season of 2008/2009, then Clannad After Story and Toradora were up there too.

Which brings me to my point.  Do you remember GA – Geijutsuka Art Design Class?

No, of course you don’t.

It also came out in 2009, and it was completely pushed out of the scene by people ranting about Haruhi S2 and commenting on how deep Bakemonogatari’s black screens were.  I named it my second favorite anime of the year, right after After Story.  But now?  I couldn’t even remember the title of the show.  I had to look through my anime list to find it.

Nobody’s going to forget Madoka Magica.

2011.

Madoka Magica and Steins;Gate were the clear winners this year, with Mawaru Penguindrum coming in at a close third.  Usagi Drop, Hanasaku Iroha, AnoHana, Fate/Zero, and a whole ton of other popular anime came out this year.

And this time, I can’t disagree with the majority.  All of these shows had some kind of appeal to them, and I would rate them at least a 6 out of 10.

So where does this leave Nichijou?

If GA failed to make a ripple in the murky pond of shit 2009 anime, did Nichijou even reach the pristine waters of 2011 anime?  Admittedly, no.  And that’s pretty sad.

If anything, my Nichijou fanboyism has taught me that favorite shows aren’t always the ones everybody else likes.  So while Nichijou may fade into obscurity, I hope that my persistent Nichijou posts have convinced you to at least give it a chance.  And in the future, I hope you will try out anime no matter what somebody else says about it.

If you decide that Astarotte no Omocha is a great anime or Idolmaster is the best anime, I will definitely judge you.  But if you really believe it, don’t give a crap about what I or anybody else could say to you because everybody deserves their own Nichijou.

Or their own Eureka Seven AO.  SO PUMPED.

Moral of the Story

Even if you forget Nichijou, remember that you should watch obscure anime and find one you love beyond human comprehension.

Quote me on that.


35 Comments on “Remember, remember, the Nichijou of 2011”

  1. Vucub Caquix says:

    That’s a good quote.

  2. BTA says:

    For me, 2011 was the year of not actually finishing any anime that aired. I mean, I finished… Madoka and AnoHana, off the top of my head. I’m sure there was more than that. I think… well, ok, there was Tiger & Bunny and Fractale. I should probably actually finish at least Nichijou at some point, of course.

    And I am rather disappointed that you didn’t go with “Nichijou Year” as a title… :p

  3. Taka says:

    I remember GA. I have the OST. Tomatsu Haruka sounded like Noto Mamiko when she voiced the giant glasses wearing lead. Miyuki Sawashiro voiced the tomboy and my favorite character was the girl Noda Miki who kept changing her hairstyle. She is seriously one of my favorite characters ever.

    I won’t forget Nichijou but that’s mostly because of how much I didn’t care for it. Course I don’t readily forget shows that I’ve watched exist, so there’s that too.

    • flomu says:

      Noda was a great character, very funny. I keep picturing her modeling her twin ball hair things.

      … much like Yukko in Nichijou.

      I’m glad you remember GA, though.

      • Taka says:

        I will say my favorite moments from Nichijou involved Mio..mostly kicking the crap out of cops or blimps full of faceless lackeys.

        Also Sakurai-sensei. I dug me somma dat.

  4. 2DT says:

    You never disappoint when it counts. 🙂

    Cheers.

  5. steelbound says:

    I remember GA – Geijutsuka Art Design Class. I was just thinking I needed to rewatch it soon. I liked how it was able to carve it’s own space amongst all the anime series about Art students.

    Nor will I forget Nichijou, it’s a great anime and I think it’s an important step in KyoAni’s future. I’m kinda curious about the reairing of Nichijou that’s coming up; It’s supposed to only run 12 episodes and I wonder how KyoAni will put the show together for a shorter run.

    • flomu says:

      After watching GA, I decided to watch Hidamari Sketch, but the impression I got was totally different. GA could convince you to laugh, whereas Hidamari Sketch tried to pry your mouth open and feed you humor.

      There’s a reairing of Nichijou? Hmm. Sounds interesting, though I’m not sure if we’ll see subs, considering it was a not-very-popular show (but with diehard fans!).

  6. Patchouli says:

    Nichijou is such a masterpiece, how could we ever forget about it?

