Howdy,
Chapter 122 can now be found here:
http://www.bol.ucla.edu/~katng/YKK/1.html
Because of the twitchy legal state of the world, I think is best for the little magic YKK elves to remain annonymous (unless they want to out themselves), but I want to give them a big round of thanks. They are a great crew who rose to the occasion.
If you can mirror, please post in this thread.
Best,
Dave
- dDave
Friday, March 18, 2005
Great stuff...
Thank you elves for helping to ease our affliction with your magic. ;)
- Darin~
Saturday, March 19, 2005
Howdy,
Little bit of bait and switch going on. Use this link:
http://www.bol.ucla.edu/~katng/YKK/
Best,
Dave
- dDave
Saturday, March 19, 2005
Dave if I could kiss you right now I would. You are a godsend you truely are. As promised I'm sticking a link to those chapters on my website in the YKK section. I really think everyone's outdone themselves here. Thank you for taking on this task. Advertising your work is the least I can do. You'll get mentions not only on my site but also my lj community and the anime and manga forum I go to. I've gotten some people into YKK over there too. Again THANK YOU.
- Christine K
Saturday, March 19, 2005
Whee!!!! Thank you, THANK YOU! ^_^
- Nekomancer
Saturday, March 19, 2005
Wow, thanks a lot.
When I was reading this, I was thinking to myself just how old oji-san was looking, then it got to the last part of their conversation... This might be the saddest chapter so far in the series. (But still very good)
- Zelmel
Saturday, March 19, 2005
Thank you VERY MUCH.
*Rushes off to read*
- Shane
Saturday, March 19, 2005
Bless you, everyone! This is really great work. The scans are quite beautiful--you can still see all the ink strokes and everything.
- Hiro
Saturday, March 19, 2005
Aww, I like 119 the best. 122 seems very important though (for the story, at least). Thank you guys so much! I will have to think about getting the tankouban here very soon.
- baltakatei
Saturday, March 19, 2005
Many thanks for translating this chapter! Keep up the good work!
- wiesel
Saturday, March 19, 2005
woohoo!
um, one request though, could you provide zips of the chapters too?
- tadpol
Saturday, March 19, 2005
Yeah dDave, awesome job!
- Roy Zhou
Saturday, March 19, 2005
Howdy,
Thank elves, they did the work. :)
Best,
Dave
- dDave
Saturday, March 19, 2005
Oh believe you me I thanked one of them in her journal when she mentioned working on it. But to the rest of you thank you thank you thank you lots.
- Chirstine K
Saturday, March 19, 2005
This is when I wish there was an edit feature because I just remembered a question I had. About how big are the files for each chapter? I don't know if you're looking for a mirror or not or someone to host zips of those things because if they're not too big I could offer to do it.
- Christine K
Saturday, March 19, 2005
One page 9, is that a figure I see standing by that cement block in the bottom panel?
I think this is the first time when the lack of children is really mentioned, not just something to be inferred.
Good chapter. Thanks. I can't remember, was this scanned from one of the books I sent Loran?
- martialstax
Sunday, March 20, 2005
Huzzah!
- Smarasderagd
Sunday, March 20, 2005
Thanks so much for the new chapter!
And martialstax, that was my first thought when I saw that panel too. But it's a petrol bowser :)
It's been a while since I read any YKK but it only took a few pages of 119 to bring that old feeling back.
- Brad
Sunday, March 20, 2005
Howdy,
>But it's a petrol bowser
or gas pump, for the anglo impaired. :)
Best,
Dave
- dDave
Sunday, March 20, 2005
A petrol bowser? It sounds like a name for a cute lil' doggie!! ^_^
File sizes:
For YKK Chapter 119 (jpegs): 765 KB
For YKK Chapter 122 (pngs): 1.63 MB
- Carn
Sunday, March 20, 2005
:P u guys did it again!! nice work and thanks!
- Altf4
Sunday, March 20, 2005
This is a wonderful series that stands out like a refreshing breeze from all the action/service-packed titles out on the market. The most similar manga to YKK in my opinion is Yotsubato, which is also a beautiful series, but stalled for lack of scanlation work.
Love the subtle fashion in which the characters are penned and portrayed, especially the intricate childhood-friendship (that mayblossom into something more in time, one hopes?) between Takashirou and Makki-chan.
