December 16th, 2010
YKK 11 - Protein
At the beginning of this chapter, we get another detail of Alpha's existence that is completely mind-blowing: she dreams. She's a robot-person, but she dreams. Again, we are left wondering, 'what kind of robot IS Alpha, anyway?' And again, I have to say that there is no way she can be a 'metal-and-gears' kind of android. I am keeping track of these details and I will list them eventually, but not now.
In the dream, Alpha and Kokone are children, something that they probably never were in reality if they were manufactured the way is implied in chapter 4, "Rain and After". We see several fish-shaped things with markings on them which, we learn later, are typical of Alpha's design sense.
But it is on page 53 that we learn something more incredible about robot-people, that Alpha "can't eat fish," but that Kokone can "transfer the way to digest it." As dream-Kokone leans in for the tongue-to-tongue transfer, Alpha freaks out and wakes up. As I failed to point out earlier, it is very interesting that despite being designed with such a data transfer method, the robot-people have so assimilated human mores that it makes them extremely nervous and embarrassed. This is not an original idea, however. Other robot girls in anime and manga have been "designed" with one oddity or another but that makes them embarrassed to perform the function. It certainly has the effect of humanizing the character, if nothing else.
Alpha is troubled by her dream, the facts of which came from reality, apparently, since Kokone has no trouble eating meat or fish. Since the day is rainy and dreary and there's going to be no customers, Alpha determines that she's going to "try to get used to it." This is an interesting point with a person who is artificial: usually things would be either/or, yes/no, which would highlight the sense that it is a robot character. Not here, however; Alpha clearly believes that she can overcome it through will power. She decides to try with some milk coffee (cafe-au-lait).
She slugs down the cup full and thinks she's all right at first, but no -- she says "it's no good after all" and when Takahiro surprises her with a visit, she can barely hear him at all, can't hear what he's saying and is trembling. When she finally is able to see him off, she notes that "I probably seemed as if I had the flu." Before evening, the rain clears and so do her symptoms.
However, Ashinano-sensei hits us with another offhand detail. On page 65, we see the landscape beyond the bay and a large mountain which Alpha tells us is "Mt. Fuji". However, the dormant volcano has lost it's beautifully symmetrical shape of our world. It has lost a portion of it's cone to the south, or maybe south-south-west. What has happened? Only an eruption of enormous proportion could have caused this to occur, but as many have pointed out on forums even a shattering eruption could not account for the rise in sea levels or the plummeting birth rates we find out about later.
In the dream, Alpha and Kokone are children, something that they probably never were in reality if they were manufactured the way is implied in chapter 4, "Rain and After". We see several fish-shaped things with markings on them which, we learn later, are typical of Alpha's design sense.
But it is on page 53 that we learn something more incredible about robot-people, that Alpha "can't eat fish," but that Kokone can "transfer the way to digest it." As dream-Kokone leans in for the tongue-to-tongue transfer, Alpha freaks out and wakes up. As I failed to point out earlier, it is very interesting that despite being designed with such a data transfer method, the robot-people have so assimilated human mores that it makes them extremely nervous and embarrassed. This is not an original idea, however. Other robot girls in anime and manga have been "designed" with one oddity or another but that makes them embarrassed to perform the function. It certainly has the effect of humanizing the character, if nothing else.
Alpha is troubled by her dream, the facts of which came from reality, apparently, since Kokone has no trouble eating meat or fish. Since the day is rainy and dreary and there's going to be no customers, Alpha determines that she's going to "try to get used to it." This is an interesting point with a person who is artificial: usually things would be either/or, yes/no, which would highlight the sense that it is a robot character. Not here, however; Alpha clearly believes that she can overcome it through will power. She decides to try with some milk coffee (cafe-au-lait).
She slugs down the cup full and thinks she's all right at first, but no -- she says "it's no good after all" and when Takahiro surprises her with a visit, she can barely hear him at all, can't hear what he's saying and is trembling. When she finally is able to see him off, she notes that "I probably seemed as if I had the flu." Before evening, the rain clears and so do her symptoms.
