Sunday 17 July 2011

Nichijou - Episode 16

Buying coffee can be a stressful experience it seems.... well, I suppose almost everything is a stressful and overwrought emotional experience if you're Yuuko Aioi, but I digress.

Anyhow, Yuuko's coffee confusion proves to be an amusing opening to the episode, albeit one almost spoilt somewhat (as is so often the case) by Yuuko's over-reactions which only serves to detract from the fact that the sketch was actually pretty funny.  A similar criticism could also be levelled about the next major sketch, which sees Mio put into an uncomfortable situation with the police as she's asked if her bag can be searched - something she really doesn't want to happen at any cost given what she's carrying, and bringing us one of those slickly animated slices of daftness of which the series seems so fond.


Of course, this episode also finds time to focus on Nano's continuing efforts to avoid being "outed" as a robot - an attempt which proves to be in vain once Yuuko decides to visit her house, only to be greeted by the Professor (who, of course, isn't very good at the whole keeping secrets thing) and a certain talking cat... not that Yuuko seems to care ultimately, seemingly indicating that Nano's school life is about to get a whole lot easier.

As episodes of Nichijou, this week's instalment seemed to pack in more genuinely funny humour than usual - yes, its reaction shots were over-bearing to the point of distraction at times, but there was generally a solid vein of humour running throughout the episode while using Nano to "ground" the series around a central axis to some degree continues to make watching each episode feel more coherent and satisfying as a whole.  When Nichijou uses its characters and their traits well (as demonstrated by the "eraser borrowing" sketch or Yuuko's visit to Nano's house in the main) it definitely has quite a lot to offer, which makes the occasions where it gets things wrong all the more frustrating.  Thankfully, this particular instalment is generally light on such moments of frustration.

No comments: