2006 drollery manga by Keiichi Arawi
Nichijou ( japanese : 日常, Hepburn : Nichijō, “ Everyday ” ) is a japanese comedy manga series written and illustrated by Keiichi Arawi. The manga began serialization in the December 2006 issue of Kadokawa Shoten ‘s manga magazine Shōnen Ace, and was besides serialized in Comptiq between the March 2007 and July 2008 issues. Kadokawa Shoten subsequently published all chapters of the series ‘ initial function in ten tankōbon volumes from July 2007 to December 2015. After a six class foramen, the manga began serialization again in 2021. [ 3 ] Set in a suburban japanese township, Nichijou is populated by an ensemble set of characters, featuring moments from their everyday lives which alternate between the mundane and the strange, without ample focus on a narrative. A 26-episode anime adaptation directed by Tatsuya Ishihara and produced by Kyoto Animation was broadcast on television Aichi in Japan between April and September 2011, after an earlier master television animation ( OVA ) was released in March. A PlayStation Portable game by Vridge and Kadokawa Shoten was released on July 28, 2011, entitled Nichijou: Uchuujin. The manga and anime series were initially licensed in North America by Bandai Entertainment in July 2011, but both releases were cancelled due to the party ‘s downsize. The manga series was later licensed for publication in English by Vertical, with the first volume released in March 2016. Funimation released the zanzibar copal in North America with subtitles on Blu-ray Disc and DVD on February 7, 2017. An english dub was late created for the Blu-ray re-release on July 23, 2019. Madman Entertainment licensed the zanzibar copal series in 2011 for australian and New Zealand distribution, releasing the DVDs in April and May 2013.

The zanzibar copal adaptation initially received reserve praise from western critics, who commended the vivification quality but found it lacking in reproducible wit and kernel. retrospective reviews, however, have since given the series high critical praise for its affection and dreamlike comedy, with one critic deeming it among the “ finest anime comedies of all time ” .

plot [edit ]

Nichijou follows the everyday lives of assorted people in the township of Tokisadame, [ 4 ] centering on the energetic Yūko Aioi, the bright and cheerful Mio Naganohara, the calm and deadpan Mai Minakami, the anxious android Nano Shinonome, her unseasoned godhead the Professor, and a talking cat named Sakamoto, along with an corps de ballet cast of characters. Random and/or bizarre events regularly occur throughout the series, chiefly through the everyday situations each character goes through. In the zanzibar copal series, Nano receives the most big report arc out of all the characters ; the first half of Nichijou involves her desire to become a student in high school, while the second one-half deals with her fear of being exposed as a automaton while at school. Vignettes which are largely unrelated to the main focus of the series are placed throughout each episode, some of them adapted from another manga by Arawi, Helvetica Standard .

Characters [edit ]

independent characters [edit ]

Yūko Aioi

(

相生 祐子

, Aioi Yūko )

Voiced by : Mariko Honda ( japanese ) ; Morgan Garrett ( English )[5]
Yūko is an energetic 16-year-old high school girl with short brown hair. Yūko’s main desire in life is to make every day more fun and interesting than normal, often at other’s or her own expense. Because she is often too lazy to do her own homework, she always copies from either Mio or Mai instead. Although she is a generally easygoing person, her mood changes instantly when she is insulted. She often greets people with her catchphrase “selamat pagi” (Malay and Indonesian for “good morning”) in a bid to make simple greetings more interesting.

Mio Naganohara

(

長野原 みお

, Naganohara Mio )

Voiced by : Mai Aizawa ( japanese ) ; Leah Clark ( English )[5]
Mio is a bright and cheerful girl, sporting light blue hair pulled into pigtails and held by two small wooden cubes. She has a crush on Kojiro Sasahara. Though ordinary-looking in comparison to her friends Yūko and Mai, Mio harbors a very short temper, prone to tantrums and acts of violence in order to avoid humiliation; even assaulting a police officer to keep her yaoi manuscript from being discovered. She often has to humor Yūko to make her happy. Being a talented artist, she occasionally draws homoerotic pictures of Kojiro in her notebooks and, under a male pseudonym, has entered several erotic manga into contests that promise serialization to the winner. Near the end of the manga, Mio finally wins one of the contests she entered, though it is unknown whether or not she actually accepted the publisher’s offer due to her paranoia about her art. She is 16 years old.

