I was going to say something along the lines of “the only problem I have with Arawi Keiichi”. But that didn’t feel quite right, because I don’t really have a problem with Awari per se. I love his art, occasionally he makes me laugh really hard. By all accounts he’s supposed to be a nice guy and well-liked in the industry. But there is a thing, which is – simply – that I don’t find a lot of his gags all that funny. I wish I did – I want to revel in the hilarity of a beautiful show like CITY. But that’s not how it works with comedy – you don’t get to choose.
Specifically with CITY, the two subsets that usually leave me cold are the college trio and the middle-school pair. Which is a problem, as they’re more or less the main characters, especially the collegians (and they do way too much screaming). Though first among equals is closer to the truth, as this is truly an ensemble series. The Makabe restaurant chapters tend to be the funniest consistently, and the “Mr. Bummer” subplot hits some high notes. Gag comedies are like that generally – not even the best of them hit all the time. I do wish my batting average with Arawi was higher though.
One reason why things break this way, I think, is that one some level Arawi is a CGDCT mangaka. Less so with CITY than Nichijou, but with those characters in the spotlight he tends to indulge that side. It’s like he doesn’t have to try as hard to be funny when he thinks he’s being cute – and he’s far from the only mangaka who has this issue. If we look at this week’s gags on the whole, none of them were really LOL-type home runs. The Sasago injury bit will deliver some great laughs, but later. I liked the thing with Niikura and the various devils, and the tardy angel, but that was more of a chuckle-inducer.
I’m no closer to knowing where that leaves me than I was last week. CITY won the preview poll and I’d love to feel compelled to cover it (as I said, I want that anyway) but this season is too bloated to indulge that for its own sake. Maybe the ballot, we’ll see. There is some good material coming up, but whether that adds up to a keeper in anime form I’m really not sure yet.
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