Alley of First Love
Japanese manga
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Alley of First Love (Japanese: 初恋横丁, Hepburn: Hatsukoi Yokochō; billed as "Ellie Mamahara's Alley of First Love" by Blu) is a Japanese boys love manga written and illustrated by Ellie Mamahara. It was released in English by Blu Manga, the boys love publishing division of Tokyopop, in July 2008.[1] It is about a young man whose high school crush returns from studying abroad for six years, and the healing of the rift between them.
| Alley of First Love | |
 Cover of the Japanese version | |
| 初恋横丁 (Hatsukoi Yokochō) | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Yaoi |
| Manga | |
| Written by | Ellie Mamahara |
| Published by | Tokuma Shoten |
| English publisher | |
| Published | August 25, 2006 |
Reception
The endearing awkwardness of the couple was remarked upon favourably by Leroy Dessaroux.[2] Danielle Van Gorder enjoyed the boldness of the artwork, but found that the characters looked alike except for their hair. She felt that their expressiveness made up for this.[3] Katherine Farmar praised Mamahara's realistic secondary cast, neither detracting from the main couple, nor making it seem as though the couple exist in a vacuum, and not being simple plot devices to generate conflict. She also enjoyed the "bold" artwork.[4] Katherine Dacey regards their consensual and comparatively tame relationship to be refreshing from other licensed titles available in English, but found that at times the dialogue was unrealistic.[5] In an About.com poll for 2008's best yaoi, Alley of First Love placed seventh out of ten entries.[6]