Nichijou Episode 15

"Nichijou Episode 15" (日常の第十五話) is the fifteenth episode of the Nichijou anime. The episode was written by Taichi Ishidate and directed by Noriyuki Kitanohara. It aired on July 11, 2011.

Summary
Yuuko Aioi, Mio Naganohara, and Mai Minakami run various tests to see if Nano Shinonome is a robot. Suspecting that other are being suspicious, Nano tries to plead to Hakase to get her robotic features removed. Nakamura-sensei tries to kidnap Nano for research purposes. Takasaki-sensei has series of misunderstanding of relationship between Izumi Sakurai and Makoto Sakurai.

Part 59
In room 1-Q, Yuuko giddily announces, "I bet she's really good at doing math in her head!" Mio asks who. "Nano-chan!" Yuuko replies. Mio looks at Nano, sitting at the front of the class with her key sticking out of her back, straight at them. Mio turns her head back to look at Yuuko again, who continues: "She's a robot, so she ought to have some robot-like functions." Mio waves her off, asking her what she's talking about; there's no way Nano is a robot! Yuuko asks, "What? But she has that key on her back!" Mio is a little surprised; that's the only thing that makes Yuuko think Nano is a robot? That's ridiculous. Yuuko is taken aback, but begins arguing again. If Mio just thinks about, Nano is a robot! A toy robot, somewhat less sophisticated than Nano, walks across the screen. Yuuko pumps her fist and declares, "It's amazing! It's, you know... amazing!", pumping her fist again. Incredulous, Mio tells her that's not a reason at all. Yuuko sort of agrees, telling Mio that that is why she's thinking they should find out if she really is a robot. Mio tells Yuuko they shouldn't do that, but Yuuko tells her not to worry: She has a plan!

*** Nano is reading a book at the front of the class when she is startled by Yuuko sing-songingly calling her name. Nano turns to find Yuuko and Mio standing right next to her desk. Grinning duplicitously, Yuuko tells Nano that she has a question. Mio watches Yuuko, trying to figure out what her "plan" is. Nano blinks audibly. Yuuko proceeds to pose her question: What is 3260 plus 260, divided by 320? Nano is stumped. Trying to act nonchalant, Yuuko mutters that if the math is too hard for her (cough, cough), Nano could use all of her functions (cough, cough). Mio is astounded; THIS is Yuuko's plan?! Nano tells Yuuko that she accepts her offer. An ocean wave appears, and several fish on hooks are pulled out as Yuuko and Mio are surprised; got her! But then Nano pulls out an abacus. The fish have their lines cut as Mio and Yuuko cry out in despair, "It's an abacus!" Nano clears her abacus. Mio and Yuuko are stunned: she's serious! Nano begins counting, having some trouble doing so. Mio and Yuuko are taken aback, and stutter out, "Sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-she's a beginner!" Nano then gives up using the abacus and takes out a pencil and paper. "She's not even using the abacus!" they shout to themselves; Yuuko's passes out, surprising Mio when she hits the ground. Nano notices this, too, and calls out for Yuuko in concern, though addressing her by her last name (Aioi-san). Mio bends down to see if Yuuko is ok and helps her up. Feeling defeated, Yuuko limply hangs off Mio and admits she has a feeling Mio was right. Concerned, Nano reaches into her bag and offers Yuuko something to drink. She sets out her thermos onto the desk. Mio and Yuuko are surprised again, wondering: Is that... Could it be? Could it really be oil?! The toy robot from before holds a can of oil and drinks out of it heartily. It turns out to be soup, though, flooring Yuuko. Nano is concerned about this. Mai then walks in and stands in front of Nano, carrying a plastic bag. She reaches inside and places a can of machine oil on Nano's desk and simply says, "Here." Mio and Yuuko are shocked; Mai's thrown Nano a real fastball! Nano accepts the oil and picks it up. Mio and Yuuko are both full of anticipation; will Nano actually drink it? Nano puts the oil in her bag, however, upsetting both Mio and Yuuko, who hold up cardboard signs with the letter K on them. With tears running down her face, Yuuko cries out that it was a swing and a miss. Nano then places a monkey wrench on Nano's desk, telling her she can have it, too. Yuuko and Mio are again surprised: Mai's thrown Nano a curveball! Nano picks up the wrench and gladly thanks Nano, even telling her that she needed this. Mio and Yuuko are again on edge: Will Nano eat actually eat it?! Nano puts the wrench in her bag, too, and Mio and Yuuko again glumly hold up K signs. "Another swing and a miss!" Yuuko cries. Nano looks around at Mio, Yuuko, and Mai, somewhat confused. Mio regains her composure and tells Mio and Mai to cut it out, already, tossing her K sign away. They're bothering Nano! Mai tries to pass it off as some kind of bonding while Yuuko rubs the back of her head in embarrassment and tells Mio that she just wanted to be friends with Nano. Mio chastizes Yuuko, telling her this isn't the way to make friends. If anything, it will make Nano hate her! Yuuko apologizes meekly, but Nano tells her not to worry about it. Mio's a little surprised by how kind and understanding Nano's being. Nano grabs the soup she poured and tells them that if they won't be needing it, she'll drink it. While Mio and Yuuko continue to bicker, Nano lifts the thermos lid to her mouth and drinks the soup, but there's soon an odd thud, surprising her. Nano wonders to herself, did her tooth come out? She reaches into her mouth and pulls out a screw. She looks at it and, seeing what it is, hurriedly jams it inside her bag with tremendous force and speed, knowing that anyone who saw that would know she's a robot. Nano quickly glares up at Mio and Yuuko, making sure neither of them saw. She then turns to Mai... who is recording her on digital camera. Mai makes no expression, but Nano is mortified. The toy robot dances around a little bit.

