Nichijou, Vol. 10

日常 (Nichijou) #10

by Keiichi Arawi

que será surreality

a game of musical chairs takes a sharp turn. nano pulls out all the stops in a battle against a fry thief. a bizarre body-swap situation occurs in the shinonome household. yuuko displays a talent for naming things. we get a glimpse of mio’s dream job, as everyone writes a letter to their future selves...

Genres: Manga, Comedy, Humor, Slice Of Life, Graphic Novels, Fiction, Comics

200 pages, Paperback

Published September 19, 2017

About the author

Keiichi Arawi (あらゐ けいいち, Arawi Keiichi) is a Japanese manga artist and illustrator.
Arawi was born in the prefecture of Gunma in 1977. He started his comics career at age 19 and for about a decade he published short stories. His series Nichijou, a slice of life comedy manga, was first serialised between 2006 and 2015 in the magazine 'Shonen Ace', and collected in ten volumes. In 2011 Nichijou was adapted into a 26-episode anime directed by Tatsuya Ishihara, now considered a cult. From 2016 to 2021 Arawi worked on the comedy manga CITY. In 2022 he resumed the serialisation of Nichijou, as well as starting a new strip called Amemiya-san.

Reviews

[Ludwig Aczel · Rating 4 out of 5]

EDIT: I have posted on Youtube a video analysing the art of this mangaka, Keiichi Arawi.


7/10
Ok, I think it is time for me to discuss Nichijou.
Keiichi Arawi is the only exponent - as much as my knowledge goes - of a comics genre which I would like to call 'surrealist heartful wholesomeness'. Maybe I exaggerate in using the term 'genre'. Maybe I could simply state that Nichijou is a peculiar example of slice of life comedy. But that does not quite convey the core of these strips, in my opinion. Slice of life comedy usually pokes fun at things that happen to most people in their everyday life. Don't get me wrong, there is plenty of that in the manga. (If I am not mistaken, the word 'nichijou' itself is Japanese for 'everyday'.) But Arawi's operation is one of diversion. Every gag tries to end with the most absurd resolution, diverging from expectations as much as possible. Arawi does not even care if the resolution/'punchline' is effective, as long as it goes all the way out. Now, this feature per se may not sound that original, and I will not try to argue that it is. Nonetheless, what I really like in Nichijou is the way the demented comedy harmoniously ties with the heartfulness. Arawi's crazy suburban Japanese environment and its characters radiate warming feelings of hope, and at the same time zen resignation to the mischievousness of life. I don't know, maybe it particularly resonates with me, but it works nicely.
Now, I should address the elephant in the room. How funny Nichijou actually is? It is clear that the anime adaptation is waaaaaaaaayyy more hilarious than its original paper material. That cartoon is a masterpiece: they took Arawi's demented over long gags and staged them using an over-budgeted and over-technical style of animation, adding one more layer of exaggeration that can get you right in the guts. The manga version is less effective, honestly. But in a time when some manga comedy series receive Eisner awards by repeating always the same one joke, Nichijou should be mandatory reading in schools.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

A decade ago, I wasn't into the same things I was now. A complete surprise, I know; /I evolved as a person/, who can say that? But that's just to say if you had told me 15 years ago I would be reading and enjoying the manga I read now, I would've laughed in your face and gone off in search of the next volume of Lupin the 3rd or Love Hina or whatever Fantasy manga I was into back then that I cannot for the life of me remember the name of at the moment.

I didn't put a lot of stock in slice of life or comedy manga, I guess because, at the time, I was a teenager and living the slice of life-life (kinda) present in these kinds of manga, so I didn't care for it. (I mean it also didn't exist back then, but please ignore that part.) But now I guess the spirit of "chill out" has taken hold of me, and I realize how ignorant I was back then. Thank God. Because if I (and by and large all of us) weren't capable of growing as a person, I would be missing out on so much stuff that's enjoyable.

Now, why did I write two paragraphs about manga I was into half a lifetime ago when this is clearly about Nichijou? To say that this is one of those rare times where, when I held the book in my hands and realized this was the end of the series, I actually got depressed about how there would be no new volumes. Yeah, I know there are the Helvetica Standard Bold and Italic volumes coming up, but they aren't continuations of Nichijou. And I know that Nichijou was like Napoleon Dynamite in that it kinda didn't really have an actual plotline, we're just following these characters while they live their (often times very bizarre) every day lives. But when I turned over the book and saw "Fin" on the back, I haven't actually felt that sad since I held /Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows/ in my hands.

I can't say that I enjoyed every single bit of the manga. I didn't really enjoy the bits with the Professor, but that's mostly because I find children annoying. Sorry. =[ I love Nano though! But everything else was pretty much a home run for me, especially seeing tertiary or satellite characters get time. (I absolutely love it when series expand by showing more of characters that already exist in universe.)

Okay, I cannot believe I've written four (now five) paragraphs for one very slim volume of manga, but I am also making it a series retrospective. And while I'm still sad there won't be any new Nichijou, there's Helvetica Standard to look forward to later this year, City to look forward to next year (I'm seriously looking forward to it since it'll be about college kids), and the Nichijou anime, which I actually haven't seen. Funnily enough, the anime introduced me to the series, seeing ridiculous gifs of it on Tumblr and thinking, "this looks right up my alley!" But I never got to see more than one episode! So I guess I'll make that my next mission.

