New York, New York Volume 1 Review

Yen Press bring out the first English edition of a classic manga: a gay love story set in 1990s New York that is not afraid to explore real-life issues that are still relevant today.

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Thankyou for reviewing this was interesting to learn about it, I've read all of Banana Fish (great series) and speaking of vintage BL, I wish someone would bring out Moto Hagio's A Cruel God Reigns in Heaven in English but I understand it's a fairly long series and thus a bigger risk for a publisher considering it's vintage and somewhat controversial and disturbing subject matter/themes. I have the beautiful hardcover omnibus of her series The Heart of Thomas and really wanna reread it or at least pour over the absolutely beautiful full-page illustrations that introduce each chapter. I'm interested in BL and yuri and generally LGBTQUIA+ manga but was a bit put off when getting into anime and manga fandom by how many BL titles at the time featured non-consensual encounters (like if sexual abuse is a theme that they're attempting to address that's one thing but what I mean is when the stuff that's supposed to be cute/romantic/sexy is really just kinda/very rapey), I'm sure that must have changed by now at least somewhat, and there are a lot of recent BL titles I wanna read that I've heard really good things about. Sorry I'm rambling a bit. I did really enjoy your review anyway

Thank you You make some really pertinent points about vintage BL. I'm sure you're right about the length factor putting US publishers off bringing out Moto Hagio's A Cruel God Reigns in Heaven - whereas Yen Press, having had a success with Marimo Ragawa's 4-volume vampire series, felt confident they could manage to bring out another short series. Over the last ten years, the proliferation of slice-of-life BL titles that don't rely on a non-con storyline is really heartening (they were there before but tended to be a bit overshadowed in translation, thinking of mangaka like Toko Kawai, Yugi Yamada, Yaya Sakuragi). But now, there's a wonderful choice of funny, moving, thoughtful titles that we've tried to feature and recommend here (Tokyopop's LOVE x LOVE list is doing well on the LGBTQUIA+ front). I hope Yen Press will continue to bring us BL titles to keep up with their Yuri output (Sasaki and Miyano and I Cannot Reach You are a good start!)

When I read the official description of this one I kind of dismissed it, it didn't seem too interesting to me, a little bit plain. But reading your review of it really made me want to give it a try.

I hope I've given a helpful account of the first 2-in-1 volume and thank you. There's a lot going on in these 400 pages - and Marimo Ragawa is good at creating sympathetic characters but then putting them through the wringer! I'd be really interested to know what you think if you decide to give it a try.

Sarah said:

I hope I've given a helpful account of the first 2-in-1 volume and thank you. There's a lot going on in these 400 pages - and Marimo Ragawa is good at creating sympathetic characters but then putting them through the wringer! I'd be really interested to know what you think if you decide to give it a try.

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Hopefully I can pick it up! I definitely would have passed by this one if it wasn't for your interesting review so thank you.