However, Ashinano-sensei hits us with another offhand detail. On page 65, we see the landscape beyond the bay and a large mountain which Alpha tells us is "Mt. Fuji". However, the dormant volcano has lost it's beautifully symmetrical shape of our world. It has lost a portion of it's cone to the south, or maybe south-south-west. What has happened? Only an eruption of enormous proportion could have caused this to occur, but as many have pointed out on forums even a shattering eruption could not account for the rise in sea levels or the plummeting birth rates we find out about later.
Posted by Jiji | 12-16-10, 5:06 PM | 0 comments
YKK 10 - Kamas' Ayase
Alpha seems to be borrowing something from Ojisan, it looks like a weed trimmer or perhaps a metal detector, however I point it out because it is as compact as an electric model -- but there's no cord. Another one-off, throwaway detail from Ashinano-sensei. Takahiro, for his part, has been hanging around the bay, hoping to see the Misago again. There is a blur of movement and a splash, but it's too small and it turns out to be the "kamas" -- a kind of flying fish -- of Ayase-san, a wanderer who is in the area now. He knows about the Misago and even saw her when *he* was little.
He demonstrates how the kamas flies and catches fish for the both of them and he talks about the Misago. Suddenly, there's a much larger blur and splash and a fish is left flopping between the two young men. She was watching the two of them the whole time. Takahiro tries to get Ayase to meet Alpha when he comes through next time, but strangely, Ayase refuses, "Nah, that's ok." His reaction is a bit odd and illustrates the mindset of someone who is an itinerant wanderer by nature -- something that is too often misrepresented in fiction. As social creatures, we take it as a given that making ties with others is a Good Thing (tm), but to the wandering soul, they avoid it. This is an even more strange way to behave when considering the Japanese mindset. That Takahiro takes his brush-off so well speaks volumes to the Japanese reader about what kind of world this has become.
A short chapter and so little happens that one wonders what the point of this manga is, really? The drawings are so beautiful that it's pretty apparent that a great deal of hard work went into producing this and all it has to say is this? Is that all? Yes, that's all. And that's the point: the "message" of this story (one of the messages) is about the pace of life. In the modern, technological society we have built, we have artificially pushed the pace faster and faster, especially with smart phones and the communication they have enabled. But that pace is not reality. It's totally artificial. I will not make this analysis a rant against facebook or something like that, but I am going to point out motifs and symbols and themes as I see them given the training I have in figuring them out. I hope it helps.
He demonstrates how the kamas flies and catches fish for the both of them and he talks about the Misago. Suddenly, there's a much larger blur and splash and a fish is left flopping between the two young men. She was watching the two of them the whole time. Takahiro tries to get Ayase to meet Alpha when he comes through next time, but strangely, Ayase refuses, "Nah, that's ok." His reaction is a bit odd and illustrates the mindset of someone who is an itinerant wanderer by nature -- something that is too often misrepresented in fiction. As social creatures, we take it as a given that making ties with others is a Good Thing (tm), but to the wandering soul, they avoid it. This is an even more strange way to behave when considering the Japanese mindset. That Takahiro takes his brush-off so well speaks volumes to the Japanese reader about what kind of world this has become.
A short chapter and so little happens that one wonders what the point of this manga is, really? The drawings are so beautiful that it's pretty apparent that a great deal of hard work went into producing this and all it has to say is this? Is that all? Yes, that's all. And that's the point: the "message" of this story (one of the messages) is about the pace of life. In the modern, technological society we have built, we have artificially pushed the pace faster and faster, especially with smart phones and the communication they have enabled. But that pace is not reality. It's totally artificial. I will not make this analysis a rant against facebook or something like that, but I am going to point out motifs and symbols and themes as I see them given the training I have in figuring them out. I hope it helps.
Posted by Jiji | 12-16-10, 3:49 PM | 0 comments
November 22nd, 2010
YKK 9 - 300 With One Piece
Chapter 9 picks up right where 8 left off, Alpha having given Kokone a ride on her scooter to the place where she is to get a ride from someone back to Musashino. Some people might miss the fact that the title page is the very picture Alpha takes of Kokone in this chapter.
