Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou

Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou covers a few days in the life of an android named "Alpha". This short, OVA series doesn't really have a story, but covers several minuscule events of Alpha's life. The main focus isn't that, however, but Alpha's mental state the viewers watch to witness how she appreciates her existence and the world around her. This OVA shouldn't be picked out for a viewing if one's intentions isn't to watch something relaxing, as that's clearly the main goal of what's presented in this visual piece from the manga.

The visuals for Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou are wonderful and done with a great deal of care, ... having precision colors and hues throughout the two episodes. There's a good amount of really solid animation and the detail of the art is kept at a consistently high level all the way through. The color scheme varies drastically, having sent out a rainbow of colors by the time it's all over.

The sound of this OVA is phenomenal. While there isn't much music in place, the sound effects offer a consistently amazing atmosphere that, added alongside with the wonderful visuals, is what brings out the main goal of this mini-series. The audio and sound creates a calm and soothing environment, and it may even bring out nostalgic feelings from being at vacation beach homes or the like. The opening and ending are also very soothing, but might not be extremely memorable in the long run. In the basic budget category Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou was already doing great, but with the direction in place, the potential of this budget peaks to the maximum.

The manga not being relevant to this enclosed review, this OVA series doesn't really display much detail or background information of its characters and setting. It could be that the story takes place in a post-apocalyptic setting, as there are many shots of a grand city submerged underneath water, or there could've just been a natural disaster that took place. Either way, the sensation when looking upon the submerged city always seems to collide with the calmness and peacefulness of the main character's gaze. That isn't a negative, as it just displays the emotional directing taking place that is done extraordinarily well. I would almost recommend Neon Genesis Evangelion to those who like this specific OVA as the direction in both series are very similar, suddenly not being surprising when taking note that the art director of Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou just so happens to be the same person who worked on all of the Evangelion franchise. There's also some similar symbolism to Evangelion, which could likely not be symbolism to be honest. The lens on Alpha's camera along with the emotion of the submerged city just creates the impression of a message attempting to be sent.

The characters aren't really developed in their details, but they are all interesting and pleasureful to watch. The main character, in particular, is still not given much of a detailed background, but the moments the OVA places her pondering the world around her makes the audience feel as though they form a connection to what she's like. Alpha, along with the several other characters, all share the trait of being innocent and living in an innocent habitat. The characters ice the cake of the relaxation this series creates as it shows a slice-of-life presentation of these character's lives.

While this show seems to clearly have a goal from how it was carried out, and in that goal it marks off the charts, there are still elements lacking to evolve Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou into a fully-fledged experience. I don't doubt that the manga meets some of those aspects that would put it above this animated section of it, but what's being presented and critiqued here is something that doesn't feel whole. That's in no way required to be able to enjoy something and be satisfied, but I don't see having a more detailed experience creating any new negatives.

When in the mood to feel relaxed, maybe before going to sleep, Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou shouldn't be an option to pass up. With its superb visual style and sound effects, the OVA series is able to mold a consistently calm and charming atmosphere. The characters also help in that process by living out their roles in utter peace and euphoria. Dialogue is kept to a minimum and the majority of emotion is sent out by dynamic, visual cues from characters and in the show's environment. That wonderful direction, done by the man who worked on all of the Evangelion franchise's art direction, carries the show. That might be enough for many people, but that might also not be enough for many others. Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou is an experience, and a good one, but it's lacking in story elements, world-building, and character information. The show simply focuses on its atmosphere and tuning it to perfection. Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou is not for everyone and for one to truly enjoy it they must know what kind of show this is before diving in.

Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou is a "story" about Alpha, a robot, whose owner went away on a trip and hasn´t returned.
Alpha runs a coffee shop, that never has customers.
The story takes place in an era post-war, in which low technology is side by side with a robot that cries, feels and has non-typical robot behavior.
Alpha receives as a present from her owner a camera, to register her most dear memories.

Story:
Mediocre...Alpha is a robot that feels, cries, drinks coffee and lots of stuff that robots don´t do, she even has weak memory (?!).
The two OAVs (first part of the series) show her routines, some chit ... chats with her "friends" and lots of scenario, landscape...