Part 60
The scene begins with a lit benson burner being removed from underneath a glass beaker full of a transparent chemical. Kana Nakamura puts the lid on the burner and begins an internal monologue. She wants to know how someone could create something of such high quality. Using tongs, she grabs the steaming beaker and pours it into a coffee filter; it was water, and she's just making herself some coffee. She mentions Nano Shinonome, who she says transferred to the school the other day. She grabs another beaker now full of coffee and pours it into a coffee mug. "That presence," she continues; "That key." It is revealed that she is wearing a lab coat and is in the high school laboratory. "She must be a robot." As she begins to drink her coffee, she continues, asking herself who would build something so sophisticated, and yet not only refrain from announcing her existence, simply send her to high school instead? "Examine her... I want to examine her! And I want to make her mine." Oh my.

Nano then slides the door open, holding several volumes of a series of books. Nano greets Nakamura-sensei, telling her that she's brought the books she asked for. Internally, Nakamura-sensei is anxious; now that Nano is here, she can make her move! Nano places the books down on a table and politely bids Nakamura-sensei adieu. Nakamura quickly tells Nano to hold up; she discreetly poors her mug out into one of those chemistry sinks that are huge and offers Nano a cup of coffee. Nano tells her that she wouldn't want to trouble her, but Nakamura tells her not to be shy; she just made some. She says she wants to thank her for bringing her those books. She discreetly pulls out a little yellow packet with a smiley face on it, ripping the top off. Not realizing she's in danger, Nano politely tells Nakamura-sensei that she'll have just one, then. Nakamura-sensei pours the white powder from inside the packet into the coffee beaker and stirs it around. She thinks to herself, "First, I'll see if tranquilizers work on her. If not, I'll sic my Short Circuit-kun on her." She pours the drugged coffee into the coffee mug, then pours some more into a green cup and offers the cup to Nano. "Drink up." Nano takes it and thanks Nakamura-sensei, and then begins drinking it! Nakamura-sensei chuckles deviously to herself. She then raises her mug of coffee and takes a drink of it herself... coffee which she'd laced with tranquilizers to knock out Nano. She quickly begins feeling it; Nano has drinken much more and seems to be fine. Nakamura realizes what she's done and thinks to herself, "I drank it!" She begins to stumble; leaning against the table, she tells herself to endure it. Endure it! Nano finishes drinking and places her cup on another table, politely excusing herself as Nakamura tries desperately to stay conscious. Nakamura feebly thinks to herself that she still has Short Circuit-kun as she watches Nano walk away in an increasing blur before losing consciousness.

Back in room 1-Q, Mio turns to Yuuko, having suddenly remembered something. "Oh, right," she says, "I heard that Nakamura, the science teacher, fainted." Yuuko replies, "Nakamura seems to faint a lot."

