Neighborhood Story, Vol. 1

I cannot tell you how excited I was when I learned that this series was finally getting a licensed print release in English. I literally waited 20 years for this & I'm sure many others have a similar story. I would check every few years, on the off chance it was happening, & was floored when I saw the news.Thank you so much to everyone who helped make this happen, from the publisher, translator, editor, designer, & everyone else. From the bottom of my heart, this means so much. High school me & 34-year-old me are grateful. You've done a beautiful job.

I've been a follower of Yazawa as long as she's been creating manga. I own all of the Nana volumes which was made easier due to the recent reprint. So I was pretty pleased when I heard that Neighborhood Story (prequel to her series Paradise Kiss) was getting a translation and English release. This edition is very well made even if it was a bit pricey-- the cover has a stylish cut out design and all of the pages look amazing. I am also a fan of the ParaKiss sequel and own that series and I had actually purchased the Japanese volume one of Neighborhood Story years ago, so it was easy to compare. This is a charming story and one of my favorites about growing up and learning to interact with others and finding your path as an artist. Highly recommend to both new readers and seasoned fans.

I LOVED both Paradise Kiss and Nana, so when I saw this being translated into English, was super excited. More Yazawa! Definitely!While I'm glad I bought this, it's definitely different.Yazawa's art is a bit less polished, I think, for this than for either Parakiss or Nana, although a lot of her trademark expressions, attention to clothing detail, etc. is still there.Where I think this lags more so is as far as the story goes.Don't get me wrong! Neighborhood story is a fun story. It centers around Mikako, a fledgling designer who hangs out with her friends and sort of, maybe, has a crush on her childhood friend. He might (or might not) like her back. Or maybe he's in love with her. It's all sort of, 'we're not sure if we're soul mates or just really good friends' stuff.Which is realistic and fun and a different take on romance than, say, the typical Shojo "they meet and fall in love forever and ever". But can feel a bit round about at times, I guess? Like, "oh, this thing happened, but now they're back again and...???"With that said, I liked this enough (both the art and the story) that I'll definitely be buying additional volumes as they come out. I don't like this quite as well as Yazawa's later work, but to be fair, Paradise Kiss is a masterpiece (and Nana is *really* good), so it's probably not a shocker that I like it well, but not quite *as* well.

i lovee it! I love Ai yazawa💖

Love this manga, so happy I can get the physical copy. Definitely buying volume 2! Arrived at estimated date. <3

So i was in high school when i read the translated version of this series back in the 2000s and honestly after this series I read every other series Ai Yazawa created *cries because nana in incomplete* I NEVER thought we would get a translation here in 2023!! anyways if you love paradise kiss this is the prequel technically and heavily revolves around fashion :) (I love this series so much I have a tattoo of it on my right arm of Happy Berry Logo)

I read the manga online a few months ago, can’t wait to have the physical versions of these now too!! The details on the book are super cute and I love the fashion in everything Ai Yazawa writes, definitely recommend if you liked paradise kiss or want an uplifting read after Nana!

This is like a rough draft of Nana with elements of paradise kiss. Mikako is a mean hachi and her her friend Risa is basically Nana, including a boyfriend that looks almost exactly like Ren. it is nice that the drama moves forward pretty quickly without being dragged out ridiculously but this also makes it hard to get too invested in a very straightforward story.It was interesting to see old work of ai yazawa, but other than that it's genuinely just okay.

Ich liebe es und freue mich auf weitere bänder 😊

As to my background: I have read hundreds of different manga series and about 1 in 5 are romantic comedies. What bothered me the most was the really ugly artwork. I also didn't care much for the panel placement. The story itself feels very ordinary and common. OTOH, the characterizations were pretty good. For me I generally care most about story and characters and art is secondary unless it is either very good like in "Frieren: Beyond Journey's End" or so bad that it bothers me. But all that is clearly subjective.In summary: not me cup of tea but I didn't hate it either.