Nichijou Episode 23

"Nichijou Episode 23" (日常の第二十三話) is the twenty-third episode of the Nichijou anime. The episode was written by Katsuhiko Muramoto and directed by Kazuya Sakamoto. It aired on September 5, 2011.

Solid First
Yuuko Aioi walks into class and exuberantly greets the classroom. "Good morning!" she cries, raising her right hand, which is noticeably bandaged from her recent dog bite. She then notices that the classroom is entirely empty; she's the first one here! "First!" she notes. After thinking for a bit, she then bends forward with her arms stretched out but curved. "Stag beetle," she says as she moves her arms in and out, imitating the insect's distinctive pincers. Suddenly, Takasaki-sensei enters and asks Yuuko what she's doing. Yuuko quickly stands back up and, face flush with embarrassment, stammers back, "Wh-what are you doing here this early?" Takasaki-sensei explains that he's on duty today. "Why don't you help me take out the garbage?" he asks Yuuko, who is still mortified that she was seen doing something so childish. Takasaki-sensei goes into the hallway, Yuuko following behind as she begs him not to tell anyone. As their voices fade down the hallway, the camera pans back and notes a female student's legs; someone else is in the classroom?! We then see that this student has wrapped themselves up in the curtain by the window. She then spins herself out of it and gives a relieved sigh as it is revealed to be Nano Shinonome. "That was close..." she says.

Part 97
At home, Yoshino Naganohara gets the attention of her sister Mio, who is sitting on the couch reading a newspaper, still in her pyjamas. Yoshino is wearing an apron and has a bowl of something. "I made some jam yesterday," she tells Mio. "Want to try some?" Putting down her newspaper, Mio seems a little surprised. "What's gotten into you?" she asks her older sister. She stands up and puts her hand out for Yoshino to give her a sample of jam. "Well," Yoshino explains, "the other day, I finished off your marmalade." She takes her wooden spoon and plops a little bit onto the back of Mio's hand. "You must be getting a bit more feminine if you're making jam," Mio notes. Yoshino seems a little embarrassed. "Don't make fun of me!" she tells Mio, waving her little spoon back and forth. "Try guessing what kind of jam I made," she tells her sister. Mio gladly obliges, probably grateful that her elder sister seems to be trying to be nice instead of just pulling a nasty prank. "Let's try a little," she says as she licks the jam off the back of her hand.

Mio jumps up in disgust. "Gross!" she howls as she grabs her head, tears flowing in agony. She falls on the floor and begins rolling back and forth as she continues to cry out, "Gross! Gross! Gross!" She stops rolling and thinks, "It's so disgusting, I don't know what I'm tasting!" Yoshino, carrying a steaming hot mug of tea, seems concerned and runs over as quickly as one can without spilling a steaming hot mug of tea. "Here, Mio! Have some Russian tea!" Mio struggles to her feet and, shaking, takes the tea from Yoshino and takes a sip.

"Hot!" she cries immediately, dropping the tea as she falls backward away from it. "Hot! Hot!" she screams, stomping the floor. "It's hot, and it's gross!" She falls on her back and holds her head while kicking furiously and repeating, "Gross! Gross! Gross!" [If you look closely, you can see that Mio has bandages around her ankle where Mai's dog bit her.] Yoshino steps over to Mio acting concerned. "Here, Mio! Cool your tongue with some jam!" she says, and drops a spoonful of the horrid jam into Mio's screaming mouth. Mio flies up off the floor and cries out "Gross!" with more fervor. Standing up, she begins to shake her head vigorously and stomping her feet again. "Gross! Gross! Gross!" Yoshino offers the cup of tea to Mio again, who looks back at her with murder in her eyes. Mio then runs off, crying, "Water!" She runs down the hallway at full speed, light and color distorting as she cries out, "Water, water, water! Water, water, water!" She slides to a stop in front of the kitchen sink. "Water!" she shouts as she lifts the faucet handle and sets her head under the spout, her mouth wide open in anticipation.

