CITY Vol. 5

CITY #5

by Keiichi Arawi

Niikura tries to catch Nagumo in a compromising position. The Tekaridake Theatre Troupe tries to recruit a new member, as Niikura recruits help in finding her still-missing pendant. A night full of shooting stars gives the residents of Sweet Olive Manor something to wish for, and Ecchan and Matsuri hatch a plan to bring about world peace. But a few folks have very close calls with the Grim Reaper…

Genres: Manga, Comics, Humor, Comedy, Seinen

174 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 23, 2018

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

[Sam Quixote]

There aren’t any really bad stories in CITY Volume 5, there just aren’t that many standout ones. I only laughed once – when Tsuru drew on his dead dad’s nose and said “Smell you later!” – and a couple stories were pretty good. The girls enjoying the shlooping feeling of drinking tapioca milk tea (it’s amazing what passes as a “story” in this series!) and Ms Arama’s day off where she sleeps it away, then tries to cram in all the activities she wanted to do in the evening. Both are typical of Keiichi Arawi’s style: amusing and original.

I didn’t dislike any of the other stories, though they weren’t that amazing either. The girls discuss photography; Wako makes a contending newspaper strip to Mr Bummer called Mr Delight; Tsuru gets the Nine Gates at Mahjong (which apparently means you’ll die!); a kid playwright and his toys try to get Nagumo to star in his latest masterpiece; Niikura gets hit on (literally!) by the local football side; Izumi has some close calls with injury; the girls wish upon a shooting star; Nagumo and Tsuru play the horses.

Moments here and there in the stories made me smile – Izumi imagining the life of a squid in her takoyaki, the bonkers conclusion to the horse-racing – but otherwise they were just fairly ok. Not boring but not that interesting either – and that’s CITY, Volume 5 for the most part. Still pleasant but not as great as the title can be.

[Beth]

I read in another review that CITY was first going to be four volumes long, and had an extension. Whether that's true or not, this volume didn't feel either as inspired or as delightfully elaborate a storytelling machine as the previous ones. It's still cute and funny, and I like a good number of the characters. The shout-y humor and sometimes strained aspects of the story stuck out a bit more here, so I rated it slightly lower than the others.

[A.S. Ember]

Another bright, fun time. The takoyaki life-flash and the horse race were highlights. Other moments were diminished in effect due to some time elapsing between my read of this and the preceding volume; this is not quite a standalone series despite its episodic nature.

[Cat]

Amazing

This manga is so great, I love it very much. It takes my mind off of everything worrisome or bad in my life, because it allows me to laugh at all the funny random antics of these characters.

[Chris Gernon]

I got spoiled by the first 4 volumes of this manga. This is still very good, but it’s a bunch of individual vignettes and short stories that don’t connect to each other. Still … I’ll never complain about having more CITY to read.

[Lucia]

This one was extremely funny, and maybe the best volume so far.

[Teeny]

Ok, I freakin LOVE Nichijou but...this isn't for everyone. It's pretty absurdist humor at times...

[Cleeb]

I remember reading some reviews that city isnt as good as nichijou. I don't know if I agree, but if it's funny and it makes me smile while I'm reading it I think it did the job : )

[David Doel]

There is actually one decent story in here (at the very end). This is still not to my taste. Too much cruelty is embedded in the humor.

[Trever]

Will this be the year my book challenge is completed solely by reading manga? Specifically Keiichi Arawi manga? Probably.

[Bradley]

I'll read City wherever I can find it.

Parts in here are way too funny. There's no point in me talking about it too much. Tickled my fancy.

[Dan P]

There's nothing better to read on a lazy Sunday morning. City forever baby

[Jeremiah Scanlan]

Picked this up at random from the used bookstore and dang! Made me laugh!

[Sam Hayes]

These are great little palate cleansers.

[Stuart Iversen]

The perfect day off is so relatable.

[Ludwig Aczel]

7/10