Archive for the Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou Category


Yokohama Shopping Log, Volume 3

March 11th, 2024

A woman with green hair, wearing a light blue tank top, beige slack and white sip-on shoes, leans back as she sits on shallow stone stairs by the sea, Seagulls fly above her in broad blue sky.In Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou, Volume 3, Alpha, an android, can see that time passes – and so can we. The adult humans she knows have gotten older, the children she played with are now young adults. There are fewer and fewer people. At her cafe, which never managed more than a few visitors on most days, now goes many days without anyone coming by. 

And yet, Alpha is mostly content to enjoy her time, sipping coffee, exploring the local area, until a crisis pushes her to leave the cafe behind and go on an extended tour of as much of the country as she can visit on foot in about a year.  While she is gone, we learn more about Alpha from Kokone’s discussions with the professor who was part of the design team than we even learned from Alpha herself.  However, like the end of humanity, there are still many holes in that story…we are unlikely to get them all filled in.

In this volume we learn, too, that Kokone truly has no room for anyone other than Alpha in her heart. And, while Alpha treasures Kokone as a friend, she’s not thinking about anyone that much…not even the owner she used to be waiting for.  She’s pleased with the small joys of existence; eating a giant chestnut, meeting a new android, finding a new place to stay and work. We also learn that Meruko is interested in Kokone, but is rejected for Alpha.

As nature takes over the landscape, and humans pass out of existence…how much longer will the androids exist without humans to need them? Nai’s plane will need fuel and Alpha needs beans for her coffee. Who would Kokone deliver to? I assume Meruko would probably make art regardless of whether she had an audience, as artists often do.

It’s hard to feel anything other than the melancholy of the passing age, in between the small joys here. What will life look like when the humans are gone? And how can we get to a point where this gentle twilight is humanity’s end instead of what we appear to be headed towards?

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 9
Characters – 9
Service – 1 pinups of Alpha are drawn with love, not service
Yuri – 6

Overall – 9

Yokohama Shopping Log, Volume 4 is out now from Seven Seas. Come for the coffee and company. Relax and enjoy the end of the humanity.





Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou Deluxe Edition, Volume 2

June 5th, 2023

A green-haired android poses in the middle of a busyish street. Her hands are clasped as she faces us. Some of the passersby look at us as well. The words "Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou Deluxe Edition," the number 2 and "Story and Art by Hitoshi Ashinano" are in prismatic rainbow colors.In Volume 1 we met Alpha, an android who runs a small coffee shop in what once was Musahino, and is now a wind- and sand-swept landscape. Alpha’s owner left years ago, now she spends her days making coffee for the occasional guest at her cafe, and experiencing the world around her.  In Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou Deluxe Edition, Volume 2 we get to know more about Alpha and the people around her…and a tantalizing little bit about the twilight of humanity.

Alpha’s every day is filled with something, but it’s the somethings that fill a life when there is nothing particular to do. She goes to Yokohama to buy coffee beans (there aren’t that many left for sale), she meets the local ojisan, and the only remaining two children, Takehiro and Makki. Even so, Alpha can see that Takehiro is growing up, as time passes.

We get to see Kokone at work, and learn more about her, and then see her obsess about Alpha. They visit each other and pass the time together. Everything is quiet, here at the end of everything as we know it.

This is one of my favorite volumes, because we are introduced to Alpha playing the Moon Lute. In the second Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou Drama CD, which I reviewed on Okazu back in 2007, we were able to hear Alpha vocalize to the Moon Lute and at that point, I had pretty much fallen in love with this series – much like Kokone, I had been completely charmed by Alpha.

But time passes here, and we get some tidbits from the old professor – and the ship that floats gracefully above the planet – about the fate of the people living on it. There is a soft melancholy that pervades this story and allows us to hold on to the high points as Alpha does, enjoying those ephemeral moments more than we might in our busy lives.

