Experiencing Neighborhood Story again through the manga

 

OK y'all, this is my favorite series so far from Ai Yazawa. I've never really been a fan of Nana (gasp! I know. Unpopular opinion) and I couldn't get into Paradise Kiss (also another unpopular opinion) but Neighborhood Story is an underrated masterpiece!

Here's the thing I first experienced Neighborhood Story through its anime. I watched the anime with fansubs several years ago on YouTube. When I heard that Viz Media was going to be releasing the manga in English, I was very excited. Now Neighborhood Story has so many new fans!

What is Neighborhood Story about? Well, in general it’s about a group of teenage friends who go to a high school specializing in liberal arts, and each have something they specialize in. Their friend group name is Akindo, and they use it when they sell their stuff at flea markets. Mikako, our main character, focuses on teenage girls’ fashion, her friend Risa focuses on children's clothes, and her other friend P-chan focuses on stuffed animals. Mikako’s friend since childhood and next-door neighbor Tsutomu focuses on figurines, his friend Yusuke focuses on sketching portraits, and their friend Jiro focuses on designing video games. Two other members of the group of friends are Mariko and her younger brother Shintaro. Mariko usually helps promote Akindo, and Shintaro focuses on clay figurines. They later get another member of the group named Ayumi, who lets them use on of her old sheds as a workshop, and she helps make signs and other promotional material.

Well, it isn’t a shojo manga without any romance drama! Mikako and Tsutomu are dealing with their feelings with becoming more than just friends. Mariko and Yusuke seem to have a romance that isn’t really going anywhere. Sometimes other problems arise that put everyone’s relationships in jeopardy. But it’ll all work out in the end.

I gave these first two volumes 5 stars. It felt so nice to revisit these characters and their world!