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ヨコハマ買い出し紀行 [Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou] #1
ヨコハマ買い出し紀行 1 [Yokohama kaidashi kikō 1]
お祭りのようだった世の中がゆっくりと落ち着き、のちに“夕凪（ゆうなぎ）の時代”と呼ばれる近未来の日本。人型ロボット・アルファは、喫茶店『カフェ・アルファ』を営みながら、オーナーを待ち続ける――。アフタヌーン本誌で12年もの間、読者の支持を集め続けた異色のてろてろＳＦコミック。
146 pages, Paperback
First published August 23, 1995
17 people are currently reading
2012 people want to read
About the author
Hitoshi Ashinano
64 books66 followersHitoshi Ashinano (芦奈野 ひとし, Ashitano Hitoshi) is a Japanese manga artist.
Prior to his professional debut as a solo cartoonist, Ashinano worked as an assistant to manga artist Kousuke Fujishima, while also releasing some doujinshi (amateur manga) under the pen name 'suke'.
Ashinano's comics are known for their contemplative, laid-back, nostalgic feel. His first and best-known series is Yokohama Kaidashi Kikō, a slice-of-life manga set in a post-apocalyptic world. The manga was serialised in Kodansha's comics magazine 'Monthly Afternoon' from 1994 to 2006, won the 2007 'Seiun Award for Best Science Fiction Manga' and was adapted into an anime.
Prior to his professional debut as a solo cartoonist, Ashinano worked as an assistant to manga artist Kousuke Fujishima, while also releasing some doujinshi (amateur manga) under the pen name 'suke'.
Ashinano's comics are known for their contemplative, laid-back, nostalgic feel. His first and best-known series is Yokohama Kaidashi Kikō, a slice-of-life manga set in a post-apocalyptic world. The manga was serialised in Kodansha's comics magazine 'Monthly Afternoon' from 1994 to 2006, won the 2007 'Seiun Award for Best Science Fiction Manga' and was adapted into an anime.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 129 reviews
January 22, 2021
I like it here. Talking with oji-san like this, watching the sea...the busy times and the slow times; I like them all.
Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou or YKK for short, is a post-apocalyptic heavens' scape where fishes swim in the fading dusk and a robot girl dreams of simple yet meaningful living in the small but vibrant town of Yokohama.
When I call YKK post-apocalyptic, I mean it in the most literal sense - it takes place after an apocalypse where the slow decay of humanity is envisioned, but from the lens of everyday people living in the lush countryside. It follows the story of Alpha, a robot whose origins are only hinted at at the end of this volume. After a young boy in town has odd dreams of a creature from a lake baring her fangs at him, Alpha explains that she's a being called "Mingo" that resides in this lake - an ethereal and terrifying creature, but a kind one who cares for children.
This isn't a manga for hardcore sci-fi fans, but rather someone looking for a quiet but evocative experience of simple human living. I would say that it's Battle Angel Alita without the battle part. The characters are all very real, from the loud but kind grandpa of the town to the brave but easily-embarrassed boy who spends so much time looking up to Alpha. Alpha is the real gem in this manga, however.
Somehow I started crying. Originally my tear ducts were only so I could moisten my eyes...It's sort of like when I play the Gekkin alone. This feels different, though. I like this feeling, too.
Alpha is saccharine, kind and just mysterious enough to keep the entire town engaged. No one questions her existence, but instead celebrates it.
None of us could remember seeing Alpha like this...with such amazing self-confidence. Did her dance last for a while, or was it only a moment?
Lastly, the style is absolutely haunting, but in the most lively way possible. It's simple but effective; cartoonish, but realistic enough for suspension of your disbelief. I'm a huge fan of older manga styles from the 1990s to early 2000s, so this is a definite win for me.
It doesn't usually feel much like winter. If I don't stand here in the cold and watch the first sun rise, it won't feel as if a new year had begun.
Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou or YKK for short, is a post-apocalyptic heavens' scape where fishes swim in the fading dusk and a robot girl dreams of simple yet meaningful living in the small but vibrant town of Yokohama.
When I call YKK post-apocalyptic, I mean it in the most literal sense - it takes place after an apocalypse where the slow decay of humanity is envisioned, but from the lens of everyday people living in the lush countryside. It follows the story of Alpha, a robot whose origins are only hinted at at the end of this volume. After a young boy in town has odd dreams of a creature from a lake baring her fangs at him, Alpha explains that she's a being called "Mingo" that resides in this lake - an ethereal and terrifying creature, but a kind one who cares for children.
