On ‘New York Minute’ (prequel to ‘In these Words’)

N.B.: this post was first published here, before I made a blog here on wordpress.

So these thingies came through the mail yesterday 😀

I know I’m still not finished with the by-now-way-more-than-30-day anime challenge, but I wanted to make a post about the works of Guilt|Pleasure for a while now, so here goes :D.

Mind you, I haven’t read In these words yet, as I’m waiting for volumes 1 and 2 to be (re-/)published. In the meantime, I did however order them in Japanese because of reasons xD. Aaaaaaanyways, what I mean to say is that the following is written with minimal to no knowledge about the events that unfold in the main series.

New York Minute

I have to say, this volume might just have one of the most beautiful covers I’ve ever seen. I knew TogaQ’s got boatloads of talent, but I’m still in awe at how beautifully the charatcters’ expressions are rendered. And ever since I read this story its atmosphere really stuck with me, so now there’s a ‘heavy winter in New York’ kinda vibe in my heart :D:D. Fuzziness aside, I think it’s safe to say that New York Minute’s about the day that Asano Katsuya and David Krause get together. Katsuya’s the police department’s newly employed psychiatrist and David’s a homicide detective.

The manga part of this volume is beautifully drawn and leaves you wanting more (and when I say that I’m not complaining about the lack of explicit content; rather, the story left me with a nostalgic feeling and it would’ve been nice to see more of Katsuya and David in this ‘winter wonderland’ setting ^^). Lucky for us though, the manga’s swiftly followed by Prey, a short story looking at Katsuya’s very first days at the precinct and how he and David actually meet.

While I really liked the volume’s first part, it also left me a bit disappointed so I was immensely grateful for the inclusion of Prey. Yes, I probably got ahead of myself here, but right after finishing the manga chapter I couldn’t help but think – ok, that’s all fine and dandy but where’s my context for all of this?? It’s like I was watching a display of fireworks, but getting to see only the moment when the fireworks go off in the night sky. As in, I was missing all the anticipation and excitement that comes with seeing and hearing the thing soar up in the sky before bursting and making people go all ‘kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!’ Excuse the cheesiness, but that comparison was the only thing that came to mind when trying to explain my thoughts xD. So Prey comes along and gives more info on the previously seen characters and frames the manga quite nicely. New York Minute was definitely a much more satisfying read after finishing that short story.

As for the main characters themselves – they’re charming! ^^ I knew from what little I’ve read about ITW that Katsuya’s got a troubled past (to say the least?), and the hints dropped here and there throughout the book left me with a handful of questions about him (which will hopefully be answered at some point). While I’m usually not that big a fan of the older character archetype in yaoi stories, David won me over from the start. I liked the fact that he knows who he is and goes with it, he’s strong, he’s got a great sense of humour and there’s a kindness to him that just makes me want to give him a big hug xD. That being said, I can’t help but be a little scared for him.

In the main series, Katsuya’s (kind of?) paired with Shinohara, so where does that leave David? Will he be reintroduced there at some point? Does he die? Oo Or maybe I’m overlooking stuff ‘cause I haven’t read the main series yet, in which case I’m even more anxious to get my hands on it xD.

I’ll shush for now, but this is to be continued with me rambling about the other volumes from the ITW prequel series ^^.

As always, thanks for stopping by! 🙂