A gentle breeze blows past, the overgrown grass seeming to dance through it, you can near taste the saltiness of the sea. You're heading towards Cafe Alpha, a lonely, quiet cafe on a cliff overlooking a small beach. You know that on a quiet day like today, you'll be the only visitor. Alpha will take your order, and sit with you while you drink your coffee, talking to you about anything, everything, laughing, getting mad, and maybe after a while she'll just start staring off into space, deep in thought. It's hard to believe that she's a robot, with the way she moves and acts, the beauty of her mind, the music that she plays, the way she wistfully looks off into the distance. The last time you visited her, the first time, was years ago, yet she remembered you instantly. Maybe next time you visit, years down the line, you'll be considered a regular...

It's hard to put into words the way Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou makes me feel, with its constant beautiful art, most often taking up whole pages or close to it, its amazing use of colors, of silence, of sound, and of smell. The incredibly memorable characters and world; the blend of lighthearted and comfy slice of life in a quiet place where everyone knows each being offset beautifully by the knowledge that the world around Alpha is dying, or perhaps already dead. The oceans continuing to rise, whole civilizations disappeared without a word...

Alpha Hatsuseno. A robot who never grows older, who lives alone at her cafe, which gets about one visitor every three or so days. Her life is melancholic, waiting for news from her owner, who's been abroad for years, watching her young friends grow older, watching time pass all around her, but not for her. The world around her is peaceful, but somber. There's something strikingly beautiful about Alpha, behind her pretty looks and cheerful demeanor, there's an incredibly human feeling to her. The manga does well to present this to you with the use of Kokone, who, as a fellow robot, reminds the reader that Alpha is, in fact, artificial. Kokone is a more normal robot, acting less emotive than Alpha, when the two meet, Kokone is entranced by how human Alpha acts in comparison to her. There's something special about Alpha, the way she puts her emotions into playing her moon harp, the way she acts so carefree and content, the way she casually talks to everyone she meets. Everyone is entranced by her image.

The writing of the manga is superb, and very hard to talk about without also including a discussion of the art. The manga has so many moments where so little is written out in word, but so much is said otherwise, a fair handful of entire chapters with nothing or next to nothing said, Hitoshi Ashinano only using the art to communicate to you the emotions felt by Alpha, or what otherwise is occurring. These chapters may not be the majority, but they left so much of an impact on me, I found myself moved near to tears many times. When actual words are used, they're always used well, interactions between characters give you exactly as much as you need, there's never any unnecessary words exchanged. Alpha's thoughts written out to you have a beautiful feel to them, in many cases being nearly, or perhaps properly, poetic in nature. The manga doesn't shy from exploring the nature of Alpha's artificial intelligence and the way it causes her to interact with the world around her, but it doesn't go too far, it never bores the reader with any technical bits, or anything of that sort. Ashinano's use of words is superb, his descriptions of sounds, smells, and the animation of the world is so very immersive, it really solidifies the setting in your mind. His characters also benefit from this, not one isn't memorable, the friendly Ojisan who's always growing too much vegetables, the elusive Misago and her mysterious ways, the young Takahiro who's very fond of Alpha, or even the little seen characters like Nai and his airplane.

The writing is complimented greatly by the beautiful, breathtaking art throughout the manga. It's hard to really think of any particular part where the art of the manga wasn't at the absolute least good, with Ashinano not at all shying away from using the whole page as a single panel, or from having a lot of blank space showing just backgrounds, the sky, and the like in order to give the work a more gentle, and perhaps more lonely feeling. Speech bubbles, when they are actually used, never really get in the way of things too much, and in general the art isn't cluttered. When color is used, which happens more often than most manga I've read (with at least 1 full chapter in color in each volume), it's used very well, and looks very, very pretty and soft in all cases. It's hard to really describe in words just how beautiful the art is, so instead I will put here some examples:

Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou is an amazing, wonderful manga. Ashinano's use of writing, art, characters, settings, and the like are all incredibly well done, there's truly nothing I can say about this piece that is in any way "bad" whatsoever. The work was so extremely touching, emotional, introspective, and beautiful that I started crying when I finished reading it. I absolutely, 100% recommend Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou to everyone, regardless of your taste. It's more than just a simple shopping trip to pick up coffee beans, it's a journey of the self. Thank you for this wonderful work of art, Hitoshi Ashinano.