YKK is a bittersweet, mundane, slice of life story of an Ai robo. It's mostly beautiful and laid-back, and shows us the daily activities of our adorable protagonist, emphasizing the passing of time. The bittersweet part of the story is being told subtly and hits harder when you understand the whole world around her (alpha, the protagonist) is crumbling and slowly dying. It not explicitly told or shown instead we see people living their lives as usual, doing everyday things like they do normally. Alpha being a robot eventually understands in one of the later chapters how the people around her, people who she cares about are growing up, leaving so fast and how everything changes while she stays the same. It's very mundane and cozy yet makes you feel so empty and lonely for her. Remarkable writing. There are lot of things that ended unanswered and it was done intentionally. Some of these things are metaphors so it mostly depends on the interpretation of the reader on how they interpret it.

... Last updated on September 18th, 2022, 3:03am

A future world presented as if written by someone of that time. Someone that has the same limited understanding of the world around them as many have of the world around them today. But also, someone who does not need to explain what are the basic facts of life for them - the sea level is rising, everyone knows that; Mt Fuji has changed shape; the human population has collapsed. Why would they explain any of that? If you wrote a story set today, would/could you explain why chicken meat is so cheap or the history of air travel just because the central character flies somewhere and has an on-board meal?

Out of that central approach comes the general air of mystery, but there are a lot of clues scattered throughout and much of the background can be pieced together - the Misago, the robots, the lamps, and the strange mushrooms. They're all linked and linked likewise to how the robots were made and "programmed". Even Alpha's long-lost Owner seems to have been involved in the creation of the new society we see develop out of the ruins of humanity, while in the sky perhaps the original Alpha waits for the last human to disappear before she can risk treading amongst the memories they leave behind.

Far from being proof that "Slice of Life and Sci-fi just don't mix well together" it is a masterful blending of the two into an epic visual and prose poem about literal, if gentle, alienation and how so much of our frenetic human nature is bound up in the fact that we do not live very long and need to reproduce or otherwise create new things in order to achieve the sort of immortality that Alpha and "her" siblings were born with.

Who was Alphas owner, and why was he never shown? what even happened to him? he wrote 2 cards to Alpha with some gifts, then kind of died, did they ever meet again? well of course not, he probably is already dead like half the cast by the moment the series end.

Why give her a pistol that was never used? the world is extremely peaceful and there was never any danger whatsoever, other than the weather.

What/who was the Misago? we know she is not a robot because we were told she existed for years before the times of the robots, but what is she!? even more what was her role in the story? what was the point of having her there, as a character, she just randomly appears to kids, and eats some fish here and there... and no she was not the one mentioned by Sensei, because Monitor Alpha also likes to go around naked every now and then.

What are the water gods/ mushroom people? and why can't they be touched? why do they have human faces?

What were the mushroom buildings?

Who was Ayase's boss? what is their role other than taking care of the kamas? they are explorers but Ayase never makes any progress, hell Alpha had as much succes as him while doing her own adventure, really Ayase's character was the best vessel to explain the world, and yet nothing happened.

Will Monitor Alpha ever reunite with her sisters?

Why was Nai the only male robot? Hell did Nai even manage to keep living?

Did Alpha and Kokone took Gramps offer to move into the gas station after his dead in order to avoid the rising sea? and if not, how come her house was the only one unfazed by the rising sea?

Did the Owner of the Tea shop ever confess to Kokone? i guess this one doesn't matter much since she ended living with Alpha, talking about relationships, did Kokone's friend got back with her boyfriend?

And finally Maruko ends working at the shop were Alpha buys her coffee, but i feel this could have been expanded further, she could have gone with Alpha and Kokone too, this makes it feel like it god axed, that last bonus chapter could have at least shown us the house one last time, so why didn't the author?


Really now i loved the manga, it is a great slice of life, but i just hate it that the author mixed Sci-Fi on it, and then never explained or explored the world it made, i am not giving it less because at least he had the decency of dedicating 3 chapters with Sensei explaining part of how the A7 series was created.

I am just really conflicted with this series, and once again i am convinced that Slice of Life and Sci-fi just don't mix well together.

... Last updated on January 28th, 2018, 3:53am

It's not really an extraordinary manga, but that's pretty much its selling point. It's the epitome of "average" or something like that, it's not bad but it's not really that good either. It's for people who likes nostalgia and slow reads, a manga that makes you get a kind of special feeling that is pretty warm but not that much, it's absolutely not funny. It's kind of like a diary, yet it's not at the same time. It feels real, unlike many other manga, but it lacks a lot in zest.

