Nichijou Episode 19

"Nichijou Episode 19" (日常の第十九話) is the nineteenth episode of the Nichijou anime. The episode was written by Joe Itou and directed by Hiroko Utsumi. It aired on August 8, 2011.

Helvetica Standard
Helvetica Standard is introduced like the beginning of an action movie, complete with metallic block text. A green hand reaches out from someone who is traveling just above the ground at tremendous speed, producing sparks when it grazes the ground. The person is then shown, with green skin, white hair, and a casual shirt. He also has a pair of glasses on his head. He keeps repeating megane (glasses). A man is then shown running away from him. The green man turns purple and continues chasing him, getting angrier as he continues to demand for his glasses. The running man has a gun, and turns around to shoot at the creature chasing him. He continues firing as he runs backwards, but to no effect. The man looking for his glasses then jumps to pounce on the man with the gun, who screams in terror. The glasses the man had on the top of his head (presumably the ones he's looking for) fly off and hit the screen, breaking it.

Part 78
Misato Tachibana, Weboshii and Fe-chan are standing under an awning near a crosswalk, protecting themselves from the rain. A car drives by. Fe-chan then announces, "I'd like to do something that has never been witnessed before, and shall never be witnessed again!" She runs across the street, turning with a hop to face her friends. She then simply says, "Domestic violence" in a rather upbeat manner. She then runs back, covering her head from the rain as she yells. When she gets back to her spot, she asks her friends, "How was it?" Misato and Weboshii both think to themselves, "What am I supposed to say to that?" A shirtless man then runs by, wearing a daifuku mask. Ignoring this, Weboshii tells Fe-chan, "It was just like you." Misato agrees, "It really was." Now a little peeved, Fe-chan tells them, "Then next, I'll do something completely unlike me." She runs out, yelling again as she covers her head with her hands. Before she can reach the other side, she trips, falling face first in a puddle. She slowly gets up and cries, "I tripped!" Her uniform is now all wet and dirty in the front. In unison, Misato and Weboshii think, "That was just like her..." Eyes still closed in despair, Fe-chan begins to walk back. A car then drives by, splashing a big puddle on her. "Just like her," her friends think.

Newbie, Part 1
Standing next to the daifuku stand is a man wearing grey sweatpants but no shirt. He is also wearing a leopard mask. Standing perfectly still, he calls out to pedestrians advertising the daifuku. Nakanojou's father walks up to him, holding the daifuku mask, and asks him to please wear this, instead. The man is then wearing the daifuku, but continues to stand perfectly still in an odd pose while calling out for customers. Nakanojou's father then asks if he could please stop talking.

Newbie, Part 2
The man wearing the daifuku mask is now standing perfectly still and completely silent. Customers walk by without noticing. Nakanojou's father then asks the man if he could wear some clothes. The man looks down. He then crosses his arms and turns away from Nakanojou's father. "Are you sulking?!" Nakanojou's father asks incredulously.

Newbie, Part 3
The man in the daifuku mask is still sulking. He then turns around and makes a waving gesture in front of where his face would be. "You're not sulking?" asks Nakanojou's father. "So, what is it?" The man in the daifuku mask puts his hand to where his chin would be as he thinks for a moment, and then launches into a series of gestures as he tries to explain without talking. This would normally be difficult to understand anyway, but since his face is completely covered, Nakanojou's father can't even get clues from the man's facial expressions. The man finishes. Nakanojou's father tells him that he can talk now.

Like Love
Students give prayers that other students pass (likely talking about exams) at Tokisadame High School on ema at a shrine.

Part 79
Outside after school, Mio Naganohara is wearing her gym clothes. She raises her hand and, with a look of determination, calls out, "Here I go!" Yuuko Aioi raises her arms to signify that she's watching; also wearing gym clothes, Yuuko is standing next to a high jump. Mio preps herself, taking several deep breaths before she begins running. Nearing the high jump, she begins running faster and turns to run perpendicular to the high jump. She stops on one foot as she begins to jump, crouching down in order to propel herself over the bar. She then launches herself... under the bar. Her body is completely stiff; she looks like she'd be standing at attention if she weren't parallel to the ground and falling onto the mat. Yuuko stares at Mio with her mouth and eyes wide open in disbelief.

