Nichijou Episode 13

"Nichijou Episode 13" (日常の第十三話) is the thirteenth episode of the Nichijou anime. The episode was written by Tatsuya Ishihara and directed by Kazuya Sakamoto. It aired on June 27, 2011.

Prelude
It's another beautiful day at the Shinonome household as Nano hangs laundry outside. Sakamoto wanders out onto the porch with an annoyed look on his face, complaining to himself that he's hungry. He then notices something to his right: a fish, placed in an obvious trap consisting of a big wicker basket, held up by a stick with a rope attached to it. Sakamoto figures Hakase is up to one of her silly tricks again; but he is hungry, and what's the harm? He goes into the trap and starts eating the fish. Offscreen, Hakase then pulls on the rope, releasing the trap. The stick holding it up whacks Sakamoto in the chest and drags him along by his front legs. Sakamoto shrieks in pain. Hakase emerges from behind the corner, gleefully teasing Sakamoto for having fallen for her trap. Sakamoto trembles as he gets up, dismayed. Suddenly Nano appears as she picks up the fish Sakamoto was eating; she says that it was going to be for lunch. Hakase teases Sakamoto, who fires back that she's guilty, too. Hakase and Sakamoto begin to argue, each blaming the other. Nano suddenly overhears another conversation and turns her head to the open gate leading to the alleyway; it's a bevy of schoolgirls, happily chatting with each other on their way to school. Nano watches them wistfully as they go by. Sakamoto takes a second to stop arguing with Hakase to notice Nano as she pines away. Hakase turns to see what Sakamoto is looking at and looks at Nano herself. Sakamoto turns and jumps back onto the porch in order to get closer to Hakase so he can talk to her. He asks Hakase, "Don't you think the girl wants to go to school?," referring to what he calls Nano. Hakase is surprised and takes another look at Nano, still staring. Hakase gets upset and runs up to hug Nano, asking her not to leave her. Nano is surprised and asks Hakase what's gotten into her. She tearfully tells Nano that he said she would leave her. Nano asks who, and Hakase sternly accuses Sakamoto. Flustered, Sakamoto tries to explain that that's not what he said. Hakase turns back to Nano and apprehensively asks if Nano is going somewhere. A little confused, Nano replies that she was thinking of going shopping soon, since they don't have anything for lunch now. Hakase lights up and begins jumping up and down, telling Nano she's going with her; she's forgotten all about Nano leaving her and now wants shark chocolate! But Nano won't buy it for her. The two continue arguing as the camera pans upward and into the sky.

Part 53
Yuuko Aioi enters the classroom and greets Mio Naganohara, though she sounds odd, and we don't see her face. Mio looks up from her newspaper and is shocked. We finally see Yuuko's face, and it's obvious why Mio was surprised: Yuuko appears to be very sick, she can barely stand! Her face is flushed, she's sweating and breathing heavily, and her eyes have lost their expressiveness. Yuuko tries to walk into the classroom, and begins to say that now that you mention it, since she's gotten out of bed this morning... But is unable to finish her thought. Mio is concerned; even Yuuko's speech is broken! Mio tells Yuuko that she looks feverish and asks why did she come to school in this condition? Other students appear to be concerned as well. Yuuko tries to laugh, and gives Mio the shush gesture, telling Mio that she's going to perform the magic trick she'd told her about. Mio is confused; this is the first she's hearing about this trick. Yuuko coughs horribly. Mio tells her that this is no time for a magic trick, but Yuuko weakly objects saying that she practiced. Yuuko begins telling Mio how great her trick will be, but interrupts herself to cough again. Mio tries to get Yuuko to at least sit down, but is suddenly shocked again as she sees a dove sticking its head out of Yuuko's bag! Mio is stunned, thinking to herself that she already sees Yuuko's trick as Yuuko continues coughing. Mio puts on a solemn face and decides she'll pretend she didn't see anything; Yuuko came all the way to school in this condition, so performing this trick must be important to her. The dove continues to bob its head. Suddenly, the dove flies out of the bag and lands on top of Yuuko's head! Mio is astonished and yells at Yuuko in her head that her trick is out in the open. The dove then flies off again; Mio watches it in slow motion as it flies past her, then out the window. Yuuko begins rifling through her bag looking for tissues. Mio turns back to Yuuko, paralyzed in amazement. Yuuko finds the package of tissues, but when she turns and sits to blow her nose facing away from Mio, a magician's wand falls out of her bag and turns into a bouquet of flowers! Mio shouts in amazement with eyes agog. Yuuko gets up and Mio, panicking, grabs the wand and hides it behind her back. Yuuko wearily turns to face Mio and tells her she's going to start now. Mio smiles sheepishly and thinks to herself, What am I doing? She quickly puts the bouquet wand in her desk and sits down. Yuuko sits at her own desk and goes through her bag again, panting as pulls out a deck of cards. Mio thinks to herself that Yuuko hasn't noticed that the dove and the wand are both missing; Yuuko must be really sick. Yuuko pulls out a cigarette and a coin, telling Mio that she's going to pass the cigarette through the coin. It's a trick coin, and the center part that bends back is already open! Mio trembles in frustration, trying not to say anything and just let Yuuko do her trick. She accidentally knocks over the deck of cards, which opens when it hits the ground. The cards fall out, showing it to be a trick deck made only of the Ace of Hearts. Mio is at the point of tears as she sees this. Yuuko, still holding the coin and cigarette, lets out a tremendous sneeze. At this point, Mio is just dumbfounded; she thinks she saw something fly out of Yuuko's mouth and looks up. After a moment, she sees a string of tiny flags, the last one having the Ace of Hearts on it, which she focuses on. The string of flags flutters down as Mio wonders just what kind of trick Yuuko was going to try to do. She grabs the flags and turns to Yuuko. Yuuko's passed out, with her head on her desk. She'd tried to pass the cigarette through the coing, but missed the hole. In pity, Mio grabs the bouquet wand and lays it on Yuuko's desk, telling her to rest in peace.