This isn't a manga for hardcore sci-fi fans, but rather someone looking for a quiet but evocative experience of simple human living. I would say that it's Battle Angel Alita without the battle part. The characters are all very real, from the loud but kind grandpa of the town to the brave but easily-embarrassed boy who spends so much time looking up to Alpha. Alpha is the real gem in this manga, however.
Somehow I started crying. Originally my tear ducts were only so I could moisten my eyes...It's sort of like when I play the Gekkin alone. This feels different, though. I like this feeling, too.
Alpha is saccharine, kind and just mysterious enough to keep the entire town engaged. No one questions her existence, but instead celebrates it.
None of us could remember seeing Alpha like this...with such amazing self-confidence. Did her dance last for a while, or was it only a moment?
Lastly, the style is absolutely haunting, but in the most lively way possible. It's simple but effective; cartoonish, but realistic enough for suspension of your disbelief. I'm a huge fan of older manga styles from the 1990s to early 2000s, so this is a definite win for me.
It doesn't usually feel much like winter. If I don't stand here in the cold and watch the first sun rise, it won't feel as if a new year had begun.
December 22, 2009
Consider this a stand-in for the rest of them.
Nothing happens, it's amazing.
Nothing happens, it's amazing.
June 26, 2020
A very chill series set in post-apocalyptic Japan , chronicling the day to day life of an Android . The normalcy of this manga is what makes it stand out from it's fellow contemporaries.
June 10, 2011
One of the most amazing views of the end of the world ever. In a futuristic japan, Alpha the robot waits for her master at the Cafe Alpha. Japan is dying: the roads are crumbling, the sea is devouring the land, people are few and far between. Robots are turning feral, and the people are abandoning the country to cluster in cities. This is a quiet, beautiful series about how Alpha and the people she knows deal with it.
What is amazing is that there is not a single scene of violence in the entire series. It is just small, heartwarming moments, piled up on each other. Alpha watches the children she knows grow up to be young adults. She enjoys the small pleasures of life almost like a child herself. She befriends other robots like her, and goes on a voyage of self-discovery. All the while, the world is slowly, gently falling to sleep.
This gives it such an incredible amount of power that no zombie apocalypse could. There are some quietly chilling moments when you can see that no, the humans will not rally. The earth itself may be erecting monuments to them. There are many joyful ones: Alpha befriending people, seeing fireworks, or just singing on her guitar. The manga-ka is masterful with details: a simple silhouette of Alpha's bare body shining through her nightshirt from the moon tells us more about a child growing into a man than any sex scene. A journey through a dark underground tunnel is made menacing.
She lets the art speak for her. The world is crumbling, but beautiful. Many panels and even pages have no dialogue. The art is simple manga style, but crisp and beautiful.
Unfortunately, while translated scans exist on the internet, no english official version exists. But read the scans, and buy at least one volume to own. It is the end of the world, and the earth is pulling a soft blanket around us as we go to sleep, the robots our night-light to keep the dark away.
What is amazing is that there is not a single scene of violence in the entire series. It is just small, heartwarming moments, piled up on each other. Alpha watches the children she knows grow up to be young adults. She enjoys the small pleasures of life almost like a child herself. She befriends other robots like her, and goes on a voyage of self-discovery. All the while, the world is slowly, gently falling to sleep.
This gives it such an incredible amount of power that no zombie apocalypse could. There are some quietly chilling moments when you can see that no, the humans will not rally. The earth itself may be erecting monuments to them. There are many joyful ones: Alpha befriending people, seeing fireworks, or just singing on her guitar. The manga-ka is masterful with details: a simple silhouette of Alpha's bare body shining through her nightshirt from the moon tells us more about a child growing into a man than any sex scene. A journey through a dark underground tunnel is made menacing.
She lets the art speak for her. The world is crumbling, but beautiful. Many panels and even pages have no dialogue. The art is simple manga style, but crisp and beautiful.
Unfortunately, while translated scans exist on the internet, no english official version exists. But read the scans, and buy at least one volume to own. It is the end of the world, and the earth is pulling a soft blanket around us as we go to sleep, the robots our night-light to keep the dark away.