But nothing happens. After a moment of waiting in vain, Mio notices a sign taped to the faucet: Water Outage. There's no water! Mio falls back in dismay. Lying head first on the floor, her feet on the counter, Mio shakes terribly. Suddenly, she gets an idea: Milk! She slides over to the fridge and opens the door violently. With a desperate look on her face, Mio spots the carton of milk and takes a deep gulp of it. She makes a terrible face as the horrible taste of rancid jam, not the delicious creaminess of milk, registers; and she took a big swig of it, even swallowing some! As Mio shudders, Yoshino walks up behind her. "Mio," she tells her sister, "I put the leftover jam in there." Mio falls down again.

The carton is then lying on the floor, some jam oozing out of the opening. Mio shudders on the floor. "What is this flavor that causes unmatched revulsion?" she wonders painfully. "It's so gross! Gross, gross, gross, gross..." She struggles to lift her head. As she repeats "Gross!" faster and faster, Mio's life begins to flash in front of her. First, she is a baby crying in a stroller, in a park as the leaves fall. A woman, presumably Mio's mother, picks Mio up. Next, Mio is a toddler, having fun with Yoshino, who is pulling her along as Mio rides a bag with Yoshino's kendo equipment in it. Mio is then an elementary student, standing outside the school near a sign that reads School Entrance Ceremony. Her mother is trying to take Mio's picture, but she's distracted as a bird flies by. Mio then briefly remembers the incident wearing the daifuku mask before remembering her middle school entrance ceremony. She then remembers a time at kendo when Sasahara turns to look at her; a younger Misato Tachibana can be seen yelling at him. Mio then remembers cutting her bangs, and buying her wooden cube hair barrettes from a man on the street. The daifuku incident briefly flashes before Mio recalls when she first met Mai and Yuuko; standing in the classroom, she seems stunned as she sees Yuuko napping at her desk, and Mai playing dharma drop on Yuuko's head. She then remembers Sasahara, riding his goat to school while looking noble. The daifuku pops up again before Mio remembers the box of yakisaba Yuuko mistakenly bought her for lunch. She remembers the kendo assistant instructor giving her advice. The daifuku mask flashes again before she remembers Yoshino placing a shogi piece in her mont blanc. She remembers the daifuku yet again before recalling her embarrassing drawing of a tastefully-nude Sasahara. She remembers the daifuku moment more fully this time. Her memories fade, the mortifying mask moment the last thing she remembers.

Mio suddenly jolts her head up opens her eyes in shock. Yoshino asks Mio if she's ok, still holding a bowl of the horrendous jam that caused all this trouble. "Ok?" Mio asks indignantly. "Am I ok? Of course I'm not ok! Your jam was so disgusting, my life flashed before my eyes!" Yoshino looks at her jam with slight confusion. "I thought it tasted bad," she says, "but I didn't think it would be that strong." Mio stands up and glares at her sister. "Why make something you knew would be disgusting?!" she asks irate. "I thought it would be fun," Yoshino replies with a shy smile. Mio calls her an idiot. Yoshino doesn't seem to care about any of that, instead asking Mio if she could guess what flavor it was. "Who cares!" Mio shouts. "I bet you put rotten fish in it!" Yoshino puts her hand over her mouth in amazement. "Close!" she beams excitedly. She walks over to and opens the fridge, pulling something out. "It's fermented salt-cured horse mackerel jam!" she says as she shows off half a fish. Mio does another face plant. "It stinks!" she cries in aggravation. "That was my first and last fermented salt-cured fish day," she then narrates calmly, ending the scene.

Accident
Sakamoto is sleeping peacefully as Hakase walks into the room. Hakase notices him and gets an idea. She sits down next to Sakamoto and then lies on her back, using Sakamoto as a pillow. Sakamoto is rudely awoken.

