Nobody write josei quite like Ai Yazawa, though you could also say that because so few authors write josei at all. Regardless, while Yazawa is remembered for Paradise Kiss and Nana, only a small few have indulged in her Paradise Kiss prequel, Neighborhood Story.
Alternative Titles:
- Gokinjo Monogatari
- GokiMono
- ご近所物語
Year Anime Premiered: 1995
Animation Studio: Toei Animation
Number of Seasons: 1
Source Material Country of Origin: Japan
Source Material Available: Manga
Entry Last Updated: July 9th, 2024
Where To Start The Neighborhood Story Manga After The Anime?
If you finished the Neighborhood Story anime and wish to continue the story with the manga, you can start at Chapter 18.
What to Expect From The Neighborhood Story Manga?
As the Neighborhood Story anime has 50 episodes – more episodes than the manga has chapters – it seems suspicious that the anime only adapts 17 chapters. It’s not that the chapters are overly long or anything like that, but rather the anime injects tons of filler. It’s not filler that really affects the story narrative, but it does dilute it quite a bit.
The anime didn’t skip much of anything, it just put a lot of extra in. As such, you definitely might want to consider reading this manga from the beginning just so you get a more cohesive story without all the extra.
Do You Need To Read Neighborhood Story in order to Read Paradise Kiss?
It is not especially well known since quite a few don’t even realize Neighborhood Story exists, but Neighborhood Story is technically a prequel to Paradise Kiss. However, you definitely don’t need to read Neighborhood Story to enjoy Paradise Kiss.
The author is very fond of putting character cameos from her older series into her new series. In Paradise Kiss, Mikako and others make some appearances and Mikako’s younger sister, Miwako, is not the main character, but is a major character in Paradise Kiss.
That is how these two series are connected. Paradise Kiss isn’t directly a plot-oriented sequel, it just features some characters from Neighborhood Story.
Is The Neighborhood Story Manga Over?
The Neighborhood Story manga is complete. It ended in 1997 with Chapter 33.
Will There Be A Neighborhood Story Season 2?
Given the sheer age of the anime, a Neighborhood Story Season 2 seems very unlikely at this point.