Please bear with me if I point out something I might have said before: Manga is a commercial art form that has developed to the point where it is intended to be consumed in the infamously long commutes that most Japanese people endure every day. It is meant to be devoured quickly, moving through the panels at a glance, only to "get" the gist of what is happening and reading the dialogue. Kodansha "Afternoon" is not really an exception -- it was designed to be a "on the train home" manga, for harried salarymen and students, tired and wanting to get home to crash.
YKK is absolutely not that kind of manga. There have been some manga artists who have managed to break this trend in their works. I'm not at all sure who was first, but Masamune Shirow (Ghost in the Shell, Appleseed) is one excellent example. One simply cannot zip through his panels. They are crammed with details, mostly comic, but always interesting. Now look at the first panel of the chapter on page 20.
This frame is a cinematic technique to "set the scene", letting the viewer know where the scene to come is taking place, orienting us. However, in this chapter, Ashinano-sensei uses the same kind of "shot" 4 - 6 times, depending on how you look at it. I am pointing this out, because it is easy to skip over these panels -- there's no dialogue after all -- and rush on. But Ashinano-sensei is using these panels as a way of setting the pacing of the story. So, allow me to remind the fans of YKK to look at these panels. And really look, too.
Alpha and Kokone chat animatedly with each other. No awkward pauses or silences here. Keep in mind, they have only just met. The business with the camera illustrates to us that this is definitely a science-fiction story, and the camera is a masterful piece of design on Ashinano-sensei's part. It is sufficiently advanced to be wonderful to the reader, but not so far out there as to be the complete focus of the chapter. Instead the camera is a way of illustrating things about Alpha's character and the world which this story inhabits. She says twice that 300 pictures will be nothing for her, a person who wants to capture so many little scenes of beauty that happen around us every day.
By the last few pages of the chapter, the start difference between the art and design of the prologue chapter and this one has become stark, I think. The design of Alpha has become much "cuter" and the lines are cleaner and a bit shorter. This may well be the influence of an assistant, but it would be impossible to know for sure.
As Kokone leaves, Alpha notes that it "feels lonely" to see her go. This, from a robot-person who lived completely alone for an unknown amount of time before we first meet her. As Alpha returns to her home area and Ojisan, she pauses to talk with him before going home, probably to relieve the loneliness she felt at Kokone's leaving. Alpha's look on p.34 when she calls Kokone her sister is so adorable it squeezes the heart.
ja mata ne
Please bear with me if I point out something I might have said before: Manga is a commercial art form that has developed to the point where it is intended to be consumed in the infamously long commutes that most Japanese people endure every day. It is meant to be devoured quickly, moving through the panels at a glance, only to "get" the gist of what is happening and reading the dialogue. Kodansha "Afternoon" is not really an exception -- it was designed to be a "on the train home" manga, for harried salarymen and students, tired and wanting to get home to crash.
YKK is absolutely not that kind of manga. There have been some manga artists who have managed to break this trend in their works. I'm not at all sure who was first, but Masamune Shirow (Ghost in the Shell, Appleseed) is one excellent example. One simply cannot zip through his panels. They are crammed with details, mostly comic, but always interesting. Now look at the first panel of the chapter on page 20.
This frame is a cinematic technique to "set the scene", letting the viewer know where the scene to come is taking place, orienting us. However, in this chapter, Ashinano-sensei uses the same kind of "shot" 4 - 6 times, depending on how you look at it. I am pointing this out, because it is easy to skip over these panels -- there's no dialogue after all -- and rush on. But Ashinano-sensei is using these panels as a way of setting the pacing of the story. So, allow me to remind the fans of YKK to look at these panels. And really look, too.
