Hitoshi Ashinano

Pure joy

I’ve been wanting to read this manga for ages, but couldn’t find it anywhere. And then, lo and behold! Here they were, deluxe omnibus English editions – three volumes have been published, out of five planned. Yaaaaaaay!!!!!!

We are in a dystopian world, there has been a disaster of some kind. Yet everyone and everything are getting by. Everything is slow, pastoral… and slowly declining. Everything is about cherishing the beauty and fragility of every moment.

Alpha is an android show more girl who runs a café by the sea (how the café manages to survive is a mystery to me – but no matter, this is not the point). Customers come. There are conversations, stories told, and small adventures. I loved the joyful found family vibes. I loved Takahiro and his grandpa. There is a lot to smile about in little everyday things – when grandpa happens to have too many watermelons, for example, he drives around giving them to *everyone*. It wasn’t quite clear what Alpha did with hers ;)

How was it possible to create so many beautiful scenes? When Alpha played her moon guitar, I swear I could hear the music. The friendship between Alpha and Kokone is lovely. In just a few images, a few words, the book conveys the necessity of finding ways of being yourself, ways that don’t have to be “human”.

The art is amazing, it shines and sings from every page. There were panels I wanted to hug. It was like basking in the sunshine after long winter. This manga is precious, and I am so happy to own it. show less

Once again, there is so much to love about this manga. There is the slow, pastoral world. There is appreciation of everyday beauty. There are quietly emotional, contemplative scenes. The art is so evocative, I could hear the wind, feel the sunshine, smell the sea, hear the seagulls.

Alpha’s café gets blown away by a summer typhoon. So she decides to go wandering, take odd jobs and earn some money for rebuilding. I loved her journey of wonder and discovery. An especially memorable episode show more was the one in which Alpha got to fly in an airplane for the first time in her life.

I like how Hitoshi Ashinano gives the readers glimpses of the other characters and slowly makes them more and more real. For example, there is a scene when Kokone receives a letter from Alpha. I didn’t see the contents of the letter, but I saw so much joy.

This manga makes me want to see beauty everywhere.

And do you know what the best part is? I have volume 4 omnibus on my bookshelf, and volume 5 is to come out this August. show less

The manga where nothing ever happens manages to turn a destructive typhoon into an excuse for the main character to go walkabout around post-apocalyptic Japan. There are no mutants or scavengers or bandits or anything; it's just a nice walking tour for her that takes her all the way to Mount Fuji. And then she goes home to pick up the nothing she was doing before right where she left off.

There are some guns brandished and mentioned though, so perhaps Chekhov's law will force something to show more happen one day.

Since I'm already past the halfway point, I guess I'll stick it out and just look at the pretty pictures. show less

It has a quietly enigmatic storyline: Things are not stated explicitly, but very subtly. For example, the main character is an android. The first hint of this is an off-hand remark by another character. There is nothing overtly robotic about her - except for when she is given a camera and puts the cord in her mouth to see what the camera is seeing. The landscape is quite empty of people, and the tops of submerged buildings and a coastal road being washed out hint at environmental disaster. show more The main character runs a cafe with few customers. She drinks coffee and tea. There are additional figures, the Osprey and the flying fish/bird creature, whose presence again indicate that this is our world subtly changed. show less