Part 98
Izumi Sakurai enters her brother Makoto's room to let him know that their father will be home late tonight, so she's getting takeout. ...Only he's not in his room. His stuff is, though; Izumi is shocked by what a mess Makoto's room is. Bed unmade, books and trash lying all over the place... even his windows have spots on them! She kneels down and begins to at least tidy up a few things, complaining to herself that Makoto never cleans his room, no matter how often she asks him. She picks up a few books and magazines before noticing another magazine poking out from underneath Makoto's futon. She sets what she has picked up back down on the floor and somewhat cautiously pulls out the magazine. On the back is an ad for Helvetica Standard: the Movie. Izumi takes a long gasp as she looks at the cover: a busty woman in a yellow bikini! Izumi gasps again in shock, blushing rather furiously as well. Her heart beating rapidly, Izumi is so shocked she even stutters her thoughts. "I-I-I-I-Is this wh-wh-wh-what I think it is?" Sweating even more than usually, Izumi slowly grabs the edge of the magazine and cautiously begins to open the magazine. She's interrupted, however, as Makoto enters the room and, annoyed, demands to know what his sister is doing in his room; he hasn't seen that she has his magazine. Izumi stops what she's doing and turns to Makoto, wide-eyed and blushing. "You startled me..." she gasps. Makoto angrily tosses Izumi out of his room, telling her, "I told you to stay out!" as she bounces rather adorably into the hallway. She's still holding Makoto's lewd publication. Makoto slams the door shut and shouts through it, "If you come in here again, I'll.. You know! You know!" Izumi meekly apologizes and gives a big sigh. Having completely forgotten about the magazine, she's shocked anew as she notices it still in her hands. Building up her courage, she opens the stag mag. She is absolutely shocked by what she sees, sweating profusely and steaming like tea kettle. Eyes swirling in shock, she quickly shuts the indecent issue and shuts her eyes, blushing wildly. "Right..." she remembers. "I need to scold him today."

Izumi bursts into Makoto's room. "Hey!" she shouts at him. Makoto gets mad and yells at his sister that he's told her not to barge in without asking. Izumi loses all the determination she'd had and timidly apologizes. "And why are you cleaning my room?" Makoto barks at her. "Because you never clean it yourself!" Izumi snaps back. "The layout's perfect the way it is!" Makoto yells. "Just stay out of my room!" he adds as he tosses Izumi out into the hall again. Izumi is upset at first, but then remembers the magazine again. "Mako-chan?" she asks as she tries another approach to entering Makoto's room, but he's not having any of it. "Why do you keep coming in?!" he shouts at her. Izumi puts on the bravest face she can and tells Makoto, "I think you're a little young for this!" as she holds up the magazine.

Makoto is stunned. He takes in the incriminating evidence as Izumi's words echo in his head. Mouth agape (but eyes still shut), Makoto's entire face (and what we can see of his neck and chest) turn red; it may not be possible to be more embarrassed than this. He's barely able to get out, "Y-y-you... I-I-I-Is that..." Makoto and Izumi continue standing awkwardly. Makoto, still blushing from head to toe, finally manages to talk again. "What is that? What are you talking about? That isn't mine," he says, poorly feigning ignorance. Izumi sternly replies that she found it in Makoto's room! "What?" Makoto shouts. "I've never seen that before! Besides, when did we decide this was my room? It might not even be my room!" (A law career does not appear to be in Makoto's future.) "In any case," Izumi cries back, "I think you're too young for this. You shouldn't have this!" Makoto still tries to argue that he doesn't know what she's talking about. "Then I'll throw this away!" Izumi shouts, alarming Makoto. After an awkward standoff, Izumi slowly begins to turn to leave the room. Sweating bullets and taking deep, uneven breaths, Makoto takes one last chance. "That belongs to my club president!" Makoto shouts. Izumi halts in her tracks and looks back in shock as Makoto continues. "You can't seriously consider throwing away someone else's stuff!" he shouts, storming over to Izumi and snatching the magazine out of her hands. "I'm sorry!" she gasps. "I just peeked inside, and it's sort of amazing..." She takes a deep breath and continues. "But you shouldn't be looking at these things yet. You'll become a delinquent..." "Got it!" Makoto exclaims as he kicks Izumi out again. "I won't look at them... So stay out of my room!" He then flops down onto his futon. "This sucks..." he moans. "What does Takasaki-sensei see in her?" Izumi opens the door again. "Mako-chan, are you mad?" she asks, concerned. "Can't you at least knock?" Makoto roars back. "But I thought you might be mad..." Izumi tries to explain. "I'm not mad!" he yells back. "See? You are mad." "I'm not mad!" Makoto yells. "I'm not mad, so get out!" He kicks her out again. "If you don't knock next time, I'll... You know! I totally will!" He plops face down on his pillow. "I want to live alone..."

