A Minor Variation

I was feeling masochistic so I sat up and read a bunch of Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, and now suddenly I ship KuroFai like burning.

This must be the fandom equivalent of drinking too much and waking up the next morning with an incomprehensible tattoo.

So after finally getting sucked into reading Fruits Basket(I blame evilbeej) I ran out of borrowed volumes at v17 last night and just gave in and looked up the rest online. (I know, I know, but I'm planning to buy the series for myself gradually anyhow, so.)

Then I cried like a little girl. I should stop reading things that make me cry, really. (Katsuya ;_;)

The main thing that strikes me about this series is that it's crammed full of very winning characters. I'm not entirely sure if it's just that immersion has made it increasingly easy for me to buy into the feel of the story and the particular way that things play out in it, or if it's just something about Takaya's writing style that makes it possible for her to introduce a minor character and have me firmly invested in that character's story within a single chapter. With only two exceptions (Ritsu, who... needs a Valium, and Akito), even the characters that had otherwise left me cold managed to have at least one moment of winning at life which won me over. (See particularly Ayame at Yuki's parent-teacher conference.)

( Cut for some spoilers. )


( And edited to add some further, non-spoily natter about Shigure and the appeal of the series in general. )

I don't do pimp posts very often, but in this case, I feel it's deserved. I've just been introduced to Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou ("Record of a Yokohama Shopping Trip"), a manga thus far not picked up for US distribution and, thus, only available here via scanlations. I'm not a big reader of manga most of the time, but I'm really enjoying YKK. It's got a feel to it that really appeals to me.



YKK follows an android named Alpha who spends her days tending a coffee shop, her owner having left for parts unknown. The world seems to be a future world, almost post-apocalyptic; the ocean is rising steadily and has submerged places that were once inhabited, creating visuals of streetlights underwater. Roads are mostly abandoned to the elements, and cities like Yokohama have become smaller, quieter towns. Alpha calls it a "twilight age," in which things seem to move at a leisurely pace. Town council meetings seem to be simply an excuse to gather and drink sake, and Alpha can close up her coffee shop for a few days to go on a shopping trip.



It's a slice-of-life manga with an unhurried pace; the things that happen in it are small things. There's a sense of tranquility, and of wide open space, created by the visuals and by Alpha's narration. It feels like it ought to have a Joe Hisaishi piano score; like the pages should be painted in watercolors. It's too relaxed to be saccharine; it's just... mellow, and the world its set in is interesting in its own right. I'd like to wander its crumbling roads and explore its abandoned buildings myself, some long summer day.



You can find scanlations at http://ykk.misago.org/. I encourage my flist to give it a try; it's a mellow, relaxing read, good for unwinding with and de-stressing.