If you're (weirdly) looking at reviews of this book trying to decide to start this series, please do. I can't really remember the last time I enjoyed a series so much.

[LG (A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions) · Rating 2 out of 5]

This volume introduces a French fry thief who only ever steals a single fry. Nano does full-on battle with him. For a good chunk of the volume, Arawi does 1-3 panel comics, leading to moments like when a comic's title becomes its own single-panel comic. Mio almost (finally) hears the results of the manga contest she entered volumes ago, but her use of a pen name messes things up. There are more hair jokes. We get a flash forward, in which Mio is a manga creator, with Mai taking her sweet time to come help, and Yuuko traveling somewhere outside Japan (maybe discovering a new species??). There's also a storyline about a time capsule in which the girls are sending letters to their future selves. Nano, Mr. Sakamoto, and the professor somehow switch bodies, and there's some kind of corn power battle involving a snake.

This had some good moments (like the flash forward), but then it kind of went off the rails. I have no idea what Arawi was thinking with the 1-3 panel comics. Maybe getting tired? An extended flash forward section would have made for a great stopping point for the series.

This is the last volume I own, and I plan to stop here, although an English translation of volume 11 is available and an English translation of volume 12 will be released later in 2025.

Extras:

Several full-color pages.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)

[Sergio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nichijou is an absurdist comedy manga that revels in mundanity; its brilliance lies in taking normal situations and stretching them through absurdity and surreality just enough to be funny and fantastical but without giving up or supplanting that core of relatable experience. The entire cast is charming, the drawings are distinct, cute and detailed when needed and it's consistently funny. Crucially, I wouldn't recommend skipping the manga if you've already watched the anime (a great time investment of its own). The manga has enough changes and outright non-adapted content to make it worth it.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very chaotic. Loved the snake and the time capsule stories.

[Terrence · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not quite the conclusion I wanted from the series, Nichijou 10 doesn't take itself too seriously while still having some finality to it that might make some shed a tear.

One thing this volume tries not to do is give any sort of conclusiveness concerning relationships. Misato doesn't even really appear much in this from what I recall. Can't say I love that, but this wasn't a romance manga, so whatever I guess.

There's definitely some funny scenes in here. Mio gets a lot of the focus, as does Yuuko. We do get to see a very brief scene of Mio's future (last volume we got Hakase's scene), before returning to the high school timeline. The characters remain the same, just age a bit, so I guess you can imagine your own escapades for them in their old age.

[Daniel Tooby · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favourite comedies. This series masterfully weives a world of characters whose lives all interconnect, being one of Arawi's strongest skills, the ability to make a place feel lived in. Every character has there own things going on, with those things often being hilarious, and this ending wraps up the stories of this cast of characters fantastically. At least that's what I would say, if I didn't learn in the making of this review that a bonus 11th volume is being released this year, and I can't be more excited.

[Madi F · Rating 5 out of 5]

Waited until I finished the series before making my final review. I absolutely loved it, and though some of the jokes fell flat on me (likely due to my own lack of understanding), I found myself laughing at the majority of them. I watched the series for the first time many years ago, possibly nearing the 10 year mark, so to receive the 15th anniversary box set for Christmas last year was a dream come true. I loved every second of these books and couldn’t put them down! Highly recommend for any fans.

[Katherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very sad this is over

[Sonia Terra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good ending to the series! Some of the comics were hard to understand, but overall, nice book! I look forward to the follow-up whenever it releases.

[Kiera · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was strange, but funny. I liked it! I stared off on the wrong book though... ah well!

[Pinja · Rating 3 out of 5]

Parempi kuin yhdeksäs osa, silti aika paljon sellaista mikä ei naurattanut.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Silly series, silly ending.

[Claire · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one spiraled out of control for me and didn't have the sense of story as the other books in the series. Still good though and hilarious that the tree grew over the memory chest.

[JJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

The perfect end to the series!

[georgiaotaku · Rating 2 out of 5]

Seriously? That’s it?

[Nicolas · Rating 4 out of 5]

An alright ending, though Arawi is writing more now

[DJ Linick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, that's that! All 10 volumes! Did it have any more of a plot or point than the anime adaptation? Not at all.

And I wouldn't have had it any other way!

[Kristian Dobson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This series as a whole was a mixed bag but I’m still glad I read it because when it was good it was among the funniest manga I’ve read. Worth the read for its flashes of brilliance.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[David Doel · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I was young, there was a comic strip in the paper called Nancy. I read it every day, not because I liked it but because it was so easy to read. On rare occasions, it would elicit a chuckle. Nichijou reminds me of Nancy.

Is there something Keiichi Arawi is trying to get across? If so, it went right by me. My main problem now is that I have seven volumes of City by the same author. Oh well -- you live and learn.

[Emmy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this was the last book of the series. Very sad to see this awesome tale come to an end, but I enjoyed the trip. The final stories were just as weird, if not weirder than the previous books, and a fitting end to a wild ride. My favorite episode in this book was when Annaka went to order a coffee, or Tanaka's confrontation with the principal.

[Nam · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quote:
The eye doctor gave me a suppository!!!