Howdy,
I'd like to thank the busy, busy elves for another go around. As has been mentioned in another thread, these recent chapters have found a new, permanent home, one which doesn't eat up some poor student's disc allocation. Thanks to the new elf on the block for help with that.
This chapter contains one of the biggest "wow, just what the heck is the author trying to tell us with that" moments in the whole series. I'm still thinking about it.
As a matter of fact, many of the upcoming chapters have surprisingly concrete answers to some of the minor mysteries of YKK. You have a lot to look forward to.
http://www.cafealpha.org
Best,
Dave
- dDave
Sunday, May 8, 2005
Yay, very nice chapter. I 'specially like Alpha's expression when she thinks to herself "Just what was I looking for again?"
- Roy Zhou
Sunday, May 8, 2005
zipped it.
http://tadpol.org/ykk/
- tadpol
Sunday, May 8, 2005
Thanks so much, Dave, for translating, and to our new elf for hosting!!! ^_^
- Carn
Sunday, May 8, 2005
Tadpol,
When I try to download the zip, I'm told that I don't have permission to do so.
GC
- GC
Sunday, May 8, 2005
Two things can be gathered from this chapter right away. 1. Alpha's a packrat and 2. Owner liked to fly the model airplanes. On a much deeper level this chapter serves to once again show us how Alpha can "hear" electronics and motors. It happened with Sensei's boat and now Owner's old model plane motor. At least she got to see it run for a little bit.
- Christine K
Sunday, May 8, 2005
Huh. Wow. Hmm.
Fuel = that which kept the human species/old world alive?
The engine a metaphor for Alpha and her kind... if so, how ominous. Could their continued growth and function require human interaction?
More questions than that raised in this chapter.
Hmm.
- Luke
Sunday, May 8, 2005
arhgk. sorry. perms fixed.
- tadpol
Monday, May 9, 2005
Did anyone read this chapter and be reminded of Nevil Shute's "On the Beach"?
I wonder why the image of Alpha and Kokone was suddenly inserted during the running of the engine?
- martialstax
Monday, May 9, 2005
Howdy,
Yes! That's what is really puzzling me about this chapter. Although it's not the beach, but the hill Alpha took Kokone when they first met again after Alpha's walkabout.
http://ykk.misago.org/Volume9/102
My current guess is that it either indicates how Kokone throws herself into the exploration of life, similar to the unrestrained joy of the motor/seaplane, or it indicates how Alpha feels about Kokone. Pure speculation....
Best,
Dave
- dDave
Tuesday, May 10, 2005
I felt a bit of chill when page 12 loaded up.. my first thought was that maybe the robot-persons won't last as long as we thought. But that doesn't make sense since we've been shown that they will outlive the humans.
Maybe it's just the usual enjoy life while you can message..
Also, many thanks to those who had read this chapter (and following chapters) earlier and haven't given anything away. A small convertible.. I wonder what it looks like :)
- Brad
Tuesday, May 10, 2005
I agree, I really want to see the car. Maybe it's a Mazda Roadster? Suzuki Cappucino? Who knows...
I'm sure it'll become visible at some point, though, as there'd be no point in foreshadowing it otherwise.
- Maxim
Tuesday, May 10, 2005
"Maybe it's a Mazda Roadster? Suzuki Cappucino?"
Haha, I wrote exactly the same thing in my post, until I chopped most of it out. Except we call a mazda roadster an MX-5 down here :)
- Brad
Tuesday, May 10, 2005
Oh, it's the "Which convertible will it be" sweepstakes! I vote for a 1960s Honda Roadster, S500, S600 or S800.
http://z-o-g.org/gt4cars/used-oldtimer/honda-s800-66.html
And dDave, my reference to "On the Beach" refers more to the fact that YKK is about a world slowly dying, which is also the point of Nevil Shute's masterpiece. Both present a surprisingly appealing vision of a world on the edge of extinction. I wouldn't be surprised if Ashinano has read it.
- martliatstax
Tuesday, May 10, 2005
The early Honda is a possibility, too. How about maybe one of the early Nissan / Datsun Fairlady (before the Z) roadsters, or an early Toyota?
By the way, Roadster is actually Miata over here, but, being as the story is in Japan, I figure it'd probably be a JDM model.
I was also thinking about the possibility that it could be a classic British or European roadster, which would be pretty cool.
- Maxim
Tuesday, May 10, 2005
To be honest I don't really care what make or model the car is, I'm just too excited about the possibility of an Alpha + Kokone roadtrip :)
- Brad
Tuesday, May 10, 2005
Mystery car...
Can't resist speculation...
