Manga Recommended: Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou

ORIGINALLY POSTED ON ANICOMBO.COM BLOG 2009/01/18

Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou (by Hitoshi Ashinano).
(also 2 anime OVA series, 2 episodes each)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yokohama_Kaidashi_Kikou

Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou is the story of a robot named, Alpha Hatsuseno, and her daily life in a post-cataclysmic, future Earth. There is no action or drama in this manga, and there isn't really even a beginning or end in the conventional sense. Entire chapters are devoted to Alpha sitting in the café she runs; pondering about the weather and her friends. As uninteresting as that may sound, it's her unique perspective of the world around her that makes the most insignificant occurrences so fascinating.

Little is explained of what happened to the earth or of Alpha's origins. Humankind has declined and the world is a much quieter and solemn place. As an un-aging robot, Alpha observes the changing lives of her human friends and the evolving landscape. The passage of time and the transience of life; the enduring physicality of what we know and its impermanence; the beautiful, everyday moments we take for granted. These are some of the themes Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou touches upon so delicately that sometimes you don't even realize it until after you've finished reading.

Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou spans 140 short chapters collected in 14 volumes, and was published over a 12 year period. The characters gradually become more visually refined, and, despite their simplistic depictions, are well-formed and carefully composed. All the characters are endearing in some way or another, and it's interesting to see how their relationships with Alpha, and each other, changes over time.

In Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou, pictures are definitely worth a thousand words. Dialogue and narrative is used to good effect, but it is often sparse and only partly conveys what is going on. It is very easy to gloss over the many panels of background art, but that's actually where the real substance lies for me. The backgrounds are where the art truly shines, and they serve as a reminder of the power and beauty simple black and white images can have. Not only does the art evoke strong sensations of things we have all experienced in our own lives, but at times it can also be profoundly abstract.

It's strange to think that a fictional story of a robot on distant future earth can become the vehicle for communicating such strong portrayals of life and our place in time, but that's pretty much how I would summarize Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou. Highly recommended.