Non Non Biyori Nonstop

Over two and a half years ago in 2018 we watched the daily life of our friends for the last time in the movie "Non Non Biyori Vacation", where they traveled together to Okinawa during the summer holiday. It's been almost six years since the entire second season aired, but all the wait was more than worth it in the end. In the winter season 2021 the studio "SILVER LINK." gives us hopes for better times with the long awaited third season "Nonstop". Welcome to the most idyllic anime series in history: "Non Non Biyori"!

The exciting everyday life of our four friends Renge, Komari, Hotaru ... and Natsumi continues “nonstop” in their small village Asahigaoka. Living in the countryside, what kind of interesting things can happen there? Indeed, the answer is: not much. There are no amusement parks, cinemas or any other attractions for children. But that is exactly the point that makes "Non Non Biyori" so special and that magically casts us all under its spell. Despite the few options, our friends manage to think up something new every day and have a lot of fun. They use their creativity and invent funny games themselves. They are always happy and satisfied with the opportunities they have.

We know and love all of our four main characters very well. Everyone loves "Ren-chon" and her personality. She is very curious, but always considerate of her friends. With the introduction of the new girl Shiori, Renge can finally feel like a big sister. In Renge she has found a friend who helps her and always plays with her. Together they have a lot of exciting little adventures.
The rest of the supporting characters are also very well known to us. I mean who doesn't like the real MVP of the series: Komari’s and Natsumi's older brother: Suguru. A real man with zero words but extremely important actions. That’s why I just want to point out the relationship that is extremely evident this season: Kaede aka "Candy Store" and Renge. Our 20-year-old owner of the local candy shop appears significantly more this season. In most cases, her appearance is associated with Renge. Sometimes she brings her sweets or at another time Renge visits her in the shop. Despite the age difference of more than ten years, it's heartwarming what a beautiful background story these two have in common. Although Kaede sometimes comes across as listless, inside she is always happy to see Renge. Already during her high school time, she reluctantly would care for baby Renge in place of her feckless onee-chan, Hikage. Renge always tells her about new discoveries. While Renge grows and has new experiences, Kaede watches closely over her.

When it comes to art, "Non Non Biyori" is not necessarily about the characters, but rather the environment. It's perfect to see where all of this is happening. Everything is beautiful and peaceful. The idyll can be felt by every viewer. Their school is modeled after a real elementary school from Ogawa, Saitama. If you compare the photos with the animation, you are simply amazed. But even e.g every other crab, no matter how small, has been shown in detail. You can really only say that everything fits perfectly: The characters and the landscape, together they make up our beloved "Non Non Biyori".

Everyone who has already watched the other seasons of "Non Non Biyori" will surely have their type of music in the back of your mind. In "Nonstop" we hear songs that are in the same style. “nano.RIPE” is back with their OP song "Tsugihagi Moyou". A song which gives you the feeling that a new day is going to start and new beautiful things are being experienced. The ED "Tadaima" is sung again by our four main characters. It's very pleasant to listen to. The music is relatively slow and relaxed, there is no rush like in the big cities. Everyone lives peacefully and happily with each other. This idyll is unique.
But not only the songs have been selected perfectly, also the background noises from the small animals or trees can be heard clearly. Everything is so natural and beautiful. Together with the voices of the characters, it’s truly a masterpiece!

"Non Non Biyori Nonstop" was certainly the seasonal anime I was hyped the most. It’s wonderful to see our beloved characters again after all this long time. Nothing has changed, everything stayed the way we know and love. The series offers us relaxed daily life adventures with even introducing a new girl. The deepening of the background stories was a heartwarming success. Life in Asahigaoka can definitely go on like this!
I really recommend this anime to every slice of life fan. In case you haven't seen the previous parts, start with those first. The whole series of "Non Non Biyori" is a must watch!
Finally, of course, I hope that one day we'll see a fourth season again. Hopes never die!

This review is spoiler-free but make sure you've finished the previous entries of the Non Non Biyori series so you'll be able to understand what am I talking about.

I don't know why, but Repeat, the previous season, wasn't as enjoyable as the first one. After finishing it, I felt like it wasn't funny and deep enough. I felt robbed. I'm not saying Repeat was bad—it was quite good. But the level that was set by the first season wasn't reached by Repeat, for sure. Non Non Biyori is a masterpiece that may be considered the eternal classic, but I wouldn't say the same about Non ... Non Biyori Repeat.

This impression left me thinking Nonstop might be a fairly doubtful idea because the Biyori atmosphere had already been a bit lost by Repeat. Fortunately, I was wrong. Non Non Biyori Nonstop is a heartwarming comeback of the series.