This manga is still being serialized, isn't it?
- Cal-Reflector
Monday, March 21, 2005
Thaks to the Lord!!
For a sec I were tempted to drop mi Ykk manga collection. Arg. It´s hard to find this manga in Spain...
- Chass
Monday, March 21, 2005
At last after several months of waiting :) , and I'm begin to think the projects is already dropped, I'm glad I was wrong, thank you very much.
- Kuswardhana
Monday, March 21, 2005
Thanks sooooo much. Until we hear from Nield about what his status is, this is very welcome.
- Steven Robinson
Monday, March 21, 2005
Quoth martialstax:
"I think this is the first time when the lack of children is really mentioned, not just something to be inferred."
I'm not sure that that is a quite legitimate conclusion to draw from what Oji-san says. He refers to it twice, first on page 8:
122-8-2: "Someday, Makki's gonna leave too...."
122-8-3: "When that happens, there won't be nothin' but geezers fer 10 kilos in any direction - 'cept fer you..."
and again on page 11:
122-11-1: "Alpha, listen here..."
122-11-2: "Sooner or later, it's gonna get even more quiet around here."
Now, I do agree that this seems to be a reference to the dying-out of Humanity through lack of replenishment with a new generation (not necessarily infertility, but low birth rate for some reason) - but there are a number of equally acceptable alternative explanations for his remarks.
For instance, he could be referring to the local area being abandoned by everyone except the old people who won't leave their traditional homes, as the waters rise. In such a situation, there could still be plenty of young people elsewhere, they'd just have left the local area.
Alternatively, his horizon could be limited - in fact, 10 kilometers isn't really that far. I could walk it on foot in two hours without straining myself at all. Maybe four hours, if the terrain is difficult. But it's not far.
All the same, I agree that some sort of population decline is in progress. We've known that for a while. The question is, do Oji-san's remarks indicate that the decline is accelerating to the point of no return, or is he merely referring to local conditions?
- abunai
Monday, March 21, 2005
Just want to give my congrad's to all that worked on this, THANKS!!!
- thebranded
Monday, March 21, 2005
Howdy,
I would tend to agree that we are just witnessing the hollowing-out of the countryside as the kids move to the city. If you take a look in the background of any chapter that shows a city (musashino/yokohama), you'll see plenty of kids.
Humanity may be declining, but it seems to be a slow, natural and gradual process.
Best,
Dave
- dDave
Monday, March 21, 2005
I feel like Ojisan is referring to himself and perhaps by extension, Sensei passing on...
He has offered his station to her as a new locale for her "cafe" and home, presumably because he is looking out for her needs and he wants company. (or perhaps he does plan on moving in with Sensei...) It would be a mutually agreeable arrangement either way.
Notable here is that while Alpha has expressed sadness to the point of tears before, I cannot recall the feelings being strong enough to apperantly overcome her as Ojisan's suggestion has... Perhaps its the combination of caring, friendship, and acceptance coupled with the finality of the eventual outcome... Still, to me she is reacting to Ojisan's comments as ones of his passing. He seems to be subtley suggesting she move to a more populous location and abandon her wait for her owner. It's as if he knows her owner won't return...
Which brings me to another nagging thought. From the beginning, I've been wondering if Ojisan isn't actually her owner... In the beginning she claimed to have just met the man, but he seemed to know her all too well and at every turn, has been there when she needed him each time. If his station is on the road to her cafe, a visitor like her owner would likely have visited him while she was away on her first trip to Yokohama, but if HE is Owner, he could have easily gone to the cafe to leave the letter... He says, "I'm really a fan too..." after she leaves on her trip as though he's known her all her life... the easy way he simply gives her the free gas and offers to begin coming around for coffee in trade, while apperently never having been to her shop is suspicious... After that one simple exchange, he becomes her guardian of sorts, even knowing exactly where to go and what to do when she gets damaged by the lightning...
After Alpha is released from the clinic by Sensei, Ojisan comments "...I'll find a way to repay you someda..." as though he is responsible for Alpha's costs and well being... and of course Sensei cuts him off saying that she has a tab at his place too...
Alpha comments in the beginning that her owner had left some years before. How many years? Could her owner have aged significantly since his leaving? Could it be that as others on this forum have suggested, she went though some traumatic episode that somehow figures into her gun and was "rebooted" in a fashion that she retained certain memories, but lost others?
