Well, I just finished bingeing this manga, and I would have to say this is one of the best yaoi/shounen ai manga I have ever read.

Story (9):

Most yaoi manga I have read are pretty cliched when it comes to the story. If you take the basic premise, it's not that original. But original stories are hard to write and I think this one grabs the reader's attention by the way it tells the story. It may be a love at first sight kind of thing, but there's so much more to this story. It brings up many issues in the gay community, HIV/AIDS, cheating, abuse, acceptance, etc. etc. Neither was I alive during the period of American history where people were blatantly less tolerant of gays nor do I identify with the LGBT community, but this story shows a lot about that side of life and those who accept and those who do not and I'm glad I got to see some form of it even if it's not super accurate.

This story did have a lot of drama in it and sometimes I felt it was too much and I often went, "Oh my god, really?", so that's why I didn't give a 10, but overall, it was nicely done.

Art (6):

I typically stay away from this kind of art, especially in yaoi manga since I just don't like it that much. I was able to get past it most of the time and read the story. There were times where it wasn't that nice or it looked weird, but the story made up for it. Overall, this art style is not my cup of tea, so 6.

Character (8):

The characters were overall very strong in this story and I love the couple (although there were multiple times where I was so mad at Kain and wanted to punch him. Dear god he was aggravating, but overtime it got better). Mel is just so sweet and I love him dearly for being able to be the kind of person he was despite all the shit he'd been through. The side characters were good and memorable too, and I appreciated that a lot. There's a lot of stories where no one else but the two main characters are relevant.

Enjoyment (10):

I thoroughly enjoyed this story despite the high amounts of drama and Kain being an ass (seriously) and I cried a couple times. I read it quite fast since it was fast paced and kept me on my toes. I think I'd read it again at some point. I loved how the story didn't just end after they got together (Is that a spoiler? It's a yaoi, come on guys, what do you expect?) and went through their whole life.

So overall 9 for this one. It's not perfect and the art could be better, but I just loved this story so much. New York New York is definitely a favorite of mine now and I'm so glad I found it! Would recommend!