Non Non Biyori Nonstop

Non Non Biyori Nonstop

Non Non Biyori Nonstop anime series cover art
Non Non Biyori Nonstop

Season (Series) Overview

Non Non Biyori Nonstop (のんのんびより のんすとっぷ) is the third — and perhaps final — season of the Non Non Biyori anime. The manga just ended earlier this year after running for 11 years. And, I feel like I heard that this season finished adapting everything.

Of course, I could be completely wrong and there’s going to be another season. If that’s the case, it’s fine by me. I like Non Non Biyori, so I’ll always welcome more of it. But, for now, this is the final season of the series.

So, with that said, I guess I should explain the “order” of Non Non Biyori, in case anyone isn’t familiar with it. Now, this series actually isn’t chronological. I did include a chronological order in my review of the second season, but I’m not going to here. That would require too much effort.

Instead, what you need to know is that there are three seasons and a movie. The first season is simply Non Non Biyori. Season 2 is titled Non Non Biyori Repeat. This is followed by the movie, Non Non Biyori Movie: Vacation. And, finally, this season, Non Non Biyori Nonstop.

Back to the fact that this series isn’t in chronological order, each season is actually in chronological order. Each season starts at the beginning of the school year and concludes at the end. But, they all cover the same year — just different events throughout that year.

One other thing to know about this season, in particular, is that although it comes “after” the movie, the movie isn’t required in order to watch Nonstop. I mentioned this in my review of the movie, but the events and new characters featured in it are never brought up in the series.

New (and Returning) Characters

In this section, I want to go over the two new, and one returning, characters of this season. By this point, you should already know all of the main and supporting cast who appeared in both prior seasons. The normal cast is great, but these new characters are actually some of the best.

My favorite of the new characters is Shiori. Honestly, she might just be my favorite character of the series now. Before Shiori was introduced, my top three were probably Renge, Kaede, and Hikage, in that order. But, Shiori may have stolen the top spot.

Shiori is a kindergartner, making her a year younger than Renge. Because of this, she has an even crazier imagination and a worse understanding of things than Renge does. So, when the two of them are together, Renge is often the voice of logic and reason.

Shiori and Renge greeting each other from the anime series Non Non Biyori Nonstop
Shiori and Renge greeting each other

Akane Shinoda is the other new character introduced this season. She’s Konomi’s underclassman in her high school music club. I like Akane more than Hotaru, Komari, and Natsumi. But she’s still pretty plain. Her best scenes all involve Renge, so it’s probably just that Renge carries her character.

One character who’s not new, but whom I don’t think we’ve seen since the first season, is Honoka Ishikawa. I believe she was only in one or two episodes of the first season, but she’s back for another episode in season three.

If you don’t remember her (I didn’t), she’s another one of Renge’s friends who’s also a first-grader. However, Honoka doesn’t live around Asahigaoka, which is why she doesn’t go to school with the other characters. Her grandmother just lives there, so she plays with Renge when visiting.

Continuing the Trend

Surprisingly, there’s something that I and the masses of MyAnimeList agree on. That’s that every installment of Non Non Biyori is better than the previous one. Nonstop is the best, then the movie, then Repeat, and then the original.

I enjoyed the first season of Non Non Biyori, but I didn’t think it was anything special. Repeat was better because it focused more heavily on my then-favorite character, Renge. And the movie was even better than that because, well, it was a movie.

I’m not saying that there aren’t bad anime movies. However, I don’t think I’ve ever seen an anime movie I would call bad. And generally speaking, I find them better than anime series because they have more time, budget, and other resources to use.

Honoka and Renge building a snowman from the anime series Non Non Biyori Nonstop
Honoka and Renge building a snowman

With that said, I do think Nonstop is even better than the movie. Why is that? Well, it’s primarily because of the two new characters, Shiori and Akane. The movie also had a new character, but I didn’t really care about her all that much.

With Shiori and Akane, not only are they good characters, but they bring out new dynamics with the old characters that we haven’t seen before. For example, since Shiori is the now-youngest character, we get to see Renge in a “big sister” role.

Yes, Shiori is great on her own. But the fact that she also elevates the other characters around her is even better. I didn’t feel that way about Aoi in the movie. She had a pretty good dynamic with Natsumi, but there was no lasting impact. Once the vacation was over, it’s not like Natsumi was a changed person.

And, speaking of Aoi and Natsumi, something I would have liked to see from this season is a reunion between them much like Renge and Honoka got. That would have made the movie feel a lot more meaningful.

Conclusion

Overall, Non Non Biyori Nonstop is a 7/10 from me. It’s a good, solid final season to a good anime. It’s still not my favorite slice of life comedy out there. After all, things like Yuru Yuri and Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid exist. But, it’s good.

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