Mai Minakami

(

水上 麻衣

, Minakami Mai )

Voiced by : Misuzu Togashi ( japanese ) ; Brittany Lauda ( English )[5]
Mai is a quiet and intelligent girl who wears glasses. Before the events of the manga series, Mai had lived in Alaska and moved to Japan due to her father’s job. Likely as a result of this, Mai is fascinated by Shinto shrines and will always visit whenever she sees one. She excels at a wide range of activities, including fishing, wood carving, and arm wrestling. Despite her serene and rather unemotional demeanor, she has an eccentric sense of humor and will often provoke Yūko with a variety of gags in order to gauge a reaction out of her, much to Yūko’s chagrin. She has two pet dogs named Oguri Cap and Pyon.

Nano Shinonome

(

東雲 なの

, Shinonome Nano )

Voiced by : Shizuka Furuya ( japanese ) ; Monica Rial ( English )[5]
Nano is an android schoolgirl, built by the Professor. Despite being a year old, she has the height and appearance of an average teenager. She worries about keeping her identity as a robot from other people, even though the large wind-up key on her back makes it quite obvious. Her limbs will sometimes fall apart, revealing items that the Professor installed into her system without her noticing, ranging from beam-firing weapons to Swiss rolls. She acts like the Professor’s caretaker, and spends her days helping her and doing all the household chores. Nano’s main goal in life is to go to school, which the Professor eventually grants, resulting in her befriending Yūko’s group of friends. Although she was technically never born, her “birthday” is March 7.

Professor

(

はかせ

, Hakase )

Voiced by : Hiromi Konno ( japanese ) ; Jad Saxton ( English )[5]
The Professor is an intelligent eight-year-old scientist. She built Nano herself, and often makes various adjustments to her, but adamantly refuses to remove the wind-up key on her back because she thinks it is cute. Her favorite animal is the shark. She does not go to school, since she already graduated, and instead spends her days playing around in the house. Despite her intelligence, she acts like a spoiled child most of the time, as she throws tantrums to get what she wants. She likes snacking, playing around, and sharks. She also enjoys spending time with Nano’s friends, particularly Yūko due to her approval of “cool things” and Mai because she gives her shark-themed chocolates and drawings. She didn’t like Mai at first because she let her dogs corner her and Sakamoto on the street, but warms up to her when Mai draws a shark for her.

Sakamoto

(

阪本

)

Voiced by : Minoru Shiraishi ( japanese ) ; Anthony Bowling ( English )[5]
Sakamoto is a black cat. He wears a red scarf made by the Professor, which allows him to speak. He was originally named Taisho and was the pet of Kana Nakamura until he fell out of the window of her house, and he was found by the Professor before mysteriously turning up at the Shinonome home. He decided to stay with Nano and the Professor because of his relative luxury at the home in contrast to Nakamura’s constant unintentional neglect. In cat years, he is 20 years old, older than both Nano and the Professor, and tries to act like the adult of the house, but to his shame, he occasionally succumbs to his cat-like habits. A running-gag is his tendency to endure the Professor’s comically horrific physical abuse, usually in the form of a childish booby-trap or the rope noose she uses to walk him.

Teachers [edit ]

Izumi Sakurai (

桜井 泉

, Sakurai Izumi )

Voiced by : Mami Kosuge ( japanese ) ; Tabitha Ray ( English )[5]
Izumi Sakurai is a young, constantly flustered and easily frightened teacher. She tries to enforce the school rules, but is typically unable to accomplish much due to her passivity. Even though she is often nervous and a pushover at school, she is marginally more brave when it comes to her younger brother (Makoto Sakurai), once confronting him about an erotic magazine found in his room.
Manabu Takasaki (

高崎 学

, Takasaki Manabu )

Voiced by : Tetsu Inada ( japanese ) ; Shawn Gann ( English )[5]
Manabu Takasaki is a male teacher who has romantic feelings for Izumi, but is unable to tell her as he thinks too much and is too shy to admit it. These feelings lead him to become the club adviser for the go-soccer club after Makoto bribes him with pictures of his sister.
Principal Shinonome (

校長先生 (東雲)

, Kōchō-sensei (Shinonome) )

Voiced by : Chō ( japanese ) ; Francis Henry ( English )[5]
Principal Shinonome is the middle-aged bald principal of Tokisadame High, where part of the story is set. While known for his old jokes and puns, unknown to most, he is a talented wrestler. He is referred to as “Principal Shinonome” implying that he may be the Professor’s father or relative, but this was never revealed in the series.
Vice Principal Kōsuke Ōra (

教頭先生 (邑楽 耕介)

, Kyōtō-sensei (Ōra Kōsuke) )

