The first three pages of CITY volume 4 displays the entire cast of zany characters in full color. We get, for example, Nagumo, Niikura, and Wako lounging around before looking down to see the Makabe restaurant, Granny, and other characters either looking like they about to take a group picture or doing something mundane. You turn the page and then see more of the characters that we’ve seen over the first three volumes of this manga in great color.
Then you turn the page and see the cat on the splash page, with a hand pointed at it. We then get to the standard black and white page, and the story — Niikura doing her best to chase after the cat, and it may involve her being an Olympic pole vaulter to catch up to it.
Spoiler: might’ve been better off to accept defeat…
CITY volume 4 this time changes things up in the way only this manga can. We actually get a story arc where Nagumo is trying to find out what’s in Niikura’s pendant, and Niikura is determined to not let her see it. Nagumo, however, gets kidnapped by a group that actually wants to celebrate with her. She ends up meeting with the “nice man,” who was also brought to celebrate, but he’d rather not. So he’s looking to escape, while Nagumo soon enough wants to stay. Meanwhile, Niikura is exhausted from chasing after the cat.
This volume was a drop off from volume 3, as the jokes didn’t quite land with much impact this time. Niikura thinking she could become a pole vaulter with one of the racks used to hang up clothes was funny, and Sora and Umi playing their own cursed version of Jan-Ken-Pon while we witness Niikura’s anguish from running around in select panels was hilarious.
But what I think hurt this volume was the timing. It breaks up the “main storyline” by showcasing what the rest of the residents of CITY were up to, and it felt mostly weak. We get to see Wako’s tired younger sister, Riko, sleeping awkwardly at school; three dudes needing to capture some chef; and dealing with an impossibly cute and smiling tsuchinoko by the soccer team. Amusing sure, but nothing particularly funny.
And as we go back to what’s going on with Nagumo, we just run into her trying her best to actually fail the challenge so she can celebrate, but her attempts are thwarted each and every time. If this story was connected to the others rather than broken up, this might’ve been funnier. But instead, I was mostly indifferent.
Creativity aside — and I mean from how Arawi did the splash pages, to the last couple pages where the residents that we’ve met in CITY are somehow all in one page conversing with each other, which shows a great amount of range — this volume felt off. Maybe there’s still the mystery of the pendant at play so it might not be over yet, but if it jumps into something new in volume 5, I’ll take it.