Mio lands on the mat and looks up at the bar, which hasn't moved. She shouts, "Yes!" as she makes a triumphant pose, thinking she's cleared the bar. Yuuko, still amazed, cries back that Mio didn't jump. Mio is confused. "Huh? But the bar..." she says as she points to it. Yuuko tells Mio that Mai didn't jump over the bar. Yuuko begins yelling at Mio. We only see their hands, but we can tell their emotions from them. Yuuko wiggles her fingers and asks, "How many times do I have to teach you? The sun's going to set!" Mio retracts her closed hands in shame. "Sorry," she says. "I'll try harder next time." Yuuko then adjusts the bar on the high jump. "This time, I'll lower the bar," she explains. She then tells Mio to take her time; just be sure to do it the way she taught.

Again looking determined, Mio thinks to herself, "I have to be able to jump before the next test... or everyone's going to laugh at me!" She takes a deep breath and takes off. When she reaches the high jump, she does the exact same thing. This time, her head hits the bar, sending it flying. Yuuko is again in disbelief. Mio rolls onto the mat, getting up as fast as she can, and yells back at Yuuko, "How was that?" Yuuko grits her teeth and clenches her fists in frustration. "You stupid cow!" she yells at Mio. "Why won't you jump the way I taught you? Are you messing around?" Mio rubs her head in embarrassment and tells Yuuko, "In my head, it was a perfect Fosbury Flop. " Yuuko grabs her forehead in frustration. "A perfect Fosbury Flop?" she asks. "Your form's closer to... a torpedo!" she yells at her, stunning Mio. "A human torpedo," Mio says in wonder. "I didn't say that!" Yuuko yells. She grabs her forehead again and she imagines Mio blasting through water like a launched torpedo. "I guess I did say that..."

Mio smiles nervously and asks Yuuko, "You're just kidding, right?" Yuuko is amazed Mio doesn't see it. She then takes a deep sigh as Mio apologizes. Yuuko then smiles and tells Mio, "Well, I'll stay until you're satisfied." Mio is stunned. As Yuuko adjusts the bar again, she explains, "You always let me copy your homework. It's my turn to help you!" She turns to Mio again and smiles. "Let's keep going until you can do it. Just take it easy." Mio is moved by Yuuko's generosity. Yuuko shouts at Mio, "First, try to jump as if you're just stepping over it! Mio, you can do this! It's no problem!"

Mio wipes away her tears with her forearm as inspirational music begins to play softly. "It's not like I've suddenly become nonathletic," she thinks. She has a flashback to a soccer game with her gym class. A girl kicks the ball down the field, keeping to from two other girls who are chasing her. Suddenly, Mio swoops in and grabs the ball, running towards the goal with it tucked under her arm. Yuuko chases her, telling her, "Hey, Mio! We're playing soccer!" Mio continues thinking, "I'm as fit as the average person. But when rules get involved, I lose control." She then flashes back to a karate class. Everyone is sitting on their knees. The instructor tells everyone to perform a backwards fall, which mostly involves them slowly rolling backwards and sticking their feet up. Mio looks far more intense than the other students, and instead of doing a proper backwards fall, actually uses her feet to propel herself upwards and backwards, landing hard on her face. "Mio, the other way!" Yuuko tells her in shock. "You're doing it in reverse!" Mio resumes thinking. "But if I do nothing, nothing will change. I'll just stay as I am!" She begins running toward the high jump as another flashback starts. A girl in her gym class grabs a metal bar and slowly rolls performs a back hip circle, rolling her body under the bar and then back around in a complete circle. She then notices Mio to her right. As the entire class watches in shock, Mio is straddling the bar and spinning at a high speed, completely stiff. "Mio, not the propeller!" Yuuko tells her. "It's a back hip circle!"