Art:
The artwork is beautiful, even though these OAVs are from the 90´s. The clouds, birds, trees, sea and everything are really well made.

Sound:
Some background music that doesn´t get along with the images...
There isn´t much work for the seiyuu, because there is almost no dialogues.

Character:
I didn´t catch very well the concept for this OAVs...not much development, only some images and tedious scenes.

Enjoyment:
While watching this series I almost fell asleep twice. The background music all the time, and the lack of dialogues made me feel very sleepy.
In some parts of the first OAV I was having fun and in the second OAV, only one part was "watchable".

Overall:
5/10- Mediocre...but if you really suffer from insomnia you´ll watch this in no time. I wish it was better developed, it could be a very interesting title...

I hate to be that person, I really do, but the manga is better. Infinitely better. It’s hard for me to say this, because I really wanted to like the adaptation, but the manga just does everything the anime does without any of the problems the anime has. I’ll concede that most of my issues with it probably contain some bias, and that some issues might come off as nitpicks, but it nonetheless stands that they are problems not present in the original.

I suppose to start with a nitpick, I want to mention the starting song. I don’t like it (I did say nitpicks). ... Well, that’s not entirely true, because I don’t actually dislike the song itself. My main question is why this song. I guess I’m just confused as to what mood the song is supposed to establish. It has this reggae/surf vibe to it that while fitting with the relaxed atmosphere of the show, sort of clashes with everything else about the show. It could be used as a sort of adventurous track (maybe), but there really isn’t a need for that in the material they adapted. Additionally, the manga never had that atmosphere in the first place, so the song is completely out of place.

A bigger problem is our main character Alpha. She is not the same character as she is in the manga. In the manga she has this childish side to her; a slight silliness and clear social awkwardness resulting from years of isolation, but this part of her character really isn’t present in the adaptation. She definitely has a slightly awkward side to her, but it isn’t enough to support some of her reactions or dialogue that were originally a result of her somewhat childish nature. The results of excluding this part of her character are some awkward and unfitting dialogue and a character that feels a bit bland, if not somewhat shallow.

On a more personal note, the anime isn’t really as scenic as the manga is. I don’t really want to fault the show for that, though. It’s hard to match the beautiful and intricate line work of the manga, but overall I was never really left in awe of a visual like I was in the manga. Similarly, I never got quite the same emotional feeling from the anime. The atmosphere wasn’t the same. I don’t know if it’s because of the beginning song, or that it’s not black and white, or perhaps just the specific chapters adapted never had that feeling, but the manga always had this melancholic or nostalgic mood. Where if you weren’t already feeling somewhat introspective, it would make you feel that way. There was also always this slight emptiness to the world, even during scenes with character interaction. But none of this ever felt as present in the anime. They did try, with lots of wide scenic shots that were clearly trying to imitate what’s present in the manga, but it never felt the same to me. Like I said, these are more personal points, and are most definitely not going to be the same for every viewer, but they definitely affected my score and perception of the anime.

I also just don’t understand why YKK was adapted in the way it was. Minor spoilers ahead, if you hadn’t read or watched it already. Ok, so the first episode is based around Alpha and Kokone. A little weird, considering that Kokone is introduced in chapter seven, but still fine. And this makes you think that Kokone is going to be important for the rest of the adaptation, but she’s not. She is important in the manga, but not in what season one adapts. Additionally, episode two follows completely different characters that would’ve been better off introduced in episode one as there’s events and dialogue in episode two that are clearly supposed to be emotional, yet have no effect since we have hardly even seen them on screen, let alone having meaningful interactions. The only connecting point between episodes one and two is the camera Kokone delivers to Alpha, but that could easily be explained by just showing the camera as an object in Alpha’s house in episode one and Kokone would no longer be needed to deliver the camera. With Kokone not delivering the camera, and it no longer being an object of significance, episode one could be spent introducing the characters and relationships that would be important in episode two. The choice to make YKK only two episodes was idiotic in the first place, but then to not make every second of those two episodes count is just odd. I’ll give props that the scenes are well adapted and meaningful, but that doesn’t really make up for these failures that clearly come from not having enough runtime to accomplish everything they wanted to accomplish and not being able to decide which content to include. Either that or YKK was adapted with the thought that Alpha was the only character that mattered and all the others were just unimportant side characters; but not only does this seem unlikely, it would be even more baffling than the first conclusion.