Izumi begins walking back to the living room, visibly upset. "I messed up today..." she chastises herself; she's swinging her arms rather stiffly. "He claims his room is clean, even though it looks that way. And that wasn't Mako-chan's book, either. But morals at school have gotten pretty relaxed." She enters the living room and sits down at the table. "I have to keep it together at school and at home," she says, putting on a determined face. "I'm the student advisor!" She suddenly remembers something. "I completely forgot..." She gets up from the table. Next thing, she's opening the door to Makoto's room... again. "Mako-chan, I'm ordering some takeout," she says. "How many times do I have to tell you?!" he shouts in frustration.

Guidance Counselor
Izumi Sakurai-sensei is at the Guidance Counselor's office, looking at Yuuko's plans for the future. She's filled out the Current Interests section, but the Hopes for the Future section is empty. Yuuko is sitting stiffly on the couch across the coffee table from Sakurai-sensei, looking like she wants to get out of here as quickly as possibly. "Um, about this Hopes for the Future section..." Sakurai-sensei tries to ask. "Do you have any dreams or goals?" "Oh, yes," Yuuko answers stiffly. She then sits awkwardly, trying to think of something. Sakurai-sensei waits patiently. Yuuko suddenly shouts nervously. "Oh! I'd like to be on TV once before I die!" "Um" that's not what I mean," Sakurai-sensei tells her. "I'm sorry. I guess I didn't ask the question right. Is there a job or career you'd like to pursue?" Yuuko struggles to find an answer. "Oh, um, let's see... Yes, um..." She finally comes up with something. "I'd like to be a teacher like you, Sakurai-sensei!" she tells her with some confidence. This surprises Sakurai-sensei greatly. "Like me?" she asks in wonder. She gasps and begins to blush, tears welling in her eyes. Yuuko is surprised that Sakurai-sensei seems upset. She awkwardly tries to comfort Sakurai-sensei, who's begun to cry and wipe tears from her eyes, moved that she's so inspired a student.

Helvetica Standard
Panting with effort, a relay runner thinks to himself, "This is our sash!" Naturally, he's holding a sash. "It's up to you, Nakamura!" he thinks as he sees Nakamura ready to take the sash; it's from the runner's perspective, and the edges of the scene are whitening, indicating that the runner is near exhaustion. Nakamura begins to run. "This is our last college run!" he thinks eagerly. The first runner jumps forward to hand Nakamura the sash, but can't reach. Nakamura, overly eager, continues running, looking ahead and not noticing that the runner behind him is desperately trying to catch him. Eventually, the first runner collapses. The team manager runs out and puts his coat over the runner's exhausted body. "He's dropping out!" an announcer announces. "Tokisadame University has withdrawn." Devastated, the other members of the team go on to the track to see if their team member is ok.

Untitled
Mai Minakami is reading at her desk at school as everyone takes a break. Mio calls to Nano Shinonome, causing Mai to look up; she sees Mio and Yuuko talking to Nano at Nano's desk. Mio tells Nano that on the way to her house, they ran into Hakase. Dogs attacked them, though. Yuuko asks Nano to tell Hakase that they will come by some other time. Nano agrees. Mai is still watching, evidently listening to their conversation. She blinks.

Part 99
It is raining at school. Makoto Sakurai is talking to Takasaki-sensei, asking him to be the Igo Soccer Club's adviser. "No way! Never!" Takasaki-sensei shouts back, clearly not wanting to have anything to do with advising a club. "What is this?" Makoto asks indignantly. "The other day, you said you would." "When did I say that?" he asks, shocked. Makoto falls back in disbelief. "I can't believe it...," he says. "You promised you'd be our adviser if I could defeat you." Takasaki-sensei is then horrified as he remembers "that one time." "No! We called that a draw due to an injury!" Makoto is disappointed. "I'll tell everyone about your feelings for my sister," he threatens his teacher. Takasaki-sensei grimaces, realizing he's stuck. He gives a defeated sigh and asks Makoto, "Where is your club's room?" Makoto is thrilled. "This way!" he points. Makoto then runs off, excited. "Yes! Today, the Igo Soccer club will really start..." Takasaki-sensei trudges after him, clearly unhappy. "Yeah!" Makoto shouts as the scene freezes and gets all artsy.

