New York in the mid-1990s – and promising young cop Kain Walker has a secret: he’s gay. Without a uniform, he roams the bars of the city’s gay district, happy to indulge in a non-committal lifestyle and one-night stands. But then he meets Mel Fredericks, a younger man who is exactly his type: handsome, kind, vulnerable and caring. Mel is recovering from a suicide attempt after the painful breakup of her last relationship. Kain feels Mel is right for him – even though he’s not very good at maintaining a monogamous relationship – and after some turbulent events, the two decide to rent a house together.
The time has come, Kain believes, to take Mel to meet her parents; he’s a much-loved only child, but he doesn’t know how they’ll react to meeting his life partner when they find out they’re a man. Mel, who comes from a broken and abusive background, is suspicious — but also desperate to get along with Kain’s family. When they go to stay with the Walkers, George (a teacher) agrees and welcomes Mel – but Ada is confused and even hostile. Will she be able to overcome her deep disappointment in realizing that she won’t have grandchildren (it’s the 90s and times have thankfully changed)?
Meanwhile, one of Kain’s fellow police officers, Gersh Stoneman, has been hospitalized. Gersh, Jewish and married with a daughter, has AIDS and is dying. Kain has long known that Gersh is gay and the two – who haven’t always gotten along well – have a heart to heart. Gersh’s parting words to Kain, “You’ve met a partner you want to spend your future with…” resonates with Kain, causing him to reevaluate how he feels about his relationship with Mel.
When I first met New York, New York in 2010 (in French from Panini) I had also read the classic by Sanami Matoh FAUX (1994) about two New York cops who start out as mismatched partners solving crimes together and end up as lovers – and Akimi Yoshida’s iconic Banana Fish (1985) is also set in the United States and deals with gangs, illegal drugs and child abuse which, although never published as a BL, has a very strong subtext and had a massive influence on the female mangaka. Marimo Ragawa has had a long and successful career since the 1990s with numerous shojo titles (his ongoing series Those notes of Snow White was made into a popular anime TV series in 2020-21) – which is no small feat in a crowded market. Corn New York, New York was a groundbreaking manga at the time (was it perhaps “safer” in the mid-90s to set up a BL story in a country other than Japan?), especially in the way it deals with a thoughtful, and at times sensitive, way with the issues faced by its gay protagonists in a society that still had a long way to go in accepting LGBT rights. The terrifying specter of AIDS in the days before medicine caught up is another significant and tragic aspect of recent gay history – and often completely ignored in BL (although condom use is mentioned in this manga). Interestingly, one of the most refreshing scenes is when Ada Walker, Kain’s mother, visits her best friend Shirley for tea and Shirley doesn’t really understand what Ada’s problem is with Kain’s partner. , defusing his worries and prejudices in a delightful and candid way. Can Ada start to thaw out and view Mel not as a threat but as another son?
However, there are some aspects which I believe are dated (and this is in addition to some instances in the text deserving of a sensitivity warning at the start of the editor’s book). The biggest problem for me is that Mel is constantly being cast as the victim. For Christ’s sake, how unlucky can this boy be? This keeps the level of melodrama dangerously high and in danger of tipping into bathos. It also means that Kain has to be the one to come to the rescue, which in terms of the dramatic stakes can only work once or, pushing it, twice, before leaving the reader wondering, ” What ? Not again?” In FAUX, Sanami Matoh gets away with repeating high-stakes drama alternating between Dee and then Ryo in the role of lifeguard (it helps that they’re both cops). Also, the mangaka makes it hard for us to “like” Kain or sympathize with him because he commits so many relationship faux pas (sleep with your lover’s ex the first time you meet him?). These heartbreaking dramatic scenes are straight out of a soap opera – and it’s impossible not to feel your emotions manipulated by the writer. The world of BL has changed and today we expect a more nuanced storytelling. Still, it’s good to see that Ragawa wasn’t afraid to introduce some very real aspects of gay life: HIV, AIDS and prejudice.
Marimo Ragawa’s striking graphic art has aged well (his style is instantly recognizable if you’ve read his recent Yen Press series with Narise Konohara The Vampire and His Pleasant Companions). It’s worth noting that the series got an OT 16+ rating, not Mature because, while several of the themes covered (child abuse, suicide, rape, etc.) probably need sensitivity warnings, there’s no there is nothing sexually explicit in the work.
This beautiful oversized 2-in-1 volume from Yen Press has a robust, bloody translation by Preston Johnson-Chonkar, evoking just the right tone of voice from contemporary movies and crime shows. Kudos to the cover designer (unnamed) for such an eye-catching and unusual cover, essentially a collage of images from the manga; there is also an attractive color page. The second and last volume (#3 and #4 of the original series) should be released in July. For those familiar with the original four-volume release, it should be noted that this edition ends at Episode III Scene 1; Scene 2 will probably open the second omnibus volume.
NB The 2003 date in the copyright line refers to the latest Hakuensha 2-in-1 edition, not the original c. 1995.
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