    Best visuals of the year, best animation of the year, best soundtrack of the year, and a good sense of humor.

    And Astarotte no Omocha was a great anime, simple & efficient, but too many people don’t go past the “loli doing perverted stuff” point, which is far from what the anime actually is about.

    • flomu says:

      Definitely visuals and animation, though I’m sure many would argue against the soundtrack. And many more would contest the humor. But hell, it’s #1 in everybody by my book.

      I was one of those warded off by Astarotte no Omocha. I watched the first episode, though, so maybe I was warded off my Rie Kugimiya instead.

  7. inushinde says:

    I’ll definitely remember Nichijou in a few years, if only for that shrine scene. But hey, this stuff happens. Nobody watched Kino’s Journey, and that’s one of my favorite shows. Shame, really.

    • flomu says:

      Hey, what do you mean? I see that thing on all the must-watch lists, and I watched about half the series before school started this year and ruined all possibility of free time.

  8. Yi says:

    2011 really is pretty stacked now that I think about it, but I wonder if it is more memorable than 2010 (I did really like Tea Time, and Arakawa, OreImo… etc.)

    As for Nichijou… I doubt it will be forgotten, since there are just so many random weird things in it. I’m sure snippets will continue to pop up here and there in the future. In the meantime, I should probably find some time to actually watch it.

    • flomu says:

      I thought 2010 was a pretty lackluster year. Not many big names or good (imo) anime showed up, and even if they did, I don’t remember any of them. 🙁

      Watch it! Don’t deny yourself the tortu- pleasure!
      It may live on in jpegs on 4chan, but besides that…

  9. drmchsr0 says:

    NICHIJOU IS BEST ANIME ALL ANIMES

  10. glothelegend says:

    Nichijou will NEVER BE FORGOTTEN I REFUSE!

  11. Marow says:

    “That’s exactly how SHAFT boosted out of obscurity and got mainstream attention with a sub-par anime like Bakemonogatari”

    I don’t

    “Or their own Eureka Seven AO. SO PUMPED.”

    agree with you.

    Except that part about Nichijou. <3

  12. Mushyrulez says:

    hahahahahahahaha nichijou

    hahahaha

    …hahahahha

    ..

  13. […] Remember, remember, the Nichijou of 2011 […]

  14. Cholisose says:

    Nichijou is my #1 favorite anime of 2011, and easily my favorite anime comedy of all time. I really hope it somehow gets released on DVD. And I wouldn’t mind if the manga got brought over, too–I’d be all over that. I was quite distraught when Bandai dropped its Nichijou licence. (And Gosick too! Just an extra kick in the gut while I was down.)

    I’m not sure why Nichijou wasn’t a smash hit (especially in Japan–HELLO… it has a kawaii robot girl AND a talking cat, not to mention the crispest animation and most energetic music of the year). I think you may be on to something though, in noting how 2011 had a lot of big-time shows that garnered lots of attention. Lots of quality in a wide variety of genres–hopefully this creative trend will continue into 2012.

    Though nowhere near the level of Nichijou’s quality (which is god-tier), a comedy anime I found really funny is Ramen Fighter Miki, which very few people have watched (just 6k on MAL!). It’s on Crunchyroll.

    • flomu says:

      Bandai is terrible. There is a Singapore (?) version of the anime… of questionable quality.

      On Nichijou’s popularity in Japan (from a previous Nichijou post):

      I can see how many fans of the manga would dislike the anime, though. Though the humor is still the same (the anime jokes are pulled from the manga, after all), the manga is -surprisingly – less random. Each chapter shows one scene with multiple gags. The humor is constant and consistent and overall it’s a lot more streamlined. The punchline-less moments the Nichijou anime has become [in]famous for aren’t present in the manga.

      Basically, the Japanese fans of the manga got something they weren’t expecting, and its reputation tanked.

      Furthermore, the humor isn’t really something you would call Japanese, even though there are cultural references (Red Light, Green Light) that English audiences wouldn’t get. The usual tsukkomi-boke humor relies on the straight man character (tsukkomi) to deliberately point out that the behavior of the funny man character is strange or stupid. In Nichijou, you have many jokes without the tsukkomi stepping in to deliver the punchline – there’s no straight man to point out how they’re funny, or when it’s funny. It’s hard to tell when to laugh and when not to laugh.

