This month's Afternoon celebrated 10 years of YKK with a special 4-page color story before chapter 120. I guess Ashinano hasn't missed a single month in 10 years which is pretty rare.
(It would have been nice to see it on the cover, but the *gorgeous* Mushishi cover is worth it instead.)
The magazine also had a CD which has wallpapers where the artists drew each others' works. There were two of YKK -- one by Ueshiba Riichi (of Discommunication and Yume Tsukai fame) and the other by Urushibara Yuki (Mushishi).
Ashinano drew a Mushishi wallpaper.
- Chris Kern
Friday, June 25, 2004
Wow, I can't wait to see this. I only just picked up the July issue with chapter 119 this week. It takes about 3 weeks for Afternoon to make to the Kinokuniya in Seattle.
This does bring up an interesting question. Who else picks up Afternoon on a regular basis?
- martialstax
Friday, June 25, 2004
Me.
Best,
Dave
- dDave
Friday, June 25, 2004
I do too. In Seattle's Kinokuniya, no less.
- JC
Friday, June 25, 2004
Ah, so you're the guy I'm always competing with for Afternoon. They unexpectedly cut back on the number of volumes they order, so I completely missed the May issue. I didn't stop in for just one week and they sold out completely. Now I try to be there on the day it comes out.
- martialstax
Friday, June 25, 2004
I can see it now - the Seattle Kinokuniya Otaku Cage Match! Two fans go in. Only one comes out! Only one gets the next issue of Afternoon!
- Loran
Friday, June 25, 2004
Woo. Seattle, represent.
What is it that draws our city's residents to this story of peaceful intrigue?
- Grant Laughlin
Sunday, June 27, 2004
I really want to pick it up, unfortunately I don't think Nashville has a store that sells the series. Any online stores that you h\guys know of?
- Roy Zhou
Sunday, June 27, 2004
Wouldn't it be nice if the the four-pager and Chapter 120 AND the Ashinano-san wallpapers were posted right here... :)
- seaweb
Sunday, June 27, 2004
"What is it that draws our city's residents to this story of peaceful intrigue?"
That's a good question. We Seattle YKK fans should get together some time and try to answer it.
- martialstax
Monday, June 28, 2004
"What is it that draws our city's residents to this story of peaceful intrigue?"
Extraordinary precipitation and perpetual melancholia?
- Loran
Monday, June 28, 2004
Howdy,
>Any online stores that you guys know of?
Sasuga books or Acclimate solutions both should be able to take care of you.
http://www.sasugabooks.com/
http://www.aclimatesolution.com/
Best,
Dave
- dDave
Monday, June 28, 2004
> Wouldn't it be nice if the the four-pager and Chapter 120
> AND the Ashinano-san wallpapers were posted right here...
... AND YKK wallpapers made by other artists too.
- Cornel
Thursday, July 1, 2004
I don't know, personally I feel that posting the wallpapers is just piracy, rather than scanlation.
You don't need to know any Japanese to view the wallpapers (the only Japanese on them is the name of the series) -- all you have to do is obtain a copy of the Afternoon, which can be done through a number of online resellers. Then just stick the CD in your computer and you can view them like that.
- guest
Thursday, July 1, 2004
I've purchased issues of Afternoon a few times through online retailers (Anime Nation, Acclimate Solution), and it has never included the CD.
- Silver
Friday, July 2, 2004
Howdy,
Afternoon only occasionally includes CDs as a goodie. Sometime they include small figurines, sometimes you get stickers or something. Sometime you don't get anything. I would say Afternoon includes a CD about once a year or so.
Best,
Dave
- dDave
Friday, July 2, 2004
Yeah, and they always seem to be Windows only. I've got two Macs at home.
- martialstax
Friday, July 2, 2004
There should be some way to open up the CD without "installing" anything and just view the files -- this is what I do in Windows; I cancel the installation and just open the CD as a regular disk and view the files directly off of it.
- Chris Kern
Friday, July 2, 2004
Howdy,
The last CD worked fine on my Mac. It was OS X as well. Give it another shot!
