10 replies to this topic

[xsirhc]

Bit sad this has ended, and equally befuddled. Can anyone care to shed some light on the last chapter?

[Comadrin]

Uhh... How about "it is what it is?"  I didn't really understand all of it either (I'll have to reread it from chapter 1), but I sure enjoyed it, like anything written by Ashinano Hitoshi.

[Raukcaran]

Well, something to remember about Ashinano Hitoshi: his stories aren't about the destination. They're all about the journey.

 

That said, I think if you want a more concrete explanation, the most logical one to me is: Shiro somehow slid him from their world (in which everything is HUGE, as you may have noticed) to ours - possibly traveling with him. Maybe she exists in both universes at once. Maybe it's all under her control. Maybe she's been doing this with Kajika longer than she has with Isaki.

 

Or maybe, you aren't supposed to take everything literally, and you should just enjoy what is really a beautiful and touching ride. I know I did.

 

Edit: Also notice Ashinano's HUGE hard-on for airplanes. I'm super glad he was able to do a manga like this, after seeing his airplanes in YKK.

Edited by Raukcaran, 31 December 2013 - 05:42 AM.

[Xenon]

looking at the last chapter, and bringing back to http://vatoto.com/read/_/31734/yokohama-kaidashi-kikou_v6_ch53_by_mangaproject/13 from YKK, it would seem to imply that KNI is a representation of the way the world seems to the mc while exploring around with his motorcycle, afterall, as its said a few times in the manga, riding a motorcycle feels like being in a plane.

[Comadrin]

Raukcaran - really liked your post (and your picture of Alpha [one of my absolute favorite characters]).  "All about the journey" and "really a beautiful and touching ride" really sum up this manga for me (and totally applicable to some of his other manga also).  If Ashinano Hitoshi Sensei writes it, I am DEFINITELY going to read it, if I have to forcibly kidnap a Japanese linguist to do so.

[Pwnix]

I think like YKK it represents the essentially fleeting nature of human relationships. Just as in YKK between Alpha and Takahiro there is a parental or familial bond mixed and inseparable from the romantic. These things co-mingle to create the atmosphere that Ashihano seems to like. Love out of time, mistimed strangers in the night. At the same time Shiro is like the shaman helping these young people navigate their dreamtime like world and grow. Truly like YKK it is a masterful meditation on impermanence, love, beauty, and the human condition. It is also an exercise in extremely frustrating mysteries being left unsolved. That in and of itself is part of it. The mystery is beautiful itself, it helps to show me that this frustration and upstream battle to understand what does not have an answer is futile and serves only for me to miss the point, miss life. 

 

It is the happiness that only comes tucked away in the corners of profound melancholy. The slow breeze of my consciousness blows over the landscape, vibrating and ruffling in response to the emotional landscape below. The flight is that of the passenger and we are all on the flight.

[Comadrin]

Wow, Pwnix!  Mind-blowing (and slightly enigmatic) post.  I think your one sentence, "Love out of time, mistimed strangers in the night." really sums up both YKK and KNI.  Both have a melancholy running through them that make the humor funnier and yet more poignant than it would be otherwise.  Great post.  Ashinano is truly a genius of epic proportions.

[Pwnix]

Agreed. Genius for sure. Kabu no Isaki I guess ended just last year, here's hoping for something new from him on the horizon!

[Comadrin]

Your wish has been answered.  Kotonoba Drive showed up on batoto in late March, and there are already four chapters out.  By the way, I like your avatar.

[Pwnix]

You, sir and or madame have brightened my day with unexpected news! It's not even on his wikipedia page. Also thank you I like the avatar too

I can basically only read signs in Japanese because I don't know any Kanji but I am ABSOLUTELY buying every tankobon of Kabu and YKK. Gorgeous beyond compare, I  have to stifle tears looking at some if the scenery in his work. I really would like to refrain from sounding like a rabid fanboy but man is this stuff emotionally evocative.

[Comadrin]

It's sir (I am a guy).  I agree with you that Ashinano's scenery is incredible.  His landscapes are far and above what most mangaka create, with the possible exception of Mori Kaoru and Kobayashi Jin.  I think the ability to create classic comic art interspersed with Monet-esque landscapes is a very rare and precious (in the good sense) ability.  There ain't nothin' cookie-cutter about Ashinano's drawing.  And yeah, I'm a rabid (albeit old) fanboy as well.