I had actually finished Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou about a week ago, but alas could not make a post about it until now due to lack of internet and whatnot. Much like with Summer Wars, I am going to make the kind of statement about Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou which if stripped of its context is going to make the show sound really bad: why was this anime even made?
this is really all you need to know about this series. seriously. just stare at it for as many hours as you think it will take for the ahh-ness of things to set in
Normally, that statement is the lead-in to trashing some poorly-made schlock and lamenting about all the time, energy, and effort that was wasted there when it would have obviously been used elsewhere to create some masterpiece. With YKK, it’s more to do with the fact that the anime medium provides very little added value over the manga. Even the most basic aspects of the medium of anime that are part of the appeal of watching it rather than reading the manga don’t really exist in YKK. And again, this is not meant as a condemnation of a shoddy adaptation.
Instead, this is because Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou is so mono no aware and so iyashi-kei that there really is nothing to voice or animate. There is just so little dialogue or narration, period. Then again, considering that the setting is a post-apocalyptic Japan, it’s kind of obvious that there really isn’t anyone around most of the time for Alpha to ever be able to talk to. Similarly, the “plot”—and I use that term loosely—of the series is Alpha waiting around wondering if her owner is going to come back to his cafe that she is currently managing. There’s little animation not because of cost-cutting measures that have characters speaking with their backs to the audience, but because there simply isn’t anything to animate if Alpha is just standing at the counter.
There is one crucial difference, however: time. With the manga, Alpha sits there for as long as you’d like her to until you turn the page. The manga consists heavily of one and two page spreads, so there often isn’t paneling set up to keep your eyes constantly moving across the pages. Similarly, there is little to no dialogue driving along a plot.
However, in anime everything needs to have a fixed duration. This had an interesting effect as I watched the show where sometimes my sense of timing was not really the same as the show’s, and I would take in my fill of the ahh-ness of a scene and almost unconsciously turn away from the screen and pay attention to something else until I almost as unconsciously came back to the screen.
But at least I didn’t fall asleep like I did when I tried to watch Mushishi.
aww, that is unfortunate to hear – I think Mushishi is a great anime and manga. While it may not be pack with actions, the storyline itself is so intriguing that it’s more than enough to carry itself. You should give it another chance : )
whole-heartedly agree with this post.
i tried mushishi and realized there’s no way i can watch that show unless i sync with its timing. but at least that anime actually adds to the manga in the usual ways anime do such a thing.
YKK and Mushishi both have brilliant anime adaptations. But that’s just like, my opinion, man, so yeah…
The music is nice, particularly in the scene after the storm in Quiet Country Cafe.
You got a point about the ‘why’. For me, the pleasures of the anime (along with its frustrations) are hearing good voice actors (especialy for, um, Ojisan) and the joys of Choro Club. But when I found the manga I learned the true pace of postapocalyptic rural life..
oh, hey, look, a hawk…
basically this, but the fact that it sets time for you actually made it easier for me than reading the manga, because I don’t tend to get sucked into the individual images so much in a manga, unless I’m on the re-read. Too worried about what comes next. Also worth watching just to see Alpha making out with that chick in action.
What’s that sound? It’s the sound of people rushing to justify in the comments here why they liked the anime. It sounds terrible.
Owen: The anime is pure fanservice for people who like the manga. If you don’t like the manga, are you going to like the anime? Doubtful. But if you do like the manga, it’s solid stuff. Now if you haven’t even read the manga yet, judging a book by it’s cover is :v.
But yeah, it definitely is a show where you have to get into it’s pace rather than it trying to fit yours. It can be disorienting.
The manga is what it is. No real complaints here.
I have to admit that, even though I dearly love the sublime YKK manga, I never really manage to find time for the anime, even though it’s only two OAVs of two episodes each.
Mushishi, on the other hand, is quite good — though I think the main thing animation brings with it is music.
jaypee: You don’t like what is, at least it seems to me, MOTHERFUCKING POST-APOCALYPTIC ARIA?
And on a related note, do you even like Aria?
Owen: What’s that sound? IT’S THE SOUND OF YOU BEATING OFF TO YOUR OWN RETARDED ELITISM.
you mad, drmchsr89027680642680
You know what it feels kind of like? When people upload manga scans onto Youtube, where it’s jarring because you can’t really read it in the way that you want to read it.
Owen: My bad, it’s just another pathetic troll who has done nothing to contribute to the conversation. And is fapping so loud no one can even have a gconersation.
jaypee: I don’t know about that, but yeah, I guess I understand where you’re coming from.
After having read the manga, I agree that the anime doesn’t add anything to it. But, I’d never heard of the manga until I saw the anime, so I say that at least the anime does the job of leading people to the manga.