Nichijou is a comedic, slice-of-life story, first appearing as a manga in 2006, and later animated in 2011. It doesn’t focus on overarching narratives, instead focusing on small segments and sketches with the same cast of characters. It depicts “everyday life” for suburban Japanese teenagers.

And yet ridiculous, over-the-top scenarios happen at every moment. Trying to pet a dog? Shoot a laser beam out of you mouth. Standing in the hallway as punishment? Watch the principal suplex a deer. Trying to get out of the rain? Accidentally destroy a temple. This Monty Python-esque humor is what I enjoy about the show.

Of course, we overthinkers aren’t satisfied simply by watching. Why not try to explain the disparity between the real and the absurd? Could there be some meaning hiding behind the humor?

I see the entire show as being told from Yuko’s point of view. What we see on screen isn’t actually happening, it’s just Yuko retelling it to make it more dramatic. These stories serve as an escape from suburban life. When she feels bored or exasperated, she creates these fantasies around what she is experiencing. Her active imagination makes her forget a lot of real world commitments (often her homework) which serves as a cornerstone for many of the sketches.

This reminds me a lot of Mark Twain’s famous character Tom Sawyer. Like Yuko, Tom has an active imagination and thinks up incredible scenarios to describe his life. Whether it be enacting a war with a fellow kid, being a pirate on the Mississippi river, or turning a cave into a hiding place for a gang, Tom uses stories to escape his normally boring life in the American countryside.

Stylistically, their imaginations may seem very different, but are actually similar if you consider how it interacts with their upbringing. Tom blends his life with the stories he reads while in school, like One Thousand and One Nights, or Robin Hood. Hence, most of his stories involve hidden treasure, outlaws, and adventure. Meanwhile Yuko would be inspired by what she’s experienced the most: postmodernist Japan. Hence, her stories depict fantastic ideas in tandem with real life, with a lot of hyperbole and anime tropes.

I think the messages of this theme from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer extend to Nichijou as well. Imagination is and effective way of coping with a tedious life, but it doesn’t work in every situation. We still have to live in reality and take care of the people closest to us.

But what do you guys think? Do Yuko and Tom have more in common? How much am I unnecessarily reading into a comedy anime? Let us in the comments below.

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