*To provide the viewer with more in-depth analysis, I have written some spoilers. These spoilers won't really affect the watching experience at all since this show, is not really about the story but the entertainment itself*
Synopsis
In a normal town in Japan, we see the ordinary life of Yuuko Aioi and her friends. Meanwhile, we see the life of a young professor named Hakase Shinonome and Nano, her caretaker and ROBOT? This is no ordinary life, for these characters as we see the random and wacky events of the town. Nano also seeks out to become more than just a robot, but a real girl.
Story
The Story of Nichijou is no ordinary one. There is basically no plot to this series whatsoever. But the overall aspect of this show is provide extraordinary enjoyment to the viewer. We follow a clumsy energetic girl named Yuuko Aioi who just lives life lazily and happy with her friends Mio Naganohara and Mai Minakami.
Although things may seem normal at first, things start to go chaotic as they over-react to many faults in life such as forgetting homework, dropping stuff, and other peoples actions. On the other side of town we follow another life of a young professor named Hakase Shinonome and a robot girl named Nano Shinonome. Nano wants to be treated and be like a real girl and is always updated with new functions by her creator. She is also the caretaker and we see her daily life of handling antics set off by her creator and is encountered with more future events.
The overall story is pretty much a conglomeration of different lives of different characters. The story of Nano is the most thought out since we follow her determination in wanting to be the girl she wants to be (More Info on the Characters Section). Through watching this series, the theme of "Friendship" is well-developed as we see an increase on how close the main characters become to each other. Nano later attends school, meeting Yuuko and her friends.
Her determination for them to treat her like a real girl is really high seeing that she is out in public more. However, her friends seem to not care if she was a real girl or not, seeing Nano as a friend always. A huge life lesson is shown towards Nano as she finally accepts herself as a robot and decides not to get rid of the screw that she disliked ever since she was created. She learns that the screw makes her, herself. Coming from a comedy/slice of life show, this is a surprising twist that came into play that made me shed a few tears on the last episode of the series.
The theme of Nichijou is strong and having a lack of a story is not a major failure since the main premise of the show is to provide some big laughs, entertainment, and tears.
Animation
Animation of Nichijou is expected of their studio Kyoto Animation in providing such amazing animation and with a series as chaotic as this one, they took it and made it into one of the most entertaining shows that I have ever seen. Backgrounds are well-detailed and sharp, shading and shadows are accurate, and characters are designed well. City-scapes, that are usually shown in between skits are absolutely amazing when compared to real-life since they are well-detailed and blended with the many colors.
The main feature to this show that stands out the most is the overreaction expressions done on each character. Each expression is well-done and gives really nice feeling to how the character is feeling. A picture itself won't capture the hilariousness done with their expressions. Here is a video that basically summarizes what Nichijou is all about.
Other than that, explosions, dramatic effects, and some chase/action scenes are well animated making Nichijou's animation one of the many desirable features of this show.
Sound
Nichijou's soundtrack is basic and fits the aspect of what Nichijou is but is not really the standout feature of the sound category. What it is, is the voice-acting and sound effects of the characters. Voice-acting is done amazingly, really filling the character to their name and personality. Their acting when it comes to the overreaction scenes (which most of the cast had to do at least once), are hilarious from moaning, screaming, and more. Nichijou's Openings and Endings are one of my personal favorites. The openings are performed by Japanese Artist named Hyadain, having the first opening be Hyadain no Kakakata kataomoi-C and the second being Hyadain no Jōjō Yūjō. Both openings are very addicting/catchy and overall gives the viewer a big summarization of how this show is going to be. The two ending songs are much more calming than the openings but still are great in their own ways. The first ending song is Zzz performed by Sayaka Sasaki and the rest after is basically songs done by Sasaki and some done by the seiyus of the show, alternating every single episode after 14. Overall, sound is another standout feature of Nichijou.
Opening Songs (Videos)
First Opening
Second Opening
Ending
Characters
The characters of Nichijou is by far, the most impotant aspect of the show since they basically run the show and provide the entertainment overcasting the idea of a layed out story. Yuuko Aioi, the first female protagonist is a clumsy energetic girl who sees every day as another day in life. Her character surprises as she begins to show feelings towards friendship, convincing Nano that she is nothing more than a good friend to her.
This leads to the second female protagonist Nano Shinonome and her supporting character Hakase. Which was mentioned in the "Story" section of the review, Nano is a robot who just wants to be accepted as a normal girl. When attending school later on in the series, she begins to see that her being and screw, makes her, Nano. Which ups the ante in the character development.
Hakase Shinonome, a child professor, is the creator of Nano and serves as the child figure to her deeming Nano as the caretaker of the household and Hakase herself. The relationship between Hakase and Nano is very strong seeing that they love each other very much to the point where some insults brings them to tears. Overall, this relationship is one of my favorites in Nichijou.
Another main character, Mio Naganohara, is one of Yuuko's best friends and has a secret admiration for Yaoi, making her a Fujoshi. Her love for this and determination to keep it a secret sometimes gets her over the edge and over-react intensely. Despite having a strange admiration and hot-headed like personality, she is a caring friend towards Yuuko, Mai, and Nano who acts as a target to the strength of friendship among them near the end of the series.
Other secondary characters include Misato Tachibana, second-year student, who is known for her random draws of over-sized military weapons acting in a "tsundere" fashion towards her crush Koujirou Sasahara. These secondary characters actually give great entertainment and some love relationships throughout the series when shown in between the Yuuko and Nano arcs.
Final Thoughts
Nichijou is a comedy/school life anime with a random plotline, exciting sound, life-like background and wacky animation, and an array of fantastic characters. This series is one of my all time favorites because of how amazing a pointless random show can be through strong character development, catchy openings/endings, and wonderful animation. Being a Kyoto Animation production, Nichijou is even more admirable coming from my favorite anime studio. From watching this show, I felt that the genre of the show and what it's intention is brings out no flaws whatsoever. Unfortunately, the manga sold terribly making the possibility of a second season, zero.
After many laughs and tears, Nichijou will always be a top-favorite to me and will be one to rewatch always with many hilarious scenes and intensely high rewatch value. I give Nichijou a 9.3 out of 10.
~RamkoX12X