Best,
Dave
- dDave
Friday, July 2, 2004
Yeah, the sleeve specifically says For Windows XP / Mac OS X.
- Chris
Saturday, July 3, 2004
Yay, there are enough chapters for the next volume already! I hope Koudansha to release it this year.
- Teisuu
Monday, July 5, 2004
Howdy,
Historically, we get one volume a year, sometime in the spring.
Best,
Dave
- dDave
Monday, July 5, 2004
True, yet the first three volumes were on a faster track, Aug'95-Feb'96-Jul'96 IIRC. So here's the hope ^_^;
- Teisuu
Tuesday, July 6, 2004
Um, actually, I need to upgrade to OS X. I'm still running 9.2.
- martialstax
Tuesday, July 6, 2004
"What is it that draws our city's residents to this story of peaceful intrigue?"
sa neh... maybe our city has higher concentration of people enjoying mature and thoughful entertainment? :)
- JC
Wednesday, July 7, 2004
Question for Seattle people:
Is the July issue available at Kinokuniya yet?
- JC
Wednesday, July 7, 2004
Howdy,
If the Seattle Kinokunia is anything like my local one, you'll see the latest issue on or around the 12th of each month. That means the issue that was on sale in Japan on or about the 26th of the previous month.
- dDave
Thursday, July 8, 2004
I just got in Monday night from a weekend trip and 'Afternoon' was waiting in my mailbox. (Yar!!) This is my first issue of a year's worth.
That means it must have been delivered on Friday or Saturday. I live in Las Vegas by the way, and it was shipped to me from Sasuga way over in the east coast yon'.
Gee.. that 'no spoilers' is really killing me. I guess all I can say is ... *glee!*
- kage musouka
Thursday, July 8, 2004
I just checked and the August issue isn't in yet. This is a little on the early side. It ususally shows up in Seattle just before the 20th.
- martialstax
Tuesday, July 13, 2004
I went to Kinokuniya yesterday, and there were about 6 or 7 volumes of the August issue in stock. Now there is one less.
The full-color 4 page mini-chapter is a scooter race between Alpha and Maruko. I think it's some interesting symbolism that Kokone is not just the flagger but the goal as well. The scooters aren't any that we've seen before. They look like they're pretty run-down, like someone found them and decided it'd be fun to have a race with them. Ashinano has done us the favor of labeling them. Alpha is riding an "Usagi-go" and Maruko is astride a "Hatomaru". The kanji for maru is the same as her name. Usagi means rabbit, and there is a little rabbit logo on the front of the scooter. Fuji build a scooter called the Rabbit in the 50's and 60's. I have no idea what Haromaru means, but Mitsubishi built a scooter called the Pigeon, and the logo on the front of the bike looks a bit like a stylized rounded wing. A further clue is the title of the chapter, which is simply called "R & P", with a little wing on the P. It's not too much of a stretch to imagine it stands for Rabbit and Pigeon.
As for the main story, well, I really haven't had a chance to do more than quickly flip through it. I was entertaining a friend from Kyoto last night, so looking up the scooter info was as much as I could get done without being rude.
- martialstax
Thursday, July 15, 2004
Howdy,
Hato does mean "pidgeon". The name "Hatomaru" is a pun on several levels. Ships in Japan are always suffixed with "Maru" so the name brings to mind the meaning of "Maruko's ship/vehicle", plus the kanji "Maru" is the same as her name.
Best,
Dave
- dDave
Thursday, July 15, 2004
I've thought about subscribing to Afternoon here at the Kinokuniya's in Beaverton (Oregon), but haven't because... well, I can't read Japanese, and the bookcases that I currently have are already at capacity with DVDs. ^_^;
- Tabyk
Tuesday, August 3, 2004
Unfortunatly there isnt any manga in south africa. I have to find stuff on the internet. This is why im so grateful to those who translate and post this stuff.
Wow 10 years is awesome. Heres to 10 more. :)
- Alladin
Tuesday, August 3, 2004
Any reasons why we havent had an update in almost two months~?