Part 54
Nano announces that she's off to the supermarket, and Hakase cheerfully volunteers to go with her. Nano puts on her shoes and explains to Hakase that she misbehaved, so she's not going to buy her anything. Hakase, however, thinks Nano is addressing Sakamoto, and teases him: "Poor Sakamoto." Annoyed, he tells Hakase that Nano was talking to her. Nano stands up and faces the two, and says, "Let's go." On their way to the store, Hakase asks Nano what she's going to buy. Then she wonders aloud what she should get. Nano tells Hakase that she's not going to buy her anything today, even if it isn't a snack. They pass a stand selling shark sponge cakes, which is amazing for Hakase: they've taken her favorite thing and made it into a cake! She asks Nano to buy her one. Nano asks sternly, "Did you forget already? Not today." Hakase whines and claims she's actually buying it for Sakamoto. Nano tells her that since Sakamoto also misbehaved, he doesn't get anything, either. Hakase argues that she meant it was really for Nano, she just made a mistake. Staying firm, Nano again says no. "If I give in now," she thinks to herself, "she'll just do this again." She turns to leave and tells Hakase to get going. Hakase gets mad and before you know it, she's on the ground, throwing a tantrum in front of everyone, begging Nano to buy it. The Professor's childish behavior draws attention, and Nano is mortified with embarrassment. Nano shakes her head to clear her thoughts and tells herself that she must steel her heart; she says nothing, and turns around and continues towards the supermarket. Hakase sees this and gets up to follow Nano. Each time Nano looks back, however, Hakase drops to the ground and throws another tantrum; Nano makes herself not give in and turns back towards the supermarket and Hakase follows her again. This cycle happens several times.

Eventually, they're back home, and Hakase has a face of sheer delight, covered in crumbs; clearly Nano gave in. Hakase finishes chewing and declares it, "Delicious!" Sakamoto turns toward Nano, disappointed that she bought the kid something. Hakase grabs another shark cake and starts eating it. Sakamoto thinks to himself that Hakase is always throwing tantrums to get her way; perhaps he needs to scold her. He addresses Hakase and asks her, "Why don't you learn some self-control?" Hakase enthusiastically tells him that she already has, much to Sakamoto's consternation. Outside, the laundry on the line drifts gently in the breeze as the male narrator announces that the Shinonome household passed another peaceful day.

80-point Mongolian
Yuuko proudly holds up her Japanese literature quiz with a big 80 double-underlined in the top right corner: she scored an 80! Yuuko beams with pride; Mio is surprised, and congratulates Yuuko for her relatively high score. If Yuuko really tries, she can do it. Yuuko fold up her quiz and places her hand on the back of her head in embarrassment. Mio asks Yuuko, What's the secret behind her high score? Yuuko starts playfully chopping her hands down on Mio's shoulders, telling her there's no secret. Yuuko's celebratory whacks get harder and move towards the side of Mio's neck as Yuuko starts chanting "80 points" in joy. Mio tries to tell Yuuko to stop, but she's not listening; Mio finally loses it and yells at Yuuko to cut it out.

Secret
Mio is back at her desk, rubbing her shoulder in pain where Yuuko hit it. Still jubilant, Yuuko asks Mio if she wants to know what the secret to getting 80 points is. Mio tells her she doesn't really care; she got a 96. Yuuko continues anyway. Imitating a boxer who has impressive footwork, Yuuko says that scoring an 80 takes tremendous effort... She "punches" Mio very lightly on the chest and keeps her fist there before adding ...and heart. Mio just says "ugh."

