Like with a lot of manga, YKK had the effect of reminding me how much cultural understanding I’m missing when I come at Japanese work for Japanese audiences. Like she’s a robot: ok, but what’s robotty about her? Not much, except she gets slightly different burn treatment, and, as Noah mentioned, fairly mild food allergies. What does it mean to her, or her friends, that she’s a robot? Not much, so far. She doesn’t look or act different, except for maybe more innocent (but you don’t get a frame of reference for how innocent non-robot postapocalyptic women are, so maybe not). Issues I’d expect, like technology or parts for her maintenance being wiped out, or her not aging in comparison to humans, also don’t emerge and there’s no reason to expect they will.
Why is she a robot? I imagine her robotitude means something to Japanese people that it doesn’t mean to me. It reminds me of P. W. Singer who wrote a book about military robotic weapons, who was on the Daily Show and Terry Gross recently. He used a lot of science-fiction canon metaphors, and I believe he mentioned in both interviews that American sci-fi robots are often implacable monsters while Japanese sci-fi robots tend to be lovable heroes. Maybe it is the Buddhist thing of non-humancentricity, that robots are humans without the destructive ego or dark Freudian drives?
Getting into Buddhist mind was the only way I could begin to appreciate the work, and I felt like I should have a few hours with every page. The art really is that beautiful. And even when it’s a portrait shot of characters, it reads like a landscape. This fits in with the idealization of passivity that is the strongest thing in the book. The characters are at their most beautiful when they’re not acting, or even interacting, but just being. When Alpha enfolds Takahiro to herself at the New Year ceremony, I thought for a second, what does it mean? Is this in or out of the bounds of their relationship? Is he attracted to her? Is she attracted to him? And then I saw the sculpture, the rock formation that their bodies made together, and realized that was the real point.
I’d probably read past the first volume (which was one of our metrics for new manga on the manga roundtable), but I think I’d continue to be impatient, getting in there with my Westernness and my feminism and my meaning-obsessed Jewiness, as often as I could manage to be serene, aware, and grateful like a proper Buddhist.
You have to read to the end to find out why she’s a robot. Basically, over the course of the series, Alpha wathes the people around her grow while staying in a perpetual state of timelessness: The older folk disappear after a while — their deaths are never actually noted — while the younger kids grow up and become adults. In a bonus epilogue not reprinted in the final fourteenth volume, a woman that we saw early on in the series as a pre-adolescent girl is now in her twenties, searching through the hills for Alpha’s shop to have a coffee and pay her a visit. It’s the slow passage of time and her place as an anchor within it — that’s why Alpha’s a robot.
Also, it’s an excuse to see girls kissing.
“Watches,” not “wathes.” Okay, it’s bedtime…
I’m curious, you throw in feminism there at the end. Why?
In one of the earlier posts or comments the idea of Alpha as the manga trope “fantasy girl” came up, but I get the feeling Hitoshi is subverting that trope more than playing to it. When I started reading the series I was worried it would go into the “fantasy girl” arena, but I don’t think it ever does.
The idea of Alpha as some kind of fantasy android/robot is there from the start, but we never see that really go anywhere. As if the idea is just casually ignored, like the apocalypse (or whatever happened to the world of the story).
Following up on Dirk’s comment, the way Hitoshi deals with the aging of characters is rather subtle. Suddenly a story features a former children now grown-up with a children. You have to work your mind around it.
(I really need to reread the series.)
over the course of the series, Alpha wathes the people around her grow while staying in a perpetual state of timelessness … It’s the slow passage of time and her place as an anchor within it — that’s why Alpha’s a robot.
Along those lines, the first chapter has a scene of Alpha biking home and reflecting on how she gets to watch the slow end of humanity — “the passing of this twilit age.” The reason she can: “I have all the time in the world.” Because, though it’s not stated right there, she’s a robot.
DerikB, what happens when a story “goes into the fantasy girl arena”? And how does YKK subvert having a fantasy girl?
I guess I’m reading this to the end now. It’s starting to sound like Je t’aime, je t’aime.
I second the call for feminism & fantasy girl subversion, plz.
“DerikB, what happens when a story “goes into the fantasy girl arena”? And how does YKK subvert having a fantasy girl?”
I guess my point is that in the beginning Alpha is introduced as the robot/android property of some missing owner (male). There are so many potential implications to that.
But the owner remains a mystery, and Alpha just continues on doing her thing. She does not become overly sexualized. I didn’t see her relations with the other characters as being subservient or particular fantasy-like.
This is as opposed to so many other manga series with the girl is the (or supposed to be) the magical sexual object of a protagonist (to whom, one assumes, the reader is supposed to identify).
It’s almost like Alpha is the fantasy girl after the story ends. After the boy/man protagonist has been removed (by that unnamed event).
dirk, that's interesting! but i don't need no stinking robots in order to kiss girls, myself.
derik, it's basically what noah said in his follow-up post. the hyper-innocence, hyper-cheeriness, the fact that her purpose seems to be to make sure everyone's happy all the time, which women get too much of as it is, in my opinion.
