Howdy,
The Elves have been restless lately. You can find their latest offering over at:
http://cafealpha.org/
Be sure to say thanks.
Cheesecake equal T minus three.
Best,
Dave
- dDave
Saturday, September 3, 2005
I hope that elves' degree of restlessness keeps steady... at least till they catch up the recent chapters. But, who can foresee elves' intention? Not me.
So.... we have muscle motors, whatever they could be, and they are usedfor both robots for motors... no wonder they can connect and communicate so easily...
...though we knew from the beginning that camera's lenses and robots' eyes were the same technology....
By the way, Isn't Kokone's personality becoming more and more Alpha-like?
- DavidF
Saturday, September 3, 2005
Good work as always.
Muscle motors? Interesting.
- martialstax
Saturday, September 3, 2005
Elves - Thank You! - you are good, good, good!
I happened to glance at an artical at the grocery store last week about artificial muscle. I think it was in "Popular Science". I didn't spend much time on it but it's basically some synthetic fiber that contracts in responce to electric current. Maybe I'll try to find that issue again.
I remember the color "extra" that had the scooter race mentioning that the scooters they were using were electric. Ah.. Here it is:
http://ykk.misago.org/Afternoon2004/105
But these are not the scooters Alpha and Kokone use normally.... Were they rented scooters?
(pls excuse sp errs!)
- outsideking
Saturday, September 3, 2005
Thanks to the elves for another interesting chapter!
Hmm the idea of muscle engines sounds amazing. But would they be less efficient than the conventional engines, if they are for running scooter wheels instead of moving limbs?
Also, if the muscle engines have to run on gasoline, would it mean that the robots can also obtain their energy in the same way? Maybe to them, a cup of gasoline is as good as a few nutritious meals. (Alpha can consider getting some gasoline from Ojisan and offering them to the robots, esp Maruko, who visit her cafe... Just joking ^^)
By the way here is the link to an "Popular Science" article on artificial muscle. It was published back in 2003, though. So it probably isn't the one mentioned by Outsideking.
http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/ptech/10/09/popsci.muscle.man/
P.S.: for the scooters in the coloured extra, I think they are not the usual ones, as they are run on electricity instead of gasoline.
- Doraneko
Saturday, September 3, 2005
Ah!! Thanks to the wonderfull Elves for satisfying my YKK fixation! :)
I don't think the muscle moter's run on gas as you say as Kokone's scooter was always electric...? something...
- blizgerg
Saturday, September 3, 2005
Looks like Kokone is getting wanderlust like Alpha did. Maybe she is working up to emulating Alpha's wanderyahr. Is Ashinano hinting this with the "Solo" title (aside from the single muscle fiber tie-in)?
And she seems to be flying - with the cycle- in one frame!!??
- Kerry
Saturday, September 3, 2005
Alpha's scooter has always been gasoline, and Kokone's has always been electric. The two scooters in the Alpha/Maruko scooter race appear to be Ashinano just having some fun.
- martialstax
Sunday, September 4, 2005
Thanks for another splendid chapter.
Just curious, where does this chapter take place? We see another distinct landmark that gives me the impression it is well known and a busy place today, like the Yokohama tower.
- C_P
Sunday, September 4, 2005
Many thanks to the elves, once again! The translation as usual puts the visuals of this chapter in a whole new light. The apparent flying I think is a way of conveying the same sort of feeling as described in "Elevation: 1m".
- Smarasderagd
Sunday, September 4, 2005
Is it just me, or is there a bit of a sexual overtone? Just when she turns the key, it's a bit suggestive, and then the guy selling the bike comments and then asks if he was being rude. It seems to me that Kokone isn't asexual, in fact I think none of the robots are really totally like that, just they seem to be different than humans... Maybe because they have to learn everything all on their own. They way they react to certain foods is like drugs in a way - the super black sugar definitly - it's different things than humans, and it's all new to them, unlike humans where we have cultural norms. It's interesting, though I don't know where it will go.
It also seems that Kokone is getting a little more brave. It took Alpha a long time to work up the courage to go away for a while. Now it seems that Kokone is getting more adventurous too. She must have some experience travelling for her job, but still she seems like a cautious person overall. If she takes the bike, though, she'll have to take different routes than Alpha. Of course, she might go to completely different places. It's still not clear where all the electricity comes from, and the state of most of the country is totally unknown. If she took the Tokaido (if it's still there), she would end up in Kyoto, which I wonder about because it's more inland - is it possible it survived mostly intact?
Whatever happens, it will be interesting.
- adamatari
Monday, September 5, 2005
There have always seems a subtle touch of sexuality/sensuality... When Kokone showed her new electric Scooter to Alpha, she also felt that "akward sensation"... and both appeared to be quite embarrassed when commenting it
Regarding Kokone's trip. I got the impression that she was quite surprised by getting so far, somehow she didn't intend to but got carried away with her improved bike...
- DavidF
Monday, September 5, 2005
I agree there has been some implied sensuality about the startup of Kokone's electric scooter in previous episodes. But in this one it seemed different, and she referred to it as being shocked. (I assume the translation means an electric shock, rather than "very startled").
My deepest thanks to the elves for their hard work on this issue!
- Silverback
Monday, September 5, 2005
Howdy,
>But in this one it seemed different, and she referred to it as being shocked.
Don't read too much into it. The literal translation is the "the snap of the key", so the usage of "shocked" is a translation artifact.
Best,
Dave
- dDave
Monday, September 5, 2005
The mechanic guy saying "some areas" are like the muscle motors and then wondering if he was being rude.... that kinda seals it for me that the scooter does give a cheap sexual thrill when it is started.
It is a good feeling, whatever it is, or otherwise Kokone would have wrapped the key with electrically-insulating tape or something like that in order to avoid it.
The robots' sexuality isn't talked about much in this manga, and I admit it's the thing I've been thinking about most from this chapter. *^_^* But I was wondering, is this also the first chapter in the series to have an English title?
-k
- Kempis Curious
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
There have been two previous chapters with English titles:
Chapter 52: NIGHTBIRD
Chapter 94: echo
- Carn
Wednesday, September 14, 2005
And chapter 131 has the English title "air."
I find this chapter's title interesting. Not only do we have Kokone exchanging her two-muscle engine for a single-muscle engine, but we have Kokone on her own, reflecting on the differences between her and Alpha. I wonder if Kokone is attempting to be more independent, more like Alpha?
- martialstax
Wednesday, September 14, 2005
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