Alpha and Kokone chat animatedly with each other. No awkward pauses or silences here. Keep in mind, they have only just met. The business with the camera illustrates to us that this is definitely a science-fiction story, and the camera is a masterful piece of design on Ashinano-sensei's part. It is sufficiently advanced to be wonderful to the reader, but not so far out there as to be the complete focus of the chapter. Instead the camera is a way of illustrating things about Alpha's character and the world which this story inhabits. She says twice that 300 pictures will be nothing for her, a person who wants to capture so many little scenes of beauty that happen around us every day.
By the last few pages of the chapter, the start difference between the art and design of the prologue chapter and this one has become stark, I think. The design of Alpha has become much "cuter" and the lines are cleaner and a bit shorter. This may well be the influence of an assistant, but it would be impossible to know for sure.
As Kokone leaves, Alpha notes that it "feels lonely" to see her go. This, from a robot-person who lived completely alone for an unknown amount of time before we first meet her. As Alpha returns to her home area and Ojisan, she pauses to talk with him before going home, probably to relieve the loneliness she felt at Kokone's leaving. Alpha's look on p.34 when she calls Kokone her sister is so adorable it squeezes the heart.
ja mata ne
Posted by Jiji | 11-22-10, 8:04 PM | 0 comments
October 21st, 2010
YKK 8 - Afternoon 1/1
At long last, I return to my running commentary on YKK's chapters!
Again, the mystery with the title, and how did we move from 2/2 to 1/1? Although we know that time moves differently for Alpha and other robot-people, I find it hard to believe that she and Kokone were somehow "frozen" or something from February 2nd until the following January 1st! Unless someone has a better theory, I kind of lean to the still very thin idea that they have moved from being two strangers to closer than friends already.
We are introduced to the camera that will play an important part in the story for years to come, and its design and concept shows something significant about how Ashinano-sensei's mind works, and even might give clues about what kind of world this is. As odd as the camera is, even Alpha finds it strange, although Kokone seems to be passingly familiar with it, as we will see next chapter.
But we are immediately distracted by several issues that come to light. Kokone has a note accompanying the gift, but it's digitized (or something) and must be transmitted "directly". We are not told at first what this means, as we finally find out something about Alpha: that she is a "model A7M2". It is both amusing, endearing and interesting that Alpha only dimly recalls that she is called that. And it finally dawns on her that if the message is to be transferred "directly", then Kokone is a robot-person also.
Here we are given more important and slightly contradictory information about robot-people. Kokone says that Alpha might have known that she was a robot-person due to "the manner, the green or purple hair..." Firstly, about the hair colour: It is amusing for Ashinano-sensei to poke fun at anime and manga conventions of wild hair colours by presenting us with odd colours himself and then turn it on its head by pointing it out and giving a particular reason for it. This is a world where robot technology has reached a point where artificial people are indistinguishable from humans, and the makers of robots used odd hair and eye colour as a way of telling them apart. This tells us a few things, mostly that robots were not intended to be replacements for humans, nor to infiltrate human groups covertly.
But what about what Kokone describes as "the manner"? Does this refer to some kind of physical characteristic? Odd movements, jerkiness, or maybe an ability to be completely still, something humans never really quite achieve without years of meditation practice? Or does this mean something about their speech? I cannot read Japanese (yet), so I can't say if there's some kind of connotation to the kanji used that would shed light on this. For our purposes, there is no "manner" to speak of. As we shall see as we go along, Alpha and Kokone and even Maruko and Nai are completely indistinguishable from humans and there is no "manner" in evidence.
And then the kiss. Why would Ashinano-sensei do this? The tongue as a data port has been much discussed as a reasonable place for it and to be sure, surveying robots in manga over the years, data ports have caused more awkwardness to the mangaka than anything. All sorts of odd contrivances have occurred, such as the odd "ears" in _Chobits_. Having data transfer like this forces intimacy upon those robot-people who are more acclimated to acting human-like than those who are not. This is convenient in terms of Alpha and Kokone's relationship and makes an amusing plot point later on with Maruko, but seems to be more troublesome in the abstract.
Lastly, (sorry this post is long) we get some interesting information from Kokone's inner dialogue as Alpha drives her to her ride back. Kokone has been told that she acts very human-like, but somehow she was more relaxed with Alpha today. Later on, we will see that in Kokone's opinion, Alpha doesn't act quite human, but has some kind of mannerism (Aha!) of her own and is comfortable in her own skin that way.