- Hina Chicobi
Monday, August 9, 2004
Probably because Neil-san has a job and does this out of the goodness of his heart.
I, for one, am so thankful to have his scanlations that I am unwilling to critisize him for delays.
- Hiro
Monday, August 9, 2004
Two reasons:
There was a slip-up with my subscription renewal, so I'm missing an issue of Afternoon.
And a couple weeks ago, someone stole the laptop which contains pretty much my entire life. I have backups of some of the things on it. The tools I've developed over the past few years for working on YKK weren't among them.
[v7, p112]
- dn
Monday, August 9, 2004
I'm very sorry to hear of your trouble. I know how it feels to lose a well organized tool. Are there any software applications we could send you that would help you rebuild your computer?
Should we distribute the tasks of maintaining the site? I have a scanner, Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and other tools.
- Loran
Tuesday, August 10, 2004
P.S. I also have some experience adding word bubbles to comics pages. I did six issues of Morning Glory the Faerie using Illustrator.
- Loran
Tuesday, August 10, 2004
Neil, I'm very sorry to hear about your computer being stolen. I've had a computer stolen before, and I still get angry thinking about all that I lost that was on it. Whatever we can do to help you, let us know.
- martialstax
Wednesday, August 18, 2004
Loran- "I did six issues of Morning Glory the Faerie"
Oh, so you're THAT Loran. I got a letter in that comic. Pity there weren't any more.
Sorry to hear about the loss of the laptop. I too was wondering about the hiatus and whether or not something had happened. Obviously it had. A malediction upon the perpetrators of this crime, may the fleas of a thousand camels infest their armpits.
- Andy Tucker
Thursday, August 19, 2004
Andy - "Oh, so you're THAT Loran."
Yes, it's me. I thought your name sounded familiar. I hope you are following Michael Vega's work in Radio comics and in Tokyopop's Rising Stars series. His website is:
http://www.ghostcircles.com/mike/
I promise to make more comics in the future. Right now, I am too busy various problems to make comics. I am writing, however. When the weather clears up, I will get back to telling stories - "happy stories" as Morning Glory would say.
- Loran
Thursday, August 19, 2004
Nice to see the furious race made it to misago.org - and nice to see Neil is back, too!
Boy, Maruko really looks like a bratty tomboy with her facial expressions and this "Andy Capp" accessoir;-)
- Rainer
Saturday, September 25, 2004
its a flat cap.
[say theposter from n.england]
- macloud
Saturday, September 25, 2004
Darn, you're right - Andy's cap is pointy:
http://www.unitedmedia.com/creators/andycapp/
Verzeihung [says Rainer from Germany;-]
- Rainer
Saturday, September 25, 2004
Yikes. I've only bought Afternoon when I was in Japan (can't read it, my house is full of other stuff already, and I have this wonderful online resource!) but I think I might want to see this Ueshiba Riichi version of YKK.
About Chapter 120: If Kokone is the "goal" of the race, what does it suggest to us when Maruko and Alpha just blast past her? Are we seeing the emergence of rivals in some much bigger "race?" Or are we peeking at much less urgent dreams?
I'm beginning to wonder if Ashinano-san ever plans to let the story expand. We could very well find ourselves left with an enigma.
- seaweb
Monday, September 27, 2004
Howdy,
First, I would be careful of reading too much into the four page story. I think that it is out of continuity, and has no bearing on the main story. For instance, we are suddenly seeing new scooters - I doubt that they will ever show up again. But the story is fun because it does focus on the Alpha/Maruko rivaly.
As for the main story, Ashinano-san is absolutely brilliant in the way he paces the stories, in my opinion. He sets up small details in successive chapters that suddenly pull together at once to push the story forward. Since the story is so focused on the characters, the actual movement in the plot is relatively small, but in terms of our experience in the YKK world, it has disproportionate impact. Each new thing we learn about the YKK world is significant, not just because they are so many mysteries, but because Ashinano rarely does something without reason.
Best,
Dave
- dDave
Monday, September 27, 2004
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