<p>In episode 1 at 12:36, right after the scene of the principal's bad jokes <sup><sub>(which is the subject of this question: <a href="https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/67767/70615">How do principal Shinonome&#39;s jokes in ep1 work (what&#39;s the joke), and what could they have to do with the meaning of hard work?</a>)</sub></sup>, Mai discovers a squid tentacle in Yuuko's hair and laughs at it with tears coming from her eyes. Yuuko thinks Mai is laughing at the principal's bad jokes, and seeing that Mai is laughing more than she has ever seen her laugh, sees it as an opportunity to try cracking a joke of her own. She then makes two closed hands except for both her index fingers pointing upward, and her right hand holding her left index finger and tells Mai to look.</p>
<p>Here are some screenshots:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/ttZb7s.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/ttZb7s.jpg" alt="enter image description here" /></a>   <a href="https://i.sstatic.net/GZ6O2s.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/GZ6O2s.jpg" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/orcoJm.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/orcoJm.jpg" alt="enter image description here" /></a>   <a href="https://i.sstatic.net/sZe63m.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/sZe63m.jpg" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/AiixDs.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/AiixDs.png" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
<p>What's supposed to be funny about this here?</p>
<p>Is there some cultural reference I'm missing? Is the joke building on anything to do with the principal's previous jokes?</p>
<p>My intuition tells me that there's actually a meaningful mechanism to the joke here that I'm just unable to understand as an English viewer without anything more than shallow knowledge of Japanese culture.</p>
<p>I know that absuridty (&quot;randomness&quot;) and non-sequiturs are often used as a mechanism for humour in Nichijou, but from what I remember, Yuuko's efforts to make her friends laugh are honest attempts at humour. Absurdity is more Mai's thing. Yuuko does use non-sequiturs in her poetry, but that's different. Yes, the joke here falls flat- as if Mai doesn't understand it (the question mark that appears above her head), but so do most (all?) of Yuuko's attempts at making her friends laugh through jokes.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-02-10T18:12:22.093Z
Maybe https://naruto.fandom.com/wiki/Hand_Seal
Turamarth
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-02-10T18:17:05.933Z
@Turamarth can you elaborate? It would seem weird to me if that came up with no meaning or connection to any of the surrounding context when she did that.
starball
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-02-13T09:31:04.063Z
Though basically the same thing, it could be [hattori-kun](https://www.peanuts-club.co.jp/character/hattorikun/)'s handseal. The anime is quite old, and as such resonates with the pricipal's outdated joke. I don't know nichijou well, but I guess that kind of unpredictable/surreal behavior is part of the fun in that anime/manga.
sundowner
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-02-13T09:33:10.173Z
@sundowner hm. isn't that pointing with thumbs though? Yuuko's is definitely pointing with index fingers. And yes, as my last paragraph states, it's true that absurdist/non-sequitur humour is quite common in Nichijou, but read whole paragraph.
starball
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-02-13T09:34:54.923Z
@user I never thought it's thumb... maybe neither the animators. Or the thumb is actually hidden and it's index finger.
sundowner
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-02-13T09:37:11.530Z
@sundowner ok on closer inspection, at the bottom of that page you linked, the character is drawn with four fingers and one thumb (5 total). I didn't see that before and assumed this was a case of characters being drawn with three fingers and one thumb.
starball
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-02-13T09:39:53.423Z
@user Re: attempts to make Mai laugh. It is an honest attempt from Yukko's perspective, but from the watches', it is absurd (the connection between the principal's joke and the handseal is too remote) - that's what I felt.
sundowner
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-02-13T09:41:32.070Z
Are you sure that you're not missing any cultural context that explains the joke? (don't take this question as a challenge or insult. I'm not you, so I wouldn't know. And I'm not sure that _I'm_ not missing any cultural context that explains the joke). And if so, is this instance consistent with the rest of Yuuko's jokes? Are the majority of her jokes only explainable by logic that only she would understand?
starball
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-02-13T11:15:22.327Z
I'm Japanese. I'm sure there's no (widely common) cultural element. If anything, it could be specific to the anime or narrower circles (which I could be unfamiliar with).
sundowner
<nichijou>
What's the joke when Yuuko makes two closed hands except for both her index fingers pointing upward, and her right hand holding her left index finger?
# What's the joke when Yuuko makes two closed hands except for both her index fingers pointing upward, and her right hand holding her left index finger?
Posted by: username_0 on 2023-02-10
In episode 1 at 12:36, right after the scene of the principal's bad jokes (which is the subject of this question: [How do principal Shinonome's jokes in ep1 work (what's the joke), and what could they have to do with the meaning of hard work?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/67767/70615)), Mai discovers a squid tentacle in Yuuko's hair and laughs at it with tears coming from her eyes. Yuuko thinks Mai is laughing at the principal's bad jokes, and seeing that Mai is laughing more than she has ever seen her laugh, sees it as an opportunity to try cracking a joke of her own. She then makes two closed hands except for both her index fingers pointing upward, and her right hand holding her left index finger and tells Mai to look.