Whatever else we can pull from this chapter, one this is very clear: there is a budding friendship between the two robot-people girls that seems quite special. I will continue to argue that their friendship is special in exactly the way that makes YKK special. More later, iyashikei fans.
Again, the mystery with the title, and how did we move from 2/2 to 1/1? Although we know that time moves differently for Alpha and other robot-people, I find it hard to believe that she and Kokone were somehow "frozen" or something from February 2nd until the following January 1st! Unless someone has a better theory, I kind of lean to the still very thin idea that they have moved from being two strangers to closer than friends already.
We are introduced to the camera that will play an important part in the story for years to come, and its design and concept shows something significant about how Ashinano-sensei's mind works, and even might give clues about what kind of world this is. As odd as the camera is, even Alpha finds it strange, although Kokone seems to be passingly familiar with it, as we will see next chapter.
But we are immediately distracted by several issues that come to light. Kokone has a note accompanying the gift, but it's digitized (or something) and must be transmitted "directly". We are not told at first what this means, as we finally find out something about Alpha: that she is a "model A7M2". It is both amusing, endearing and interesting that Alpha only dimly recalls that she is called that. And it finally dawns on her that if the message is to be transferred "directly", then Kokone is a robot-person also.
Here we are given more important and slightly contradictory information about robot-people. Kokone says that Alpha might have known that she was a robot-person due to "the manner, the green or purple hair..." Firstly, about the hair colour: It is amusing for Ashinano-sensei to poke fun at anime and manga conventions of wild hair colours by presenting us with odd colours himself and then turn it on its head by pointing it out and giving a particular reason for it. This is a world where robot technology has reached a point where artificial people are indistinguishable from humans, and the makers of robots used odd hair and eye colour as a way of telling them apart. This tells us a few things, mostly that robots were not intended to be replacements for humans, nor to infiltrate human groups covertly.
But what about what Kokone describes as "the manner"? Does this refer to some kind of physical characteristic? Odd movements, jerkiness, or maybe an ability to be completely still, something humans never really quite achieve without years of meditation practice? Or does this mean something about their speech? I cannot read Japanese (yet), so I can't say if there's some kind of connotation to the kanji used that would shed light on this. For our purposes, there is no "manner" to speak of. As we shall see as we go along, Alpha and Kokone and even Maruko and Nai are completely indistinguishable from humans and there is no "manner" in evidence.
And then the kiss. Why would Ashinano-sensei do this? The tongue as a data port has been much discussed as a reasonable place for it and to be sure, surveying robots in manga over the years, data ports have caused more awkwardness to the mangaka than anything. All sorts of odd contrivances have occurred, such as the odd "ears" in _Chobits_. Having data transfer like this forces intimacy upon those robot-people who are more acclimated to acting human-like than those who are not. This is convenient in terms of Alpha and Kokone's relationship and makes an amusing plot point later on with Maruko, but seems to be more troublesome in the abstract.
Lastly, (sorry this post is long) we get some interesting information from Kokone's inner dialogue as Alpha drives her to her ride back. Kokone has been told that she acts very human-like, but somehow she was more relaxed with Alpha today. Later on, we will see that in Kokone's opinion, Alpha doesn't act quite human, but has some kind of mannerism (Aha!) of her own and is comfortable in her own skin that way.
Whatever else we can pull from this chapter, one this is very clear: there is a budding friendship between the two robot-people girls that seems quite special. I will continue to argue that their friendship is special in exactly the way that makes YKK special. More later, iyashikei fans.
Posted by Jiji | 10-21-10, 4:26 PM | 2 comments
March 1st, 2010
Ai Yori Aoshi
Anime Relations: Ai Yori Aoshi, Ai Yori Aoshi: Enishi, Ai Yori Aoshi: Enishi - Miyuki, Ai Yori Aoshi: Yumegatari
Now that we have had seven years of time since the first airing of Ai Yori Aoshi, I decided to try reading the manga and watching the anime again. I hoped the perspective would give room for some insights.
