The End Of An Era
I've been saving up a few things to comment on, and now seems the best time to get them written down.
First, and very definitely foremost:
Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou
After almost twelve years and fourteen volumes, this delightful manga series has finally come to and end with the publication of this month's installment (scanlation available from Cafe Alpha).
Ever since Erica and seangaffney got me into this series about a year and a half ago I've been raving about it on and off. I see no reason to stop now.
For those who've just tuned in:
At some point in the past a great disaster has befallen the Earth, causing the sea level to rise by about thirty metres. Human civilisation and the human race are slowly, peacefully dying out. The story is told from the point of view of Alpha, a robot whose owner has just departed on a long journey, leaving her in charge of a small coffee shop near the sea. Alpha is young, but effectively ageless, so she's content to wait for as long as it may take for him to return (by the end of the story it's been at least twenty years, possibly much longer). The story begins (and ends) with Alpha taking a trip to the city of Yokohama on her scooter to buy some coffee beans; it's told from her point of view, and follows her as she learns about the people and the world around her.
It's very hard to describe precisely what makes this such a wonderful story - at first glance (and as I've repeatedly said previously) it really seems that there's very little by way of a plot and almost no action to speak of (damerell would at this point describe this as being typical of my tastes...). Of course, to describe it that way is to entirely miss the point - a great many things do happen, but they're just not the kind of things to which one might ever normally pay attention.
Perhaps what makes it so effective is that it's an almost uniquely delicate use of the medium. There are no world-destroying threats; no robot superweapons; no screaming angst or heart-rending affairs. Entire chapters pass with little or no text at all, and still each one manages to be beautiful and powerfully affecting. To make the everyday seem magical is, to my mind, a mark of great storytelling.
I don't want to spoil the ending here, but suffice to say that at least a few of the more important questions are finally answered, while enough is left open to leave the fans debating for a long time. By the last page it's hard for anyone not to leave with a smile on their face and a tear in their eye.
I'll very much miss being able to look forward to new chapters of this series from now on. A huge "thank you" to the translators, and to Erica and Sean for sucking me into the fandom in the first place.
(If there's any interest among my friends list I may post a torrent privately later - there's about 230MB in total.)
Also ending recently:
Aria: The Animation
After something of a delay, the final episode of this series has been subtitled. My only real criticism of this series in the transition from the manga has been that the anime has tended to overplay many of the emotional moments of the stories, leaving it feeling almost dangerously saccharine - this is very definitely the case with this last episode as well. That said, whilst this problem tends to make me prefer the original manga, it's still a lovely episode and a thoroughly enjoyable series. I'm very glad to note that a second season, apparently to be called Aria: The Natural, is scheduled to begin in the not-too-distant future.
Oh, and on a related note, it looks like the scanlation of the manga is still continuing from where ADV left off. (In this chapter, the cats of Neo Venezia are once again playing with Akari's poor little mind. You'd think she'd learn...)
And in other anime-related news, it seems that a new group have decided to pick up subtitling the delightful Windy Tales where the previous translators stalled... just in time for the original group to release episode seven as well.
Oh, and there's more Kamichu at long last as well.
A veritable embarrassment of riches.
First, and very definitely foremost:
Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou
After almost twelve years and fourteen volumes, this delightful manga series has finally come to and end with the publication of this month's installment (scanlation available from Cafe Alpha).
Ever since Erica and seangaffney got me into this series about a year and a half ago I've been raving about it on and off. I see no reason to stop now.
For those who've just tuned in:
At some point in the past a great disaster has befallen the Earth, causing the sea level to rise by about thirty metres. Human civilisation and the human race are slowly, peacefully dying out. The story is told from the point of view of Alpha, a robot whose owner has just departed on a long journey, leaving her in charge of a small coffee shop near the sea. Alpha is young, but effectively ageless, so she's content to wait for as long as it may take for him to return (by the end of the story it's been at least twenty years, possibly much longer). The story begins (and ends) with Alpha taking a trip to the city of Yokohama on her scooter to buy some coffee beans; it's told from her point of view, and follows her as she learns about the people and the world around her.
It's very hard to describe precisely what makes this such a wonderful story - at first glance (and as I've repeatedly said previously) it really seems that there's very little by way of a plot and almost no action to speak of (damerell would at this point describe this as being typical of my tastes...). Of course, to describe it that way is to entirely miss the point - a great many things do happen, but they're just not the kind of things to which one might ever normally pay attention.
Perhaps what makes it so effective is that it's an almost uniquely delicate use of the medium. There are no world-destroying threats; no robot superweapons; no screaming angst or heart-rending affairs. Entire chapters pass with little or no text at all, and still each one manages to be beautiful and powerfully affecting. To make the everyday seem magical is, to my mind, a mark of great storytelling.
I don't want to spoil the ending here, but suffice to say that at least a few of the more important questions are finally answered, while enough is left open to leave the fans debating for a long time. By the last page it's hard for anyone not to leave with a smile on their face and a tear in their eye.
I'll very much miss being able to look forward to new chapters of this series from now on. A huge "thank you" to the translators, and to Erica and Sean for sucking me into the fandom in the first place.
(If there's any interest among my friends list I may post a torrent privately later - there's about 230MB in total.)
Also ending recently:
Aria: The Animation
After something of a delay, the final episode of this series has been subtitled. My only real criticism of this series in the transition from the manga has been that the anime has tended to overplay many of the emotional moments of the stories, leaving it feeling almost dangerously saccharine - this is very definitely the case with this last episode as well. That said, whilst this problem tends to make me prefer the original manga, it's still a lovely episode and a thoroughly enjoyable series. I'm very glad to note that a second season, apparently to be called Aria: The Natural, is scheduled to begin in the not-too-distant future.
Oh, and on a related note, it looks like the scanlation of the manga is still continuing from where ADV left off. (In this chapter, the cats of Neo Venezia are once again playing with Akari's poor little mind. You'd think she'd learn...)
And in other anime-related news, it seems that a new group have decided to pick up subtitling the delightful Windy Tales where the previous translators stalled... just in time for the original group to release episode seven as well.
Oh, and there's more Kamichu at long last as well.
A veritable embarrassment of riches.