Part 61
Walking home from school, Nano is passed by two boys who are chasing each other around with their toys, as children do. One has some sort of feathery dragon, the other a Transformer-esque robot. Nano watches them go by before sighing heavily to herself. "Today was a close call," she thinks to herself. "Both Aioi-san and Minakami-san seem really nice. Maybe we could..." Her thoughts are interrupted as the boys return, with one telling to other, "Eat this! Rocket punch!" His robot toy then launches its fist at the other's monster... much like how Nano's hand has flown off at inconvenient times. Nano watches in surprise as the two have their toys fight each other. She then has a rather depressed look on her face, her eyes dull and joyless. She closes her eyes and gives another depressed sigh before walking off.

Back home, Hakase is sitting a swivel chair, turning as Nano calls her. "Oh, Nano, welcome home!" Nano enters the room, and Hakase repeats her welcome. Nano is a little confused: "Why did you say that twice?" Hakase just sits there, smiling. Nano tells her to forget it; she turns around to show her key to the Professor and asks her, "Please remove this..." Hakase seems stunned and asks why. "'Why?'", Nano repeats as she sits at the table. "Because it's hard to sit in chairs, and everyone gives me weird looks. Someone even videotaped me. But so far, I've manage to fool everyone." Hakase kicks her feet happily, telling Nano that the key is cute, though. "As long as I have this key," Nano continues, "nobody's going to treat me like an ordinary girl." Hakase cheerily reassures Nano that she's sure the key will be popular. Frustrated, Nano tells her that she doesn't care if it's popular; "I just wants to have an ordinary--". While talking, she tries to lift her arm out from underneath the table, but she bangs it on the edge, causing her hand and wrist to just fall off, leaving Nano speechless. She looks at what would be a bloody stub for most people, in complete disbelief to find she's been weaponized. She can't do anything other than point at it and stare at the Professor for some kind of explanation; she just places her hand behind her head and sticks out her tongue in the classic Japanese "Silly Me!" gesture. Exasperated, Nano aims her gun hand at Hakase and begins firing, pelting her with... soybeans. Nano finishes, gasping in frustration as Hakase lies on the floor, having been beaned with beans. Crying a little, Nano asks, "Why did you give me this weapon?" She's just glad this didn't happen at school. Hakase turns her head to look at Nano and asks her," Why don't you want anyone to know you're a robot?" Nano replies that being a robot is not cute, of course. This upsets the Professor, who shouts back, "Robots are cute!" She sits back upright and the two argue over the cuteness of robots. Nano begins listing some of the weird modifications Hakase has made to her over the years, with Hakase replying "It's cute!" to each one. At wit's end, Nano calls Hakase a mad professor. Nano begins to get really mad, hollering that she just wants to be ordinary, and slams her good hand on the table in anger and emphasis; it then pops off, and a tube of chikuwa plops out. Nano then smiles and says, "Yay! Chikuwa!" Beaming, Hakase smiles back and adds, "Chikuwa is delicious!" Nano is then suddenly firing beans at the Professor again.

Still lying on the floor, Hakase pulls out a pocket watch, which is seconds away from striking the hour. She counts down until it does. At this point, a bird like one finds in a cuckoo clock bursts out of Nano's forehead, announcing that it's four o'clock. Nano again bombards the Professor with beans. Two pieces of toast then pop out of the top of Nano's head, and she yet again unleashes a barrage of beans, littering the room in legumes.

Daifuku Fair Part 1
A man wearing the daifuku costume is one the sidewalk, drumming up sales. "Hey! We've got daifuku! They're cheap. We've got daifuku!" The man running the stand calmly walks up to him. "Mr. Nakanojou, I can't thank you enough!" the first man says to him. Nakanojou then suddenly punches him in the daifuku with tremendous force. "Daifuku do not speak!"

Daifuku Fair Part 2
The man in the daifuku costume sits on the ground, telling Nakanojou, "I'm sorry, but I don't just wear this half-heartedly!" He stands up and with great determination, shouts out, "I'm betting my life on this--", interrupted as Nakanojou again punches him. "Don't make me say it again!"

