Nichijou Gumi | 日常組
Next up on our list is a gaming group that might as well be THE most relevant and popular in the country, so much so that two of its members got cameos in the Minecraft movie dub! And I think that if you're truly interested in local mcyt and slowly improving your language skills, they could be the best place to start. And-and, moreover, they're having their first live event this winter, so there's no better time to get to know them. I'm, of course, talking about Nichijou Gumi!
This time I heavily referenced my friend Color's introduction that they worked on quite some time ago, so credits to them!
Nichijou Gumi (ntjo/ntj for short) have been formally active since 2012. The channel that initially started as Peinto's RPG Maker letsplays eventually shifted to mainly Minecraft survival content with friends, giving them their name - "nichijou", or daily life, is the name for the game's survival mode. Their first proper videos featured Peinto, Shinigami and Kuronoa with Torazo joining later on.
If I were to describe their vibe, they're very fun, chill and friendly, definitely fitting family-friendly demographics. Usually. Their primary focus is Minecraft, although they do hop on other games from time to time, either for collabs or just for streams. Usually they post long 40-60 minute videos every Friday, each week playing around a mod, a minigame or any fun activity they came up with. They also have a monthly radio program where they read fan letters and chat about their daily life. Their usual speech is noticeably formal, so beginner learners more acquainted with keigo should feel comfortable with their conversations!
However, they also love story-driven series, their first ever survival letsplay even having its plot elements that are still relevant to this day! Ongoing manga series, two original Minecraft series and even more if you're counting cameos, including the iconic Noroi Oni which is a must-watch for anyone in the fandom - trust me, people love their Kaito angst. But more on these later, let's focus on the members first!
Members
🍤 Peinto (ぺいんと)
ntjo's yellow member and one of Japan's most important mcyts! He's a sociable and friendly extravert and the one who founded the group, but don't confuse him for their leader. EXTREMELY loud, screaming so loud and so often one can only hope he has no neighbours, and can't read kanji to save his life. Peinto is also responsible for all the editing and usually represents their group at events. On top of all of that, he's a guitar player and a really good singer - his Charles cover has over 10 million views for a reason!
He's a strong chuunibyou and a natural actor, even having his dark demon alter ego, Dark Peinto, who originally manifested in their first letsplay as his spite and anger at his friends for abandoning him. In most of their story series, his characters strive to be the hero, but often suffer and go through horrible things trying to do that. Most notably - Amano Kaito, his character from Noroi Oni 2, the series co-produced with wrwrd and Radda and widely beloved by the fandom to this day.
And since I've mentioned Radda - their radapen duo is almost inseparable, you can often see them together on streams or collab projects, even in stgr. So often that Radda is basically fifth ntjo member at this point! Their gakuyuudan walkthrough is definitely worth of note, artists still adore sailor fuku radapen in torture labyrinth. They often collab with Guchitsubo as a really loud and really charismatic trio, and sometimes they're joined by... nqrse of utaite fame! If you've ever wondered why he's not that active as a singer right now, here's your answer, he's too busy GTA5 roleplaying.
🐈 Kuronoa (クロノア)
ntjo's blue member and their actual leader. He's a calm, cool-headed man who, like a real cat, can be a bit aloof - he may sometimes disappear during live broadcasts god knows where. He loves cats and has three of them, his very nickname is an homage to his black kitty Noa. You can sometimes hear them meowing when he's streaming! He's a musician and a good clarinet player, you can hear him play in ntjo's original song, Kudaranai Nichijou - really beautiful, by the way. And he's a beast when it comes to shooters and using a bow in Minecraft, when playing FPS he's definitely a force to be reckoned with.
Best friends with Torazo, their duo known as TK Brothers, and they hang out together quite a lot. Sometimes in fanon he's depicted as a shady mastermind pulling all the strings behind the scenes, could that be true?
😈 Shinigami (しにがみ)
ntjo's purple member, the youngest and the one responsible for coding in all of their projects. Despite the age, out of all of the members he's been active online the most. Don't get fooled by that cutey appearance - that's a guy, even though he likes presenting feminine in real life and is remarkably short (like, ~140cm short). He's very silly and charming, often acting before thinking and sometimes being a little brat. As a former theater kid, he also tends to be very emotional, screaming at volumes that beat even Peinto and having powerful anger outbursts when acting or just mildly annoyed by the situation. Streams show him having powerlifting tools in his room, so this tiny creature can beat your ass!
He has an alter-ego named Barusamiko, a bird-themed girl vtuber who he sometimes flirts with in Twitter DMs.
🐯 Torazo (トラゾー)
ntjo's green member and their reliable senior with history in the military. He's a kind extravert and has a lot of friends all around the site, even hanging out with Kurare-sensei. Happily married to Inari-san, who sometimes appears in his videos and is cherished by fans. Outside of ntjo's main channel, he usually films live videos, for example cooking or travelling with fellow jikkyous like Tomo and FB777. He's responsible for organizing all of their collabs and is also a prolific writer: Yume Series, Datsugoku and Noroi Oni all written by him and the first two possibly being in the same continuity. Although his series do get pretty convoluted lore-wise, Noroi Oni still being pieced together by fans despite all of its plot holes and timey-wimey inconsistencies, and Torazo himself is delighted to read fan theories and help them understand his writing better. He's a great actor too - all supporting roles in his series star Torazo himself, even when there's several people! Oh, he also sucks at basic math.
Series and recommendations
I think you can't go wrong when picking a ntjo video to watch - just choose a premise that seems the most fun to you! Maybe something like reviewing new minecraft features, good old dramatic western smp-style roleplaying, or, I don't know, russian roulette? Their collabs with Radda are great too, especially the sniper showdown - that one's just iconic. You'll get to learn him better soon, don't worry.
But you really can't talk about ntjo without bringing up their story projects. Datsugoku, or jailbreak, is a three-part (or five... or six...) story of Peinto, Shinigami and Kuronoa trying to escape their death penalty with Torazo constantly psychologically tormenting them, putting them against each other and making them trust no one, especially their impending fate. Acting is great, story is great, atmosphere is impeccable and the first part's ending is gut-wrenching. The timeline might be a bit convoluted, especially given its spin-off (Touzoku 1 and 2) and the manga adapting it still ongoing, but the series stands strong even by itself.
The Yume Series, composed of Hakuchuumu, Rashomon and Meisekimu, might as well be Torazo's magnum opus. Tense, frightening and psychologically heavy, this is the story of Peinto, Shinigami and Kuronoa being stuck in a time loop, each time dying horribly only to be revived by a phone call from Torazo to do it all again. They dwindle and loose hope before viewers' very eyes, struggling to uncover a long and messy history of families they stay with and to find a way to somehow break this horrible loop. The writing may be challenging, especially all the family shenanigans, but the acting and the pure terror of the situation they found themselves in is such a drastic change of mood from what you usually find with cheerful and happy ntjo that it's bound to leave a strong impression. Once you get acquainted with the members, be sure to give it a watch, you're in for a ride.
ようこそ、俺達の世界へ!