A Little Miracle
In extreme slow-motion, Takasaki-sensei reads off Yuuko's name on her quiz as he hands it back to her. She grabs it, eyes held shut in trepidation over what her score will be. She forces her eyes open just slightly to take a peek, but suddenly (though still very slow-motioned) opens her eyes wide and lets out a "huh?" as she stares at her paper in disbelief. She blinks and lets out a long, "What?", blinking again in astonishment. She then slowly jumps for joy while shouting "hooray!", albeit with her feet still on the ground. The view zooms in. What was Yuuko so excited about? She got 80 points on this quiz.

Reality
The Vice-Principal's daughter has come over to make him dinner while his wife is still away. The Vice-Principal is happy; he'll play with his grandson Mi-chan and forget his troubles. However, when the Vice-Principal asks his grandson what he'd like to do, Mi-chan just asks his grandfather for his official seal, which surprises him. Mi-chan begins pestering his grandfather for his seal, and even starts looking for it, opening drawers and the like. Dispirited, the Vice-Principal thinks to himself, "This is worse than reality."

Helvetica Standard
A boy in a red baseball cap waits impatiently. His friend runs up to him with an apologetic look on his face and stops to catch his breath. The first boy yells at him for being late; what time did he think he was supposed to get there? The second boy apologizes, telling him that he wanted to get on the bus, but instead went with the flow. The first boy falls on his face in exasperation and actually begins to move forward using his face in an infinite series of face faults. He thinks to himself that they should keep going all the way to Okachimachi.

Part 55
It is night at the Shinonome house, and a terrible storm is brewing. The metal cowl at the top of the chimney is being knocked around by the wind, causing a racket. Nano is a sleep inside, but Hakase is still awake, scared of the noise being made by the chimney. She tries to talk to Nano, but is dismayed to find Nano fast asleep. Hakase gets out of bed, grabs her pillow, and tries to get in bed behind Nano, but can't: Nano's key is in the way. Hakase walks over to Nano's other side, only to find Sakamoto sleeping there. Frustrated, Hakase wakes up Sakamoto and drags him onto her own bed; now she can cuddle up with Nano. The storm continues to worsen, and Hakase still can't sleep. Suddenly, she realizes she has to go to the bathroom. She turns to Nano and tries to wake her up, and Nano groggily asks her, "What is it?" Hakase tells Nano that she has to go to the bathroom and wants her to come with her, but Nano doesn't do anything at first. She then laughs, and says, "No, Hakase.", and giggle, Hakase then says "What?", Nano then replies "Borscht is a food!" She's talking in her sleep. This surprises both Hakase and Sakamoto. Hakase continues to try to get Nano to take her to the bathroom, but she doesn't wake up. Sakamoto begins to get annoyed. Hakase gives up on trying to stir Nano and lies back down. Irritated, Sakamoto yells at Hakase to just go herself; this startles her, and it is implied that she wet herself. Sakamoto asks, but Hakase tells him it was only a little bit. Sakamoto tells Hakase that she should hurry up and go the bathroom, but she just sits there, afraid of the noises from the worsening storm. She finally decides she's going back to sleep, lying down and pulling up the covers. The male narrator announces that, kindly, Sakamoto decided not to say anything.

Sakamoto lets out a frustrated sigh and thinks to himself that kids are hopeless. He decides that he'll take Hakase to the restroom, which should remind her just how grateful she should be to have Sakamoto around. Sakamoto addresses Hakase and tells her that he'll go with her, but quietly responds that Sakamoto is small and weak, so he doesn't have to. Sakamoto is mortified by this statement, losing all color and becoming stiff as a board. After a moment of tense silence, Hakase turns and looks at Nano's sleeping face; whatever Nano is dreaming about, it's making her very happy. Hakase remembers back to that morning, when Nano was watching the schoolgirls and Sakamoto told her that Nano wants to go to school. Hakase is worried and begins queitly crying to herself. At this point, Nano begins to stir. Hakase tells Nano they should go to the bathroom together. When Nano says that she doesn't have to go, Hakase admits that she's scared and needs Nano to go with her. The two get out of bed. Sakamoto, still sitting on top of them, continues to be petrified as their movements jostle him around.

The storm is really bad now as Hakase holds Nano's hand while they heads toward the bathroom. She says she hears banging, but Nano tells her it's just the chimney. Nano comments on how hard it's raining; suddenly there is a flash and Nano stops in her tracks. Hakase asks what's wrong, and suddenly lightning strikes nearby. Nano drops to her knees, holding her head and trembling in fear: She's terrified of thunder. Hakase comforts Nano. Nano turns the light on and tells Hakase to hurry up so they can get back to bed, still quivering. Hakase tells Nano that it's scary to go alone, but it's okay when she's with Nano. Nano agrees. Hakase then begins thinking, and asks Nano: Does she want to go to school? Nano is surprised at first, but then answers that she'll stay home with Hakase. Hakase says that Sakamoto had told her that Nano wanted to go to school, and Nano begins to admit, "Well..." Before she can continue, lightning strikes the chimney. Both Nano and Hakase are completely startled. After a moment, they look at each other, still in awe. They then look down at Hakase's crotch and are surprised and embarrassed: That huge bolt of lightning has made Hakase wet herself. Perhaps a visual metaphor, the scene ends with a view of their downspout, with water pouring down it.