It's not something you're likely to dislike, but I doubt it will be a favorite manga either. People are always exaggerating ratings, especially when a manga leaves such heavy feelings behind. For me, it's not my cup of tea at all, I read manga and other stuff to get away from "real life" to some extent with surreal or fantasy situations, to get some laughs or get absorbed into an extraordinary story that I can't stop reading and that keeps me happy. Even slice of life tends to offer that. This didn't, at all. If one runs out of other things to read, this might be a good thing to fill some time with, but not much more than that, and you shouldn't read all of it in one go, better to read a chapter now and then if you want to.

Well, give it a try. One or two chapters is all it should take to get a taste and feeling of how the novel will play out and what mood it brings you. For me, it was something like looking out over a sea of trees in the middle of summer when everythings green and the birds are chirping, or listening to the gentle waves of the sea while slowly fishing. It's a nice and peaceful feeling for sure, but it's not what I read manga/novels for.

I'll just quote myself from a full review I wrote on the series, "Quiet, beautiful, smart, mysterious, cute, somber, meticulously paced, full of surprises, and yet almost always relaxed; Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou is, in fact, probably the greatest manga ever made." Maybe you've heard people praise it before, well, they were in the right. I finally gave the series a read and unsurprisingly I loved it. I wouldn't call it a must-read, though! The premise is about the "end" of humanity, and so there's a lot of sadness to be had. If you aren't in the mood to be sad, steer clear.

Full review:
https://terrenceswiff.wordpress.com/2016/10/14/yokohama-kaidashi-kikou-ykk/

Story
the story follows a female robot Alpha and her everyday life at café alpha. nothing happens, the people around her age, she doesn’t, she meats other robots… too boring and slow paced.

Art
extraordinary. I always took seinen as type of manga with best art. the pages were like pictures. although it might be, there were mostly like 1-2 panels on a page. you always see more scenery than anything else.

Characters
not developed, just aged, I liked takahiro.

Enjoyment
hmm, not really, but it wasn’t bad either. not to read in one go, more when you are relaxing and want to read something easy, I would read a volume or two. the volumes were extremely quick to read (almost no dialogue).

there isn't much I can say about the manga because there just isn't anything. But it was good.

It's my first comment here.
My heart warms up when I remember this manga. It's my favorite, and very probably I'll have it with myself for my whole life.
I fell in love completly with mono no aware after reading this one, I just love the sensation.
Since it's the dawn of humanity, it has this melancholy feel. Which is very good, and it feels as good as dark coffee. Your mood is essential to read this one, because the pace is slow and everything. But it's just too human, you must read. But don't rush your read or you'll not enjoy it.



I just could feel things in a different way, this bitter happiness.

reading all these positive reviews with such high rating, i cannot help but have high expectation of this manga. i am let down heavily. i think the very essence that make this manga so beloved by the others cannot resonate with me. as others had said, this is a very laidback and slow manga, with no real plot, no friction no danger no excitement, just pages after pages of alpha having a quite but enjoyable time to herself. i am unable to feel the joy that she felt being with other similarly serene characters thus this manga can be quite a chore to me.

should you read this? well, my view seems to be a minority compared to others so you should try this to see what is your feeling to this. however i do recommend you to read this sparingly, picking this up whenever you feel a little let down or unsettled to bring back calm to your life. i read this in one go thus the press of time may not be felt by me. and this manga is the best with the flow of time lulling you to sleep.

To be honest, I found this pretty boring at first, and I was really bothered by the fact that the protagonist is supposedly a robot, but didn't seem anywhere like one (there is a difference between a robot who seems so human that you forget that she's a robot at all, and a character that never seemed like a robot in the first place).

But somewhere along the line, without knowing when exactly, the characters grow on you. Before I knew it I was tearing up at the inexorable passage of time, and feeling sad as the series neared its conclusion, as though I had just seen a whole life pass me by. It is a feeling of heartbreak, and yet life moves on, beautiful and peaceful as ever.

... Last updated on September 30th, 2013, 4:46am

I have read manga for 20 years and about 10 years ago I got my hands of this manga series. It completely change my entire perspective on what I seek today when I read. The very simplistic theme and nature of the art and story is something that I to this day have not found anywhere else. And while simplistic it gave me a very profound nostalgic and wistful feeling which I can not entirely explain. It is in my opinion one of the great manga works of my generation and arguably the finest slice of life story to have ever been told.