Nichijou

Kyoto Animation took a four-panel manga and turned it into one of the most unhinged comedy series of 2011. Nichijou follows the daily lives of several high school girls and a handful of side characters — including an eight-year-old professor, her handmade android, and a talking cat. What starts as deadpan slice-of-life regularly derails into physics-defying set pieces rendered in fluid hand-drawn animation with bursts of 3D CG. A principal suplexes a deer. A casual hallway greeting explodes into a sakuga showcase. The absurdist humour lands because Kyoto Animation plays every gag with complete sincerity, treating a dropped piece of bread with the gravity of a cinematic event. Across 26 episodes, the series bounces between chronological storytelling and achronological vignettes, keeping the rhythm unpredictable. The score of 8.3 reflects a show that found its audience slowly but passionately. Humour this strange isn't for everyone, but viewers who click with its frequency will struggle to find anything quite like it.