Nakamura-sensei, Short Circuit-kun
Nakamura-sensei is in the science lab again, chastising herself for making such a foolish mistake as she reaches for a cup of coffee. She thinks to herself that she should have known she tranquilizers wouldn't work. Nano is a robot, so it will take a strong blow to knock her out. She then whips out her currently untested, anti-robot weapon, Short Circuit-kun! She walks towards the door as she thinks, "I'll use this to knock her out, and then I'll kidnap her." She stands flat against one of the doors, waiting for the other to be slid open. Suddenly, the door slides open and someone steps into the room; Nakamura takes her Short Circuit-kun and quickly jams it into the side of the person who just entered, electrocuting them. As it turns out, it's not Nano, but Tsuyoshi Nakanojou, who cries out in pain. Nakamura finally turns her Short Circuit-kun off, watching as Nakanojou falls to the floor, paralyzed with his arms stretched out, his mouth open, and his eyes not showing. Nakamura just stands there looking at him for a minute, not showing any concern over this student's welfare. She then rushes out of the classroom, crying out "Run!" as she dashes to safety. Nano, carrying a stack of books, sees her and calls out for her; Haruna Annaka is also walking by and turns to see Nakamura run off.

Part 62
Sakurai-sensei is in the school hallway, telling a student to button their shirt up all the way. Makoto Sakurai tells her to pipe down; he'll do what he wants! Sakurai-sensei upbraids him for talking that way to the student advisor. Makoto replies, "Seriously? How'd you manage that?" Sakurai-sensei tells him he's being rude and moves to button up Makoto's shirt for him. As she does so, we see Takasaki-sensei hiding behind the corner, watching in disbelief. Makoto tells Sakurai-sensei that he'll button his own shirt. Stunned, Takasaki tries to figure out what he's seeing as a bead of sweat rolls down the side of his face. Sakurai-sensei struggles with Makoto, telling him he can't do it by himself while calling him Mako-chan. Takasaki-sensei frets over this; "Mako-chan"? Makoto struggles to get away from Sakurai-sensei as she tries to button up his shirt. He asks her, "What are you doing? Stop it!", and she replies, "Just let me do it." In amazement, Takasaki lingers on how this student referred to his teacher with a very familiar form of you (お前 omae). Makoto resists, telling Sakurai-sensei, "Don't talk to me so much at school." Because Makoto continues to struggle as Sakurai-sensei tries to button his shirt, she accidentally pops the button off entirely. Blocks of the word "talk to me" (絡む - からむ karamu') fall on Takasaki's head. "What exactly is your relationship," he thinks, trembling in paranoia. Sakurai-sensei bends down to pick up Makoto's button, who brushes her off, telling her he's got stuff to do. Sakurai-sensei tells Makoto to hold up, adding that if he walks around looking disheveled, people will make fun of him. Annoyed, Makoto looks back and says, so? She always looks disheveled at home. Takasaki-sensei repeats "at home" and suddenly imagines Sakurai-sensei elegantly wearing a pink China dress while standing in a field of bamboo in front of some misty mountains. He stammers, "dis..dis...dis...disheveled!" In his imagination, Sakurai-sensei blinks sweetly at him. He then cries out, "Disheveled! Great!" and punches the air; "Yes!" He suddenly grabs his head and begins berating himself for thinking that Sakurai-sensei in a China dress is somehow "disheveled". Is he stupid? A china dress is completely shevelled! He thinks that it must be a more ordinary kind of disheveled. He again wonders if he is stupid, asking himself if he isn't embarrassed to call himself a teacher. Disheveled in an ordinary way... Suddenly, he imagines Sakurai-sensei taking a bite of a cookie and turning on her television. She's sitting on the floor of her bedroom, which is quite cluttered, wearing a white button-down shirt, much like the one Makoto and the other male students wear... and no pants. Takasaki-sensei again punches the air, blushing this time as he declares, "Nice!" He then beats his chest, telling himself, "Enough, you idiot!" Meanwhile, Makoto tells Sakurai-sensei that he's had enough of this and turns to leave. Sakurai-sensei tells him he forgot his button and goes to follow.

This Is Oguri Cap
Showing a marked contrast in personalities, Mai Minakami stands on the riverbank, not showing much enthusiasm, while her larger brown dog, apparently named Oguri Cap, zips around her on his leash, full of energy. He then runs down into and dives into the river as Mai turns her head to watch. The dog then pops its head out of the river. Mai just stares at him. He turns back around and swims to shore.

