Kabu no Isaki (Isaki's Cub) - from the mangaka of YKK

[Jiji]

I understand if there's not much interest in this; the audience for YKK was never extremely large. Mods, please delete if this is deemed unneeded.
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Title: Kabu no Isaki
Mangaka: Ashinano Hitoshi
Other works: Yokohama Kaidashii Kikou, PositioN
Appears in: Afternoon (Kodansha)
Freuency: Monthly
Genre: Slice of life, iyashi

No tankoubon published yet!

SPOILERS: Please discuss un-scanlated chapters' content in spoilers until it is scanlated and everyone can read it, not just readers of Japanese. Thank you.

Story:
Living in the boonies, one must give some thought as to how they will get around when they turn 16. Isaki is 16 and his choice of transportation is his neighbor's Piper Super Cub airplane. It might be old, but it flies well.



Ashinano-sensei draws with his usual meticulous attention to the details of the natural world and the airplanes and motorcycles, which are his own interests as well. It remains to be seen if this series is going to have mono no aware as a theme like YKK did. In fact, there are several mysteries so far:
Is this world the same world and time as YKK? Is it some time earlier than Alpha lived? Is that pretty woman their sister, or are they just calling a slightly-older woman "nee-san" like the Japanese often do?
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All right, I admit it: I'm a total YKK fanboy. I don't mean that I like it without reasons, though. I've been an English Lit major and grad student long enough to find specific reasons for why I think it's a great work of art. Nevertheless, I have to admit that I'm more likely to be favourable toward this new manga than I ought to, strictly. Still, I like it a lot so far. It still has the quiet, thoughtful air that YKK did and Ashinano-sensei does what Hitchcock does: builds character at the same time as introducing plot. He's very good at it, and he also doesn't give us very much at a time, making us hunger for more. He also gives us glimpses of little mysteries almost as throw-away details, which he may never answer at all. They're not the point. I'm just along for the ride, like a back seat in the Piper. I'm strapped in and my goggles are on. I can't wait.

[G. Zeus]

I'll bite.

Originally Posted by Jiji

I understand if there's not much interest in this; the audience for YKK was never extremely large. Mods, please delete if this is deemed unneeded.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Title: Kabu no Isaki
Mangaka: Ashinano Hitoshi
Other works: Yokohama Kaidashii Kikou, PositioN
Appears in: Afternoon (Kodansha)
Frequency: Monthly
Genre: Slice of life, iyashii

I'm not sure if it's bimonthly or trimonthly. Either way, it's going to be less frequent than YKK's releases. I also checked some online dictionaries about the meaning of iyashii

iyashii - rustic, vulgar, unpolished; mean, greedy, shabby, humble, base, mean, vile

so... That might confuse a few people.

Is that pretty woman their sister, or are they just calling a slightly-older woman "nee-san" like the Japanese often do?

Shiro-san is his neighbor, Kajika is her sister. Besides, I don't think Ashinano's quirky enough to throw in that last statement in the third page of chapter 2 (in any of his official works, that is) if the two characters were actually siblings.


Although Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou has ended almost two years ago, Kabu no Isaki seems to continue Sensei's vision of "going places and seeing what there is to see" so fans of the earlier series would probably like this one as well.

[Jiji]

Originally Posted by G. Zeus

I'll bite.

I'm not sure if it's bimonthly or trimonthly. Either way, it's going to be less frequent than YKK's releases.

When I look back at the releases, it's true they have not come out each month with the magazine. However, let's not confuse people, here. Afternoon is released monthly on the 25th. However, Ashinano-sensei has not released one chapter each issue -- so far. It remains to be seen if he will "get up to speed" with the magazine or not. BTW, there is no real pressure from the publisher to do this. There are numerous manga in monthly mags that only come out every other month or even less frequently.

Originally Posted by G. Zeus

I also checked some online dictionaries about the meaning of iyashii

so... That might confuse a few people.

My keyboard put in an extra "i" for me, but nevertheless it's odd that you would interpret it in that way.
iyashi - * 癒し 【いやし】 de-stressing; healing; RW

Let me just add for others who might possibly read this, what a lot of us are typically calling "slice-of-life" anime or manga are often categorized in Japan with this word, "iyashi". Examples include YKK, Binchoutan, Kokoro Toshokan, Aqua and Aria, just to name a few. Calling Kabu no Isaki this is just a guess. Time will tell.

[G. Zeus]

Originally Posted by Jiji

When I look back at the releases, it's true they have not come out each month with the magazine. However, let's not confuse people, here. Afternoon is released monthly on the 25th. However, Ashinano-sensei has not released one chapter each issue -- so far. It remains to be seen if he will "get up to speed" with the magazine or not. BTW, there is no real pressure from the publisher to do this. There are numerous manga in monthly mags that only come out every other month or even less frequently.

