July 7, 2026 by Graphix
ARC provided by the publisher
In this graphic memoir, we go back to 1986 to meet Abby, who lives in the US, and Yuuko, who lives in Japan. Both girls are interested in comics and anime. Abby's mother has traveled to Japan for business, so Abby is enthralled with that country, and Yuuko and her older sister Yoko are interested in US culture. Both girls hope to one day spend time in New York City. When Abby gets the chance to stay with her grandfather in the Big Apple, she is introduced to the zine scene. She creates her own, which Yuuko discovers when she visits the city with her sister. Yuuko writes to Abby, and the two become penpals. in 1997, Abby gets the chance to attend a summer program in Tokyo, and she and Yuuko are able to hang out and experience all of the sites, food, and shopping in Japan. They write a comic together, and get a table at Comiket to sell it. Even years later, the two are still connected, and Abby, an author, goes back to visit as often as she can.
There are great notes from Denson and Utomaru, as well as Yuuko, at the end of the book, and some fun pictures. Like Santat's A First Time For Everything, My Tokyo Summer is a great snapshot of a particularly important and influential summer in an author's life. There are plenty of good details about things to do in Japan, and a LOT about the food. Transliterated Japanese is also included. While most of the ARC was in black and white, the few pages that are in color are bright and appealing. Utomaru's illustration style is a mix between US artists like Telgemeier and Galligan and Japanese manga (That ALWAYS in my head is expressed as Speed Racer-like!) and is very appealing.
Readers who enjoyed a taste of life in Japan in Brown's While I Was Away or Chapman's All the Ways Home or who enjoyed Misako's Bounce Back will be enthralled with this virtual field trip to Tokyo, especially if they are fans of anime and manga.
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