August 29, 2021
So where to begin writing this review. I guess I should start by saying this is one of the loveliest, saddest, profound, bittersweet and joyful things I've ever experienced. I'm going to be reviewing the entire series so for people who've not read the later volumes then
SPOILERS
YKK is a post-apocalyptic story set after the sea levels have risen due to some unspecified calamity, it could be something to do with mount Fuji erupting. The remaining people live in small coastal towns and generally seem to be very content, just carrying out their business, peacefully trading, relaxing, and getting on with whatever is left of life. There aren't many children in the story, though two of the characters do eventually have a child towards the end, so there's potentially some infertility issues going on, and humanity is said to be in it's twilight years and is slowly but surely passing away. But the facts of this impending end of humanity are unimportant to the story, it doesn't matter why the cities are sunken or anything like that. That's just the way it is and people have found a peculiar kind of peace with that.
This actually reminds me of the start of Coronovirus, when in lockdown, in that I took a walk in a large public park and just sat around, and the people I saw seemed resigned. It felt like a very relaxed apocalypse. The sort you'd really want. I think generally that Western TV shows and films and books are generally obsessed with the violence and drama of THE END OF THE WORLD. Everyone is going to be killed in a big violent storm of some sort. And then the remnants of humanity will organise themselves in competing rape gangs. It's just really unwholesome and paranoid to assume that the worst of people is going to come out simply because of some calamity.
So far I've only really covered the backdrop of this series. And not even gone into talking about the main protoganist. Maybe I'm doing this because even thinking about her makes me emotional, so I'm avoiding talking about her. Anyway, I'll try. Here goes.
The main character of YKK is a robot called Alpha. She runs a cafe in the hilltops called Cafe Alpha, she doesn't really get many customers and spends most of her time indulging in various hobbies, seeing her friends (who at first consist of an old man at the petrol station, his grandson, and a local doctor).
There's a strange tendency in Manga to make their female characters very cutesy, and silly, almost to the point where they seem kind of retarded. Alpha still has these qualities but find that it works better for her simply because she is an artificial intelligence, the other human and other robot characters realise she is somewhat "special" and her strangeness and innocence actually enriches their existences. But as a character she has her own tragedy, and after reading 141 chapters of this manga I find that even looking at her, or thinking of her, makes me very very emotional. I'll get into this later.
So I'm going to talk about post-apocalyptic expectations again. This book plays with those. In one of the first chapters Alpha is sat in her cafe polishing her gun, and then she explains that her old owner gave her this gun because she might need to protect herself. So from the start you immediately get presented with a Chekov's gun, and it made me expect that at some point in this story Alpha is going to have to protect herself from some kind of post-apocalyptic rape gang (this is bloody Manga after all). But it never comes to that, the gun is only used once because Alpha takes it out one day and decides to try it out on an old street sign. Like most things that Alpha does it's just done for the sake of it, because she has nothing else to do on a particular day so she'll think "Oh! I'm going to try out this gun!"
The gun was given to her by her "owner" who has left her in the cafe (later there is a chapter which shows his departure and that he offers to take her with him, but she wants to stay behind and look after the cafe), so we get the impression that the "owner" thought that Alpha would need to protect herself, he was pessimisstic about her survival in the environment. We then get introduced to our 2nd robot character who is a courier and is delivering a package from "the owner" to Alpha. She delivers a camera. The camera is given to her because "maybe every day seems the same now, but in a ten or twenty of thirty years you might have things you'll feel nostalgic about."
And here comes the tragedy of this story. Everyone and everything around Alpha is gradually eroding, dying, moving away or is in some other way transient, whereas she's permanent. She's seemingly created to remember the human race and to carry that memory forward into the future. She's one of the more advanced robots of her kind and the most human, the courier robot even being inspired by Alpha to become more human. At one point it's remarked on that Alpha is unique in that she's the only robot that has the ability to cry. Also that Alpha is unable to digest animal protein so she's essentially a vegan. She is seemingly designed to survive through nature and not cause any damage to it. So she's emotionally and physically designed to be the perfect vessel for carrying humanity forward. She's completely alone but yearning for connection and company and sharing love in the most simple way of making people cups of coffee and tea. And she has to contend with the idea that the people she meets are getting older, going to die, going to move away, and she will eventually be alone to remember them.