Wikipedia described AYA accurately as being "halfway between 'harem' and 'magical girlfriend'" subgenres. I think this is exactly accurate, even though it annoys me. I never cared for the harem or fanservice elements of the story, although I have no moralistic agenda behind it. I just felt that it was unnecessary to the telling of the story. I have always resented the endless comparisons to Love Hina, also. Unlike the feckless idiot in LH, Kaoru was not an idiot, pervert or fool. In fact, the strength of the male character is what kept me interested in AYA -- a man who is yes, wounded, but going places in life, capably, on his own two feet.
Aoi is undeniably what draws the audience to this story (and let's face it, it's an overwhelmingly male audience.) Interestingly, the draw she provides is nearly the same for both Japanese and Western fans; she is a genuine, sweet, extremely loyal girl of conservative values who has been trained from childhood to be the perfect wife.
There have been some professional reviewers who have confirmed my opinion that the anime's art was extremely good, capturing the character designs of the manga, but definitely improving upon them. I only wish the animation were as good to match, but it isn't actually bad, either.
However, the intervening seven years has only barely given me any perspective on the story at all. Anime has always known exactly how to push my buttons, providing character designs that appeal directly to my emotions and with Japanese voice-acting that is subtly superior in so many ways that also manages to touch me, usually. AYA is certainly no exception whatsoever. The incredibly talented and silver-voiced Kawasumi Ayako expresses Aoi in a way that I never expected from the manga.
But it's much more than that with me, unfortunately. I have a theory about anime (and other forms of art) that "first encounters" usually make an enormous difference. For instance, most people find that if they first watch an anime they enjoy in *dub*, they tend to prefer the American actors, and vice versa. The other part of this is anime of the years one is first an anime fan.
What I mean is that often the first anime one ends up liking are often one's favourites from then on, and all subsequent anime are measured against them. My first CLAMP-origin anime was Chobits and somehow I just can't bring myself to think that any other of their projects measure up to it. So for me, AYA is one of my landmark anime and manga. I generally do not like any harem anime, but sometimes I wonder if it's because I saw AYA first and it ruined me for the genre. And my first anime ever was Aa! Megami-sama! (Oh My Goddess), and while it probably ruined me for the magical girlfriend genre, the power of its sweetness carried over, I think. Okay, so I'm arguing against my premise here, but fans of AMS usually know what I mean.
As a result, I don't really feel I have anything insightful to say about AYA in the end. I am a fanboy and that doesn't allow for much perspective or objectivity. After all these years, it's power to touch me is unabated. Just hearing the OP song after all these years is enough to make my eyes sweat something fierce. On the other hand, I am surprised at how well the animation and art has aged. I would think that anime from 2002 would look much more dated than this does. Because of all that, the subjective and the objective, I have to highly, forcefully recommend the AYA anime. Just...skip the second season "Enishi" unless you're a complete AYA fanboy like me.
P.S. If you, like some people, are completely put off by the silliness of the harem and fanservice, then you can probably skip episodes 5, 6, 11 & 12 (maybe), 17, 18, 19 and 20. If you wanted to cut it down to the bare minimum, watch 1 - 4, 15, and 21 - 24, but I don't recommend this. Watch it all and just ride out the fanservice.
Wikipedia described AYA accurately as being "halfway between 'harem' and 'magical girlfriend'" subgenres. I think this is exactly accurate, even though it annoys me. I never cared for the harem or fanservice elements of the story, although I have no moralistic agenda behind it. I just felt that it was unnecessary to the telling of the story. I have always resented the endless comparisons to Love Hina, also. Unlike the feckless idiot in LH, Kaoru was not an idiot, pervert or fool. In fact, the strength of the male character is what kept me interested in AYA -- a man who is yes, wounded, but going places in life, capably, on his own two feet.