Part 62 (continued)
As Sakurai-sensei follows Makoto, Takasaki-sensei watches them leave, trying to figure out the relationship between these two. Suddenly, Haruna Annaka comes running up in a panic, calling for Takasaki-sensei. She tells him that Tsuyoshi Nakanojou has fainted in the science room! This surprises him greatly. Annaka continues, telling him that he must hurry. Takasaki-sensei has a worried look on his own face; if he tends to Nakanojou, Sakurai-sensei and this male student will walk off and he'll never know what's going on! He is especially dismayed when he sees Sakurai-sensei grabbing Makoto's hand in a familiar way as she tries to get him to turn around. With a look of desperation, he stumbles and falls back onto the wall, trying to figure out what to do. He closes his eyes and grits his teeth in determination, telling Annaka to listen closely. He shouts out, "Nakanojou did not faint!", causing her to cry out in confusion. "That's right," he continues. "He might just be taking a nap!" Annaka again cries out, "Eh?!" She insists that Nakanojou's pupils aren't visible, causing Takasaki to "Eh?!" in kind. He offers Annaka a black marker and tells her to draw his pupils in, which Annaka finds disturbing. She then takes the marker and meekly tells him, "I'll try it." Takasaki responds in disbelief. He reaches for Annaka, telling her to hold on. He points to Sakurai-sensei fussing over Makoto and demands that Annaka tell her what the meaning of THAT is. With spiral eyes and seeming to be nearing the edge of sanity, he roars that "Immoral sexual activity requires my attention more than an unconscious student, as a... uh, as a teacher!" Annaka timidly tells Takasaki that he is Sakurai-sensei's younger brother. Regaining his composure, Takasaki-sensei gives a thumbs-up and tells her, "Let's go." As Annaka watches on in shock, Takasaki bends down on the ground in a runner's pose and begins to dash off, thinking to himself, "We should hurry. After all, I am a teacher." He starts running incredibly slowly, however; Annaka then points down another hallway and shouts after him that the science room is this way!

Like Love
A bunch of high school boys are playing baseball. A similarly-aged girl is sitting on a folding chair nearby keeping score; she takes the towel draped around her neck and wipes some of the sweat on her cheek. One boy walks by on his way to take an at-bat and casually places his baseball cap on the girls head, giving her some shade. The girl stares after him before looking back down at her clipboard. She pulls the cap down to cover most of her face, but we can still see a small smile and a hint of blushing.

Take Home
Yuuko is riding on a city bus. Over the speakers, a woman announces that the next stop is the Tokisadame Station North Entrance. She raises her hand to press the button for the bus to stop, but is surprised when the light goes off before she can push it. Behind her, some boys laugh. One nudges the other and tells him, "You don't get off at the next stop." The other replies, "I just felt like pushing the button. Someone wanted to get off anyway, so it worked out." The first jokes, "I see. You were just helping them out. See? Someone wanted to get off here, too."

The bus pulls up to the stop and Yuuko gets off the bus as the two boys continue to laugh at their minor pranks. Yuuko then arrives at home and asks her mother if they have a daily calendar. She tells her that it should be in the drawer. Yuuko places the daily calendar on a nail on the wall. She looks at it for a second, giving off a somewhat grim aura. She slowly grabs the edge of the first date and begins to pull it off. She then flies through the calendar, ripping off a blizzard of pages in the blink of an eye while shouting in frustration.

