Nichijou 11-13: Turning-point

Yukko’s mum. Still awesome

In these three episodes we (unfortunately), got a whole load more of Yukko in retard-mode, but (fortunately), a whole lot more of Nano (and friends) in adawwable mode. And more of Yukko’s mum being awesome. And a rather unexpected twist at the end…

Selective Summary:

I think this is cool too.

Okay, the main events in these episodes include: (in epi 11) evidence that Yukko is just a stupid brat after all, and one who writes terribad poetry to boot; the introduction of a random loser grandpa figure; fun with superglue; (in epi 12) Hakase making business cards; rigged carnival games; Superball, the one thing Yukko does seem to be good at; lost wallets; matching wind-up keys and swapped identities; (and in epi 13) kitty-traps; more grandpa moe; thunder and lightning; and Nano wanting to go to school…

Thoughts:

Nice to see that Nichijou doesn’t age-discriminate and that old people are equally abused in the show.

(Epi 11) Firstly, why does Yukko’s mum allow her daughter to have such a pretty little kitty when she seems to be nothing but a work-shy brat? I mean, I can forgive someone for being stupid if they try their hardest to do the best they can with the (little) brains they’ve got, but that tantrum was just RAEG-inducing to watch. GAH. Tantrums and terribad poetry aside, the traffic-lights insert sequences were very literal moments of pause in this episode, rather than charting the small ‘progression’ of something, as such scenes have previously shown, and the introduction of the moe grandpa was also interesting not least of all because it allowed us to pay more attention to some of the older characters, as well as the ‘everyday life’ theme and the associated little disappointments and giggles that can occur in a person’s otherwise routine existence. And the Hakase-Sakamoto-Nano-fun-with-glue skit was, though giggle-worthy, a little odd, in that it made me question how much of a genius Hakase really is, if she couldn’t foresee the consequences of using such a supersize tube of superglue in that way…

Too. Freaking. Funny.

(Epi 12) Next up, a better epi, mainly because it had (albeit briefly) Mohawk Guy, Goat Guy, and more of the cat-prof-robot combo in it. And speaking of the latter, Hakase’s giving-a-‘business-card’-to-the-cat skit was just pure BWAHAHA. Nice to see that this particular double act and the chemistry between these two are still going strong. Also nice to see, with the Superball shots, that Yukko is actually good at something, even if that won’t make me like her. In contrast, the Yukko face during the lost wallet sequence was more, for me, a case of ‘Okay, Yukko face, I geddit’. Finally, for this epi, Hakase’s identity-switch game thingy with the matching wind-up key was another gigglesome demonstration of why you just can’t out-troll Hakase, as well as another endearing example of how Nano can’t help but give in to her…

Nano DAAWWW pic of the epi/ season so far.

(Epi 13) …which brings us to epi 13 where, in a way, the reverse happened at the end of it. Aside from a few moments with Mio and Yukko and more grandpa moe, this episode was all about Nano’s desire to go to school finally about to be realised. Quite frankly, it was worth sitting through some of the less than gigglesome gags to see her face at the end of this episode. Surely ,‘happy’, does not even begin to describe it, and weren’t we just as chuffed for her. This was clearly a turning-point in the show, which has now reached its halfway point in terms of its run of episodes, and it was great seeing a release for Nano’s longing to lead a normal life and to go to school etc. which had been building up in all the previous episodes. And it will certainly no doubt make for more interesting and eventful future episodes if and when we see her interacting with the other (school)kids, and I look forward to seeing more of such apparently ‘ordinary’ Vs. ‘extraordinary’ goings-on…