“CITY” is a one-of-a-kind comedy manga by Keiichi Arawi, portraying an “extraordinary everyday life” woven by slightly eccentric residents that never ends as just an ordinary day. At the center of the story is Nagumo, a penniless college student. Whether she is a troublemaker or simply loved by trouble itself...... something is always happening around her. And those events ripple outward, linking together and involving the entire town.

The setting is a single town known as “CITY.” While the true nature of this town is shrouded in mystery, the story revolves around the prominent “CITY Shopping District.” Like the gears of a clock, the individual characters mesh together, driving a grand story forward. The skillfulness of this structure offers new discoveries with every read, keeping readers’ interest hooked.

One of the biggest charms of this work is undoubtedly its “sense of speed.” Jokes trigger more jokes, characters push each other forward, and the back-and-forth of setups and punchlines continues like a marathon. Moreover, amid this fast pace, the distinctive “pauses” and “misalignments” unique to Arawi’s works are inserted perfectly, causing laughter to bubble up unexpectedly.

The staging is also cleverly devised, ensuring visual variety. With each turn of the page, the question “What will happen next?” naturally arises, and before you know it, you realize you’ve been reading, forgetting the passage of time. It’s as if the entire town is the stage for a grand comedy show. There’s a strange sense of immersion, as though you, too, are living in it.

In the first few volumes, some readers might feel like they “don’t quite understand what’s happening.” However, by around volume four, the unique tempo and charm of the characters begin to seep in, and by the time you pass volume five, you’ll likely be completely hooked. It’s the kind of addictive work that makes you want to “start reading again from the beginning.”

This is neither just a comedy nor simply a slice-of-life series. It transforms a perfectly ordinary day into something extraordinarily unusual. Try experiencing the magic of the town called “CITY” just once, and you’ll no doubt want to keep it permanently on your bookshelf.