Things We Think Are Cool
Yuuko triumphantly holds up her quiz and joyously shouts out, "80!" In the back, Mio is annoyed.

Short Thoughts
A wave sweeps onto a beach. Nearby is a patio with a chair and a table, on which is a recently finished tropical drink and a newspaper. The female announcer states, "A month passes quickly, but Sunday seems so far away." Isn't that true.

Elated
Yuuko continues to be ecstatic over her high grade. "Next stop, 80 points!" she jokes, "please exit on the right!" Sitting in front of Yuuko, Mio continues to be annoyed, wishing Yuuko would just shut up already. Yuuko giggles and tells Mio that she'll sing her an 80s number for 80 points. Mio again groans in annoyance. Yuuko then begins chanting, "80 points, huzzah!" and starts whacking Mio in the shoulders again. Mio finally loses it and yells at Yuuko to Go to hell!

Eden
The entire class is looking over ther quizzes; most of them seem pretty happy. Takasaki-sensei tells the class to quiet down because he's going to announce the class' average score on the last quiz. Yuuko is still extremely happy. When Takasaki-sensei announces that the class score was 92, Yuuko is devastated. Mio turns around and tries to offer sympathy, but Yuuko snaps back at her, "Don't!" She puts her hands to her face and miserably continues, "Just don't..." Poor Yuuko. Outside the window in the distance is the dove Yuuko had brought to class earlier, in Part 53, sitting on a roof. The view zooms in on the dove, who cockily bobs its head twice and then flies off, almost as if it's enjoying seeing Yuuko's comeuppance.

Untitled
It is yet another nice day outside Shinonome Labs. Nano is taking laundry off of the clothes line, putting them in a large pile on the deck. Sakamoto sleeps peacefully next to it. Suddenly, Hakase comes running in. Sakamoto turns to see her just as she takes a flying leap, headed straight for him! Sakamoto can tell that this won't end well. Hakase slams into Sakamoto head-first, sending him, and the clothes, flying. Sakamoto is angry, but Nano just seems emotionally exhausted as she asks Hakase to stop playing around and to help her fold laundry. Hakase removes the towel that had fallen on her face and cheerily announces to Nano that, starting tomorrow, Nano can go to school! Nano at first is a little confused. As Hakase's words sink in, Nano is stunned; with cautious optimism, Nano asks, "Really?" Hakase nods in confirmation. Almost overwhelmed with surprise and joy, Nano asks Hakase, "Why? What's gotten into you?" Hakase stands up and strikes a dignified pose, hands held behind her back, and tells her, "It's the right thing to do." Nano shouts out and jumps for joy. Hakase then tents her fingers, chuckles, and wickedly thinks to herself, "Now I won't get scolded for eating lots of snacks at lunch." Ulterior motives aside, Nano is heartwarmingly happy. Still over the moon, Nano turns and points to her key, telling Hakase that she can't wear an elementary school bag with it on her back. Hakase tells Nano that she'll actually be going to high school. Nevertheless, Nano tells Hakase that she won't be able to go to school with the key in her back, but before she can finish her sentence, she trails off, amazed by what she sees: Hakase, holding up Nano's very own school uniform. Nano trembles with anticipation as she stiltedly makes her way over to Hakase and her uniform. She then jumps to hug Hakase, her sandals falling off her feet in slow motion. With sheer exuberance, Nano hugs the Professor and tells her that she loves her. Hakase then starts chanting Nano's name, and Nano responds in kind. The two take turns happily chanting each other's name as Sakamoto looks on with befuddlement. Sakamoto takes a sigh, turns around, sits down, and looks off into the sky as Nano and Hakase continue their lovefest. The view pans out of their yard; Yuuko's dove flies across the screen and then off into the distance. That'll warm the cockles of anyone's heart.

Don't Miss It!
The string of international flags (voiced by Ogata Megumi) from Yuuko's failed magic trick introduces itself. It tells us that people often as if it is a string of international flags, or the flags of all nations, but both are correct. "Don't worry about the small things," was the last thing its father said. The next episode of Nichijou is Episode 14. Don't miss it.

Transitions
After Hakase tells Sakamoto that she does have self-control, a printer prints several copies of what looks like the back cover of a manga.

After the Vice-Principal finds something worse than reality, the printer keeps printing. One page in the feed already has something on it.

Image Gallery
Episode 13/Image Gallery