Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou · 1:39am Jan 17th, 2014
I love where I live, it's a beautiful part of the world which surprisingly few people know about. It would take me less than five minutes to walk up into the woods, and maybe three quarters of an hour to summit the cliffed hill which overlooks the whole local area—you can literally see for miles around. There's nothing quite like having a good explore up there by myself or with some good company.
Two of my best friends right now live practically half the world away from me, one in Canada and one in Taiwan. They'll both be back roughly in May, since they're only abroad for Uni studies, but I can safely say that I miss them both. Thankfully because of the internet I can still keep in contact with them, but without it then I'd only ever get a letter from them every now and then at best. Without contact like that, I'd miss them a lot more.
If you were to take the above two feelings and mix them together with a good dash of relaxation then you'd get an idea of what it feels like to read Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou. Pleasant and soothing, but introspective and thought-provoking. This should not be read in a hurry. Read it at a leisurely pace, perhaps with a cup of coffee or perhaps with some quiet music playing. Savour it, because even when I was half-way through I felt like I didn't want it to end.
I won't spoil any of the story itself. All you need to know is that it's a total subversion of the idea of a post-apocalyptic story, and that many of the main characters are robots (and you'll forget that they are so more than half the time after a while). As for the art, here's a good example of it's lovely and spacious style (it's not usually in sepia tone, by the way):
This has to be one of the best manga I've read, and it's a crying shame that it's only available through online fanlations. If it ever gets an official release in English, then I will buy it on the spot. Simple as that.