Being a slice of life comedy, its plot is truly unique and funny. Time flies and never stops, and 'Nonstop' in the title ironically reminds us about it. Nonstop shows us that time changes everything around itself as it flows by, even in the fictional universe. Given that, we see the characters grow up like we do.

As always, Non Non Biyori represents the daily lives of the Japanese countryside folk in the modern era. With new characters being introduced, Nonstop never fails to be funny, even though sometimes the outcomes are predictable right from the start. When this happens, the anime mostly relies on visual humour, and I don't see anything bad about this.

Some people tend to think that the SOL comedy isn't required to have any depth in it. Nonstop IS about fun but not ONLY about fun. It is also about different characters interacting and sharing their points, opinions. That makes this anime a seinen. It's not silly and plainly simple. It represents the value of the people surrounding you—your family, your friends, your neighbours, and so on. It's a tale about both childhood and adulthood and the symbiosis of them, that's why there are characters of nearly every relatable age group possible.

The characters are magnificent. I love them for what they are being. Even though the cast is mostly full of girls, Nonstop isn't moe, I believe. It's cute, but we'll talk about it later. Now, the characters. As I mentioned before, the new ones have arrived. At first, I was sceptical about this, but, as the series was going forward, I loved them and their interesting stories more and more. They're perfect for the setting.

As for the old characters, I think they've gotten really much development even under these twelve episodes. Nonstop was able to handle this big cast and don't flatten their personalities, traits, etc. It says a lot about how talented and experienced are the people that have produced this anime.

The visuals have improved, and it is what I expected from the 2021 unwritten standards. The backgrounds have got a large amount of desktop wallpaper potential and sometimes they're even close to photorealistic. The characters have their own individual designs, images, expressions—in other words, what makes them unbelievably rememberable. The transition scenes between the segments of the episodes are imaginative. I've seen some mistakes in a bunch of scenes but am sure it's forgivable, and they're going to fix this on the BD. That's a 10/10.

The soundtrack rocks. The OP and ED are gonna be my favourites of all Biyori series if the sequel isn't coming out anytime soon. It's all thanks to nano.RIPE, whose notable works include the OPs for Jintai, Citrus and the previous seasons, and to the seiyuu of the main cast. The BGM matches the atmosphere all the time. It's very good. The VA is also amazing.

I've enjoyed Non Non Biyori Nonstop. Yes, it's not perfect, however, it's definitely a step forward compared to S2, plus it is certainly not worse than S1, if not better than it. Nonstop is a gem and a major improvement since Repeat—that's a win.

I didn't write any reviews for the previous Non Non Biyori seasons because I was planning on doing one big review on the series as a whole once I finished it. As I'm writing this, I just watched the last episode of Nonstop. Do you remember that scene from 7DS where Ban got a giganic hole blown in his chest? Yeah, that's how I feel right now. We won't get to hear Ren-chon say 'Nyanpasu!" anymore. We won't get to see Hotaru obsess over Komari or make any more Komari plushies. We won't get to see Komari brave the dark forests of the countryside of ... Japan anymore. We won't get to see Natsumi fail hilariously to try to get out of trouble with her mom. We won't get to see Kaede be a tsundere over Ren-chon. We won't get to see a lot of things anymore, but what we did get to see was 36 episodes, 1 movie, and 2 OVA's of 4 girls living their daily lives out in rural Japan. The small town pulls you into the screen and immerses you in its landscape. You feel as if you're having fun right alongside the 4 girls. Speaking of the girls, they have to be some of my favorite SoL characters ever. Ren-chon is my absolute favorite. One "Nyanpasu!" was all it took for me to instantly say: "I want one! I'll take 10 of your finest Ren-chons please! ON THE DOUBLE NOW!!!!!!!" Putting that sus statement behind us, this is definitely an anime I will revisit in the future. Why? Because we need to enjoy anime where nothing happens. If you had put weeblet Andrew in front of a computer and showed me the first episode of Non Non Biyori, I would have dropped the shit out of it. Now that I've seen over 100 anime, I've come to appreciate anime like this. No flashy action sequences, no deep and philosophical themes, no badass antagonist with a crazy superpower, none of that. Just cute girls doing cute things. I started this review off with a hole in my heart, but as I bring this review to a close, that hole is slowly filling back up because I am reminded that this anime isn't going anywhere. I can, and will, always come back to Ren-chon, Hotaru, Komari, and Natsumi living life to the fullest in rural Japan