Here are some screenshots:

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/ttZb7s.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/ttZb7s.jpg)   [![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/GZ6O2s.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/GZ6O2s.jpg)

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/orcoJm.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/orcoJm.jpg)   [![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/sZe63m.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/sZe63m.jpg)

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/AiixDs.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/AiixDs.png)

What's supposed to be funny about this here?

Is there some cultural reference I'm missing? Is the joke building on anything to do with the principal's previous jokes?

My intuition tells me that there's actually a meaningful mechanism to the joke here that I'm just unable to understand as an English viewer without anything more than shallow knowledge of Japanese culture.

I know that absuridty ("randomness") and non-sequiturs are often used as a mechanism for humour in Nichijou, but from what I remember, Yuuko's efforts to make her friends laugh are honest attempts at humour. Absurdity is more Mai's thing. Yuuko does use non-sequiturs in her poetry, but that's different. Yes, the joke here falls flat- as if Mai doesn't understand it (the question mark that appears above her head), but so do most (all?) of Yuuko's attempts at making her friends laugh through jokes.
**Tags:** nichijou
> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Maybe https://naruto.fandom.com/wiki/Hand_Seal  
> **username_0**: @Turamarth can you elaborate? It would seem weird to me if that came up with no meaning or connection to any of the surrounding context when she did that.  
> **username_2**: Though basically the same thing, it could be [hattori-kun](https://www.peanuts-club.co.jp/character/hattorikun/)'s handseal. The anime is quite old, and as such resonates with the pricipal's outdated joke. I don't know nichijou well, but I guess that kind of unpredictable/surreal behavior is part of the fun in that anime/manga.  
> **username_0**: @sundowner hm. isn't that pointing with thumbs though? Yuuko's is definitely pointing with index fingers. And yes, as my last paragraph states, it's true that absurdist/non-sequitur humour is quite common in Nichijou, but read whole paragraph.  
> **username_2**: @user I never thought it's thumb... maybe neither the animators. Or the thumb is actually hidden and it's index finger.  
> **username_0**: @sundowner ok on closer inspection, at the bottom of that page you linked, the character is drawn with four fingers and one thumb (5 total). I didn't see that before and assumed this was a case of characters being drawn with three fingers and one thumb.  
> **username_2**: @user Re: attempts to make Mai laugh. It is an honest attempt from Yukko's perspective, but from the watches', it is absurd (the connection between the principal's joke and the handseal is too remote) - that's what I felt.  
> **username_0**: Are you sure that you're not missing any cultural context that explains the joke? (don't take this question as a challenge or insult. I'm not you, so I wouldn't know. And I'm not sure that _I'm_ not missing any cultural context that explains the joke). And if so, is this instance consistent with the rest of Yuuko's jokes? Are the majority of her jokes only explainable by logic that only she would understand?  
> **username_2**: I'm Japanese. I'm sure there's no (widely common) cultural element. If anything, it could be specific to the anime or narrower circles (which I could be unfamiliar with).  
---
## 0 answers
