i borrowed the 1st volume of yokohama kaidashi kikou, which is a post-apocalyptic slice-of-life manga about an android who runs a coffeeshop and hangs out with her besties as society totally collapses around her and humanity gradually goes extinct around her. it is one of the most beautiful things i have ever read.
i have never had a manga affect me so profoundly, although i haven't read a lot of it. for starters there are so many beautiful panels of this sleepy post-apocalypse world where everything is slowly getting reclaimed by nature. oh my god it is so gorgeous. the entire vibe of everything is so bittersweet and powerful. it feels like watching an extremely beautiful sunset.
i'm not sure how to describe what this manga is exploring thematically. it's extremely clear, just hard to articulate i think. the condition of experiencing an ending. finding beauty in grief, i think. this version of the apocalypse isn't "everything sucks and we're all dying" it's very much "humanity is quietly saying goodbye." it resonates on an emotional level a lot more than on a political or environmental activism level. i would say that for me, it hits really hard when i think about it in relation to my mom dying, which is happening right now. kind of a long, slow, beautiful goodbye. realizing how beautiful things are as you lose them. figuring out how to move forward and thrive when literally everything is collapsing.
there's a second volume in print, but after that it hasn't been fully officially translated. i might try to read more online, but i usually don't like doing that so who knows. there's also an anime that i might check out.
5/5. recommend a thousand percent. thanks lane for letting me borrow xo