Now running in slow motion, Mio continues to think. "I don't care if it's pointless... I don't care if I don't get results." She recalls trying the high jump over and over, failing again and again. "There's only one thing I can do..." She remembers Yuuko teaching Mio how to jump backwards, step by step, but even from a standing position, Mio can't just simply jump and fall backward. "For Yukko..." she thinks. Mio remembers telling Yuuko that she's going to go take a break. She then sits with her knees to her chest near a wall, hanging her head in grief as she takes a deep sigh. "For myself, too!" she thinks in the present as she grits her teeth. "I won't give up! If I have to give up..." Back in the flashback, Mio continues sitting in sorrow. Suddenly, someone walks up behind her. Mio is then running at full speed and with every bit of effort she can muster. "I'll make sure I've done everything I could first!" she finishes her thought. She begins to jump and cries out dramatically. In her flashback, the person is revealed to be the assistant kendo instructor. He gives Mio a piece of advice: "Hard work will always open doors."

Mio lands her foot as she begins to jump. She holds her position for a moment before jumping. Instead of going over the bar, however, she jumps straight forward, headfirst into Yuuko. Yuuko reacts in pain and surprise. Both Mio and Yuuko land on the grass. Mio gets up and rubs her head. She notices where she is and tilts her head in confusion. Yuuko then sits up, a look of pure rage on her face. Yelling, she jumps headfirst into Mio's back. Mio cries out in pain. As the inspirational music continues playing, Yuuko slowly falls to the ground as Mio continues to fly forward. She rises into the air, back facing the ground and her legs bent. Somehow, she is performing a Fosbury Flop over the high jump bar. She slowly falls to the mat, but doesn't get up. Yuuko is unable to get up from the ground herself. A male narrator then explains, "This came to be known as the 'Torpedo Jump.'"

This Is a White Tiger
Wearing casual clothing, Mio, Yuuko, and Mai are visiting the zoo. They're inside a building that has a large window looking out on the white tiger exhibit. Disappointed, Yuuko says, "All they do is sleep..." Indeed, there are four adult white tigers, but they are all napping. "That one's pointing its butt at us," she adds. Mio agrees. "They're really far away, too. It's hard to see." Yuuko gets a little annoyed, and says, "We came all this way to see them, and it's boring!" Mio turns to Yuuko and says, "We should be glad we got to see them." Yuuko sighs, and with a defeated look on her face, says, "I guess..." The three then notice something. For some reason, the tigers are all waking up and looking at them! The tigers then get up and begin walking towards the window. The girls are quite surprised by this; Mio and Yuuko gasp in awe. As the tigers gather at the window right in front of them, Mio and Yuuko jump and cry giddily. The tigers stare at them intently, causing Mio and Yuuko to take pause. They then turn to where the tigers are staring and see that Mai is holding up her dog, Pyon, who is panting excitedly. Perhaps thinking the little white dog is a cub, one tiger stands up and begins pawing at the window.

Part 80
Sakamoto and Hakase are on the porch, enjoying a lovely day, doing the two things they do most: Sakamoto is

napping, and Hakase is eating snack, happily swinging her feet back and forth. Out in the yard, some laundry is hanging out to dry. Suddenly, it begins to get darker, and soon a tremendous downpour has begun. Surprised, Hakase tells Sakamoto, "It's raining! We should bring in the laundry." She stands up, but then turns to go inside. "Hey, where are you going?" asks Sakamoto. Hakase begins going through a bureau of clothes, searching for something. Sakamoto begins to get annoyed as Hakase finally finds her hooded raincoat and struggles to get it on. She finally manages to get it on and walks to the edge of the porch She drops her matching rubber boots on the ground and carefully falls into them. Sakamoto silently shows his impatience. Hakase, not noticing this, runs out to the laundry, crying out, "Yay!" the entire way, clearly having a lot of fun. She stops in front of the laundry and is surprised: the clothes are entirely soaked through! "Looks like it's too late," Hakase says monotonously. Aggravated, Sakamoto yells at her, "Just get inside!" Nano Shinonome is then shown running home in the rain, covering her head with her bag as she tries to get home as quickly as possible. She gets home and announces that she's returned. "It's raining hard, isn't it?" she asks Hakase and Sakamoto as she walks towards them and uses a towel to dry off her head. "Did you bring in the laundry?" she adds. She then notices Hakase staring back at her in shock, the laundry not only wet but knocked to the ground. Emphasizing the awkward silence, a crack of thunder is heard as the rain continues falling.