Makoto, radiating with ebullience, opens the door to the Igo Soccer Club room and addresses Kenzaburou Daiku. "President!" he shouts. He then shows tremendous surprise; apparently he's interrupted something. Yuria Sekiguchi, blushing slightly, is writing calligraphy on a banner as Kenzaburou looks over her shoulder, probably telling her what to write. A background implying a romantic situation is shown behind them."

"S-sorry for barging in!" Makoto says, embarrassed and waving his arms. "Uh, I brought our new adviser..." Still miserable, Takasaki-sensei walks up behind Makoto. He then turns and runs off, just as Makoto turns to look at him. "H-hold on!" Makoto cries as he runs after him. Sekiguchi and Kenzaburou stare in disbelief. "Looks like he's gone," Kenzaburou finally says. "I was about to go recruit members, too," he adds, disappointed. "I can't properly explain the club without Sakurai..." He sighs and then shrugs it off. "Whatever. It's my club." Sekiguchi looks up at him as the scene pans out through the open door to a bird's-eye view of the school. It then plummets back down through a hallway ceiling, showing...

Part 100
Weboshii and Fe-chan are walking down the hallway. "I'm so nervous..." Fe-chan says, her arms held stiffly at her sides in nervousness. "Why are you nervous?" Weboshii asks. "You're on your way to confess your feelings to this Nakanojou guy, right?" Weboshii gets excited. "Yeah; the punk spirit of this peaceful school! That mohawk is just irresistible." "If not irresistible, it's certainly unique," Fe-chan says as the two round a corner to take the stairs. They are startled as Takasaki-sensei runs up the stairs, almost hitting them. As the stare in disbelief, Makoto then follows. "Teacher! Wait!" As Weboshii and Fe-chan stare up the stairs, dumbfounded, the scene pans out again to show the entire school before zooming in on...

Part 99 (continued)
Makoto has chased Takasaki up onto the roof. Takasaki stops at the fence, knowing he has nowhere to go. Makoto stops to catch his breath. "Hey, Takasaki-sensei... Why did you run? I haven't played such a passionate Igo Soccer game in a long time. I can't imagine anyone else as our adviser!" Takasaki turns his head and mutters vague explanations. "I'm sorry, but I've got... You know... Things... I have things... And stuff... Well, so..." Makoto is shocked. "You accompanied me all the way to the room." He gives a determined sigh. "I have no choice." He reaches into his breast pocket and pulls out a photograph. He shows it to Takasaki-sensei. "After seeing this, can you still refuse?" Takasaki glances backwards at the photo; he then gives out a long cry, as if the photo has tremendous, awe-inspiring qualities... It's a picture of Izumi Sakurai, giving a peace sign and wearing a high school uniform. Takasaki is electrified and snatches the picture from Makoto. "You... This is...!" he cries, so excited he can't make complete sentences. Makoto chuckles. "That's right. It's a photograph of my sister in high school. Well, sensei? What will you do? In exchange for this photo, will you be our adviser?"

Takasaki-sensei is torn. "I-I want it!" he thinks to himself. "I want it so much... But I feel like if I agree, I'll lose something important." He trembles as he begins to answer. "Sakurai..." he begins. He finally begins to hand Makoto the photo. "Sorry, but..." He then pauses. After a brief moment, he begins to slowly put the photo in his suit pocket. "Sounds like a good deal to me!" he grunts. "What am I doing?!" he yells at himself in his head, mortified at what he's just done. Makoto doesn't notice Takasaki-sensei's inner conflict. "Great!" he cries. "Then you'll become our advisor?" Takasaki grimaces. "I'm terrible..." he tells himself. "Such inappropriate behavior for a teacher." He then opens his eyes in determination. "However, while I may be a teacher, I'm also a man." We zoom in on his eyes as flames burn in his pupils, a wolf inside of the flame. "Necessity knows no law!" "Listen, Sakurai!" he yells. "If I'm doing this, we're aiming to be national champions!" Makoto is happy to hear this. "Great! The Igo Soccer club begins today!" "First thing tomorrow, we'll get started!" Takasaki cries back. Down below on the ground, there are several students walking around, carrying umbrellas; among them are Kenzaburou Daiku and Sekiguchi, walking together and carrying the banner they were making. In a direct parallel to the scene where Makoto runs off to the clubroom, Takasaki-sensei cries out, "Yes!" and begins to run, the scene pausing and getting all artsy.

