Just read this all new fresh chapter... thx for the translation (as ever) ^_^
But... i just have a strange feeling after reading it... YKK seems to be... some kind of sad these last chapters. It's not nostalgy, it's another feeling... Can't really describe it..
I have a question in mind i can't take out : are we getting to an end ? It doesn't really looks like it, but... many people are leaving, like the other Alpha model, Takahiro... I'm pretty sure something is coming to an end. Maybe not the manga itself, but something's going to stop. I'm going to watch (and trying to read) the few next chapters...
Don't you have this kind of feeling too ?
- JMG
Friday, October 24, 2003
it isn't calmness or nostalgia in this chapter.
It's the feeling of knowing someone so good that you don't need words to know what they want to say.
maybe he wnts to have a calmer volume to follow up with something more 'active' in a YKK kind of way.
- Wim
Friday, October 24, 2003
We're clearly in a transitional period. People are going away: Director Alpha has left for the southern hemisphere, Takahiro is moving away, Makki is probably going to leave with Ayase soon...
I've also wondered if this is presaging the end of the series. Perhaps things will end as they began: Alpha living alone, waiting for her friends to return. That seems too downbeat, however; perhaps we'll end with Owner coming home at last.
Or maybe this is just another step along the journey. Alpha's shop was destroyed in the storm, and life went on. This, too, is a natural part of the progression of the series.
Many of the themes of this series are particularly pertinent to Japan today. Japan is one of the most crowded countries in the world, but it has a declining population; the deserted world reflects uncertainty as to what the future brings. Many small towns are dying as young move away to find jobs in the cities, leaving parents and grandparents behind. Seen from this perspective, the departure of Takahiro and Makki seems inevitable; it reflects the concerns and worries of modern Japan.
- dn
Friday, October 24, 2003
Thanks dn for this answer, i wasn't aware of the worries of modern Japan. And of course, those chapters are really pertinent with that matter of facts...
YKK always tries to show us that we should discover the world around us... Alpha did, but not Takahiko & Makki. They growned up, that's true, but did they discover the world around them yet ? They're leaving childhood right now.
Well, we'll see in time what will happen. The author drives us somewhere, let's follow him ^^
- JMG
Saturday, October 25, 2003
The last few chapters do seem like they are closing off standing plotlines; while it could be that Ashinano could be preparing chapters to broaden our worldview, much like Kotone's stories in Musashino or Alpha's trip, the atmosphere has been one of endings rather than beginnings.
-Daniel
- darodrigues
Saturday, October 25, 2003
I am sad my prediction is coming true. Back when Alpha found the abandoned cofee machine that still worked, I surmised that there may have been some for shadowing. The coffee machine had been completely left behind, yet it still worked. However, it had no purpose until Alpha came and used it.
If everyone leaves Alpha alone, she will continue to function, but what will here purpose be? And how long will it be until someone returns to make her needed again?
I know there are some people who know more about YKK than I do and will take issue with these musings, but this is what I see.
- Steven Robinson
Sunday, October 26, 2003
Who knew a coffee machine could be so upsetting.
- Ced
Sunday, October 26, 2003
Reply to this topic
Topic list