Hakase tries to explain that Sakamoto told her to bring in the laundry; really, he did! Unamused, Nano finishes picking up the wet laundry and stands up, asking Hakase, "So, you dropped the laundry because Sakamoto-san told you to bring it in?" Pleading, Hakase chases after her, telling her, "That's not it! Sakamoto told me to bring it in... and drop it." Sakamoto is outraged. "I did not!" Sakamoto then begins chastising Hakase on the porch while Nano dries the laundry. "That scared me!" he tells her. "What were you talking about, kid?" Hakase shouts back, "You told me to do it!" "I never told you to drop it," Sakamoto snaps back. Hakase yells back, "Did too!" "Did not!" Sakamoto yells right back at her. The two continue arguing like this for awhile until Hakase finally tells Sakamoto, "Give me a break!" Sakamoto is stunned.

Hakase is then holding Sakamoto as she follows Nano. "Let's sacrifice Sakamoto," Hakase suggests. "Then everything will be ok, right?" Sakamoto is displeased with this "solution." Nano puts on a hooded sweatshirt and dries off her hair as she tells Hakase, "Forget it. We can just wash the laundry again." Hakase lights up. "Oh! Right. That's right!" Nano then adds, "But we can never get this day back," upsetting Hakase again. Nano begins walking further into the house while Hakase follows, carrying Sakamoto. Nano tells them sternly, "Neither of you gets dinner tonight." Sakamoto is indignant; how did he get dragged into this? Hakase pleads with Nano, telling her that Sakamoto did it, and she said she'd sacrifice him. So it's ok, right? "Fine," Nano says. "Then I'll take Sakamoto-san." She grabs Sakamoto and continues walking. "And you won't get any dinner," she tells Hakase, who is shocked. She is then in a tizzy, pleading with Nano. "No! Then I'll sacrifice myself! I dropped it! I'm the one who got it wet... What?"

Later, Nano announces the meal she's made. "Ta-dah! Today's dinner in omelette rice!" Hakase pokes her head out from under the table, delighted. "The eggs were on sale," Nano adds. Hakase then cocks her head in confusion, asking, "Huh? Do I get to eat today?" Nano is taken aback; she completely forgot she punished Hakase with no dinner! She looks down at the omelette rice, and then up at the ceiling. "Um, well..." She then decides, "Well, let's just eat today!" Hakase cheers. Nano then tells Hakase, "No dinner tomorrow," causing Hakase to fall backward and cry out, "Lame."

Part 81
Yuuko cheerfully greets Mio and Mai outside a temple's torii with her usual selamat pagi. She's carrying a large clay bust that sort-of looks like her. Smiling, she asks her friends, "Didn't that self-portrait sculpture assignment suck?" Mio is surprised; she didn't realize the assignment was due today. Yuuko then chuckles. "What's this? Mio-sensei, did you forget your homework?" Mio, grimacing, tells Yuuko she thought it was due tomorrow. As Yuuko continues to snicker, Mio turns to Mai, asking if she did her assignment. Mai looks up from the book she's reading, simply saying, "Shimatta." Mio and Yuuko look at her in amazement. Yuuko then begins laughin. "Mai didn't do hers, either? What's next, a shower?" Mio hangs her head back in frustration. "It won't just be a shower," she says, sighing and hanging her head forward. "It'll be a natural disaster!" Suddenly and out of nowhere, it begins to rain, hard. With looks of resignation on her face, Yuuko begins thinking, "It really did..." With the same look, Mio finishes Yuuko's thought, "...start raining." Mai looks down at her book, water pouring off it like a gutter. Mio, Yuuko, and Mai are then sitting on the steps of the shrine, waiting out the rain. Mai's book is lying open face-down on the saisen-bako to dry out. They all have the same look on their face, and are sitting in the same position. After a few moments of watching the rain, Yuuko stands up. She pulls out a 5 yen coin and steps up to the saisen-bako, tossing the coin. However, it bounces off of Mai's book and falls in between the floorboards below. Yuuko just stares, her arm still outstretched from tossing the coin. She then pulls on a thick rope and swirls it around, ringing the Suzu attached to it. She lets go and claps her hands twice before bowing her head in reverence.