Voiced by : Hiroshi Naka ( japanese ) ; Charlie Campbell ( English )[5]
Known for wearing glasses and a yellow tie, he hates the Principal and doesn’t hide the mean things he does to him. He was the previous principal of the school and is incredibly bitter about his demotion, so much so that he began to drink heavily and send daily death curses to Principal Shinonome. His constant drinking and stress have utterly destroyed his body, and he describes himself as being one drink away from liver failure at all times.
Kana Nakamura (

中村 かな

, Nakamura Kana )

Voiced by : Kaoru Mizuhara ( japanese ) ; Lydia Mackay ( English )[5]
Kana Nakamura is a science teacher who is fixated on Nano’s robotic nature. She constantly schemes to capture Nano for study, but her machinations invariably backfire, like drinking coffee from the same tranquilizer-spiked jug that the coffee for Nano was from. As such, it is a running joke that she is not there to take classes very often, having fainted from one of her escapades, resulting in many students asking, ‘Has Ms. Nakamura collapsed again?’.

Students [edit ]

Kōjirō Sasahara (

笹原 幸治郎

, Sasahara Kōjirō )

Voiced by : Yoshihisa Kawahara ( japanese ) ; Seth Magill ( English )[5]
A flamboyant high school boy who acts like an aristocratic lawyer when in reality his family are just farmers. He likes to ride his goat Kojirō Sasahara (

笹原 コジロウ

, Sasahara Kojirō ) to school and is often seen with his butler. He is very suave and, despite not having many friends, is the object of affection from most girls in the school, yet acts like any other teenage boy, which most girls willfully ignore to preserve their “Prince Charming” mental image of him. Kojiro used to take kendo lessons with Yoshino, Mio, and Misato, which resulted in the latter two developing feelings for him.

Misato Tachibana (

立花 みさと

, Tachibana Misato )

Voiced by : Chika Horikawa ( japanese ) ; Madeleine Morris ( English )[5]
A peach-haired high school girl who generally acts as a tsukkomi towards Kojiro whenever he does anything to annoy her. Misato, however, does this by shooting him with various guns and heavy weaponry that come out of nowhere, which he survives due to the weapons’ ammunition usually being either rubber bullets or blanks filled with flour. In reality, Misato has feelings for Kojiro, but due to her tsundere attitude, she constantly denies her feelings or shoots Kojiro if he annoys her.
Tsuyoshi Nakanojō (

中之条 剛

, Nakanojō Tsuyoshi )

Voiced by : Kazutomi Yamamoto ( japanese ) ; Kyle Igneczi ( English )[5]
A 15-year-old student with simplistic eyes and a natural blonde mohawk which he detests. Tsuyoshi wants to be a scientist in the future and thus doesn’t believe in the supernatural, but his attempts to disprove supernatural phenomena usually end up with the proof of them being “confirmed”, or with embarrassing situations for him.
Haruna Annaka (

安中 榛名

, Annaka Haruna )

Voiced by : Kaori Sadohara ( japanese ) ; Kristen McGuire ( English )[5]
A girl with a large ribbon on her head. She unfortunately sometimes runs into crazy individuals much to her confusion. She likes to read manga.
Kenzaburō Daiku (

大工 健三郎

, Daiku Kenzaburō )

Voiced by : Ryota Yoshizaki ( japanese ) ; Stephen Fu ( English )[5]
A brown-haired boy who is the president of the go-soccer club, which he founded without any knowledge of it being an actual sport. The club eventually became a legitimate team due to a sudden influx of skilled players and has since won the prefectural tournament and was heading to the national championships, but Kenzaburo now wonders why he even stays on the team, as the club has become so far removed from the original intent of it being a place to relax. His rich father is the president of Daiku Industries, which owns many of the businesses visited by the main characters.
Yuria Sekiguchi (

関口 ユリア

, Sekiguchi Yuria )

Voiced by : Ai Hirosaka ( japanese ) ; Apphia Yu ( English )[5]
A quiet girl who is a member of the go-soccer club. She has a crush on Daiku Kenzaburo, the president of the club and stays in the club so that he won’t be lonely. Like Tsuyoshi, she also has simplistic eyes.
Makoto Sakurai (

桜井 誠

, Sakurai Makoto )

Voiced by : Takahiro Hikami ( japanese ) ; Dallas Reid ( English )[5]
Makoto is Izumi’s younger brother, who joins the go-soccer club. He is very skilled at the sport and helps the club grow by bribing Takasaki into becoming their advisor with pictures of his sister in her high school years.
Tanaka (

田中

)

Voiced by : Kota Yamaguchi ( japanese ) ; Tyson Rinehart ( English )[5]
A boy who wears a large black afro wig. He is friends with Tsuyoshi Nakanojo.
Weboshī (

