The Spring 2011 Anime Preview Guide

Tim Maughan

Tim Maughan has been writing about anime and manga for over two years now, but watching and reading it for nearly 20. As well as his running own site – probably best known for it's argument starting list 10 Anime Films You Should See Before You Die - he also writes science fiction, with his first book 'Paintwork' due out at the end of this spring.

After being introduced seriously to anime by Akira in 1991, he became a mecha, and if he did have a dakimakura hug pillow it would be of a Shinohara Heavy Industries ARL-99 Helldiver Paradrop Labor. But he doesn't.

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My Ordinary Life

Rating: 3

Based on the popular comedy manga Nichijou, My Ordinary Life is at first glance yet another Lucky Star gag show about cute little girls doing cute little girl stuff. That, coupled with an earplug demanding OP that seemingly goes on for about a month, makes it sound like the kind of anime I personally avoid.

However, first glances can be deceiving. Despite it not having the most original of premises, the show feels surprisingly polished and lovingly crafted. The writing is quite good for a start, and genuinely funny in places. Similarly it has a very gentle, warm art style that uses a soft, washed out palette of pastel colors that reminded me of Studio Ghibli's Only Yesterday. The character design might not be particularly innovative, but the calming art style does allow the animators to pull some contrasting and surprising tricks at times – within the first 3 minutes (and a couple more times throughout the episode) there's a literally explosive reference to the movie AKIRA, for example. 

My Ordinary Life also isn't afraid to just pour on the wackiness at times. One of the main girls is in fact a robot with a giant wind-up key in her back, while some of the boys at school sport a selection of great haircuts, including perhaps one of the greatest afros ever depicted in animated form. At one point someone shouts – with grave sincerity – "Arriving by goat doesn't violate school policy!" A personal highlight for me was the mini 4-koma style cartoon that pops up halfway through the episode about a clueless Grim Reaper. All this kind of material is often a lazy substitute for laughs in comedy anime, but here it largely hits the mark – perhaps again because it feels polished and well paced.

An enjoyable first episode, but I'm not sure if I'd return for much more.

My Ordinary Life is available streaming at Crunchyroll.