With that aside, I don’t actually think this is bad (I still gave it a 7 after all). Aside from comparisons to the manga, there’s plenty I appreciate from the adaptation: the art (which is still pretty even if I don’t feel it's as impactful), the sparing (if not nonexistent) use of background music, the character design, the color palette, the fact that it’s actually a well made product (other than some animation bumps). This is not a bad adaptation or a bad show. I just think it could have been better and to be perfectly honest, I don’t think there’s much value in choosing to watch this over just reading the manga. And I guess that’s my point. Just read the manga. You’ll be left with a much more worthwhile experience.

Thanks for Reading.

I was trying to watch some "Seinen" type anime, but I saw something like...Josei? I don't know, maybe one day I will know that, heh.
Sound? There is almost no sound.
Story very boring.
Drawing isn't bad.
Character is the same as story, because that anime is very close with normal life of main character.

The protagonist is a green-haired, always-genial, and scarcely ingenuous gynoid-denominated Alpha who runs a coffee shop while waiting for her owner to return. She infrequently gets customers at the start of the OVA, but everyone who meets her relishes her due to her outgoing and cordial personality. She’s simply a nice person, without any malevolence at all.

As far as my enjoyment goes, there are a few ways to describe the atmosphere: serene, bittersweet, nostalgic, poetic, explorative, joyous, even inscrutable. There are only two major events and these are weather-cognate. The rest of the time it’s the minuscule moments that are in the spotlight, much ... homogeneous to a diary or an impressionistic painting. The inclusion of a camera, specially designed for robots, that avails Alpha to relive the moments she shoots, contributes to the immersion of the viewer in the mundane and underlines the feelings engendered from the passage of time.

The reputation is well-deserved and should be viewed if the time is available. I can recommend taking a cup of coffee and sit back and enjoy because this experience will be relaxing.

The manga Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou (YKK) is a masterpiece, that manages to portray an interesting and beautiful world and realistic human-like characters through simple everyday stories. To put it briefly, it's slice of life done right.

This OVA features a few early stories from the manga.
On it's own, it doesn't offer a good introduction to YKK as a whole. It leaves a lot of stuff out, that is crucial to understanding YKKs world and characters.
That's why I think of the OVA more as some sort of fan content for people that already finished the manga and want to see some of its chapters in animated ... form.
Does it fullfill that purpose well?

Not nessecarily.

The adaptation is generally very faithfull in terms of its story.
However, even if you know YKK's world and characters, the OVA still has to convince you that what it depicts is the same and not some shallow copy of the original. Without a lot of context surrounding the animated stories, this is made a bit harder. There are also many few tiny details, that can seem out of place.
That's because the manga purposfully left a lot of things ambiguous in its presentation, but the anime can't do that (fluid animation). This way you will find out, that some new details have been added, and some other ones might be interpreted differently than you did while reading the manga.
The animation is generally done well, it does look somewhat dated and sometimes the coloring can seem a bit off, but otherwise there's nothing to complain.
The sound and voiceacting however are in my eyes another bigger problem. Some of the voiceactors are a bit ill fitted and especially the voiceacting of the main character Alpha took a bit to get used to. The music is very relaxing and even somewhat upbeat. This is great for some scenes, but YKK is not just a happy slice of life piece, it is also a melancholic story about a world nearing it's end. And I really wish, that some of YKK's more melancholic elements would have been represented by its soundtrack.

Overall, the OVA was mostly a relaxing and happy slice of life piece, but not a lot more. But YKK is a lot more than just that. In the manga, the slice of life often feels more like a way to convey something interesting and important about it's world and characters. And the OVA mostly fails at that.

However it is to be said, that adapting YKK into an equally great anime is very difficult, if not impossible. YKK really uses the strengths of manga to its fullest extend. It conveys a sort of calmness, melancholy and mystery that can't be done the same way with fluid animation.

I can't really recommend this OVA, but it's also not so bad that you'll ever regret watching it. It's a nice relaxing slice of life series, just don't expect anything more.