On some level this is really fucked up and really painful to read through.... and even more effectively so because so much of it is unspoken, so much of it is conveyed through very pleasant conversations she has, or the look of indescribable yearning and lostness you might see in her. It's really incredible and potent stuff. And I'm only really scratching the surface of it in this review, and possibly expressing the intent of the story quite clumsily because it's an emotion that's difficult to put into words. There's a lot more happening in in, so much more stuff. Like the earth itself is erecting mushroom statues of humanity to remember them as they pass away. Or there's a large plane that is constantly moving around the Earth with another Alpha model inside it looking down at the surface, constantly passing over and looking as the sea rises above the street lamps. There's other characters with romances and connections, the book paints a really lovely vision of it's world and scenarios. It's actually very funny in places too. The artwork is never short of being completely amazing, but it's not hitting you over the head with it's amazingness... for the most part it's very low key and getting the job done.
After reading it I found out that this is an entire genre in Japan. The genre of the "Mono No Aware" which translates to something like the "appreciation of the passing of things." And that the genre came into prominence after terrorist attacks and environmental issues in Japan in the 90s. That is was designed to soothe the soul and make people relax. Maybe because I'm Japanese I found this the opposite of relaxing, there's something incredible dark within the beauty of it, something new and that I've never come across before.
Anyway, just posting this review to see if anyone else has read this, what your thoughts are, whether anyone has a single thing bad to say about it. And if anyone can recommend anything similar that's going to be as good.... because I think I've found something that's going to be hard to beat. And for the first time in ages I've just read something that I want to read again, all the way through, because I clearly totally love it.
SPOILERS
YKK is a post-apocalyptic story set after the sea levels have risen due to some unspecified calamity, it could be something to do with mount Fuji erupting. The remaining people live in small coastal towns and generally seem to be very content, just carrying out their business, peacefully trading, relaxing, and getting on with whatever is left of life. There aren't many children in the story, though two of the characters do eventually have a child towards the end, so there's potentially some infertility issues going on, and humanity is said to be in it's twilight years and is slowly but surely passing away. But the facts of this impending end of humanity are unimportant to the story, it doesn't matter why the cities are sunken or anything like that. That's just the way it is and people have found a peculiar kind of peace with that.
This actually reminds me of the start of Coronovirus, when in lockdown, in that I took a walk in a large public park and just sat around, and the people I saw seemed resigned. It felt like a very relaxed apocalypse. The sort you'd really want. I think generally that Western TV shows and films and books are generally obsessed with the violence and drama of THE END OF THE WORLD. Everyone is going to be killed in a big violent storm of some sort. And then the remnants of humanity will organise themselves in competing rape gangs. It's just really unwholesome and paranoid to assume that the worst of people is going to come out simply because of some calamity.
So far I've only really covered the backdrop of this series. And not even gone into talking about the main protoganist. Maybe I'm doing this because even thinking about her makes me emotional, so I'm avoiding talking about her. Anyway, I'll try. Here goes.
The main character of YKK is a robot called Alpha. She runs a cafe in the hilltops called Cafe Alpha, she doesn't really get many customers and spends most of her time indulging in various hobbies, seeing her friends (who at first consist of an old man at the petrol station, his grandson, and a local doctor).
There's a strange tendency in Manga to make their female characters very cutesy, and silly, almost to the point where they seem kind of retarded. Alpha still has these qualities but find that it works better for her simply because she is an artificial intelligence, the other human and other robot characters realise she is somewhat "special" and her strangeness and innocence actually enriches their existences. But as a character she has her own tragedy, and after reading 141 chapters of this manga I find that even looking at her, or thinking of her, makes me very very emotional. I'll get into this later.
So I'm going to talk about post-apocalyptic expectations again. This book plays with those. In one of the first chapters Alpha is sat in her cafe polishing her gun, and then she explains that her old owner gave her this gun because she might need to protect herself. So from the start you immediately get presented with a Chekov's gun, and it made me expect that at some point in this story Alpha is going to have to protect herself from some kind of post-apocalyptic rape gang (this is bloody Manga after all). But it never comes to that, the gun is only used once because Alpha takes it out one day and decides to try it out on an old street sign. Like most things that Alpha does it's just done for the sake of it, because she has nothing else to do on a particular day so she'll think "Oh! I'm going to try out this gun!"