Aoi is undeniably what draws the audience to this story (and let's face it, it's an overwhelmingly male audience.) Interestingly, the draw she provides is nearly the same for both Japanese and Western fans; she is a genuine, sweet, extremely loyal girl of conservative values who has been trained from childhood to be the perfect wife.
There have been some professional reviewers who have confirmed my opinion that the anime's art was extremely good, capturing the character designs of the manga, but definitely improving upon them. I only wish the animation were as good to match, but it isn't actually bad, either.
However, the intervening seven years has only barely given me any perspective on the story at all. Anime has always known exactly how to push my buttons, providing character designs that appeal directly to my emotions and with Japanese voice-acting that is subtly superior in so many ways that also manages to touch me, usually. AYA is certainly no exception whatsoever. The incredibly talented and silver-voiced Kawasumi Ayako expresses Aoi in a way that I never expected from the manga.
But it's much more than that with me, unfortunately. I have a theory about anime (and other forms of art) that "first encounters" usually make an enormous difference. For instance, most people find that if they first watch an anime they enjoy in *dub*, they tend to prefer the American actors, and vice versa. The other part of this is anime of the years one is first an anime fan.
What I mean is that often the first anime one ends up liking are often one's favourites from then on, and all subsequent anime are measured against them. My first CLAMP-origin anime was Chobits and somehow I just can't bring myself to think that any other of their projects measure up to it. So for me, AYA is one of my landmark anime and manga. I generally do not like any harem anime, but sometimes I wonder if it's because I saw AYA first and it ruined me for the genre. And my first anime ever was Aa! Megami-sama! (Oh My Goddess), and while it probably ruined me for the magical girlfriend genre, the power of its sweetness carried over, I think. Okay, so I'm arguing against my premise here, but fans of AMS usually know what I mean.
As a result, I don't really feel I have anything insightful to say about AYA in the end. I am a fanboy and that doesn't allow for much perspective or objectivity. After all these years, it's power to touch me is unabated. Just hearing the OP song after all these years is enough to make my eyes sweat something fierce. On the other hand, I am surprised at how well the animation and art has aged. I would think that anime from 2002 would look much more dated than this does. Because of all that, the subjective and the objective, I have to highly, forcefully recommend the AYA anime. Just...skip the second season "Enishi" unless you're a complete AYA fanboy like me.
P.S. If you, like some people, are completely put off by the silliness of the harem and fanservice, then you can probably skip episodes 5, 6, 11 & 12 (maybe), 17, 18, 19 and 20. If you wanted to cut it down to the bare minimum, watch 1 - 4, 15, and 21 - 24, but I don't recommend this. Watch it all and just ride out the fanservice.
Posted by Jiji | 03-01-10, 8:17 PM | 0 comments
January 20th, 2009
YKK 7 - Morning 2/2
Anime Relations: Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou, Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou: Quiet Country Cafe
Yes, I'm finally back. The winter break was a bit of a mess, but all is forgiven! Time to finish up Volume 1 anyway.
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The biggest mystery (to me anyway) in this and the following chapter is the title. 2/2 is clearly not a date, but I find it suggestive of how Alpha and Kokone are two separate people who come together. Other than that, I find myself stumped.
Kokone's first appearance shows nothing un-ordinary about her, other than being conspicuously cute. Even what she's doing is unclear since she doesn't look specifically like a delivery person or any other profession, really. It might be easy to miss, but Ashinano uses a cinematic technique that is often praised for it's artistic value: "intercutting" scenes of Kokone's journey with pleasant scenes of how Alpha starts her day. On page 138, the gun makes a re-appearance and the book Alpha is reading is something to do with illustrations of fish (I can't figure out the last kanji of the title). Alpha does make a comment about the lack of customers, noting that she drinks most of the coffee. Meanwhile, Kokone interacts with a couple of people, one being Ojisan who comments to himself that "she looks like her" meaning Alpha, of course.
Finally, after arriving at Kyouhama at 7:20, Kokone sees Alpha's place at 11:05. I'm guessing that this is the end of the Kurihama line just outside of Yokosuka, which means it takes Kokone almost 4 hours to find Alpha's. I'm assuming that she probably got lost frequently, since as we've seen, maps are unreliable anymore.