The spirits do not appear to favor Yuuko, however. Suddenly, the very large Suzu bell falls, striking Yuuko on the head hard enough to cause the floorboards underneath her to break. Yuuko falls through the floor up to her chest; the bell follows, striking Yuuko on the head a second time, bouncing off and hitting Mio in the head. The force causes the step Mio is sitting on to break as well, sending Yuuko's clay bust to fly forward and onto the ground; Mio's sudden drop causes the bell to fall yet again, bouncing off Mio's head straight for Mai. Mai is able to lean back smoothly, avoiding the bell, which strikes the column next to her. The vibrations cause a fusuma to fall on her, her head ripping a hole in the paper. The three remain in their positions, faces unchanged.

A few moments later, footsteps approach Yuuko's clay bust on the path to the shrine. The temple's priest has returned, and is astonished at what's happened. "What have you done to my temple?" he asks incredulously. The girls make no indication that they've heard anything. Shaking with rage, the priest accuses them of being thieves and begins to run at them, but steps on Yuuko's clay bust. Wet from the rain, the clay smooshes under his weight and causes him to fall on his back. The torii then falls, landing mere inches from the priest's head. "Th-that was close!" he cries out. As the camera pans around the temple, the priests mutters in despair, "It's a curse... It's an evil spirit!" He then musters his strength and cries out, "Begone! Leave this temple!" Suddenly, the very roof of the temple flies off, along with the saisen-bako, dumping coins and bills all over the wet ground. A 10,000 yen bill slaps onto the back of Yuuko's head. The male narrator then begins to speak. "'Let us go,' is what they thought, as the autumn rain fell."

Part 82
Kenzaburou Daiku and Yuria Sekiguchi are standing outside the school, both with clear expressions of astonishment on their faces. In front of them are Takasaki-sensei, standing upright with his right arm held stiffly at a 45-degree angle; and Makoto Sakurai, doing a handstand while his feet hold a soccer ball. As Kenzaburou stares in shock, he remembers what led to this. "Please, President," Makoto says, having just entered the club room. "I'm about to have a match against Takasaki-sensei. Can you be our referee?" "Referee?", asks Kenzaburou. "You mean for Igo Soccer?" Makoto confirms, adding, "If I win, he has to become our advisor." He pumps his fist and confidently shouts, "I know I can do it!" Kenzaburour asks what he has to do. Makoto tells him that the Igo Soccer rulebook he lent him has everything he needs to know. Back in the present, Kenzaburou thinks, "I know it's my fault for not reading the guide, but I have no idea what these two are doing... This is Igo Soccer?"

Suddenly, Ogi appears behind Kenzaburou and begins to speak. "You wouldn't understand even if you'd read the rulebook," Ogi tells Kenzaburou, surprising him. Kenzaburou turns to see Ogi, who is carrying two bowls, one filled with white Go stones, the other with black stones, via a board carried by a string around his neck. In his shirt pocket is a large comb. Ogi steps forward, and continues in a serious tone. "Neither is observing the rules. Their high-level play has no regard for theory." "If that outstretched hand is the leg of a Go board," he says, referencing Takasaki-sensei's pose, "that stance is the stones," he finishes, referencing Makoto's stance. "It may appear normal at first glance, but that ball between his feet is an anomaly. It's just speculation, but I believe these two... are trying to achieve brilliance!" Kenzaburou gasps and grabs his head in amazement. "I have no idea what he's talking about," he thinks incredulously.

