Nichijou (Anime)

Nichijou is an anime series based on Nichijou the manga series by Keiichi Arawi. Many of the scenes in the Nichijou anime are categorized based on the title of the scene. Scenes within a category could have the same running gag or general structure. A few instances of these categories include 'Helvetica Standard', 'Short Thoughts', and 'Things We Think are Cool'.

It was taken off Crunchyroll in 2014 and briefly returned to the platform in 2018 before Funimation ended its partnership with Crunchyroll in the same year. After Bandai Visual closed in 2012, Nichijou licensed and officially translated into English by Funimation. As of 2023, Nichijou can once again be watched on Crunchyroll, which Sony, the owner of Funimation, acquired in 2021 and the latter was renamed into Crunchyroll the next year.

Reception and Discontinuation

Main Article: Anime Failure

Its discontinuation is largely attributed to poor DVD sales, and regular Japanese channel networks do not air the anime series anymore. In addition, the series was originally licensed in North America by Bandai Visual and streamed on Crunchyroll and VRV, at one point was owned by The Chernin Group and later AT&T, under the name of My Ordinary Life, and later Nichijou.

Where It Stands Against Similar Shows

Although people tend to compare this gem with the likes of Azumanga Daioh and Lucky Star, it falls on its own category. Once you peel out the thin layers outside: the setting (high school life), the character's occupation (high school girls) the similarity ends. Although all are slice-of-life entertainments, the other two have a loose plot, chronicling the girls growth all the way to graduation. Nichijou, on the other hand, seems to be completely random. Even the chapters in the manga are not presented in chronological order.

Love It or Hate It

Due to its randomness, the jokes tend to be hit or miss. It would miss most of the time if one doesn't have sufficient understanding. In short, if you have no/minimum knowledge about Japanese culture, the jokes might miss you most of the time.
In this aspect fansubs do more justice than the official one. While the official one tries its best to give smooth/perfect translations, the former chooses to leave some rough edges. To better deliver the jokes across, fansubs give footnotes/extra info accompanying the speeches.
Q: What's the fun if you have to explain the joke to be funny?
A: Well, to each his own.
Q: Do we condone/support piracy with above statement?
A: Rather than pitting legal vs pirated, our interest is on the subject itself: Nichijou. If anything, please consider this as a plea for translator teams to reconsider the scope/completeness of their works (for future projects).

To be honest, some jokes are still lost to us. But (rather - precisely,) this is one of the reasons why we are involved in this Wikia, to enrich & share our understanding about the world around us. So, we can laugh/smile/grin more often.

Chances of Getting a Season 2

As of this writing (November 2018), there's still no news whether a Nichijou second season will be coming soon. The reason is the low sales of the BD and DVD releases in Japan, according to Shunji Suzuki, the director of the Evangelion franchise, when he went to the industry meeting. Also, the fan base of Nichijou is pretty scarce in Japan. Unfortunately, this anime is very much underrated by not just Japan, but all around the globe.

In other words, there's a very slim chance that Nichijou will get the next season that it deserves. However, the manga began serialisation again in 2021, and CITY: The Animation has continued the spirit and lineage of this story.

See Also

• Interstitials