Part 63
Back at the Shinonome household, Nano asks Hakase why her key doesn't come off. Hakase sits in a swivel chair and turns to listen to Nano, who just entered the room. Nano continues, telling the Professor about how the key really gets in her way at school; during PE, she had to do a belly roll on the high jump, and when they were playing soccer, she was called offside because of it! Eating a cookie, Hakase tells Nano that she can take her key. Nano springs upward and lands on her back in exaggerated surprise. She sits herself up and starts rubbing where she hit her head as little cartoon birds fly circle above like in so many cartoons. Nano tries to ignore this, asking Hakase, "You can take it off? Why didn't you say so earlier?" The Professor cheerily tells Nano that she'll take it now. Nano bemoans that every day of her youth is precious. Cheering up, she continues that she can now finally live the ordinary life of a high school girl. She turns to show her key to the Professor and asks, "Could you take it right now?" Hakase pulls out a digital camera and aims it at Nano, saying "stare..." (視). We see Nano from Hakase's view through the camera as Nano trembles with uncertain dread. "Professor," she asks, "are you..." Hakase moves the camera's aim down to Nano's key and takes a photo. "I took it," she says. In response, Nano jumps again, much higher this time, and landing harder, with her legs sticking straight up. Nano is then lying on the ground, quaking and crying, begging Hakase, "Don't make stupid, old puns like that." Hakase rubs the back of her head apologetically, saying, "Sorry, sorry." Nano asks again if the key comes off. Hakase crosses her arms and adopts a serious tone as she says, "Well..." But she says nothing else, instead dozing off. Nano, standing this time, launches onto her back. A litle sign representing 1000 points pops up. Nano stands back up and cries to the Professor, "I don't need any more of your jokes!" She again demands to know if her key comes off. Hakase gives her a "calm down" gesture and tells her, "It does, it does." She reassures Nano that she's taken tons of keys; taking hers should be no problem. She then picks up the camera again and takes another photo of Nano's key. Nano falls on her rear end and bounces backwards, hitting three Super Mario-esque blocks of bricks suddenly floating in the air, with coins popping out of each brick when she hits it, and saying, "Coin, coin, coin, jump!" Hakase finds this hilarious and starts laughing uproariously, falling on the ground and kicking her legs as she holds her stomach. "You said coin, coin," she laughs. "You said coin, jump!" Nano looks at the Professor, not at all pleased. Nano then raises her hand and says, "Professor! I have a question!", but she's recovering from laughing so hard that she couldn't breathe. Nano asks anyway, noting that she's been reacting strangely all day. Did Hakase do something to her? Hakase sits up and tells her that yesterday, she gave Nano a new reaction function. Nano blasts into the air, and then flies around the room repeating "shibibi" (シビビ).

Back on the ground, Nano pleads with the Professor, asking her why she would give her a function like this. "Because it's funny," she replies. Nano bolts backward. Hakase then slides next to a soccer ball, crying out "Goal!" Nano does sort of a paralyzed hopping, repeating "do do" (ドド) before again jumping up and landing upside down. Hakase suddenly has a large board with a model's face in front of her own face, and pretends to blow Nano a kiss as the model. Nano stiffens and jumps up and then falls straight back down. Nano cowers on the ground, tears in her eyes, thinking to herself, "I'm going to die. I'm going to die..." Hakase laughs and asks Nano, "Isn't it funny?" Nano stands back up and angrily shouts at her, "It's not funny at all!" She kneels back down and resignedly tells her to forget about her key; could she please remove this reaction function? Hakase tells her she will, for ¥100. Nano jumps up, calling Hakase a cheapskate. Instead of falling, though, rockets start blasting out of the bottom of her feet, launching her skywards. She blasts through the roof and keeps going up and up, high above the city. Nano just blinks as her ascent continues.

Short Thoughts
I'll use all my reserves.

It appears Tsuyoshi Nakanojou has grown another hair outside his mohawk.

Don't Miss It
The can of oil (voiced by Sakakibara Yoshiko), sitting in the catcher's mitt, introduces itself. Her boss tells her that she's slippery, but she can't help it; she's oil. Who is her boss, anyway? The next episode of Nichijou is Episode 16. Don't miss it.

Transitions
After Mai catches Nano on tape, a group of boys are vandalizing a bust in a park, writing graffiti on it, tying brooms to it for arms, and placing a bucket on its head. One boy gives another a high five. They all then see something and run off. An angry man comes running, but he's too late to catch anyone. He stands in front of the bust, scratching his head.

After Nano shoots Hakase for the chikuwa in her arm, a group of men in suits are standing around looking at the bust in the park. They turn to greet a colleague as he walks up to them. The man nearest him gives him a hearty high five. He then joins his colleagues as they go back to looking at the bust before bowing to it politely.

After Takasaki-sensei runs off in the wrong direction, Nano and Hakase do a bunny dance.

Image Gallery
Nichijou Episode 15/Image Gallery