Nichijou OVA

That awkward moment when you realize that it was actually porn

You know that utterly crushing moment when you realize that you failed a test that you thought you did well on? And then, as if they were reading lines off a script, your friends try to comfort you, only to accidentally make you feel worse? No? Well, Aioki Yuuko knows that feeling all too well- after completely bombing an important test, her best friend Mio persists in trying to see her grade, which, upon revealing her miserable failure, sends Yuuko into a state of depression and self-loathing. And thus, it’s up to Mio to try to fix her mistake by giving her a pep talk that seems to last 100 years followed by a discussion about courage, fishing analogies, and a bunch of stuff I was too busy sleeping to remember. Mio lays on the compliments and manages to make Yuuko feel confident in herself again, but the truth is that she was just bullshitting her way through it all because Yuuko is the Lucky Star equivalent of Yui Hirasawa.

No, really, and that’s all that happened during the first half. It was basically just one big, drawn-out conversation, which is oddly just like the first episode of Lucky Star.

Sorry, Tofu, this Mio isn't voiced by Hikasa Yoko. ;w;

The second half starts out a little better with a girl named Hakase (voiced by that same godawful seiyuu who voiced Nakata Sae in Amagami SS) who doesn’t want to take cold medicine. Her older sister and a cat called Sakamoto try to convince her to take it anyway, but she blatantly refuses. I’ll be honest: I was less interested in the girls and more interested in the TALKING CAT who tries to persuade Hakase to take her medicine, only to end up distracted by butterflies!

A.D.D. CAT FTW!

Geh, fansubber insert jokes again. At least it’s not as bad as in Yumekui Merry…

Desperate to get Hakase to take her medicine, onee-chan and Sakamoto concoct a plan to slip her a roofie mix medicine in with her snack so she doesn’t know she’s taken it, further proving that you just can’t trust any adults in anime. It would have been fool proof, except onee-chan is apparently even more retarded than Yuuko and decided to put it right on top in plain sight….is what I’d say if Hakase didn’t actually eat it, but guess what? The plan worked!

Herp

Derp

....wut?

In case anyone missed Yui and Mio er…Yuuko and Mio, the two return accompanied by their quiet friend Mai  in the third segment as they await the arrival of the afternoon train, only to realize that they’re the only ones at the station. Seizing the opportunity to act like children with nobody watching, they do just that until the train comes, and lo and behold, it turns out that is empty as well, much to the delight of Yuuko. Yuuko and Mio proceed to play games with their hands while Mai falls asleep on the luggage shelf, and so inspired by this bizarre random sleeping are our duo that they decide to fall asleep under her and imagine themselves on a triple-stacked bunk bed. Then…it’s over. Wait, WTF?!

Thoughts:

This ended up being much more difficult to write than I thought just because…nothing really happens.

Back in the Spring Preview post I mentioned that I thought this would be either hit or miss for me depending on originality and execution. The verdict that I’ve reached after watching this OVA is that it’s probably going to be a miss. It relied way too much on these ridiculously drawn out conversations that were funny for a minute but got old quickly and just served to fill up space, which was incredibly boring to watch.

Giving credit where credit is due, though, it was definitely more creative than I expected. There were some quirky, subtle things that really piqued my interest during the course of this OVA, particularly stuff like the girl with the wind-up on her back for no apparent reason. The character designs were also pretty cute, but the ratio of cute to funny just wasn’t balanced enough. The jokes were original but lacked good execution, and ultimately just went on for too long. There was no need for the first segment to occupy the entire first half, and actually, I would have liked to see more of the third segment that ended way too abruptly much more.

For some reason, this screenshot makes me laugh every time though...

This doesn’t necessarily determine how the anime will be, but it definitely doesn’t make me want to watch it. The seiyuu cast ranged from “nothing special” to “oh god, my ears!”, so that doesn’t exactly help either, and the fact that everyone but the cat and the quiet girl were complete morons makes me think it will be hard to actually end up liking this.
 
OVA Rating: 6.5/10

/ 11 Commentsleave a comment /

• Bass says:

  March 25, 2011

  That first paragraph sold me on this show, since I've fallen victim to that more times than I'd care to remember >_<

  I'm probably gonna give this OVA a shot, even though the lack of noses scare me
  My recent post Nichijou OVA

  Reply
  • xyanderex says:

    March 26, 2011

    You too? XD
    The idea itself is pretty funny, but the way they went about it just didn't work for me.

    Reply
• Renn says:

  March 25, 2011

  I didn't laugh once, but the animation and score are enough to keep me watching. xD We'll see where this goes.

  I loved the talking cat though. :D

  Reply
  • xyanderex says:

    March 25, 2011

    The talking cat was seriously the highlight of the whole episode xD
    My recent post Tofu’s Top 10 Anime of 2010

    Reply
• Unyty says:

  March 25, 2011

  I had a few chuckles here and there but for most part the OVA was not really comedic.

  Reply
  • xyanderex says:

    March 26, 2011

    Yeah, it's kind of a shame. :/
    My recent post Tofu’s Top 10 Anime of 2010

    Reply
• Foshizzel says:

  March 26, 2011

  I thought this was really good! I died laughing with the science kid and the talking cat, the stuff with the tests dragged on for a while. Like I GET IT she sucks at tests LOL 15mins of that was dulllll

  Reply
  • xyanderex says:

    March 27, 2011

    I think the 2nd part with the cat was probably the best part out of the three, but even there I just couldn't get into it. XD
    I really started falling asleep in the first part though. I kind of wanted to stab the crap out of Mio and Yuuko the whole time…>.>
    My recent post Tofu’s Top 10 Anime of 2010

    Reply
• Overcooled says:

  March 27, 2011

  It was one of those meh things where I watch with a straight face, but end up watching anyways. I watched it with my friend and it kind of covered up the mediocrity XD

  Reply
• Duha-Arab@facebook says:

  February 14, 2012

  it's sooooooooo wonderful drawing
  you are so talented

  Reply