& of course pinups of her super thin, impossibly elongated body make me itch as well… though i know the women's proportions, like the googly eyes tom laments, are something i'll have to become numb to if i want to enjoy lyrical or soapoperatic manga. if strangers in paradise or wet moon style figure drawing exists in manga, it's probably fetish stuff (though judging just from art excerpts dirk puts up, the horror genre seems fairly committed to realistic non-idealized figuration, at least til the monster eats you).
yes, it could definitely be worse. it could be submissive-girl porn. just because it isn't doesn't necessarily make it subversive, though.
Wait…are you saying submissive girl porn “isn’t* subversive?
But…but…what about Wonder Woman?
noah, i haven’t read old wonder woman, but based on the scans, i don’t think it’s as subversive as you think it is. i mean, everybody was spanking grown women in comics in those days, right? even the spirit.
or if what’s subversive is that ww was a switch-hitter, domination wise, then that’s a subversion *of* submissive-girl porn, rather than submissive-girl porn as subversion.
I was joking; I don’t really think submissive bondage is especially subversive.
I do think WW is feminist, but not because of the bondage.
This is one of my favorite works of fiction, so I have to say something about it. It’s a story about human extinction. Human being are loosing their ability to procreate and kids and children are far fewer than the adults. Other lifeforms, such as plants, are beginning to take over as the dominate sentient being of the planet. Some scientists tried to restore human fertility by migrating parts of humanity to a giant, never-landing airplane/ship (you’ll see in future volumes), but ultimately failed. Other scientists like owner, decide to face up to end of humanity by preserving human culture through robots – that’s why Alphas and her kinds are so extremely human-like. As human being decrease in number, towns and civilization shrink – man y of the stories are about the crumbling world and speculations about its former glory. In this world with ever-decreasing human numbers, robots like Alpha became the means which humanity will carry on – all the while the planet slowly allowing another form of sentient life to develop. This is the back story of YKK. Please read the whole series again with this very lightly told back story in mind, and you’ll understand of the seemingly banal passages has a lot of hidden meaning and beauty. The whole melancholic feel to the story is due to the underline theme – that the world of human beings is coming to an end.
BTW, Alpha is an robot in very similar way that a Cylon is a robot.. they are engineered organic beings. They have childhoods and they can heal like a normal human being. For some reason, great majority of the robots are female – there’s only 1 or 2 male robots in the manga. Since they don’t procreate like humans I suppose sex of the robots isn’t critical – and thus some speculations of the lesbian(?) love the robots have for each other.
I have such great love for this manga that it pains me to hear people talking about it in any negative light – even by those who actually have next to zero exposure to manga and the Japanese culture. This is such an atypical manga – a seinen manga with shojou techniques which has very little plot – only ARIA would be close to YKK. If you want to know what manga is about – this is really not the title to get started on. In fact this is what I would let people read if they think ALL manga is about shonen like Naruto or shojou like Furuba. This is the manga which I would use to shows the depth and range of this key part of Japanese culture to foreigners.
Hi, Anonymous,
you write: I have such great love for this manga that it pains me to hear people talking about it in any negative light – even by those who actually have next to zero exposure to manga and the Japanese culture.
Well, I speak Japanese and have both lived and traveled there, but I still find a lot of value in all my fellow writers’ responses. Especially in how they see things I won’t, since I’m a little closer to the source than them.
(Besides, judging from the comments, my eco-reactionary take on YKK rates about a 0 on the value meter, thus smashing my book proposal: Manga and Land-Use Policy in Central Shikoku, 1968-73)
I don’t think anyone here has been too negative. Critical, sure, picking it apart to figure out what makes it tick. I mean, I’ve seen Noah savage some books, even a manga I quite like (Disappearance Diary). This was not that. Just an effort by all to engage one work in particular.
For me, at least, the takeaway of the conversation is that I’ll give YKK a closer read, especially based on Dirk and Derik’s responses. (Though your enthusiasm has left me few surprises.)
And, Anon, you’re always welcome to stick around for conversation. What would you recommend for a starter manga? (I’d say New Engineering, but I’m kind of a crank.)
I apparently need to re-read YKK myself: Derik’s response reminded me that it wasn’t the young girl who went back to find Alpha in the epilogue, but her daughter.
Manga for new readers? I’d recommend hunting down and reading Ai Yazawa’s five-volume fashion series, Paradise Kiss, but I’m hopelessly in love with the films of Pedro Almodovar, which likely influences my thinking — as I’ve said before, Paradise Kiss is the closest I’ve ever come to reading an Almodovar film on paper. Your mileage, of course, may vary.
I’d second Paradise Kiss — and I don’t even like Almodovar.
I think Ranma 1/2 is a fine place to start if you like romantic comedy. Or Parasyteif you like horror.
If one were not up to committing to Nana, would Paradise Kiss be a good option?
I’m having a bit of a manga binge lately and want to read a little shojo (previous experience being limited to some really early Viz releases (4 Shojo Stories is the one I remember).
Paradise Kiss would definitely be a good option as a shojo starter.
Even shorter and also excellent is Forest of Gray City (2 volumes).