The gun was given to her by her "owner" who has left her in the cafe (later there is a chapter which shows his departure and that he offers to take her with him, but she wants to stay behind and look after the cafe), so we get the impression that the "owner" thought that Alpha would need to protect herself, he was pessimisstic about her survival in the environment. We then get introduced to our 2nd robot character who is a courier and is delivering a package from "the owner" to Alpha. She delivers a camera. The camera is given to her because "maybe every day seems the same now, but in a ten or twenty of thirty years you might have things you'll feel nostalgic about."
And here comes the tragedy of this story. Everyone and everything around Alpha is gradually eroding, dying, moving away or is in some other way transient, whereas she's permanent. She's seemingly created to remember the human race and to carry that memory forward into the future. She's one of the more advanced robots of her kind and the most human, the courier robot even being inspired by Alpha to become more human. At one point it's remarked on that Alpha is unique in that she's the only robot that has the ability to cry. Also that Alpha is unable to digest animal protein so she's essentially a vegan. She is seemingly designed to survive through nature and not cause any damage to it. So she's emotionally and physically designed to be the perfect vessel for carrying humanity forward. She's completely alone but yearning for connection and company and sharing love in the most simple way of making people cups of coffee and tea. And she has to contend with the idea that the people she meets are getting older, going to die, going to move away, and she will eventually be alone to remember them.
On some level this is really fucked up and really painful to read through.... and even more effectively so because so much of it is unspoken, so much of it is conveyed through very pleasant conversations she has, or the look of indescribable yearning and lostness you might see in her. It's really incredible and potent stuff. And I'm only really scratching the surface of it in this review, and possibly expressing the intent of the story quite clumsily because it's an emotion that's difficult to put into words. There's a lot more happening in in, so much more stuff. Like the earth itself is erecting mushroom statues of humanity to remember them as they pass away. Or there's a large plane that is constantly moving around the Earth with another Alpha model inside it looking down at the surface, constantly passing over and looking as the sea rises above the street lamps. There's other characters with romances and connections, the book paints a really lovely vision of it's world and scenarios. It's actually very funny in places too. The artwork is never short of being completely amazing, but it's not hitting you over the head with it's amazingness... for the most part it's very low key and getting the job done.
After reading it I found out that this is an entire genre in Japan. The genre of the "Mono No Aware" which translates to something like the "appreciation of the passing of things." And that the genre came into prominence after terrorist attacks and environmental issues in Japan in the 90s. That is was designed to soothe the soul and make people relax. Maybe because I'm Japanese I found this the opposite of relaxing, there's something incredible dark within the beauty of it, something new and that I've never come across before.
Anyway, just posting this review to see if anyone else has read this, what your thoughts are, whether anyone has a single thing bad to say about it. And if anyone can recommend anything similar that's going to be as good.... because I think I've found something that's going to be hard to beat. And for the first time in ages I've just read something that I want to read again, all the way through, because I clearly totally love it.
October 31, 2020
love the way absolutely nothing happens besides ppl eating watermelons, drinking coffee and watching the sunrise
April 25, 2024
Extraordinary: a genuinely charming and exceptionally subtly disturbing kawaii take on 'On the Beach'.
September 26, 2016
This is a series I would love to professionally translate.
March 12, 2020
Soft post-apocalyptic narratives are now my new favourite thing
December 4, 2022
The eventual apocalypse should be this gentle.
December 9, 2022
I think this is my exact vibe.
Its post-apocalyptic Japan chill slice of life pleasantry.
Its post-apocalyptic Japan chill slice of life pleasantry.
December 5, 2022
city pop vibes at the end of the world
a soft gaze before the night ends
a soft gaze before the night ends
January 27, 2022
This review is for the entire series - I love a good finished manga, but feel like adding every volume would falsely inflate my GR Challenge numbers. Also, there's... not a lot of distinction between one book and the next?
I found this manga from a Tumblr post about 'soft apocalypse' stories, where the end of the world (as we know it) is not full of violence and cannibalism but instead community, shared knowledge, and kindness. It was a lovely little escape from a very chaotic world, and a nice reminder of the truth that 'the end of the world' means the end of humans as we area now; the world will carry on no matter what we do to it, though it might look very different.
There's very little story (from a Western narrative definition, at least) here; it's a collection of pastoral vignettes about simply existing in the world, in a small and supportive community, in the strangeness of a landscape still marked by the past. Peaceful, quiet, with just a hint of melancholy.
