After the first series landed in the fall of 2013, Non Non Biyori did well enough that it boosted the attention on the manga and generated a second series that came out in the summer of 2015. The summer season definitely felt more appropriate for it and with it bringing back mostly the same team to work on it there was a seamless transition in terms of style and look.I had enjoyed the first series well enough when I saw it the first time around but i’ll easily admit that it fell heavily into that cute girls do nothing trap that just didn’t captivate me. Interestingly enough, this season managed to win me over more but not for any specific or particular eason.
This season kicks things off with a lot of change because time did pass in that first season and the girls are getting a bit older. It’s not a significant change in ages but even a year can bring about radical events for kids. Here, Hikage is heading off to Tokyo for high school and that means she’s largely absent from this season. She has some small bits throughout it with a visit or two and some connective elements like that but I really appreciated that they didn’t try to force her into it – or force the group to head into Tokyo to see her. I was also really appreciative of the fact that her leaving didn’t radically alter the show in a sense. There’s some dynamic change in how they’re all a year older but still in the same structure with each other yet the lack of their upperclassman doesn’t mean there’s a “power vacuum” or anything like that going on.
For me, the biggest and best change is that Renge is now moving into first grade. Being the youngest of the group by a good margin, this is a huge moment in her life and one that I can connect well with thanks to my own kids and their curiosity, fear, and excitement over the change. Even in a small place like this there’s a lot for her to take in and watching how she goes and practices the day before, tries to understand what’s going to be expected of her, and taking it all very seriously is just delightful to watch. She may be a bit mature for her age when you get down to it but some of that is understandable considering there’s nobody else her age there. With a five-person school, well, you’re going to end up just a big different. Renge definitely grew on me a lot for how she presented herself throughout this season and spending the opening episode focusing on her and kicking Hikage off on the train to Tokyo was the best.
While Hikage is gone we can’t exactly have a gap in characters here because it’s a show about four girls. Enter Hotaru, a new transfer student from Tokyo who has come here due to her father’s job. Hotaru doesn’t get quite the depth and exploration in this season as one might think she would but I really loved how she was blended into it. She’s a character that feels like she’d be more at home here in a sleepy area like this than the bustle of a big city. She barely makes much mention of the differences between the two areas and certainly doesn’t come across as high and mighty about anything. She’s a nice kid that’s now a part of the fifth grade side and that keeps her in the middle of all the other characters, a relatively safe position that lets her become a member and not disruptive element.
As you can guess, most of this season is filled with the usual little going on kind of stories as the kids deal with school, friendships, regional aspects, and a little holiday material along the way as well. A year passes over the course of it for the most part and that means we get to see them all grow at a good pace. Natsumi is fun to watch throughout it as we see her getting involved in wildlife and having fun there being outgoing and silly while Komari is pretty much trying to keep the peace and get through her days by enjoying time with everyone. Being the older sister that’s shorter still leads to its stressful moments here, something that I can see with my own kids as well, there’s a lot to like in seeing their relationship play out a bit. If anything, the frustrating point to the show – which is the same in the manga – is that Suguru is such a non-entity. I get that he’s just a sight gag and I’m not looking for relationship material in here – the lack of it is fantastic – but there’s a lot of missed opportunities here.
The season does involve the adults from time to time with a mother or two providing some balance and some cuteness with teachers. I especially liked the bit with the device Renge comes up with to get them to stop falling asleep in class. Kaede gets the most time since she’s there outside of school and interacts in different ways through the shop and there’s an increasing softness to her as it unfolds that’s very appealing, especially toward Renge. When we see Renge doing her best to learn to ride her bike, Kaede is supportive but also ensuring that Renge tries herself without a lot of interference, understanding the effort and time required to do it. THe show is made up of a lot of very small moments, from cooking together to fishing and playing with tadpoles to the simple seasonal ideas that are pleasurable to watch play out.
Chris Beveridge
Chris has been writing about anime, manga, movies and comics for well on twenty years now. He began AnimeOnDVD.com back in 1998 and has covered nearly every anime release that’s come out in the US ever since.
He likes to write a lot, as you can see.