This is such a beautifully drawn book and so well-handled by Seven Seas. With all that space on the page, letterer Ludwig Sacramento is able to do retouch on the s/fx – something that I actually feel quite strongly about for this series. It is a series of silences, and few noises, so those noises are important. Daniel Komen’s translation and Dawn Davis’ adaptation make for a story that reads so smoothly, I had to slow myself down to savor the moments. Nicky Lim’s cover design is just beautiful. Thanks to everyone who worked on this at Seven Seas. It is one of my favorite series of all time and I am so glad it is getting the treatment it deserves.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 9
Characters – 9
Service – 1 on principle, but for me, the pinup images of Alpha and Kokone are 10
Yuri – Kokone’s feelings about Alpha are certainly Yuri-adjacent

Overall – 9

If only the end of humanity was this gentle and quiet.

 





Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou Deluxe Edition, Volume 1

September 12th, 2022

After climate change begins to flood coastal cities and the remaining human population grows smaller, what will become of us? In Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou, Volume 1 by Hitoshi Ashinano – a series I have loved for many decades, – the end is inevitable, but gentle.

Alpha is an android. She’s a pretty advanced android, because not only does she look human, she cares about things like good coffee and beauty and can taste and cry. Alpha runs a coffee shop in what used to be Musashino City, and is now a small, sparsely populated area where the waving grass is slowly reclaiming roads.

In the pages of this series, we will be asked to experience things both common and fantastic from the perspective of someone who is always open to being moved by those things. Nothing happens in this series, but it often happens in the most breathtakingly beautiful ways.

Among the people we meet in Volume 1, is Kokone, another android . She is both more human, in that she can consume animal products and  also less, in that she worries quite a bit about fitting in with the humans she meets. Alpha will change her world, merely by being Alpha.

This deluxe edition is quite beautiful with color pages and color artbook images.  Yes, I have the artbook. ^_^ I also love the music from the Drama CDs and the stunning animation of the anime, which I would love to see be re-licensed, just for the beauty of the final scene over Yokohama.  I can’t lie – I’m with Kokone and find just staring at Alpha to be utterly entrancing.

The world in which this series is placed is so familiar and yet has elements of both fantasy and science fiction that make one question one’s own sense of reality. Shopping and fireworks and coffee…but also a giant ship shaped like a bird and a wild nature spirit and androids delivering packages… it can be our world, but would we want that? What will have to happen for us to have it?

The dialogue is simple, the scenarios are wholly about experiencing and feeling. There is no plot here. Just have a seat and a cup of coffee and watch the grass. At the end of the world, that’s all that’s left, anyway.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 9
Characters – 9
Service – A bit
Yuri – A little more than a bit, Kokone becomes infatuated, as we do, with Alpha

Overall – 9

My only criticism is that the word “android” is repeatedly translated as “robot.” As a science fiction fan, I don’t understand this choice at all. It is clearly “android” in katakana in the Japanese and the word android has been a word in the English language since 1837, as it happens. It simply makes no sense at all to translate this as robot.

UPDATE: I was mistaken about all of this. CW kindly informed me that it indeed “robot.” My memory was incorrect.  The translator was 100% correct. 

This one quibble aside, I cannot believe I am getting to read this series in English! Thank you to everyone at Seven Seas for such a beautiful volume for this poignantly beautiful series.





Yuri Drama CD: Yokohama Shopping Log, Volume 2

January 31st, 2007

When I first mentioned Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou, known here as Yokohama Shopping Log in the beginning of 2004, I briefly touched upon the existence of several Drama CDs that were based on the series. In the intervening three years I have managed to get all three CDs, but I find I have never reviewed them. All three are available from Amazon JP through the Yuricon Shop, along with many other fun yuri-flavored Drama CDs.

Drama CD 1 ends with the appearance of Kokone at Cafe Alpha. The second Drama CD picks up with the messenger android’s arrival and delivery of her message in the cutest faux kiss ever. ^_^

The rest of the Drama CD follows the progression of the manga, just as the first CD did, with light jazz musical interludes. It’s all wonderful, just as the manga is.