Kokone reads the name on the mailbox in dNeil's scanlation as "Hasseno". This is correct, since Japanese can often elide a mid-positioned "tsu" or "su". One sees this in O-Sumo shikona (fighting names). Most correct romanization would be "Has'seno", indicating the very slight glottal stop where the "tsu" is in the full name, "Hatsuseno". Our beloved scanlator makes a slight mistake later when he romanizes "Musashino" as "Masashino", a mistake he acknowledged on his old forums (now gone, sadly).
At the end of the chapter, we finally get it spelled out for us: "Owner" is not just the owner of the Cafe, but also the owner of Alpha the robot-person and his name is "Has'seno".
We've already seen how Alpha feels about him in her careful preservation of just a casual note that says almost nothing of consequence. So her stunned reaction to an actual package from him/her is quite natural, I think. I find it even more interesting that the cliffhanger that the volume and chapter ends on is just that. Nothing earthshaking at all -- no explosion, no deaths, in fact the one manga convention Ashinano-sensei sticks to is the introduction of a new character (Kokone).
I've written a lot here, but very little happens in this chapter as you can see. It's more about setting up what happens next. Still, each chapter of YKK is a gem and if one takes the time to really examine key panels, Ashinano's artwork is quite amazing. One can also see the pains he took with Kokone, wanting to get her look just right.
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The biggest mystery (to me anyway) in this and the following chapter is the title. 2/2 is clearly not a date, but I find it suggestive of how Alpha and Kokone are two separate people who come together. Other than that, I find myself stumped.
Kokone's first appearance shows nothing un-ordinary about her, other than being conspicuously cute. Even what she's doing is unclear since she doesn't look specifically like a delivery person or any other profession, really. It might be easy to miss, but Ashinano uses a cinematic technique that is often praised for it's artistic value: "intercutting" scenes of Kokone's journey with pleasant scenes of how Alpha starts her day. On page 138, the gun makes a re-appearance and the book Alpha is reading is something to do with illustrations of fish (I can't figure out the last kanji of the title). Alpha does make a comment about the lack of customers, noting that she drinks most of the coffee. Meanwhile, Kokone interacts with a couple of people, one being Ojisan who comments to himself that "she looks like her" meaning Alpha, of course.
Finally, after arriving at Kyouhama at 7:20, Kokone sees Alpha's place at 11:05. I'm guessing that this is the end of the Kurihama line just outside of Yokosuka, which means it takes Kokone almost 4 hours to find Alpha's. I'm assuming that she probably got lost frequently, since as we've seen, maps are unreliable anymore.
Kokone reads the name on the mailbox in dNeil's scanlation as "Hasseno". This is correct, since Japanese can often elide a mid-positioned "tsu" or "su". One sees this in O-Sumo shikona (fighting names). Most correct romanization would be "Has'seno", indicating the very slight glottal stop where the "tsu" is in the full name, "Hatsuseno". Our beloved scanlator makes a slight mistake later when he romanizes "Musashino" as "Masashino", a mistake he acknowledged on his old forums (now gone, sadly).
At the end of the chapter, we finally get it spelled out for us: "Owner" is not just the owner of the Cafe, but also the owner of Alpha the robot-person and his name is "Has'seno".
We've already seen how Alpha feels about him in her careful preservation of just a casual note that says almost nothing of consequence. So her stunned reaction to an actual package from him/her is quite natural, I think. I find it even more interesting that the cliffhanger that the volume and chapter ends on is just that. Nothing earthshaking at all -- no explosion, no deaths, in fact the one manga convention Ashinano-sensei sticks to is the introduction of a new character (Kokone).
I've written a lot here, but very little happens in this chapter as you can see. It's more about setting up what happens next. Still, each chapter of YKK is a gem and if one takes the time to really examine key panels, Ashinano's artwork is quite amazing. One can also see the pains he took with Kokone, wanting to get her look just right.
Posted by Jiji | 01-20-09, 8:32 PM | 1 comments