ニューヨーク・ニューヨーク 1 [New York・New York 1]

ニューヨーク・ニューヨーク [New York・New York] #1

by Marimo Ragawa

Ken Walker est un policier new-yorkais admiré et apprécié de tous ses collègues. Par peur de décevoir ses proches et aussi d'être découvert, Ken cache qu'il est gay et s'interdit toute relation suivie... jusqu'au jour où son chemin croise celui de Mel Frederics, un jeune homme calme et doux au passé sombre. Une rencontre qui va bouleverser leur vie...

Genres: Manga, Yaoi, Romance, LGBT, Drama

197 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1998

About the author

Marimo Ragawa 羅川真里茂 was born on September 21 in Hachinohe, Aomori, but her age is not disclosed.
Marimo Ragawa first started submitting manga to comic magazines when she was only 12 years old, which is when she was in 6th grade of elementary school. She continued to send her manga to the same magazine for four years, but a positive critical reception was yet to come. Ragawa then decided to switch to a different magazine. Surprisingly, her first submission to this magazine, Hana to Yume, won a prize called the Top-prize. She succeeded in achieving her debut with her first manga, Time Limit.

Marimo Ragawa continues to draw other manga such as Aka-chan to Boku (Baby and Me), New York New York, and Itsudemo Otenki Kibun. She received the 1995 Shogakukan Manga Award for shōjo for Baby and Me. She continues to draw a tennis themed manga, Shanimuni-Go in Hana to Yume (Flowers and Dreams).

Marimo Ragawa's calm and cute design is one of the traits of her drawings. Her energetic drawing and characters are very attractive, even to non-manga readers. She is widely known for her great ability in describing complicated emotions, especially in New York New York and Baby and Me.
Her manga Mashiro no Oto has been nominated for the 4th Manga Taishō.

Reviews

[Reading_ Tamishly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is so effing sad. Please don't read this. How much a person can suffer???

[Christian Savin · Rating 3 out of 5]

It started off pretty good with pretty well written main characters. Both were far from being perfect, each one of them needed to work out a lot of things about themselves and their relationship for quite different reasons. I was really looking forward to see how things will develop between them.
But then... The volume ended with a pretty weird third chapter in which almost every character turned into a one-dimensional stereotypical version of themselves.
There was also this bizarre dialogue between Kaine and Mel's ex about the behaviors homosexual men have in relationships that I'm pretty sure were pretty stereotypical even for the late 90's. I might be wrong tho but, now in the new roaring 20's, it just feels cringey.
The chapter also ended up with a praying scene that literally came out of nowhere? Like, I wouldn't think there's anything weird about praying but neither of them showed any sign that they're religious. And considering what they've been through, they should've been asking for some holy support at least two or three times before.
If I ignore like 50% of the 3rd chapter, yeah, I can say I enjoyed it and will probably finish the series. I at least need to know what's gonna happen when they meet Kaine's parents.

[Veronika KaoruSaionji · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this manga only becuase Paul Gravett in his book about history of manga wrote about it (as exemple of good BL). I thought that it would be silly. But it was my great mistake. This manga is mangnificent!
Very realistic and yet tender, touching and beautiful BL. Hero is young gay policist in New York who fell in love with younger gay man named Mel (which is very nice, calm and really dream-like, beuatiful as flower - I love him very much!). They start to go out and then live together, but this is no ideal relationship. Hero feels strong (and silly) jealousy to Mel but he sleeps with other men (cheats his boyfriend), he denies his love for Mel to his parents, friends and coworkers (he is afraid to lost them) and Mel is very unhappy. Then is Mel in his work raped by armed man (aswell as other his pretty female coworker, other coworkers are killed), he is in very bad psychic state and hero must admit his love for him openly...
This is story which can happen in reality. Nothing is unrealistic, maybe aside Mel´s beauty (which I really aprociate, Mel is "the man of my dreams" :o) - I love this type), the plot is not too much sweet but not too much hard and cruel (hero´s love helps heal Mel´s wounds), their emotions are understable. I love this manga very much!

[Martha Ríos guido · Rating 1 out of 5]

I reach out this work under the tag recommendation of yaoi, but it would worth making clear this is not yaoi, is Bara.
The difference between yaoi and bara it’s that the first is oriented to a female audience and the second one it is destined to the nonhetero demography. Usually the pairing in a yaoi manga they live in a world of colored rainbow ponies where everybody accepts them, heaven. In a bara manga they go through more realistic situations as HIV/AIDS, homophobia, etc.

[Ale✝ · Rating 4 out of 5]

LA ÚNICA RAZÓN POR LA QUE NO TIENE 5 ESTRELLAS ES PORQUE KAIN ES UN IDIOTA!!!

Ya dicho esto, este manga está increiblemente bien hecho. New York New York es un clásico del BL japonés, situado en los años noventa y narra la historia de estos dos jóvenes y como llevan su relación en dicho contexto. La voz narrativa es muy fácil de leer, los personajes están llenos de vida y el arte es precioso. Realmente cada página logra transmitir cada emoción y llega a enternecer y tocar mi triste y duro corazón. Mí único problema es el personaje principal?? Si bien al inicio no parece malo, cada acción que comete hacia Mel contradice todo el amor que proclama tener hacia él??? No podía hacerme una idea clara de qué estupidez estaba por realizar y aún así cuando el momento llegaba me sorprendía aún más porque siempre superaba mis espectativas!!!! Me deja realemente sin palabras lo horripilante que puede ser pero equis...la historia sigue siendo bastante entretenida y solo espero que mi Mel tenga todo lo que se merece!! protect him or imma end it all :)

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't know what it is about this, but I found it excessively weird. First of all, it's called New York, New York and much of the story takes place in Great Neck. Second, there's never been a time in New York during which this story is believable, except for the fact that Mel didn't finish high school (same as nearly every gay person I met from 1996 to 1999).

The only thing believable here is that Kain is a cop and has a white supremacist hairstyle. Ragawa fucking nailed it there.

[Kati · Rating 4 out of 5]

This manga is rather unusual. The artwork is more down-to-earth, no bishonen with huge eyes and long legs, and also the themes are rather dark and more realistic than usually. The manga deals with rape, murder, betrayal, abuse, homophobia, suicide... It's definitely not for people who seek something fluffy to read. But it's also very good. Mel is maybe a bit too uke-ish, he's usually the victim of all of the above, but Kain has his own share of problems with his coming out, jealousy and internalized homophobia. But I like how gritty it is because it's really something different from what you usually find in yaoi manga.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this series. The main character starts off as a dick, which can be a turn off for a lot of people, but I loved seeing how he learned from his mistakes and changed for the better. It was also nice seeing their relationship grow and strengthen as the story progressed. I will definitely be rereading this one.

[Andrea Itta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heartfelt and well developed characters. The plot was unexpected and knotted all of the ends nicely at the end.
It was a very emotional manga and it stirred my feelings.