New Releases by Keiichi Arawi

Nagumo is in a bit of a bind. She’s a college student, and like many people in her situation, is struggling with money. She is in debt and her landlord is trying to shake her down for rent. Asking her friends no longer works! They know her deal and they do not have the cash to prop her up, even temporarily. So what is she supposed to do under these circumstances? Well maybe bullying would help. Maybe petty theft? Neither one is realistic. Maybe getting a job would settle things… But that means working and not having fun in the big city. That also means not spending all your earnings before paying your rent. Life in the city is an adventure. Thankfully its a fruitful and entertaining one at that!

Niikura chases after the cat that ran off with her precious pendant, and Nagumo quickly follows, determined to discover whatever secret Niikura has stashed away inside—when suddenly she is whisked away to a mysterious tower where she must conquer a series of challenges or be honored with a most sumptuous feast… wait, what? And so the residents of the CITY take part in revelries…

Niikura wakes up to find Nagumo and Wako camping out in her apartment, and the lure of buried treasure brings out everyone’s competitive side. The Adatara family has a boisterous breakfast routine that Mom handles like an orchestra conductor. Tanabe is on a mission to reward the Man Who Is Too Nice. Ecchan and Matsuri invent their own two-person club, and the City South Eleven vow to protect their MVP. And so the days roll by in the City…

Niikura reflects on how her friendship with Nagumo began. Wako Izumi is intrigued by Nagumo, and gets a totally wrong idea about her relationship with Niikura. Tatewaku Makabe scores a dubious point during a soccer game, and his father tries to game a peculiar restaurant. Meanwhile, super-strong Granny continues to be unbeatable…

From the creator of Nichijou comes a new slapstick comedy series about a penniless college student who moves to a town filled with bizarre people. This reckless girl will be the one who eventually sets the city in motion. Niikura reflects on how her friendship with Nagumo began. Wako Izumi is intrigued by Nagumo, and gets a totally wrong idea about her relationship with Niikura. Tatewaku Makabe scores a dubious point during a soccer game, and his father tries to game a peculiar restaurant. Meanwhile, super-strong Granny continues to be unbeatable...

From the creator of nichijou, this surreal-slapstick series revolves around a penniless college student, Midori Nagumo, who lives in an ordinary city filled with not-quite-ordinary people. And as this reckless girl runs about, she sets the city in motion. Midori is in a bit of a bind. She is in debt, and her landlady is trying to shake her down for unpaid rent. Her best friend refuses to loan her cash since she’s wised up to her tricks. Maybe some bullying would help. Or a bit of petty theft? Neither is sustainable. Maybe getting a job would settle things… But working means less time for fun adventures in the big city…

Just as nothing is ordinary in the world of my ordinary life, nothing is standard about Helvetica Standard. The second half of this behind-the-scenes peek at the surreal aesthetic of Keiichi Arawi contains a heavier emphasis on artwork created to tie into nichijou as well as a hearty helping of short-format manga, tales and snippets from Arawi’s life as a working manga artist, and the identity of the mysterious novelist John Mark Ware is revealed...

The follow-up to the hit manga series nichijou (and heavily referenced in the artwork of that series), Helvetica Standard is a full-color anthology of Keiichi Arawi’s comic art and design work. Funny and heartwarming, this two-part series is a humorous look at modern day Japanese design in comic form and a deep-dive into the artistic and creative mind of Keiichi Arawi. Part comic, part diary, part art and design book, Helvetica Standard is a deconstruction of the world of nichijou.