Rising Sun: My Ordinary Life Begins After Six Years

Noah Meyer, Blogger

Selemant pagi! It’s time for Rising Sun, and for a review two years in the making, Nichijou: My Ordinary Life!

Nichijou: My Ordinary Life is a surreal slapstick series created by Keiichi Awari and adapted to television by Kyoto Animation. Despite developing a large international fanbase, the show failed to break even in Japan. Six years after it crashed and burned at home, Funimation has finally released the cult-classic in the United States, and that means I can finally review it now.

Nichijou: My Ordinary Life doesn’t have much in terms of plot. The series revolves around the daily lives of the people who live in a standard city. However, the series does split its primary screen-time between two groups that converge in the second half of the series. In the first group are Yuuko (a extremely unlucky girl), Mio (a hothead with dirty tastes in manga) and Mai (a quiet troll). Their sections are generally over-the-top, with them turning things most people would find small or even stupid into the biggest deals in the world. It’s usually these sections that give Nichijou: My Ordinary Life its praises from the animation crowd. In the second group is robot girl Nano, the young Professor Hakase and condescending talking cat Mr. Sakamoto. Their sections generally focus on calmer, more Azumanga Daioh style humor, just with their own little touches of weirdness. What I like about the Nano sections is that they’re cute to watch, and Mr. Sakamoto insisting that Nano and Hakase need to respect him as a elder is a fun running gag.

As I mentioned in the Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid review, it’s difficult to top Nichijou: My Ordinary Life when it comes to animation quality. In general, the animation is fluid, snappy and energetic. Since it’s a series of over-the-top gags, it only makes sense that the animation is just as over-the-top. But words alone can’t do it justice. Look and see for yourself.

Unfortunately, Funimation opted to release the series without a dub. While I do get that many of Nichijou‘s gags would be difficult if not impossible to dub properly, I still feel it’s a missed opportunity to give this series the level of attention it deserves. After all, the show already has many fans, and it deserves more.

Dub or not, if you’re looking for something silly to the point of stupidity, look no further than Nichijou: My Ordinary Life, now available on Blu-Ray and DVD after six long years of waiting.