ウェボシー

, Weboshī )

Voiced by : Yoko Tamaoki ( japanese ) ; Kathryn Taylor Rose ( English )[5]
Weboshī is Misato’s green-haired classmate, who has a ponytail. Her real name is unknown.
Fe (

フェっちゃん

)

Voiced by : Yumi Higuchi ( japanese ) ; Kara Edwards ( English )[5]
Fe is Misato’s classmate. She ends her sentences with “fe”. Her real name is unknown.
Mihoshi Tachibana (

立花 みほし

, Tachibana Mihoshi )

Voiced by : Manami Honda ( japanese ) ; Emily Neves ( English )[5]
Mihoshi is Misato’s younger sister and a kendo student. She envies her senior, Yoshino (Mio’s older sister), for being extremely talented while rarely practicing.
Yoshino Naganohara (

長野原 よしの

, Naganohara Yoshino )

Voiced by : Motoko Kobayashi ( japanese ) ; Maxey Whitehead ( English )[5]
Yoshino is Mio’s easy going elder sister who goes to college. She likes to wear costumes and often plays pranks on others. She is also Misato and Mihoshi’s senior in kendo, a sport she is naturally talented at, but does not practice at the dojo very often.

Media [edit ]

Manga [edit ]

Nichijou began as a manga serial written and illustrated by Keiichi Arawi. It uses a combination of normal amusing format and four-panel amusing strips. in the first place, the manga was meant to be a short, stand-alone series which was serialized in Kadokawa Shoten ‘s Shōnen Ace magazine between the May and October 2006 issues. [ 6 ] [ additional citation(s) needed ] Starting with the December 2006 issue, the manga began regular serialization in Shōnen Ace, and was besides serialized in Kadokawa ‘s Comptiq cartridge holder between the March 2007 and July 2008 issues. [ 6 ] [ additional citation(s) needed ] The first tankōbon volume was released in Japan on July 26, 2007. The manga serial ended with its one-tenth book, which was released on December 10, 2015, along with a specify edition commemorating the tenth anniversary of the series, which included a 120-page companion book. [ 6 ] [ 7 ] On October 20, 2021, Arawi announced Nichijou would be serializing again in Monthly Shōnen Ace on October 26, 2021. [ 8 ] Bandai Entertainment initially licensed the manga in July 2011, but late cancelled its passing by October due to downsizing of the party. [ 9 ] [ 10 ] [ 11 ] JManga, an american digital manga platform, was able to release the beginning four volumes of the manga through its web site before shutting down in May 2013. [ 6 ] [ 12 ] The manga serial was later licensed for publication in English by Vertical, which released all ten-spot volumes in 2016 and 2017. [ 13 ] Beginning in January 2012, the manga has been released in Finland by Punainen jättiläinen under the name Arki, which is finnish for “ weekday ”. It was translated into finnish by Antti Kokkonen. [ 14 ] [ 15 ]

anime [edit ]

Kyoto Animation adapted the Nichijou manga into a 26-episode zanzibar copal television serial and an original video liveliness ( OVA ) episode. The anime adaptation was first base announced on May 22, 2010 through the July topic of Shōnen Ace magazine. [ 16 ] The OVA, titled Nichijou Episode 0, was directed by Kazuya Sakamoto and bundled as a DVD supernumerary with volume six of the manga serial on March 12, 2011. [ 17 ] Series composer Yūji Nomi orchestrated the score in Hungary. [ 18 ] The zanzibar copal serial aired in Japan on television Aichi from April 3 to September 25, 2011, with the final sequence written by Arawi, godhead of the master manga. [ 19 ] It was as besides simulcast by Crunchyroll under the mention My Ordinary Life. [ 20 ] The series was re-edited into twelve episodes for broadcast on NHK Educational television in January 2012. [ 21 ] The series besides incorporates skits from Arawi ‘s other manga, Helvetica Standard [ 22 ] ( ヘルベチカスタンダード, Herubechika Sutandādo ), which is published in Kadokawa Shoten ‘s Newtype magazine. Bandai Entertainment had in the first place licensed the zanzibar copal, [ 9 ] but its passing was belated cancelled. [ 23 ] however, Madman Entertainment managed to release the series in Australia and New Zealand in subtitles only. [ 24 ] [ 25 ] [ 26 ] It was released as a two–part collection containing 13 episodes each. The first separate was released on April 11, 2013, [ 27 ] while the second part was released on May 9, 2013. [ 28 ] Funimation late licensed the series in North America and released it on February 7, 2017 with subtitles. [ 29 ] Funimation re-released the serial with a knight on July 23, 2019. [ 30 ] On October 7, 2021, Funimation announced two Blu-ray releases for the United Kingdom and Ireland that will be released on December 13, 2021 ; a criterion version, and a circumscribed edition which includes a inflexible box, a 40 page artwork book and 6 art cards. [ 31 ]

production credits [edit ]

theme songs [edit ]