      But even shows like Yuru Yuri can rely on moe to sell, right? Nichijou did push the Professor into the “moe” position, but there was no otaku-pandering fanservice in the whole show. You don’t see sexualization of any of the characters, nor do you find Mio, Mai, or Yukko endearing. You also don’t have the usual stereotypes in Mio, Mai, etc. They’re actual people for once, instead of rich ojou-sama Mugi/Miyuki or cute little kouhai Azusa or blatant fanservice character Mio (just to name a few more well-known ones). When a show isn’t forcing cat ears and striped panties on you and instead showing a eight-year-old in a frog suit or sleeping on a rabbit pillow, that eight-year-old isn’t “moe,” she’s just “cute.” And that makes all the difference when it comes to merchandise, etc. (Usagi Drop isn’t going to sell figures any time soon.)

      /spiel

      I haven’t watched Ramen Fighter Miki, but I have heard of it. I’ll check it out someday.

      • Cholisose says:

        I guess I can see how the core otaku fanbase in Japan would be disappointed when they saw a “four(ish) girls at high school doing random things” show and were anxious for more of the usual from Kyoto Ani… only to discover Nichijou was actually a series of explosive gags where the mundane is turned unpredictable and melodramatic, rather than… adowable/waifu characters learning life lessons and/or snarky/waifu characters engaging in quirky, relateable antics and from time to time slipping into bouts of (needless) fanservice.

        I rather liked how Nichijou incorporated “cuteness” into the series, though. Skits such as “Like Love” were very sweet, and in a way they acted as a breather from all the constant gags of the other skits. (I feel that’s what the “still” shots were for as well–at least, that’s what I used them for.) But these skits which weren’t focused on humor actually ended up useful for the show’s humor as well on many occasions: Who can forget the Helvetica Standard that had the woman going back to an old library to retrieve her childhood precious memento? It was a skit designed to work against our expectations. Similarly, I quite liked it when it looked like the show was giving another still shot, but it led into a ridiculously huge explosion (with presumably Sasahara-sempai as the victim).

        And of course, the main characters of the series had rewarding payoffs in their subplots that were as charming as can be (eg Nano finally gets to go to school; Mio-chan’s friends giving her the “lifetime friendship” card to cheer her up). Perhaps this sort of thing is less important than the jokes in a comedy series, but I find humor much more enjoyable when I care about the characters (eg I can’t stand comedies full of sarcastic, mean-spirited characters [See: Every sitcom ever created]).

      • flomu says:

        Yeah, “Like Love” was a perfect example of what everybody who didn’t watch Nichijou missed out on. Also, some of the stills had their own little humor, though I interpreted them as… literally a “daily life.”

        As a Nichijou fanboy, I agree with you on all your points. I just realize that not many others can say the same. Playing devil’s advocate: While me and you can laugh at Helvetica Standard, others would be confused. It may be funny, but there’s no real “point” to having the gun in the book. It’s unexpected, but it doesn’t make any sense.

        Nichijou ended with, more or less, a standard “friends are cool” ending. It really fit the whole tone of the show, and I’m glad KyoAni/keiichi arawi didn’t try to stuff in morals and whatnot.

        But yeah Nichijou is fantastic. #1 in humor, #1 in subtle touching scenes, #1 anime of all time. COLD ATTACK!

  15. Noob Man says:

    Just sayin’ that your post is full of win.
    I just watched Nichijou, after finding the second opening (best anime opening ever <3), and I think it's the best KyoAni production. Then I found some scantrads of the manga, which is as good as the anime.
    So, your articles about Nichijou are interesting. You're great.

    PS : And at least, you may find the manga/anime somewhere. I'm french, so I don't think I have any chance to read or watch it in my own language… orz

    • flomu says:

      Thanks!

      There’s a singapore (indonesian?) version of the anime floating around somewhere on the internet, but I’d much rather have a North American release. And with Bandai backing out on their licensing, I don’t think NA has much higher a chance of seeing Nichijou than France!


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