My Tokyo Summer Review

 

Yup, another graphic novel I picked up on a whim.

My Tokyo Summer by Abby Benson is semi-autobiographical, and is about the author and her experience being a new and young manga creator in the 80s and 90s. Y'know, back when anime and manga wasn't as mainstream in the US as it is now. Abby gets her start writing her comics in zines and distributing them in select shops in New York City. At the same time, a Japanese girl named Yuuko comes across one her zines and loves it!

The girls end up connecting and writing their own original manga when Abby goes to study abroad in Japan during her college years. They sell their works at a Comiket. They also bond a lot over food.  

This was a very cute and fun graphic novel. It was so interesting to see how being an otaku in America was like back in the 80s and 90s. And how people made and sold things without the Internet. And how people learned other languages without technology!

I gave it 4 stars, but that's only because I thought there was going to be a little bit more conflicts in it? The story was really chill, and that's not a bad thing, but I was expecting a bit more drama. Still great though!