Ojisan has known Sensei all through her years of experimentation and likely during the time she had Alpha M1 in her charge. He assisted her in her many projects, so who is to say he didn't take one of the M2 Prototypes as HIS charge. He seems awfully interested in Alpha and knows instinctively that he should check on her and protect when lightning is near... The only thing I find that points away from Ojisan BEING Owner is his feigned surprise at her not being able to eat protein... (in the form of the fish in vol1 pg73) But it wouldn't be difficult to imagine that he expected she would have gotten used to animal proteins by this time...
He also seem bemused by her considering her gun as a treasure... his dialog about it indicates that he might know this gun and is impressed by how she treats it...
Who knows? Still its interesting to contemplate...
- Darin~
Tuesday, March 22, 2005
Thanks for scanlating the chapter.
I love YKK. : )
I understood Ojisan's remark of "getting more quiet around here" as a reference to him passing away.
Also, time must be moving quickly in order for the cafe to be threatened by the erosion/water levels still rising. Those two events plus Makki eventually leaving the nest... wow... Alpha is going to lose a lot of things which are very important to her. : ( I wish Kokone would move out there, it would liven things up. ^_^
Ojisan as a forgotten owner is an intriguing idea. Being an older male, living nearby, and a close friend and former collegue of another person who cared for an Alpha robot would make him suitable for Owner status. However, the partial memory erasure seems like to big of a stretch for my tastes. Also Owner's speech patterns are quite different, though I can imagine how that could be explained too.
-k
- Kempis Curious
Tuesday, March 29, 2005
I've been wondering, too, if Ojisan and Sensei weren't really the original Owners of both the Alphas. I think it was hinted clearly enough that Ojisan was to some degree Sensei's assistant. Whatever happened with the project, it wouldn't be unusual for the team to divide up the prototypes and continue their work at home.
But if the project went South for some reason, were the Alphas still around in the lab when the later models were developed? Did Director Alpha go aloft before or after the team escaped to the boonies? Were Sensei and Ojisan dismissed from the project before the later models came online?
Questions and more questions.
Thanks for the good work with the updates!
A last question: were the scans a bit rough; was it a result of saving as a .png; or has the drawing actually gotten a bit heavy-handed? The rendering of Ojisan this time seems almost like fan-work.
- seaweb
Wednesday, March 30, 2005
<<However, the partial memory erasure seems like to big of a stretch for my tastes. Also Owner's speech patterns are quite different, though I can imagine how that could be explained too.
>>
Yeah... it's a pretty half-baked idea, but still, each encounter she has with him makes me feel there is a connection that the "point aways" don't seem strong enough to counter. It's almost as though Alpha stayed behind and lived in a childlike state for many years... like a kind of stasis- only finally deciding to leave for the first time as we meet her in the 1st chapter. If she indeed preceeds the M3 models and we are to believe that Kokone, Maurko and Nai have been around for many years SINCE their inceptions, enough to be trained and get jobs, establish lives etc, then Alpha may have been living on her own, probably being monitored for as many as at least 10 years or more. (And the only reason I give JUST a decade is based on the appearent age of Ayase and the statement he made about living in the area and knowing the houses around the Cafe).
It becomes plausible that "Owner" could have left when Alpha's mental state was one of a 6 year old (judging from the development of my own children's thought processes) and she has aged in realtime... If "Owner" really never went away, but instead was observing from a nearby locale and providing provisions and support (while Alpha slept) and used the collected data on her progress to further the advancement of the M3 series, then there would be sufficient time to create the M3's, accelerate the mental growth process, get them out into the world and have them functioning for a few years (Losing most of the male population) as Alpha begins to become mature enough to venture out, and eventually meet tthem. Given the possible decade or more that this could require, "Owner" would have aged to the point that Alpha may not recognise him at all as the person who cared for her during her earliest years. Without pictures, she'd only have vague memories to rely on.
Note that the disconnected way she recalls her past in her dream doesn't provide much detail. Only significant events. The speech patterns and recollections of physical appearance of her owner may have been lost to time... I could still easily see "Owner" stepping back and letting Alpha think that he'd left when he was right there the whole time. Growing older, living his life and making sure she was OK, even if she didn't realize it. He would be wanting her to become independent and observing the process, only after "meeting" her, nudging and enabling her in small almost inperceptable ways.