I found this manga from a Tumblr post about 'soft apocalypse' stories, where the end of the world (as we know it) is not full of violence and cannibalism but instead community, shared knowledge, and kindness. It was a lovely little escape from a very chaotic world, and a nice reminder of the truth that 'the end of the world' means the end of humans as we area now; the world will carry on no matter what we do to it, though it might look very different.
There's very little story (from a Western narrative definition, at least) here; it's a collection of pastoral vignettes about simply existing in the world, in a small and supportive community, in the strangeness of a landscape still marked by the past. Peaceful, quiet, with just a hint of melancholy.
September 30, 2024
I saw a review on pinterest of all places raving about this manga and then easily found a pdf online so I read it yesterday evening. The art style reminds me of this one coloring book I had as a kid that I really really loved, also the characters are so kind to each other it really does give a sense of hope and calm.
Baby's first manga!
Baby's first manga!
April 5, 2021
Un joli petit titre feel good.
Manque peut-être un petit quelque chose pour vraiment me toucher, et le dessin est sympa mais ne brille pas non plus d'un trait original ou détaillé, il reste sobre et un peu old school.
Manque peut-être un petit quelque chose pour vraiment me toucher, et le dessin est sympa mais ne brille pas non plus d'un trait original ou détaillé, il reste sobre et un peu old school.
Read
April 22, 2023Cozy and post apocalypse are not two words you usually combine, but this is a lovely slice of life series that chills you out as you read. It shares with Ghibli that rare ability to tell a story where not much happens, but it’s so charming you enjoy it anyway. I’ll be reading more for sure.
February 29, 2024
Read the entire run of this story (~140 chapters) in just a few days. A quiet, contemplative tale of the passing of time, about everything and nothing, about daily life. A very relaxing read.
October 17, 2024
of course had to read this after emma’s recommendation. love the art style, the characters are all so sweet and kind. 4/5
June 11, 2023
I've been meaning to read this manga for years, and now that there's an official English translation coming out I...decided to read the Japanese version.
ヨコハマ買い出し紀行 Yokohama Kaidashi Kikō, "Travelogue of a Yokohama Shopping Trip" is the story of Alpha, a robot who runs a cafe outside the ruins(?) of Yokohama. The world is in the midst of a cozy apocalypse as the End of History (時代の黄昏 jidai no tasogare, lit: "The Twilight of Ages") slowly overtakes the Earth. Sea levels have risen, the population is much lower than before...but really no one seems to mind very much. The winters are warmer, the summers are cooler, and life goes on in a relaxed kind of way. Cafe Alpha gets one, maybe two, customers per day on a good day. Alpha's "owner" is off...somewhere, doing...something, so she runs the cafe and waits.
Another review said "Nothing happens, it's amazing" and that's honestly a good summary of it. The stories individually are about things like the man who runs the gas station down the road bringing by a bunch of watermelons and Alpha wanting one or two and being given ten, and then deciding to put ribbons on them and give them out to cafe patrons, or going to a neighborhood Tondo Matsuri with local boy Takahiro and talking about how the weather is pretty nice. Alpha suffers a calamity but she's a robot, so she'll be okay. There’s some kind of water spirit living in a nearby lake called ミサゴ (misago, “The osprey”), but she loves and is kind to children and never shows herself to adults. Alpha’s owner gave her a gun for self-defense but she's never used it--it's not even loaded. It's not that kind of apocalypse.
If this were an American story, there'd be some cause. Humanity would be raging against their fate and scientists would be racing to discover a cure. There'd be groups of cannibal bandit biker gangs raiding villages for go-juice. But this is not that kind of story and none of that is important. It's about Alpha, who does not age or grow old, watching the world slowly, gently, fall asleep.
Nothing happens. It's amazing.
Next Review: Volume Two.
ヨコハマ買い出し紀行 Yokohama Kaidashi Kikō, "Travelogue of a Yokohama Shopping Trip" is the story of Alpha, a robot who runs a cafe outside the ruins(?) of Yokohama. The world is in the midst of a cozy apocalypse as the End of History (時代の黄昏 jidai no tasogare, lit: "The Twilight of Ages") slowly overtakes the Earth. Sea levels have risen, the population is much lower than before...but really no one seems to mind very much. The winters are warmer, the summers are cooler, and life goes on in a relaxed kind of way. Cafe Alpha gets one, maybe two, customers per day on a good day. Alpha's "owner" is off...somewhere, doing...something, so she runs the cafe and waits.
