Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou
| Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou | |
|---|---|
 Record of a Yokohama Shopping Trip | |
| Artist | Hitoshi Ashinano |
| Format | Manga |
| # of Volumes | 14 |
Contents
Genre
Sum it up in a Sentence
An android runs a tranquil coffee shop in a world where the twilight of humanity has occurred. A post apocalyptic world that has humanity quietly, and peacefully, accepting its fading into history.
Main Description
Plot Synopsis
Alpha is an android left in charge of a coffee shop by her owner, and feels obligated to take care of it as long as she exists even though it has been years since she last saw him. A very curious and serene person, the story follows her as she interacts with her environment; meeting new people and doing what she can to keep the shop up and running despite rarely getting customers. Alpha does not age, and has to deal with watching her human friends age and leave her. Children she met eventually grow old and leave for the cities that are left, and old ones grow more frail. She is all too aware that, eventually, she and the other androids will be the last remnants of mankind left on the planet. One of her dearest friends is a fellow android, however, named Kokone who shares many of Alpha's tranquil quirks.
There are many mysteries that still exist in this world; but for all of Alpha's curiosity, it is almost irrelevant. At the end of humanity's days, it is the androids, humanity's children, who will see to taking care of the world as the oceans rise and nature is revived. To what end this will lead them, no one knows.
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Personal Opinions
Nate RFB
Although very different in subject matter to Haibane Renmei, the tone and pacing of YKK and HR are very similar. In actuality, despite the post apocalyptic setting there is really not much of an ongoing story in YKK. The plot simply deals with Alpha's day to day events; indeed, some chapters are often wordless and could revolve simply around her making a pot of coffee. That is why one should go into this manga with the right mindset; like Haibane Renmei, those seeking action, drama bombs, magicku, and other niches in anime will not find them here. The most remarkable thing about the plot is that despite it being a post apocalyptic setting where we see, almost depressingly, nature overtake all of the cities and towns people once occupied... ...the dying off human populace is quietly and peacefully accepting their fate. I don't know if there's supposed to be some sort of environmentalist message in there, but it carries a heavy melancholic feeling of how sometimes the simplest of things can be the most beautiful. Blessed with Ashinano's gorgeous artwork, YKK is probably the best "feel good" story I've ever read in fiction. Some looking to see the story progress in a logical, methodical fashion may be disappointed since that is not what the manga is about, but most should find it very rewarding. The characters are endearing and the manga is completely free of the trappings, misgivings, and cliched faults of other anime and manga stories. It was an emotional and sad day when the final chapter almost suddenly was published; but at the same time, it was fitting, and the open-ended nature of the ending is really the only way it should have, could have gone.
