Nichijou Episode 11

"Nichijou Episode 11" (日常の第十一話) is the eleventh episode of the Nichijou anime. The episode was written by Jukki Hanada and directed by Kazuya Sakamoto. It aired on June 13, 2011.

Helvetica Standard


A landlady demands her tennants, a bird and a tanuki, pay their rent, which is very overdue. The bird apologizes, but the landlady replies that she wants rent, not apologies. She reminds them that the last time she came over, they'd promised to pay the rent next time. The tankuki pretends to fall asleep, but the landlady doesn't buy it, and she won't leave until she's gotten the rent. The bird then hands over a ¥5 coin, telling her that it's only a sparrow's tear in the bucket, but...

Part 44


Yuuko is in her pajamas, sitting on the couch while eating a popsicle and watching a game show about turtles. She plays along but gets the answer wrong. Her cat, Magu, looks up at Yuuko from her lap and mews; Yuuko tells her cat to shut up as if the cat said something about Yuuko getting the wrong answer.

Yuuko's mom enters and is surprised that Yuuko is still awake. She asks Yuuko how her cold is, and Yuuko tells her, "All better!", but with her popsicle still in her mouth. That means Yuuko is going to school tomorrow; doesn't she have a test coming up? Yuuko missed three days because of her cold, so her mother tells her to be sure to ask her friends about what will be on the test. Yuuko shrugs her off, but Yuuko's mother tells her not to get cocky, reminding Yuuko that she scored terribly on the last test. Her mother asks if Yuuko is even listening; Yuuko bends her head back over the couch and asks her mom if she never stops talking. She begins to tell her mother that her final exams are... tomorrow! She jumps up in terror. To emphasize Yuuko's predicament, the view zooms in to show Yuuko's now empty popsicle stick, which has "Not a winner" written on it.

Yuuko gets up and starts crying while shouting at her mother for warning her too late. Her mother calmly gathers laundry and points out that Yuuko couldn't study in bed. Yuuko cries that she did study, in her sleep. Her mother asks if she really did, and Yuuko cries no. Yuuko's mother asks if Yuuko would have studied if she had warned her, and Yuuko admits she wouldn't have. Her mother leaves and tells Yuuko, "If you fail, I'll kill you." Yuuko scolds her mother not to sound so serious. Yuuko thinks to herself, "Super ultra great delicious wonderful bad..."

Brief transition traffic lights on midnights

Yuuko is in her room with her homework. She thinks to herself that she's just got to study, and notes that it is already almost ten at night; she's got about ten hours until school starts. She looks at a chart that has the schedule for final exams on it and sees that tomorrow will be English and Music; she'll focus on music. She puts on headphones and tells herself that she needs to say goodbye to her old self, and just concentrate! She begins writing a flowery poem. She imagines a desert road at night, walked by a beleaguered cowboy. He falls to the ground, but looks up and sees a flower with the sun rising behind it. Yuuko's poem tells that while she might fall down, she will not give up, because she wants to live, always smiling. The cowboy stands up and realizes that it wasn't a sunrise but rather a vast explosion of light. It reaches him, tearing his clothes off, but he stands with his arms open, embracing it. Yuuko signs her poem and cheerily notes that she's done. She's then sitting on her bed with her hand on her forehead, gloomily adding, "...with my poem."

Things We Think Are Cool


A lone metallurgist in his shop presents a solid sphere of metal, modestly calling it nothing.

Part 44 (cont.)
Yuuko is back at her desk; it is now just after midnight. She doesn't know what will be on the English exam, so she'll gamble, and decides she'll gamble on focus on vocabulary. She takes out a little booklet and begins writing English words on one side with their definitions in Japanese on the back, but quickly goes back into poet mode:

attempt - to try. Love - my love. Always - We've always been apart. Confirmation - Your love. Teleportation - Leap through time. Which is why... Cosmos - through the sky. Midnight submarine - ''I want to ride with you. Forever - for an eternity. Forever - with you. Forever - always.  ''

''She closes her booklet, lifts it in the air and cries out in victory, "I'm done!" She's then lying face down on her bed, mournfully adding, "...with my poem!" She begins crying into her pillow; she knows that studying know won't help.''