Another review said "Nothing happens, it's amazing" and that's honestly a good summary of it. The stories individually are about things like the man who runs the gas station down the road bringing by a bunch of watermelons and Alpha wanting one or two and being given ten, and then deciding to put ribbons on them and give them out to cafe patrons, or going to a neighborhood Tondo Matsuri with local boy Takahiro and talking about how the weather is pretty nice. Alpha suffers a calamity but she's a robot, so she'll be okay. There’s some kind of water spirit living in a nearby lake called ミサゴ (misago, “The osprey”), but she loves and is kind to children and never shows herself to adults. Alpha’s owner gave her a gun for self-defense but she's never used it--it's not even loaded. It's not that kind of apocalypse.
If this were an American story, there'd be some cause. Humanity would be raging against their fate and scientists would be racing to discover a cure. There'd be groups of cannibal bandit biker gangs raiding villages for go-juice. But this is not that kind of story and none of that is important. It's about Alpha, who does not age or grow old, watching the world slowly, gently, fall asleep.
Nothing happens. It's amazing.
Next Review: Volume Two.
May 1, 2009
A simple and beautiful manga series that drew to a quiet close a couple of years ago after being published by Afternoon for over ten years. It has stunning artwork, poignant writing and, sometimes a rarity in manga, a well-developed and meaningful story.
The basic plot: humanity is peacefully and slowly dwindling after some unnamed cataclysmic event. Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou presents slice of life stories about the legacy of our race as seen through the eyes of Alpha, (yes she's a robot), who owns an isolated coffee shop near Yokohama, and her friends who live nearby.
Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou (YKK) is usually translated as "Record of a Yokohama Shopping Trip", a title which sounds as exciting as a box of sawdust. But something as ordinary as an excursion out to buy more coffee beans becomes a profound narrative about life, change, time, emotions and relationships...when you put it in the hands of Ashinano Hitoshi.
Unfortunately, as far as I know, YKK isn't available in an (offical & legal) English translation, but you can buy the original Japanese editions online (usually much cheaper than if a manga series has been licensed and translated), and find text only translations online as well. There is always the option of downloading scanlations: fan-translated scans of the original manga; but I'd encourage you to support the mangaka by buying the originals if you do download the scanlations.
The basic plot: humanity is peacefully and slowly dwindling after some unnamed cataclysmic event. Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou presents slice of life stories about the legacy of our race as seen through the eyes of Alpha, (yes she's a robot), who owns an isolated coffee shop near Yokohama, and her friends who live nearby.
Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou (YKK) is usually translated as "Record of a Yokohama Shopping Trip", a title which sounds as exciting as a box of sawdust. But something as ordinary as an excursion out to buy more coffee beans becomes a profound narrative about life, change, time, emotions and relationships...when you put it in the hands of Ashinano Hitoshi.
Unfortunately, as far as I know, YKK isn't available in an (offical & legal) English translation, but you can buy the original Japanese editions online (usually much cheaper than if a manga series has been licensed and translated), and find text only translations online as well. There is always the option of downloading scanlations: fan-translated scans of the original manga; but I'd encourage you to support the mangaka by buying the originals if you do download the scanlations.
September 20, 2011
I am finally getting around to reading Yokohama Kaidashi Kiko ("Yokohama Shopping Diary"), and after finishing the first volume, I must say I'm completely in love.
A little background: the manga is set in the future, after some cataclysm seems to have wiped out most of the human population. The sea level has been gradually rising for some time. Cities have largely been abandoned, and people have returned to a simpler way of life.
The story is told through a series of vignettes that follow the everyday life of Alpha, the owner of a small coffee shop. She happens to be a robot, also. The scenes are poignant and the characters are very likable, Alpha in particular.
But I think where Yokohama Kadaishi Kiko really gets me is in its expression of setting. I have never read a graphic novel where the silence was so tangible. Ashinano gives us long stretches with no dialogue, characters alone, just moving through the backdrop of post-apocalyptic Japan. His art is beautiful, and it pulls you in. The setting is rich spatially as well as temporally—the images express a very real passage of time, which is contrasted with Alpha's apparent timelessness. I'm curious to see if this temporal dissonance leads anywhere over the course of the series...
Overall, I give Yokohama five stars. I highly recommend it and can't wait to read more.