Ogi then gasps as he notices something. "There they go!" he shouts. Takasaki-sensei slowly lowers his outstretched arm, then begins to raise his other arm in tandem. He then suddenly goes into an odd crouching position. "Oh, no!" Ogi cries out, plunging his fingers into both bowls at once. Holding up a stone in each hand, Ogi makes a pose and exclaims, "Beloved!" Kenzaburou and Sekiguchi are speechless as they look at Ogi, Makoto, and Takasaki-sensei, frozen in place. Kenzaburou tries to ask Ogi what that means, but Ogi silences him. In an intense, melodramatic tone, Ogi comments on the two Igo Soccer players. "Can't you see how the air flows between them? One of them... might even die!" A bead of sweat rolls down Ogi's face as he watches intently. Kenzaburou is in shock. "What's going on?" he thinks, understandably. Ogi continues. "I haven't seen such high-level play in a long time. No wonder the wind screams..."

Suddenly, Takasaki-sensei moves again. He rises to a bending position, keeping his feet spread apart, his left arm bent downward, his right arm held straight out from his side. "No!" Ogi cries. "That stance! Could it be?" He falls back in terror. "Would he really use that move in an unofficial match?" He grabs his heart. "Is he out of his mind? I cannot allow this to happen..." He raises his hand, index and middle fingers clenched together. "Father, I must do it!" He opens his fingers and drives them into the bowl of black Go stones. Adding dramatic effect, the motion is shown a few times from various angles. His hand in the bowl, a bolt of energy builds from it. "All in the name of justice...," he says, posing ominously as Go stones fall upward. "I must become a shining star!" The Go stones become stars in the night sky as Ogi cries out, "Ogi Forbidden Technique..." His eyes shine, and he suddenly rockets upward, propelled by purple smoke. He blasts through the smoke and appears with the stars behind him, crying out, "Ogi Star!" Kenzaburou and Sekiguchi stare in disbelief.

Ogi then dashes off, sending his board and the two bowls of Go stones flying. He crouches and then jumps onto the wall, using it to propel himself as he gracefully glides under Makoto's arms and Takaski-sensei's legs. After clearing them, he begins to turn, in midair, so that he is face up. His comb flies out of his pocket. Ogi slides along the pavement until his head meets a wall and he stops, still clenching a stone in each hand. "This is a final love!" he shouts. Kenzaburou and Sekiguchi drop their mouths comically in reaction to what they've just witnessed.

Makoto and Takasaki-sensei fall to the ground, exhausted. Panting, Takasaki-sensei tells Makoto, "Not bad..." Makoto returns the compliment. The two stand up and shake hands over an excellent match. Kenzaburou, still amazed, thinks to himself, "When I founded this club, I didn't give it much thought. Man... this is unbelievable!" He grabs his head in astonishment. The camera then slowly pans up into the beautiful afternoon sky.

Short Thoughts
The woman who works at Daiku Coffee leaves an office room wearing a suit and bows to the people inside before closing the door. She then takes a deep sigh and begins to walk off, somewhat upset. She then notices a vending machine and eyes a 70 yen cup of coffee. As she's about to put a 100 yen coin in, she notices a sign taped to the machine: Free for Employees.

The female narrator reads, "I break when no one sees me."

Don't Miss It
Clay (voiced by Mitsuya Yuji), in the form of Yuuko's sculpture as the priest steps on it, declares that no matter how many times you step on it, you won't kill it. It's clay; show some respect! Today, he'll change into various forms again, to battle the children! The next episode of Nichijou is Episode 20. Now, go challenge those children!

Transitions
After Fe-chan falls in the rain, there is a view of a city sidewalk. The picture is distorted in a fisheye lens style, however.

After Nano decides to delay Hakase punishment until tomorrow night, the city sidewalk is shown again. Someone working at the store on the other side of the street walks out the door, carrying something.

After the shrine incident, Makoto Sakurai walks up, carrying something. He brings his face up close to the screen. He then pulls back and places a coin in the side, pressing a button. The familiar clank of a can of soda being dispensed can be heard; it appears this episode's transitions were a soda machine's point of view. Makoto takes his beverage and walks away.

Image Gallery
Nichijou Episode 19/Image Gallery