Part 100 (continued)
"This is it," Fe-chan says as she and Weboshii reach room 1-Q. Inside, Haruna Annaka is talking with Nano. "Hey," Weboshii says, getting Annaka's attention, who walks over to the doorway. "Is Nakanojou here," Weboshii asks. "Oh, yes," Annaka answers, turning and calling for Nakanojou. "Nakanojou-kun, someone's here to see you." Nakanojou steps up, revealing his now completely smooth head. "Yes," he says. "Can I help you?" Weboshii and Fe-chan are stunned a moment before they both drop their jaws in astonishment. The two continue just standing there, causing Nakanojou to get confused. "So unappealing..." Weboshii and Fe-chan think in unison.

Like Love
A woman asks her father to check if her applicant ID number for college admission is found on the board. He appears upset, indicating that she was not admitted. She calls from the back, asking what he found out. Instead of responding, he hesitates, then gives an ambiguous signal back by holding his hands in the air in the shape of a triangle. The woman thinks to herself: "Which is it?"

Someone Help Me
Yuuko is sitting at the desk in her room at night, actually working on her homework! She begins to erase an answer, but instead tears her worksheet, almost in half. Yuuko is then downstairs in the kitchen, trying to get tea, only to have the dispenser run out almost immediately. The next day, Yuuko steps on some gum as she's walking down the sidewalk. She then goes to sit on a blue bench, making a soft but alarmingly wet sound; a sign on the far side of the bench is shown, with "Wet Paint" written on it. Yuuko is then at the bike stand, the blue paint obvious on her rear. Yuuko is unamused to find that, not only has someone stolen her bicycle seat, they've replaced it with a stalk of broccoli! Walking her bike home, Yuuko comes across two people flying kites; one is of Pegasus, the other of Icarus. They could probably just fly home. Yuuko is then grimacing as she sits on a train, two children leaning on her as they nap. The scene pans out a little, showing that the two children have plenty of room to lean the other direction, but are still napping on Yuuko's shoulders. The train then comes to a stop. "The train will make a brief stop here," the conductor announces.

Just a typical day for Yuuko.

Part 101
It's still raining as Nano gets home, carrying a plastic bag of groceries; she seems to be in a pretty good mood, but is somewhat surprised as she sees Mai waiting at the door. "Minakami-san," she asks, "what are you doing here?" "I came to play," Mai replies in her usual dispassionate tone.

Nano and Mai are then inside, their wet shoes lying in the genkan. Nano opens the plastic bag Mai was carrying and is awed. "Thank you for all these snacks," she tells Mai gratefully. Hakase then arrives. "She's the one who let her dogs bite me!" she says angrily, pointing at Mai. A few clips from the incident are shown to remind us what happened at the end of last week's episode. "It's definitely her," Hakase says. Nano is surprised, but Mai seems to be unfazed. Feeling a bit awkward, Nano tells them that she'll make them some tea, and leaves the two sitting in the living room, Hakase glaring across the table at Mai, who looks right back with her usual stoicism.