A little background: the manga is set in the future, after some cataclysm seems to have wiped out most of the human population. The sea level has been gradually rising for some time. Cities have largely been abandoned, and people have returned to a simpler way of life.
The story is told through a series of vignettes that follow the everyday life of Alpha, the owner of a small coffee shop. She happens to be a robot, also. The scenes are poignant and the characters are very likable, Alpha in particular.
But I think where Yokohama Kadaishi Kiko really gets me is in its expression of setting. I have never read a graphic novel where the silence was so tangible. Ashinano gives us long stretches with no dialogue, characters alone, just moving through the backdrop of post-apocalyptic Japan. His art is beautiful, and it pulls you in. The setting is rich spatially as well as temporally—the images express a very real passage of time, which is contrasted with Alpha's apparent timelessness. I'm curious to see if this temporal dissonance leads anywhere over the course of the series...
Overall, I give Yokohama five stars. I highly recommend it and can't wait to read more.
May 30, 2021
(I'm going to write a review of the first one, it applies to the whole series)
Probably the most calm and quiet manga I've ever read. It's the best thing to read on a rainy day, listening to something like Rachmaninov's piano concertos (which I've done at least three times).
It's a story of a post-apocalyptic world, but instead of being overly-pessimistic and depressing, or overly-optimistic and annoying it's just normal and human (although the main protagonist isn't human :) ). It's also helped by the great style of the artist, and it all adds to the tranquillity of the series.
I've read this a long time ago (a few times) and still haven't found anything that can measure up to it.
2021: reread this again. Still my favorite.
Probably the most calm and quiet manga I've ever read. It's the best thing to read on a rainy day, listening to something like Rachmaninov's piano concertos (which I've done at least three times).
It's a story of a post-apocalyptic world, but instead of being overly-pessimistic and depressing, or overly-optimistic and annoying it's just normal and human (although the main protagonist isn't human :) ). It's also helped by the great style of the artist, and it all adds to the tranquillity of the series.
I've read this a long time ago (a few times) and still haven't found anything that can measure up to it.
2021: reread this again. Still my favorite.
December 3, 2022
This is like a post-apocalyptic version of Aria where the core focus of the story is about appreciating the simple things in life. It's not set in a dark post-apocalyptic world where we lose our morals & humanity like in Fallout. It's actually the opposite of that.
It's 7 chapters full of wholesomeness. The Worldbuilding is believable and calm. The pacing is super slow but I don't mean that in a bad way - I think it actually makes the storytelling better because it fits the genre well.
It's 7 chapters full of wholesomeness. The Worldbuilding is believable and calm. The pacing is super slow but I don't mean that in a bad way - I think it actually makes the storytelling better because it fits the genre well.
July 24, 2020
this series isn't so much a story as an atmosphere
it's a soft post-apocalyptic world where good people are nice to each other, robots run coffee shops in terribly inconvenient locations, humanity has learned to be kinder and gentler, and the land changes as much as people do.
nothing but loveliness
it's a soft post-apocalyptic world where good people are nice to each other, robots run coffee shops in terribly inconvenient locations, humanity has learned to be kinder and gentler, and the land changes as much as people do.
nothing but loveliness
December 13, 2007
This represents the whole series (14 volumes)
- Likeable characters
- Peaceful, laid-back everyday stories in the future that are full of weird things. But, the writer can make it so believable and lovely.
Its a very nice series to relax to.
- Likeable characters
- Peaceful, laid-back everyday stories in the future that are full of weird things. But, the writer can make it so believable and lovely.
Its a very nice series to relax to.
December 20, 2022
A post-apocalyptic slice of life series about a robot and friends just vibing, nothing really happens but it's very cute and sweet. It's only just starting but I love how the world looks, how Japan itself is being swallowed up but everyone still holds together and makes the best out of it.
July 17, 2023
lovely and enjoyable, apocalypse slice-of-life done well.
February 24, 2024
this is the perfect manga, change my mind.
(This represents all of ykk)
(This represents all of ykk)
September 27, 2021
Idyllic post-apocalyptic (bet those words rarely go together) where nothing much happens, but the atmosphere is lovely.
August 14, 2025
Read all of this between sets in the gym, its very identical to yotsuba but in a very mellow and peacefully depressing way, watching everyone grow up and change and move on without you must feel gut wrenching, onto the next gym read
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