The real payoff is the chapter when Kokone asks Alpha about the Moon Lute. In my head, when they shared a musical moment, it was a slow, soft, lyrical piece. But the music for the chapter (called “Orders” here) was peppy, jazzy and absolutely gorgeous. When both Konone and Alpha vocalize along with the music it was simply stellar. A real “moment” in the truest YKK sense.

If you are a fan of Alpha and Kokone already, then even if you don’t understand a word of Japanese, I think you can understand and enjoy this CD, if only for the moment when they come together in music. ^_^ If you are not a YKK fan; first read the manga, instantly become a fan of our two favorite lesbian androids, and *then* buy the Drama CD! ^_^





Yuri Manga:Yokohama Shopping Log Volume 14

September 21st, 2006

It is not without some melancholy that I write this entry. By doing so I am writing the obituary of one of the finest manga series I’ve ever read – in a sense, acknowledging the passing of an old friend.

Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou (Yokohama Shopping Log to English-speaking fans) is over. I know quite a few people who got all teary-eyed as they read the final chapter. I have no intention of telling you whether I am one of them or not. ^_^

For those of you unfamiliar with Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou (you poor, bereft creatures you), here is the basic idea of the story. In a near future, global weather patterns have shifted slightly, and time and tide have altered the shape of the map. In a far off-section of Musashino, an android named Alpha is left behind by her owner, to make her own life. She runs a small coffee shop off the beaten track to nowhere. In the course of the next 14 volumes, Alpha meets and befriends all sorts of people, and a few other androids, as she experiences life’s many moments of joy and sadness.

As I mentioned in my overview of the series, and in my review of Volume 12, this is not a story with loads of action or loads of…well, anything really. It’s a quiet, simple, sweet, slice-of-life series about a gun totin’ lesbian android. ^_^

Of the people and androids Alpha meets, two are rather key to this above statement. In the very beginning of the series, we and Alpha meet Kokone, who works for a messenger service. Alpha and Kokone become very close and it becomes quite obvious to everyone – even Kokone’s human coworkers – that Kokone has fallen for Alpha. It is also apparent to Maruko, another android who has a thing for Kokone. Maruko loses, because Kokone’s heart is Alpha’s.

This final volume of the manga is full of good-byes. Time is spent with old friends; Maki and Takahiro are adults and out in the world, but not gone from Alpha’s life. Relaxing days are filled with doing nothing particular, and a few key special moments. Time is the only pressure we feel, as the world keeps slowing down, the shifting sands continue to obscure the roads, fewer people populate the towns, and more and more the only “people” to enjoy the world are the androids humans created to keep them company.

It is a twilight world, a world growing increasing silent and slow, but no less beautiful.

Alpha moves through life with joy, doing the things she has done since the very beginning of the series – visiting Yokohama to buy supplies for the shop, swimming, riding on her scooter. Although she cannot age, there is no doubt at all that she has changed from the first few volumes, when her owner was still a presence in her life, and a person for whose return she waited. She may not have aged, but she has most definitely matured.

Which brings me to what I think was the hardest chapter of the entire series to read. Alpha meets up with the doctor, an older woman who had originally met Alpha after she had been hit by lightning. Alpha and the sensei had become quite close through the series. In this volume they meet for what may well be the last time. The chapter, to me, expresses everything beautiful and sorrowful about the series as a whole. No matter how much we may wish to, we simply can’t stay in the same place forever.

The last chapter was, for most of the yuri fans of this series, crucial. We waited, quite breathlessly (apart from the sobs and sniffs) to see if it would end as we hoped, as we dreamed. It is my pleasure to report that…it does.

Do not expect high drama. Expect a quiet, soft moment that says everything.

And expect Kokone and Alpha to move forward into the future, together.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 9
Characters – 9
Yuri – 6
Service – 1

Overall – 9