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Description
[From MangaProject]:
This is the story of Alpha Hasseno, an Alpha 7 M2 series robot. Left by her owner, she appears and acts fully human while running a small coffee shop named Cafe Alpha. It is a light-hearted story about the people Alpha comes into contact with behind the backdrop of a futuristic country-side in Japan. As we meet Alpha, she makes a shopping trip to Yokohama.
The prologue chapter of Yokohama Kaidashi Kikō won Afternoon magazine's Four Seasons Award for debut works, and series won the 2007 Seiun Award for Best Manga.
Why do I think I know this manga is something that rare? Look how many people have loved it, and yet how often they can't say exactly why.
That is the mark of a masterpiece in any narrative art: There is something mysterious about the story that transcends the usual genre, tropes, and story-forms of that art. Or perhaps another way of saying this is that the author has managed to touch some universal need or essence within us that we didn't even know we had.
I like manga a lot, even though I'm a relic of the era of print-only literature. For that reason I never thought I would ever find in manga anything to equal or even approach novels like "War and Peace", "Call It Sleep", "The Stars My Destination", "The Lord of the Rings", or the groundbreaking early English slice-of-life novel "Tristram Shandy".
I'm thrilled to have been proven wrong by Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou.
When I first stumbled upon this, I couldn't help but being amazed by the author's imaginative future.... It was made in 1994! Wow! And I was oblivious about stuff like global warming and the polar's ice being melt until year 2000 or so (by then, I was still in grade school so maybe it couldn't be helped...but...oh, well). How could he had known?! Japanese sure are fearsome fellows....
I love stories with children, especially seeing them grow up, so the contrast between takahiro and Alpha was achingly bittersweet for me.
At the beginning of the series I found It was a very care free story about every day life in this strange world in the perspective of a very human like robot, but as the years passed and Alpha and those around her aged and matured, I found myself oddly sad. It was a wonderful read but left me with an odd feeling when I finished. Not dissatisfaction exactly but I just really wish i could have seen more of the world as Alpha grew.
it really is a wonderful series, and odd things will really move you, scenes, little phrases,
I loved reading this! It was so calm and peaceful. While reading this, I was able to let go of my stress and sink into the story of Alpha's life. I really enjoyed the art work, and the story provoked feelings of nostalgia within me. It may not be everyone's cup of tea, but it was certainly mine. It also had a nice end, which I appreciate. I certainly recommend it!
World at the evening. For me, that's the background world in this manga. Calm. IMO, that's the most-describing word for this manga. IMO, the background for this manga is kinda scary. World that will end, just a few people left... But the plot and story itself is hearwarming, and the artwork is soothing.
Well, though there are heartwrenching scene at this manga, IMO it's
Spoiler (mouse over to view)
When Takahiro would go to the city, where Alpha said something like "It's so fast". She meant the time. It's kind of heart-wrenching for me, because the time of the people around her is moving, while her time won't. She will, always, see people goes... Actually I want to see her ended up with Takahiro, but the author goes real, and... I'm kinda disappointed, but IMO, it's ended like that is not a bad thing :)
Ahh. With the right music and the right setting, reading this series is like being free. Don't read it too fast, but keep the pages turning fast enough to be swallowed up into Alpha's world. Extraordinary penmanship and direction, the author knows how to use every aspect of the general concept of manga without using too much dialogue. Because with too much dialogue the reader can get confused, but without enough the reader wouldn't know what to make of it.
Not a trace of Malice or Vengeance or anything else you'd expect a premise to have in order to make top rank (e.g Berserk or Monster). But it just goes to show that a series can go nowhere but still have a desired destination. And after all, it just seems blissful.
I believe this is as good a slice of life manga will ever get. It is the ultimate slice of life : it is slow, there is nearly no plot, but the author manages to make a story that would usually seem dull exceptionally beautiful and enchanting. (I could sum up the plot in like 3 lines for the wwhole 140 chapters). All the characters rae good, they go about there lives and stop sometimes at cafe Alpha where you can take a break.
My favourite character is Kokone, but there is none you can dislike. Even if they can have weird faces.
Anyway, the main point is : you like slice of life mangas, read this one, it is a must. If you can't stand them stay veeeeeeery far away. There is absolutely nothing for you here.
This manga is about a positive take on an Post-Apocalyptic world in ever sense. While a Apocalypse might have come people are still alive, the world is still green, and nature is alive. The series follows the bio-android (though it never calls her kind that, just "robot") Alpha as she watches over the Cafe her owner left her before going on a trip.
It might be slow paces but the story is rich, the world detailed. And despite other calling it the twilight of mankind the cities that exist are rich with people, children and life. As the twilight end, a new dawn begins.
There might not be as many of us as the once was but people are still alive, still having children, but going back to a more villiage sytle (be it with technology) life. We've just returned to a smaller population, with a style of life the world can sustain, leaving much of the world to return to Nature.
The story may be slow-paced, but you get a true feel for the characters and setting. Some things, like the mushrooms and the chunk missing out of Fuji-san, are never truly explained but for this story that's just OK (Robert Heinlein once said that over-explaining can ruin a story). This manga is sort of like postcards from the future, showing the pace of life and little else but does not suffer for it.
The twelve years it took to complete the story clearly show themselves in the quality of the plot. Twists are few, but when they do happen they always give a feeling of immersion in exactly the right amounts. To me, this is the first time I've come across a good Slice Of Life story, that stays interesting for more than 10 chapters. That said, I read this in one sitting, so I never really got distracted, like those who might have read this over the course of a decade.
This work easily deserves a 10 out of 10 for the depth behind the plot, the very well done implementation of the small things in your everyday life, without getting boring, ever. The view the author gives us of this post-apocalyptic world is narrow, yet amazingly wide and bright behind the scenes. I think you can really call the mood magical, even if this story is at maximum slightly mystical. A masterpiece of a quality you will only rarely come across. When reading, remember that this was meant to be a Slice Of Life manga, so you won't feel the tension so common to mainstream manga. If you however can appreciate the calmness and bittersweet contentedness/satisfction a good Slice-Of-Life spreads, you'll never forget this reading experience.
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