I was really, really looking forward to Nichijou, but interestingly, the first episode was kind of a miss for me… Personally, I felt like their gags were too random and far to surreal for my tastes. Many seem to compare it to Azumanga Diaoh, which is another Slice-of-Life/Comedy show that didn’t manage to grab me either, and I have no idea why…
I’ll admit that I found some parts hilarious, like when Yuko was trying to catch her tako-wiener and the part where she tricked Mio into activating the fire alarm.
Come to think of it, the only parts I truly enjoyed from this particular episode were the interactions between the two main girls, Mio and Yuko. Other than that, I felt that everything else, from the inexplicable appearance of the Grim Reaper to Koji’s goat, was kinda lackluster. I also don’t get why we needed to have a sub-plot with the chibi-professor and the robot girl (and a talking cat, not yet introduced). This not only serves to make the show seem more bizarre, but it also splits and diverts the focus from our main trio, whom I want to see more of.
Again, be it the pacing, the type of jokes or just the randomness, it’s just not something that I’m a big fan of. The kind of Slice of LIfe/Comedy shows that I do adore are shows like Lucky Star (of course), Ichigo Mashimaro, and Mitsudomoe which seem to be more grounded in reality (relatively speaking) and have more intelligent jokes that make more sense. (again, relatively speaking).
My opinions might change as the series progresses, but if I still don’t get hooked by the third or forth episode, I’ll probably be dropping it. Here’s hoping the other ‘must see’ SOL show, A-Channel will fare better. If not, there’s always KAIJI!!!
For those of you who have seen it, what do you think?
Oh, I’ll just leave this here:
Actar's Otaku Life 
Hm… That’s unfortunate.
Personally, I loved this show to death, and the best part of it to me was the surreal stuff. I loved the Goat and that girl suddenly shooting him in the head. As well as trying to catch the tako-wiener.
Though I generally like surrealist humor. Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, Azumanga Daioh, Pani Poni Dash, FLCL, and Panty & Stocking are all favorites of mine. I will say that if a person isn’t into surrealist/acid trip humor, than this show is not for you. I can tell that much right off the bat.
I do feel however that the Nano/Professor scenes are a bit weaker than the Yuko/Mio scenes (that’s 3 Mio’s I know in Anime now…), but I did like the scenes none the less.
But, I do feel that the surrealist humor of the show is the main draw, and is somewhat the point of the show. Judging of this and Episode 0, I feel that this show’s purpose is to use surreal humor. If you don’t like that kind of thing, well than that’s fine. This kind of humor is definitely not for everyone. And if this is the case, this show might not be for you.
On a separate note, when you mentioned Azumanga, that reminded me of something. I’ve noticed that the reason stated by quite a few American Anime fans who like Azumanga is because of relateability and realism. That reasoning seems odd to me. As a fan of Azumanga, I say it’s the surrealism of it all, it’s half detachment from reality that makes it so funny and so appealing. And on the same coin quite a few American Anime fans don’t see Lucky Star as very realistic at all. Which is funny because besides the art style, I find it much more realistic than Azumanga. It’s just an observation of mine.
@ VillainHana: Yeah, as I suspected, one of the reasons that I don’t like the comedy of Nichijo is because of the disconnect from reality. But I also think it’s also because of the ‘senselessness’ of the jokes. I’m not too familiar with the phrase Acid Trip, but in both Nichijo and Azumanga, I found some of the jokes to be slow paced and out of place. I just couldn’t get the jokes… I haven’t watched Azumanga in awhile, but I do remember going ‘okay… and then?’ quite often.
It’s really annoying that I can’t seem put my finger on why these two shows don’t appeal to me… But again, that’s just my opinion and I understand and respect the fact that both Nichijo (possibly) and Azumanga Diaoh has a huge fan base.
Talking about relateability, the fact that I could relate so well to the characters of Lucky Star is definitely one of the reasons for me liking the show so much.
Oh, for the record, I adore Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei and PS&G. I believe the reason I like SZS is because, unlike Nichijo and Azumanga, it doesn’t try to be a SOL show Instead, it’s a parody and social commentary show that has the guise of a SOL series.
You know what? Let me go back and rewatch a couple of episodes of Azumanga. If I do notice anything new, I’ll post it here or on my channel.
After my safe arrival to Japan – once mentioned before – i noticed that my apartment has a flatscreen with HD 720p and all japanese digital channels available ^^
After Episode 0 i was really looking forward to the real one: and after Episode 2 this show just flashed me.
Please don’t think bad of me, but i already made a pilgrimage to the Nichijou-Hometown, and it was worth the far travel: like in Lucky Star and K-ON!(!), Kyoani managed to copy the atmosphere of the real existing place right into the anime.
I also watch A-Channel (live) on japanese TV, i also like this show and will watch it / read the manga. BUT concerning animation quality and hilarious humour, Nichijou will perhaps outrun A-Channel.
When the anime reaches the third manga – and it will, since the second season has been (un)officially announced – there should be a release of lots of goods and of course, figurines ^^
Greetz from japan (really too much earthquakes…)
So sorry this isn’t related, but I sent an email to your “actarsreviews@live.com” address about a figure you had for sale a while ago, and I was just wondering if you can take a look at it.
So where is the Nichijou hometown then?