Sunday, 29 May 2011

Nichijou - Episode 9

I may still be harking back to the heady days of Nichijou's sixth episode, but hey, what have we here?  Another pretty decent episode of comedy hijinks, truth be told.

After a mildly amusing scene of insane over-reaction to the end of an exam, this episode gets into its groove via Mio's eminently random sister - on this occasion, her penchant for placing Shogi pieces on Mio's expensive snacks.  There's something funny about seeing a strawberry replaced with a chess piece as it is, but Mio's elaborately animated reactions and her sister's counter-reaction only add to the skit's humour.


After a hilarious brief session of marking an illustration-based test at school which alludes to an earlier episode, we reach perhaps the most "real" sketch the series has attempted yet, with Yuuko paying the price for ordering something unusual from a restaurant menu and having to wait an eternity as a result.  We've all been there... From there, Yuuko's mosquito battle is another brilliantly animated piece that works alongside her constant over-reactions for once to reasonable effect, while the Professor and Nano add a touch of the adorable to proceedings before Mio's stint as a Daifuku mascot goes horribly wrong and we see what happens when Nano falls flat on her back; a piece of simple yet hilarious visual comedy in its own right.

Overall then, this was another episode of Nichijou which was well worth its entrance fee - it wasn't as hysterically funny as episode six, but it had enough laughs and random gags that actually worked to keep my interest whilst it actually made better use of its heated over-reactions and other comedy vehicles for a change rather than running them into the ground until they become repetitive and dull.  More of the same over the coming weeks would be warmly welcomed, but Nichijou  certainly feels like its getting closer to finding its feet.

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