Ah... I don't know, but the way Ashinano presents things in this series rarely lead to blind alleys. What is presented is often just staring at you until enough additional information makes it concrete...
- Darin~
Wednesday, March 30, 2005
Well I would wonder why Alpha in particular would still have an owner around when it seems the both Maruko and Kokone do not. Directory Alpha certianlly doesn't.
- naraxa
Wednesday, March 30, 2005
<<Well I would wonder why Alpha in particular would still have an owner around when it seems the both Maruko and Kokone do not. Directory Alpha certianlly doesn't.>>
Well, to follow the logic I am, it makes sense...
The way I see it, Kokone & Maruko were further developed mentally and "outgrew" the NEED for an owner... they seemed to have rebelled against them in a way.
Director Alpha is locked away from general soceity on a ship high in the sky and surrounded by apperaent "caregivers"... she also seems to be mentally older than Alpha M2. In the early episodes of the series, Alpha M2 is distinctly early-teenlike in her exploration and discovery of the world and remains largely naieve as the story advances, only taking lessons to heart as she encounters them, just as a human child does. Having her owner close at hand to watch over her like a guardian angel would make some sense...
- Darin~
Wednesday, March 30, 2005
I'm new here. I just finished the ykk.misago.org material yesterday and I started on the forums. I am SO thankful that you people have gotten it together to continue the project.
Thank You!
Thank You!
Thank YOU!
Concerning Ojisan as owner - and refering to the issue where Alpha was hit by lightning and probably came close to being roadkill:
When I was growing up in rural New England in the 60's, if you found some half dead pet by the side of the road and took it to the local vet, the vet would give you a choice. You could either take financial responsibility for the work to be done or the vet would "put down" the animal and burn the body.
Medical docs of humans are legaly and morally obligated to treat (or send to the local general hospital) anyone who makes it to their office. - But they still try to get someone to pay them.
The proper procedure for robots in YKK world is not completely clear. - Killing (scrapping?) something that is still able to carry on a rational conversation is probably not an option.
Still, the fact that Sensei (the doc) and Ojisan made some kind of financial agreement does not imply that Ojisan is Alpha's owner (to me).
- Rick King
Thursday, March 31, 2005
<<Medical docs of humans are legaly and morally obligated to treat (or send to the local general hospital) anyone who makes it to their office. - But they still try to get someone to pay them...
Still, the fact that Sensei (the doc) and Ojisan made some kind of financial agreement does not imply that Ojisan is Alpha's owner (to me).>>
OK... That's fair. But I am still left feeling there is a connection between "Owner" and Ojisan. There is very little "banter" between characters in this series and few "wasted" words. Every comment made so far does one of two things... 1) expand your knowledge of the thought process of a character or 2) give you a hint or fact to note that will have additional story points built upon, later in the series.
If the exchange between Sensei and Ojisan about payment for services has no bearing on the story and is something that we could take for granted as "the way things are done" then there would be no reason for Ashinano to have highlighted it as he did. It's also evident that far from being analogous to a stranger or pet on the road, Alpha M2 has some sort of history with at LEAST Sensei as evidenced by her comment to Alpha (in Vol7 Chapter 58 Pg 46-) "Now that I think of it... you and I, we're like relatives in a way." So why would Sensei charge Ojisan for her services unless he felt a special responsibility for Alpha that went beyond Alpha and Sensei's connection?
Just more of the convolutions running through what seems like a simple story...
- Darin~
Thursday, March 31, 2005
Howdy,
To throw in my two cents, I think the conversation between Sensei and Ojisan was intended to show the reader that they have had a long relationship, and that there is mutual respect and care between them. It's implied that Ojisan has been giving free gas and veggies to Sensei, enough to work up a tab.
Ojisan asks about payment because he's a kind hearted individual, and because he has an existing relationship with Sensei.
Personally, I just don't see any reason for a deception on Ojisan's part. I'm comfortable with the notion of Owner being out travelling.
Best,
Dave
- dDave
Thursday, March 31, 2005
Cal-Reflector said: "The most similar manga to YKK in my opinion is Yotsubato, which is also a beautiful series, but stalled for lack of scanlation work."
