>>8397131The story is simply the everyday life of a group of schoolgirls. Nichijou seems to borrow elements from both Azumanga Daioh and Cromartie High School without ever coming CLOSE to achieving the same level of humor and charm. A portion of this was that Azumanga and Cromartie had hilarious characters, while Nichijou just has really obnoxious characters. If I had to compare Nichijou to another anime it would be Lucky Star, but a version of Lucky Star that toned down all the anime and gaming references, leaving only the most mundane topics like finding a skirt that fits. Each of the characters fits into a well established archetype, but that alone doesn't explain why it's so bad. The Italian "commedia dell'arte" plays recycled the same stock characters and still won over audiences with their farcical humor. It is the combination of bland characters, linguistic humor lost in translation, tired gags, and horrible comedic timing that all come together to make this show a nearly un-watchable clusterfuck. If the show told a purposely bad joke and stretched it out until it became awkward for the audience, that would actually get a few laughs. When used right even "dead air" can be a useful comedic tool. Consider the opening of the famous comedy movie "Spaceballs". The joke is that the ripoff Star Destroyer is absurdly long in comparison to the ones in Star Wars, but that alone wouldn't be funny. It becomes funny because it just keeps going...and going...and going until the audience laughs because they don't know how to react. Nichijou just hits the audience with one bad joke after another in rapid succession like a machine gun of FAIL.
