February 12, 2003

Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou

A few months back a friend of mine was raving about this manga series he found called Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou. He had me download all of it he's found and I had it off in my download directory waiting to be purused. In the meantime I'd also found two OVA episodes that had been done.

I just started reading through the manga about two weeks ago and it was amazing. I am taking my time reading through it because it is just too nice to rush. The story takes place in the future. It's off in the country and there is a robot girl named Alpha who has a cafe. For the most part you'd never know she was a robot. It doesn't really get mentioned a real lot in the story. But the story is just many kind of moments in time. It's got a very peaceful feel to it and I love the art in it.

Tonight I finally took in the first OVA and it was wonderful. It fit the feel of the manga perfectly. I was so pleased. I'm going to watch the second one in the morning, but I'm already knowing I'll want more. Luckily, they just started putting out a new OVA for it called Quiet Country Cafe. I'll watch that one after I finish reading more of the manga.

Anyone else seen/read this?

Posted by snooze at February 12, 2003 12:50 AM

Comments

I'm not sure whether the friend you're talking about was me or Smarasderagd, but either way, YKK just rules from orbit, and no two ways about it. And I, too, am impressed that they managed to capture the manga's atmosphere in the OVAs.

Posted by: elthar at February 13, 2003 09:26 AM

Here's my review of YKK I posted on the megatokyo forums:

I've recently discovered an anime that is the most emotionally moving for me. I read a bit of the manga every night before going to bed, to have a good sniffle.

It's called "Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou." What's it about? It's about about gun-carrying robot girls who live in a post-apocalyptic future. There. I've managed to tell the absolute truth and yet completely lie to you at the same time.

Because YKK takes the usual robot-girls-with-guns cliche and takes it in a completely different direction. I call it "Waiting for Godot -- The Anime." If you're looking for exhilarating excitement and flying bullets, look elsewhere.

YKK's pacing is... slow. Really... slow. How slow? Here'd be a good synopsis for one episode:

"Alpha, the robot girl who runs Cafe Alpha, has no visitors to her shop today. Instead, she makes a single cup of coffee for herself. Distracted, she makes several mistakes doing so, and it is sunset before she finishes. She sips the coffee on the veranda, enjoying the sunset."

And now, if you have any sense at all, you're asking, "How in the world can you watch THAT?" Well, add in some stunningly beautiful artwork, close loving relationships between Alpha's small circle of friends, subtle philosophical meanderings, and a gentle, slow-smouldering yuri romance, and... whoops, pardon me, I think I have something in my eye...

http://ykk.misago.org has the manga, and there's two OAV series, the latter not yet finished.

Posted by: Michelle at February 17, 2003 12:45 PM

My own sneaky characterization of this series was "A robot woman runs a cafe in rural Japan in the aftermath of the Singularity. No really!"

I blathered on at length about this in my journal, and am poised to blather on about it some more, once I get through the spot-descriptions of the other 170-odd comics on my list, and the philosophical world has revolved around to it again.

Posted by: Smarasderagd at February 19, 2003 02:42 AM

i just discoverd this manga, and am loving it. I found the quiet country cafe OAV and was wondering if the first one was ever fansubbed? ive been looking and have no luck. plz email me if u can help thx ^^

Posted by: Fatality at December 18, 2003 05:06 AM

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