I am the anon commenter above… I guess I forgot to login. I haven't used this moniker for a while, since I got tired of explaining J-culture to outsiders.
Bill, I'm sorry if I come across as being critical of your analysis. I started reading YKK more than 10 years ago so I have a lot of emotional attachment to it. I still get a bit tearing upon reading the final chapter, which I did just now. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to revisit old friends again. As for manga recommendations, I guess due to your reference to Buddhism a good start would be Tezuka Osamu's Buddha. Not a real accurate picture of the Buddha but get you the feel of Osamu's story telling ability. If you like slice of life stories, nothing beats Yotsubato (or Yotsuba&). I can't say I love another current manga more than Yotsubato… I even got a Revoltech Yotsuba Figma so she can keep me company while working. I'd say you can't miss.
*** Spoiler Alert *** (if that’s even possible with YKK)
One last comment about YKK… Upon visiting the final chapters again with less emotion, I find that it really supported the Human Extinction theory pretty well. The key to the final chapter was that Alpha will always remember about “people in the Age of the Calm Evening” (the era when human being are going extinct). Yokohama of her age is no longer a seaport but a small land-locked settlement with decreasing number of resident. Man-made roads and infrastructure are crumbling. The shopkeeper boy alluded to that he and others maybe forced to abandon Yokohama soon, presumably due to declining populations.
While Alpha talked about the plants with memories of mankind, the main point was that SHE and her kind are the ones who will carry on the legacy of mankind after we’re all gone. She will never forget (this is the part I get teary). In the Evening (only few people remain) before the Night (extinction of Homo Sapiens), there will always be Alpha and Kokone, carrying on our culture and legacy as the beacons of light in the darkness to come. In an extremely subtle way, Ashinano has told us a bittersweet story about a post-apocalyptic world which our culture disappeared from the planet with dignity and love. I can’t see other fiction writer duplicating this and this is why YKK will always have a special place in my heart.
I don’t quite see the epilogue girl as Alpha’s daughter. I think the time frame is years after the final chapter and Japan has reverted back to pre-civilized state with only a few human settlement left (Eastern and Northern countries, etc.). I think that girl is one of the few remaining human beings left, out on a quest to find the legendary Cafe Alpha, now probably only building standing in the whole area (Yokohama must be long gone). I think She is Makki’s daughter or descendant, actually. I don’t think robots can procreate by themselves (thus the lack of male robots) so I don’t believe Alpha could have a biological daughter. The Epilogue simply stated, that years after almost the entire Kanto area has been reclaimed by nature, Alpha and Kokone are still in their little Cafe, preserving the memories of those who lived. She will be their first client for ages, no doubt. I wonder what they serve now?
tivome, if you're referring to the post when you say "due to your reference to Buddhism," i wrote this post, not bill. (for context, bill is a noted manga reviewer, who seems to have read most everything that's been published in english, & some that hasn't. but maybe i should let him speak for himself.)
i've read the first couple volumes of "buddha." most of my knowledge of buddhism (& i know it is very little) comes from my mother-in-law, who's a lay leader in the buddhist (jodo shinshu) churches of canada.
i really appreciate the information you're adding to the discussion about what unfolds in the later volumes. i'm glad you've backed off from the tone of outrage that other people don't see the story the way you do, & i hope you've seen the error of assumptions about who has "next to zero exposure to manga and the Japanese culture."
oh, & dirk, who comments above, is a big, big booster of yotsuba&! on his site.
it's one that i'd definitely pick up in the future, & i agree it sounds like one to recommend to a non-manga-connoisseur.
Miriam, I'm sorry about get bloggers confused here; I guess my comments were directed to you more than Bill. It's been a while since I read comic/manga blogs so I'm not sure who's who anymore.
I don't think you will regret ever buying Yotsuba&. It will brighten your day and makes the world a better place. Made me want to have a daughter.
Tivome, thanks for logging in! It's funny, when I started writing about manga in TCJ it had very few readers here, so I could get away with publishing pictures of shelf after shelf of manga in Japan. Now that Western bookstores have shelf after shelf of it, I've noticed lots of interested & engaged people looking at it, so I think the explaining isn't as necessary.
Miriam, I must admit I haven't read English manga for five years, except what D&Q sends me. I can recommend Kazu Yuzuki's "Des courges par milliers," though.
Yesterday I discovered that "Girlfriend: The Ultimate Weapon" has made it over, so I guess I should catch up.
Thanks to the magic of ebay I’ve got a set of Paradise Kiss coming. Thanks the recommendation.
Bill, from what Wikipedia tells me “Girlfriend: The Ultimate Weapon” is “Saikano”, yes? I wrote a slightly confused post on it here: http://madinkbeard.com/blog/archives/saikano
I read back on this conversation and realize that you might have started a chain of events which led to the twilight of mankind and the realization of a YKK-like future!
Consider the following:
This kind of eyerollingly petty discussions by entitled effluent westerners of the SJW type, followed by demands of equal pettiness, have led to the growing discontent with political correctness, the rise of the abhorrent alt-right and the election of their dark lord, Trump.