"What are you doing here?" Hakase asks bitterly. Mai turns and opens her backpack, rummaging around a little before placing one of her carved figurines on the table. "Here," is her answer. "What is that?" Hakase asks, still angry at the girl with the dogs. "Yamantaka," Mai tells her. "I don't want it," Hakase snaps back. Mai is somewhat surprised. "But it's cool," she says, picking it up and showing it to Hakase. "It's not cool at all," Hakase replies, laying her arms and chin on the table. Mai looks at the figurine, almost as if to figure out how one could not think it was cool, and then puts it away. She then pulls out a booklet and opens up to a floor plan. "This is interesting," she says. Unimpressed, Hakase asks what it is. "A 36-mat apartment with a living area, a dining area, and a kitchen," Mai answers. Hakase stands up. "That's not interesting at all," she gripes. "No bath, no toilet, and no windows," Mai replies esoterically. Hakase is unimpressed with Mai's penchant for unusual house designs and repeats that it is not interesting. Mai looks at the plans herself and places her fist in front of her mouth in a studious manner; she seems to be having trouble figuring out what a child like Hakase would find interesting. A little bit later, Hakase is lying on the floor, angrily drawing something with crayons. Mai crawls over and asks what she's drawing. "I'm not telling you," Hakase replies tersely. Mai looks over Hakase's shoulder and sees that she is drawing a crude picture of a blue shark. Mai then opens her notebook and pulls out a sheet of paper. Using a pencil, she begins to shade a picture herself. "Here," she says quietly as she shows it to Hakase. "The blue shark," she tells her, showing off her rather impressive shade drawing of a shark. Hakase jumps up to get a better look. She lights up in awe. "It's so cool!" she tells Mai enthusiastically. Mai gasps a little in surprise as Hakase stares at the drawing in wonder. Mai hands it over to her, telling her that she can have it. "Yay!" Hakase cries, eagerly snatching it from Mai. "Hey, draw another shark!" she tells Mai excitedly; her attitude to the girl with the dogs has changed dramatically. Mai agrees to draw another shark. "Draw a smiling shark!" Hakase shouts. "OK," says Mai. "Will you trade with me?" asks Hakase. "OK," says Mai.

Nano then walks in, carrying a tray with tea and snacks. "Thanks for waiting," she begins, but is surprised to see that Mai is gone. She sees that Mai has left a note simply telling her that she's going home. "Hakase, did Minakami-san leave?" Nano asks Hakase, who's very absorbed in the drawing Mai gave her. "Yeah," Hakase tells her brightly, "but I told her to come back and draw more." "I see," Nano says, looking at Mai's note, somewhat confused. "I wonder why she came over," she asks; a rather good question, as Mai is Nano's classmate, and yet the two barely spent any time together. Hakase takes Mai's drawing and parades it around the room in unadulterated joy.

In a beautifully animated scene, Mai walks up concrete steps; a few puddles from the rain have formed, but the sun is now out and shining very brightly. Mai reaches the top of what is apparently a rather long outside staircase. She pulls out a sheet of paper from her bag and looks at it. It's the blue shark that Hakase was drawing! Mai holds it up somewhat proudly and smiles warmly at it, clearly very happy. She then turns around and looks out over the city. A breeze blows through and the scene ends showing a magnificent rainbow.

Short Thoughts
At dusk, Yuuko continues using her fingers to frame a view. She stops and looks like she dips a brush in paint before putting it away and picking up her canvas, paints, and easel without having actually painted a thing all day.

It is a big deal.

Don't Miss It
Izumi Sakurai's graduation photo (voiced by Horie Yui) introduces itself. "When someone sees a photo and says you were cute, doesn't it make you think, 'So I'm not cute now?'" it asks pointedly. The next episode of Nichijou is Episode 24. Don't miss it.

Transitions
After Mio's incident with the fermented salt-cured fish jam, a tree on a riverbank is show, a highway bridge crossing the river a few hundred feet back. Yuuko then walks into view, wearing casual clothes and carrying an easel and painting supplies. She stops near the tree and sets up her easel and canvas.

After Izumi confronts Makoto about his magazine, Yuuko stands at her canvas as she looks for something to paint, framing potential scenes with her thumbs and index fingers. She turns and sees two butterflies fluttering by and appears to think they'd make a good subject.

After Weboshii and Fe-chan discover Nakanojou is now bald, Yuuko picks up her easel and sets it up a few feet to her right and does the finger thing again. A sharp breeze blows through for a second.

Image Gallery
Nichijou Episode 23/Image Gallery