Why did she have to get over her cold? Having a cold is a hundred times better than having her mother kill her for failing. If only she had three more days... She suddenly bolts upright. She gets up and heads toward the kitchen; everyone else is in bed by now. She begins by taking the ice out of the freezer and putting it in a bucket. She dumps the ice into the tub, already filled with water. Yuuko gets in the tub and shivers. She thinks to herself that her plan is perfect: if she doesn't want to take the exams, she should just catch another cold! It hurts, but taking a icy bath after just getting over a cold should do the trick. She turns the shower on; it's so cold she tries to meditate to distract her from the pain. She gets out and, shivering in her pajamas, eats some shaved ice, which gives her brain freeze. She sets the air conditioning in her room to 17°C (~63°F) and goes to sleep lying on the top of her blanket. Good night! She sneezes, which is a good sign.

Brief transition traffic lights on the morning

The next morning, Yuuko wakes up to her alarm. She cries as she looks at her thermometer: she's perfectly healthy! Outside her door, Yuuko's mother tells her to wake up. Yuuko takes her thermometer and a match, raising the temperature of the thermometer. Her mother walks in and Yuuko quickly shoves the thermometer under her arm pit; the metal tip is very hot from the match, and Yuuko grimaces in pain. She tells her mother she has a fever and her cold must be back. Her mother asks what her temperature is, and Yuuko reads the thermometer: 88.8°C (~192°F). Yuuko's mother begins yelling at her, asking why she broke the thermometer. Yuuko argues that she's sick, but her mother thinks she seems perfectly healthy. Yuuko's cat then sneezes; looks like Magu got a cold, even if Yuuko didn't.

Daiku Power
As school lets out and all the students begin walking home, Kenzaburou Daiku talks to his friend and thanks him for reminding him that the deadline for the club application form was today; the Igo Soccer Club would have disbanded if he hadn't reminded him. Daiku's friend points out that even if he turns in the form, the club will be disbanded if he doesn't find a third member.

Daiku tells his friend that he'll buy him a juice tomorrow as thanks.

Daiku then walks toward a helicopter with a big D on it. As he gets in, he tells the pilot that he needs to buy a mixer and an apple orchard on the way home. To make juice for his friend, apparently. His friend stares in awe as the helicopter lifts off and thinks to himself, "That must be the power of Daiku Industries."

Part 45


The Vice-principal looks into his closet but can't find any string. He thinks to himself that without string, he won't be able to make another straw doll to put in the Principal's shoe locker. He walks outside, noting that he doesn't have the straw, either. He doesn't have any money to buy any; his wallet is empty and his wife is on a reunion trip all week. He's hungry, but he has no rice. He sits down in the kitchen and thinks that times like this make him want to down a bottle of brandy, but he's destroyed his liver. He rues over his lousy day: Hanshin lost. Maybe they're going green, but the cheeseburger he bought didn't have any cheese. The hit counter on his website stopped; no one came to his chart party yesterday, either.

Brief transition traffic lights at noon

The Vice-principal gets up to prepare some tea and continues to think of bad memories. The fact nobody joined his chat party reminds him of when he got on the bus yesterday, and everyone else got off. Everyone getting off reminds him of his high school field trip. He and his fellow students went to sleep on the floor; two minutes after the lights were turned off, he asked, "Is everyone awake?", but no one was. The fact everyone was asleep reminds him that he's been having trouble sleeping lately; he's started eating before bed to help him sleep, but he's just put on weight. Thinking about food reminds him that his birthday present last month was just a butter roll. He pours himself some tea and sighs. A tea stalk floats upright in the cup, which is a sign of good luck according to Japanese superstition. The Vice-principal slaps his head and tells himself to stop dwelling on the past and think happy thoughts. Suddenly the doorbell rings. He gets up to answer it and finds it is his daughter, Kimiko, and grandson, Mi-chan.