I believe that's because it's been licensed by ADV Manga and will be out on June 6th. I've received an uncorrected galley proof for review purposes, and I can tell you it's excellent. You can read the review here:
http://www.animeondvd.com/reviews2/manga/manga.php?manga_view=1012
- martialstax
Saturday, April 2, 2005
Many thanks for chapter 122 - it's been a long dry spell ! Guess DNeil is off on a long journey of unknown duration, like Owner.
- Kerry
Sunday, April 3, 2005
That's it! forget the conspiracy theories about Ojisan being Owner. Neil is Owner! That explains plenty.
- martialstax
Monday, April 4, 2005
Have we considered that the caretakers (if there are more than that elderly lady with her) sent aloft with Director Alpha are likely team mates with Sensei and Ojisan?
Why is there no grief or strain noted in Sensei or Ojisan about the caretaker's situation, in a craft that can't land anymore?
And how long have they been up there anyway? What are they doing for food?
- seaweb
Monday, April 4, 2005
> What are they doing for food?
well, I recall a segment where they spoke about the new tea leaves being in (Vol6, C44, p21) So I'd assume that they have some form of gardens on board. (hydroponics of some sort I'd guess.)
- tadpol
Monday, April 4, 2005
I just reread this chapter. A robot that cries so easily... It's just amazing writing.
- martialstax
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
Thanks for "update". I waited a long time for it.
Amasing feelings again, as I was reading the chapter. Some years ago, I visited my grandmother's house in countryside. I haven't been there for long 12 years by that time, and I can remeber all that shock, when I've seen empty deserted village. Houses became old and mossy, roads turned into jungles of bushes and wildgrass. The most amazing thing was that fields around village became real forest - with trees about 5-6m high! Somehow, this chapter shows me all that cruelty of time, I realized at that time.
It is a pleasure to withness such a manga. Nobody else can tell about such things in such quiet and thoughtfull manner. Omedetou, Ashinano-sensei =))
- Drake
Monday, April 25, 2005
"A last question: were the scans a bit rough; was it a result of saving as a .png; or has the drawing actually gotten a bit heavy-handed? The rendering of Ojisan this time seems almost like fan-work."
Yo seaweb, I think it might just have been this issue's art (maybe because Ojisan was sitting under the shade?)
Here's a crop of the uncompressed raw I worked with and the png I saved. I can't see much of a difference at all.
Uncompressed raw (scan):
http://www.bol.ucla.edu/~katng/YKK/uncompressed.bmp
Compressed PNG:
http://www.bol.ucla.edu/~katng/YKK/compressed.png
Anyway, I think PNGs are more lossless than jpegs..and Neil's been using pngs lately too.
- Carn
Monday, April 25, 2005
I believe the key is the quality of printing in Afternoon itself..
- Drake
Tuesday, April 26, 2005
Howdy,
Afternoon is printed on rough newsprint, so some fuzz is to be expected.
Best,
Dave
- dDave
Tuesday, April 26, 2005
I've been scanlating another manga project from French translations printed on good-quality paper and I've had occasion to see the same pages scanned from a Chinese translation -- the French prints are a lot better than the Chinese, definitely, although I take great care when scanning stuff myself (overscan then reduce size, tweak brightness settings etc.)
I don't know if there are size differences between the Afternoon publication and the tankobon books but I'd guess the paper quality is much better for the tankobon. It might be worth redoing these scans and re-editing them once the tankobon for the later episodes comes out.
There's a term for groups that do fast scanlating from the weekly/monthly magazines - speedlating. The nice thing is that later when better scans become available from tankobon all of the translation work has already been done and it's not too difficult to drop existing text into the new scans.
- Robert Sneddon
Friday, April 29, 2005
Howdy,
You are perfectly correct, of course, but Neil has always kept the scans small and the quality modest to encourage people to buy the originals and support the artist. It's a philosophy the current band of elves also support.
For those folks wishing higher quality, you can buy the tankobon (new and used) from:
http://www.aclimatesolution.com/manga/index.html
Best,
Dave
- dDave
Friday, April 29, 2005
Is it just me, or is the image for page 2 not loading?
http://www.cafealpha.org/ch122/2.html
- martialstax
Wednesday, May 11, 2005
Howdy,
It's fixed now.
Best,
Dave
- dDave
Wednesday, May 11, 2005
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