Opening themes
  • “Hyadain no Kakakata Kataomoi – C”[35]ヒャダインのカカカタ☆カタオモイ-C, “ Hyadain ‘s U-u-u-u☆unrequited Love – C ” )Hyadain (episodes 1–6, 8–13)
  • “Hyadain no Jōjō Yūjō”[35]ヒャダインのじょーじょーゆーじょー, “ Hyadain ‘s Amazing Friendship ” )
Ending themes
Insert songs
  • “Headlight, Taillight” (

    ヘッドライト・テールライト

    , Heddoraito Tēruraito ), written and performed by Miyuki Nakajima (episode 19)

Video game [edit ]

A PlayStation Portable video game titled Nichijou: Uchuujin ( 日常（宇宙人）, lit. Everyday: Alien ) developed by Vridge and published by Kadokawa Shoten was released entirely in Japan on July 28, 2011. [ 37 ] [ 38 ] In the game, the player takes the function of a producer from “ Galaxy television receiver ” running the television series Nichijou, whose aim is to keep the ratings high by correctly deciding on what unusual situation to insert in the testify. [ 39 ] The japanese bet on cartridge holder Famitsu gave the game a score of 27 out of 40 based on four individual reviews. [ 40 ]

Sales and reception [edit ]

The Nichijou manga series sold 1,005,300 tankōbon volumes in 2011, reaching 49th plaza in the year ‘s best-selling manga series graph released by Oricon. [ 41 ] The Nichijou zanzibar copal has reportedly had low BD and DVD sales, and did not come close to meeting the open frame even line according to animation director Shunji Suzuki. [ 42 ] The first DVD book sold 924 copies in its first week of sales, [ 43 ] while the second and fourth BD volumes sold over 2,000 copies each in their first week. [ 44 ] [ 45 ] Anime News Network ( ANN ) reviewer Carl Kimlinger gave the series ‘ first base seven episodes a B, stating that the anime is a “ slice-of-life comedy with a preference for lunacy and a taste for huggable prettiness … ”, giving praise specially to Kyoto Animation ‘s bouncy vivification of the serial : “ a rare chance to see talented animators amply indulging their love of the art. ” [ 1 ] Fellow ANN commentator Theron Martin stated in his inspection of “ Nichijou Episode 1 ” that despite the series ‘ ability to entertain, it is “ absolutely not a series for everyone ”. [ 46 ] Chris Beveridge of the now defunct Mania.com reviewed the first four episodes, giving each succeeding episode a lower rate ( B for episode 1 down to D+ by episode 4 ). Beveridge stated in his review of sequence 4 that “ [ Nichijou is ] sol entire of bagatelle and inanity that it ‘s difficult to get enthused about. ” [ 47 ] [ 48 ] [ 49 ] After the north american Blu-ray release of Nichijou in February 2017, Nick Creamer of ANN gave a highly positive review for the series, considering it “ one of the finest anime comedies of all time ”, in contrast to the reserved praise previously given by other reviewers. [ 1 ] [ 46 ] [ 50 ] Creamer stated that “ As a disruptive solicitation of daredevil skits, Nichijou is an alone success …. Blessed by some of the most beautiful liveliness in holocene memory, closely every gag is elevated to some kind of surrealist beauty. beyond that, the show ‘s sense of heart is closely a strong as its sense of wit. ” [ 51 ] Beveridge would besides revise his negative opinion of the series by 2017, giving it a grade of A+. He stated that “ [ Nichijou ] is that rare cult series that has such high end values to it and so many layers and richness that people will overlook because it ‘s a comedy that I can not recommend it enough. ” [ 52 ] Crunchyroll ‘s column team chose Nichijou as one of the twenty-five best zanzibar copal of the 2010s ten and writer Kara Dennison commented it is “ a relatable slice-of-life series ” whose characters and “ charm artwork style, makes it impossible to look away. [ 53 ] Writing for Forbes, Lauren Orsini considered it to be one of the five best zanzibar copal of 2011 ; she wrote, “ no topic how off the wall the history gets, its dedication to the realistically awkward adolescent girls who must navigate it gives it center ”. [ 54 ]

References [edit ]