Kimiko has come over to prepare dinner for her father since her mother is out of town. The Vice-principal decides he'll spend the day playing with his grandson, without a care in the world. Mi-chan tells his grandfather that he made dumplings in the park earlier, and pulls out a ball of mud from his bag. The Vice-principal is stunned as Mi-chan tells him to eat some of his "chocolate dumplings". He begins to get emotional as he takes one. Kimiko goes into the kitchen, and the Vice-principal happily thinks that life is more than pain; there are wonderful things like this. Mi-chan then begins to pester his grandfather into eating mud; the Vice-principal tries to stall, but can't think of an excuse, so slowly moves to take a bite. He thinks to himself, "Surely, happiness must taste like mud." The view changes to outside his house; we hear a thud, followed by Mi-chan calling to his mother, "Mommy, grandpa fell over."

Short Thoughts


A man is at a diner when the waiter delivers his bowl of food. He slams it down, sending a piece flying onto the counter; further, his thumb is in the food! The waiter then takes his thumb out, revealing an incredibly ornate set of fingernails. The man angrily stands up but tries to repress his rage and grabs some chopsticks before sitting back down. The female narrator says, "Peacefully, peacefully. Nothing could be better."

Part 46
Sakamoto is sleeping in the shade of the back porch on a very hot summer day. He sticks his paw out into the sunlight but quickly pulls it back in because of the heat. Suddenly, Hakase cries out, "It's finished!" from inside the house. Sakamoto is curious and goes inside. When he enters the living room, he asks what is finished. Hakase spins around in her chair holding a giant tube of glue above her head, telling Sakamoto it's super glue. Sakamoto points out that it's pretty big, and Hakase explains, "Because it's super." She then runs off excitedly into the hallway. She begins spreading the superglue all over the hallway, explaining that she'll be able to immobilize Nano and Sakamoto.

Sakamoto comes out and sits down, asking who would ever fall for such an obvious trap? He looks down and notices that he's sitting right in the super glue and freaks out. Hakase points out that he fell for it, but Sakamoto argues that he didn't fall for anything while he tries to get out, asking for help. Hakase just laughs and says it will come off with water. Sakamoto desperately asks the Professor to get some water, but she suddenly remembers it's snack time and excuses herself to get a snack, much to Sakamoto's disdain. Hakase takes a step but discovers she's glued herself to the floor, too! Sakamoto, meanwhile, has given up for now and is lying down; Hakase snickers and comments that he looks like a bug on sticky paper. Hakase tries again to escape but can't, while Sakamoto laughs and tells her it serves her right. It's divine retribution, she's always up to no good. Hakase loses her balance and lands on the tube of superglue, squeezing a lot more out. She begins to cry a little and turns to Sakamoto to asks what they should do, but she can't find him. Sakamoto is now completely covered in glue! He begins struggling frantically to get out, but can't. While Sakamoto struggles, not even being able to breathe, Hakase worries that she won't get her snack. She might get hungry stuck there! Tears well in her eyes as she realizes she might even starve to death, and then starts sobbing. Suddenly, Nano announces that she's come home. She begins to talk about how hot it is outside but stops when she notices Hakase and Sakamoto and asks what they're doing. The Professor tells Nano she had been playing with glue when it squirted out, but if they put water on it... But she's stuck in it, too! She begins crying again, trying to tell Nano about the water. Nano doesn't understand, and walks right into the glue, sending her to her knees. Sakamoto finally makes a hole in the glue for him to breathe, which he clearly hasn't been able to do in a while. Nano panics over the glue, and her left hand detaches, stuck in the glue. Nano tries to reach it with her arm, but it, too, gets glued. The Professor sees all this and starts laughing. The scene ends with the Professor giggling, Sakamoto breathing, and Nano panicking about her hand.

Money
Yuria Sekiguchi is dumbstruck by giant banners hanging off the side of the school congratulating the igo soccer club for making nationals.

Kenzaburou Daiku walks up to her and indicates that he's responsible. The friend from Daiku Power is holding a blender filled with apple juice, and looks up in amazement: "This must be the power of Daiku Industries."

A Little Miracle
Carrying an umbrella indicating that it has just finished raining, Mio Naganohara waits at a crosswalk. She notices that the people waiting on the other side are wearing outfits whose colors form a rainbow.

