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manga criticism: Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou
Mar. 17th, 2009 10:53 pmMore good manga criticism. (See the previous post on Pluto.)
The Hooded Utilitarian, which I have recently begun reading, and have come to love, has been having a roundtable discussion by its contributors on Hitoshi Ashishano's Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou (Record of a Yokohama Shopping Trip) (aka YKK), a lovely, peaceful, pastoral manga about a coffee-house owner named Alpha who rides around on her motorcycle taking pictures of the gorgeous rural landscape, occasionally serves coffee to the odd visitor, and who, because this is manga, which is still heavily shaped by Tezuka, happens to be a robot. The setting is a future Japan, altered by, we think, global warming; the populace is thinning, but no one really seems all that stressed. The mood and the method are understated. It's a fan-favorite in my circle of the manga-reading interwebs, we who don't necessarily worry too hard about scanlations (YKK has never been licensed, and, sadly, probably never will be), and have excellent taste, and who read and love good stuff like Usamaru Furuya manga, and Ai Yazawa manga, and of course, Naruto.
Bill Randall, bless his heart, likes YKK, but calls it "reactionary" (he makes a coherent argument for that, but it cracks me up, if only for the pure shock value. This is why I love reading good criticism: only there will you see concepts like "pastoral" and "reactionary" discussed together and in a way that makes sense). Dirk Deppey, who, at present, authors The Comics Journal's blog, Journalista, and is a vocal fan of YKK, takes exception to the "reactionary" thing, which prompts more discussion on The Hooded Utilitarian, and Deppey saunters over at some point to weigh in some more. I realize this sounds like I'm dryly describing a wankfest, but all of these people appear to like and respect each other, and the entire discussion is polite, despite the fact that Deppey happens to be at political odds with I think the entire Utilitarian crew. It's a great sequence of critical exchanges, sort of what I think criticism is when it's working right and no one is ego-tripping. Informative, insightful, and yes, important. Gorgeous.
In sequence:
I: The Hooded Utilitarian: Warm Apocalypse
II: The Hooded Utilitarian: The Past Will Drown the Future
III: The Hooded Utilitarian: Quiet Inn Late in Day (A)
IV: The Hooded Utilitarian: Quiet Inn Late in Day (B)
V: The Hooded Utilitarian: Desire is Suffering
VI: Dirk Deppey at Journalista suggests chilling out to better get it (scroll down)
VII: The Hooded Utilitarian: YKK Fight! (1)
VIII: The Hooded Utilitarian: YKK Fight! (2)
IX: The Hooded Utilitarian: Reaction
My absolute, hands-down favorite in this whole thing, is when Berlatsky links to Deppey's initial commentary thusly: "[Dirk] thunders his fist down upon our placid roundtable and accuses us all of being insufficiently mellow."
If you don't feel like reading them all (none are terribly long), pick a Utilitarian column at random and read it; each is strong on its own merits.
The Hooded Utilitarian, which I have recently begun reading, and have come to love, has been having a roundtable discussion by its contributors on Hitoshi Ashishano's Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou (Record of a Yokohama Shopping Trip) (aka YKK), a lovely, peaceful, pastoral manga about a coffee-house owner named Alpha who rides around on her motorcycle taking pictures of the gorgeous rural landscape, occasionally serves coffee to the odd visitor, and who, because this is manga, which is still heavily shaped by Tezuka, happens to be a robot. The setting is a future Japan, altered by, we think, global warming; the populace is thinning, but no one really seems all that stressed. The mood and the method are understated. It's a fan-favorite in my circle of the manga-reading interwebs, we who don't necessarily worry too hard about scanlations (YKK has never been licensed, and, sadly, probably never will be), and have excellent taste, and who read and love good stuff like Usamaru Furuya manga, and Ai Yazawa manga, and of course, Naruto.
Bill Randall, bless his heart, likes YKK, but calls it "reactionary" (he makes a coherent argument for that, but it cracks me up, if only for the pure shock value. This is why I love reading good criticism: only there will you see concepts like "pastoral" and "reactionary" discussed together and in a way that makes sense). Dirk Deppey, who, at present, authors The Comics Journal's blog, Journalista, and is a vocal fan of YKK, takes exception to the "reactionary" thing, which prompts more discussion on The Hooded Utilitarian, and Deppey saunters over at some point to weigh in some more. I realize this sounds like I'm dryly describing a wankfest, but all of these people appear to like and respect each other, and the entire discussion is polite, despite the fact that Deppey happens to be at political odds with I think the entire Utilitarian crew. It's a great sequence of critical exchanges, sort of what I think criticism is when it's working right and no one is ego-tripping. Informative, insightful, and yes, important. Gorgeous.
In sequence:
I: The Hooded Utilitarian: Warm Apocalypse
II: The Hooded Utilitarian: The Past Will Drown the Future
III: The Hooded Utilitarian: Quiet Inn Late in Day (A)
IV: The Hooded Utilitarian: Quiet Inn Late in Day (B)
V: The Hooded Utilitarian: Desire is Suffering
VI: Dirk Deppey at Journalista suggests chilling out to better get it (scroll down)
VII: The Hooded Utilitarian: YKK Fight! (1)
VIII: The Hooded Utilitarian: YKK Fight! (2)
IX: The Hooded Utilitarian: Reaction
My absolute, hands-down favorite in this whole thing, is when Berlatsky links to Deppey's initial commentary thusly: "[Dirk] thunders his fist down upon our placid roundtable and accuses us all of being insufficiently mellow."
If you don't feel like reading them all (none are terribly long), pick a Utilitarian column at random and read it; each is strong on its own merits.