Might be a Toyota 2000GT. That was an interesting car that was dropped by Toyota when it did not develop a following.
But it's not goofy enough for Owner.
So I bet on the prototype Subaru Sports from 1961:
http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Lane/1803/maniae.htm
- Loran Gayton
Wednesday, May 11, 2005
Quote from Brad:
I felt a bit of chill when page 12 loaded up.. my first thought was that maybe the robot-persons won't last as long as we thought. But that doesn't make sense since we've been shown that they will outlive the humans.
/Quote
I felt the same way... a melancholy story about living a short joyous life in a dying world, and suddenly a flashback to Alpha and Kokone chillin' out on the hilltop.
Why the heck was Alpha (or the author) reminded of that? Could that have been the most joyous moment in Alpha's life?
It doesn't feel that way since she fell asleep right afterwards. : (
What an odd chapter, but very YKK. The kind that makes you think about it for a while after reading it. : )
-k
- Kempis Curious
Wednesday, May 11, 2005
Mmm... Maybe the chapter is about Alpha and her kind is savouring life at full potential, but nevertheless the end will come, and they will vanish after their creators, "having said everything". I wonder... Somehow, sad feelings prevail in later releases ^^. Not so lyric as before.
- Drake
Friday, May 13, 2005
In the back of my mind, I can't get past the idea that someone at Afternoon just slipped in the wrong page by mistake.
- martialstax
Friday, May 13, 2005
2000GT would be awesome, but there were almost no convertibles, and it's certainly not what you'd call a "small convertible", by Japanese standards at least. The car, from what we can see, looks like an old-school roadster or a Kei car.
- Maxim
Saturday, May 14, 2005
Howdy,
The manual Alpha is reading at the start of the chapter is indeed for a "K-car" (kei-car).
Kei-cars are the smallest class of cars in Japan. Think the size of a Mazda Miyata and smaller.... The car Kokone gets a ride in is a kei-car.
Best,
Dave
- dDave
Saturday, May 14, 2005
Also, Kei cars are limited to 660cc engines (though that's changed over the years. In the '60s, it was 360ccs). The Miata is actually too big for a Kei car. Some recent Kei car convertibles I can think of are the Honda Beat, Suzuki Cappuccino and Daihatsu Copen. The Nissan Figaro is another interesting convertible from 1991, but at 987ccs, it's too big to be a Kei car.
- martialstax
Saturday, May 14, 2005
The cover of what Alpha's reading:
"Kei-Car Special Issue '98"
Does that mean the magazine was published 1998, or, 2098?
- kGo
Monday, May 16, 2005
I guess that would depend on how you interpret the manga. If you saw it as what would happen in the future, than I guess it would be 2098. I myself read the manga as if it is an alternate world but still in the same year, so to me it would represent 1998. I dunno, this manga just kind of feels like it's still in the modern age and not a futuristic time.
- Roy Zhou
Monday, May 16, 2005
>>The cover of what Alpha's reading:
"Kei-Car Special Issue '98"
Does that mean the magazine was published 1998, or, 2098?<<
If it's 1998, it continues to follow my theory that everything COULD have been brought on by the Y2K bug hence, YKK (or Y + 2 K's) :)
- Darin~
Monday, May 16, 2005
I really dont think it is the 2000 event. The term "YKK" was derived from the romanji version of the name and has nothing to do with the original name of the manga, which is in Kanji (is that it?)
- tongHoAnh
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
"Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou" is written in a cobination of kanji, hiragana and katakana.
http://ykk.misago.org/Volume8/Cover
The yellow characters read "Yokohama" in katakana. The orange characters read "Kaidashi" and are kanji/hiragana/kanji/hiragana. The pink characters read "Kikou" are are both kanji.
- martialstax
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
<<I really dont think it is the 2000 event. The term "YKK" was derived from the romanji version of the name and has nothing to do with the original name of the manga, which is in Kanji (is that it?)>>
Well, of course, I still have my tounge halfway in my cheek about it, but OTOH to say that Ashinano WOULDN'T have put this kind of hidden meaning into his title, JUST because its printed in kanji on the cover is not giving him enough credit... if the actual story itself isn't proof enough that he tends to place things right in plain sight without explaining them, then I don't know what it would take to convince you that there's a possibility I'm correct after all... ;)
- Darin~
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
Regarding the seemingly incongrous picture of Alpha and Kokone on the hillside: Looking at that part of the story, the hill is where Alpha goes "to think or not think" and Kokone mentions what she has found about the origins of the robots in sounds, etc. So maybe the sound of the engine as part of its "essence" reminds Alpha of her origins.
Wonder if she ever helped Takahiro with his mechanical explorations...
- Kerry
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
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