Next, Sakamoto


Nano is reading in the living room while Sakamoto naps on the table. Hakase then deviously sneaks in behind Nano, but it turns out she just wanted to play "Guess who!" with her. Nano correctly guesses it's the Professor, who asks what gave it away. Nano points out it's obvious since Hakase is the only other person in the house. Hakase tells Nano it's her turn. Nano plays along, and Hakase correctly "guesses" it's Nano. The male narrator announces that the Shinonome household passed another peaceful day. Nano and the Professor continue playing, but Sakamoto leaves, annoyed. He then steps into the glue in the hallway.

Part 47
The highway is so calm, Outside of school is so peaceful, the water faucets are somewhat different, It is a beautiful day. However, "1 - Q" Yuuko is in class, sweating bullets over her English test. She's only on the first question, but she's already completely lost. She looks at the question, which has a picture of a smiling... thing, with three lines to the right of it. Yuuko understandably asks what this thing is. It looks like some sort of low-level monster from a video game. What word could possibly describe it? Yuuko suddenly realizes she's seen this before: it was on an earlier assignment, and Yuuko had asked Sakurai-sensei what it was. She remembers asking, but gets very upset when she realizes this doesn't help; she doesn't remember what Sakurai-sensei said! She tells herself to calm down; if she panics, she won't even be able to questions she does know. She thinks the creature is flying, so the word must be Fly; Yuuko second-guesses herself, thinking it is too strong for this picture. But what is this monster doing?! Yuuko decides it must be monster and puts it down, crying that this isn't an English test, it's a logic test.

She decides to move on to the next question, but is shocked and dismayed to find the same monster, holding a tennis racket, meaning the previous question can't have been monster. She opens her pencil box to get an eraser to erase her first answer but is crestfallen to find it missing. Mai suddenly offers Yuuko an eraser, and Yuuko reaches out to take it, commenting that everyone should have such great friends! Mai hands it over; to Yuuko's concern, it's a sand eraser, which will tear the paper! She quickly tries to ask Mai if she has a normal eraser, but finds Mai taking a nap. At the front of the class, Sakurai-sensei looks at her watch and announces that they have ten more minutes to finish their tests. Yuuko is despondent at how little time is left. However, she tells herself to calm down, striking a calming pose to clear her head and feel nothingness. Just as she's reached tranquility, the bell rings, and Sakurai-sensei announces the test is over. Yuuko is not pleased with this.

Brief transition flying insect hit traffic lights at noon

Up on the roof, Yuuko grabs the chainlink fence in despair. Mai walks up and holds an umbrella over Yuuko's head. "The rain," she says. Yuuko continues crying before adding, "my heart."

Open
A girl named Oikami from 1-C class finds a love note from Tanaka in her locker, then Principal Shinonome open his locker and discovers a butter roll in his locker. The Principal finds this to be very disturbing.

Don't Miss It!
Mi-chan's mudball (voiced by Shiraishi Fuyumi) introduces itself. The steel sphere featured in Things We Think Are Cool (also voiced by Shiraishi Fuyumi) introduces itself as well. The mud says it's going to sleep. The steel tells us that it is molded while it's hot. Clang! The mud tells us that the next episode of Nichijou Episode 12. The steel adds, Don't miss it.

Transitions
After Yuuko remembers she has a test tomorrow, an intersection is shown. It is night, and one light is red while the other goes from green to yellow, to red. Once it turns red, the lights start alternating, one road blinking red, the other yellow, so the intersection is now acting as a stop sign/yield sign.

After Yuuko tries to recatch her cold, the intersection is shown at sunrise. The blinking lights return to their daytime red-yellow-green progression.

After the Vice-principal laments that no one visited his website, the intersection returns. The light changes, and after a moment a car honks at the van in front of it when it doesn't move. The van then drives off, followed by the car.

After Yuuko fails her test, a bird bounces into the back of one the stoplights. It flies a bit loopy after that, but collects itself and is back to normal quite soon.

Image Gallery
Episode 11/Image Gallery

Click here for more images