Yeah. The dates that have been mentioned so far are December and February. Some say it's because Kabu no Isaki has more pages compared to the monthly YKK. His works and his release schedule certainly aren't for the impatient, eh?

My keyboard put in an extra "i" for me, but nevertheless it's odd that you would interpret it in that way.
iyashi - * 癒し 【いやし】 de-stressing; healing; RW

It happens pretty often on the internet but I guess it shouldn't be much of a surprise given that mistakes in English are pretty common too. The most frequently seen case would probably be kawaii and kawai(sou).

Let me just add for others who might possibly read this, what a lot of us are typically calling "slice-of-life" anime or manga are often categorized in Japan with this word, "iyashi". Examples include YKK, Binchoutan, Kokoro Toshokan, Aqua and Aria, just to name a few. Calling Kabu no Isaki this is just a guess. Time will tell.

From what I've seen so far though, I think the description seems proper for the series. Besides, we're talking about Ashinano here.

[Dop]

Woo-hoo! A Kabu no Isaki section!

I first heard of this in the December 3rd edition of Journalista, and it was pretty much love at first sight. I mean, it's about flying. Not queueing for hours, having your shoes x-rayed, sitting in a cramped seat and eating horrible food while staring at the back of a seat for hours flying, but real flying - OK, with the landing on giant leaves and taking off from a ramp, possibly surreal flying, but you know what I mean. Beetling along a few thousand feet up, taking in the scenery and marvelling at it. That sense of wonder.

I mean, I've been learning to fly these last few years. Last year I had bad luck with weather, didn't get to fly that often, then my ground exams expired and I need to do them all again before I can put in for my skills test to get my pilot's licence. It's hard work, there's a hell of a lot to learn, and it's ridiculously expensive...

...Then there are the cold days, when you head off down the runway, and when you reach flying speed and pull back, the aeroplane leaps into the sky like it's happy to be there. There are the days when the visibility is excellent and you can see FOR EVER. There are the hazy days when the valleys are shrouded in mist. There are the days you and the aeroplane practically become one, like it's an extension of your body.

But to get back on topic, I felt on reading the first chapter that Ashinano-sensei understands that sense of wonder, and has written it larger than life.

That's why I loved this series from the first chapter, and why I want to read more of Isaki's flights in that old Piper Super Cub.

[fict_ticious]

Is that a mislabel? I doubt Tokyo Tower really 3000+ ft? Perhaps it is... IN THE FUTURE.
...
Oh ho, the mysteries.

[Jiji]

Originally Posted by fict_ticious

Is that a mislabel? I doubt Tokyo Tower really 3000+ ft? Perhaps it is... IN THE FUTURE.
...
Oh ho, the mysteries.

G. Zeus checked it out on another forum and

the article on Tokyo Tower in Wikipedia says that the tower is 332.6 m tall. On the other hand, Isaki describes it as 3333m tall in the manga.

In the forum the scanlators hang out at, there's been no word if that was a typo or mistranslation, and there's been some discussion of it, so there's opportunity to correct it if it was wrong. My reading of that: it's what Ashinano-sensei intended.

Which, typically of Ashinano-sensei, leaves us with a load of unanswered questions. Is it taller in the future? Perhaps all the "people" in this manga are of a similar size as the tiny man riding the bumblebee in "Kumabachi no Koto"?

And I'll bet we'll never get an answer to this, either. (Now, watch: there'll be a correction soon, making me look even more foolish. )

[NaweG]

So, does the blimp in Chapter 3 tell us anything about this world or not? In terms of it's relationship to YKK, I would find it interesting to have a Blimp AND the wonderful flying wing going through the same skies. So I'd have to think this is either before, or is an alternate universe?

[nojay]

http://www.pander.us/ykk/

is home to a forum started to discuss YKK and PositioN but it has sprouted a subforum about _Kabu no Isaki_.

One of the discussions is about what makes Isaki's world different from our own -- it does seem to be 10 times bigger, at least in geography and structures like the Oyama mountain (in real life only 1200m high), Tokyo Tower and in the latest chapter the Navy Road through Kamakura is shown to be wide enough to be used as an airstrip.

[G. Zeus]

Originally Posted by NaweG

So, does the blimp in Chapter 3 tell us anything about this world or not? In terms of it's relationship to YKK, I would find it interesting to have a Blimp AND the wonderful flying wing going through the same skies. So I'd have to think this is either before, or is an alternate universe?

There are some similarities such as the aircraft and the giant butterbur, persimmons, chestnuts, sunflowers, etc. but the man-made structures in YKK didn't get the same supersized treatment as in Kabu no Isaki so I doubt it if it's in the same world.

Originally Posted by nojay

One of the discussions is about what makes Isaki's world different from our own -- it does seem to be 10 times bigger, at least in geography and structures like the Oyama mountain (in real life only 1200m high), Tokyo Tower and in the latest chapter the Navy Road through Kamakura is shown to be wide enough to be used as an airstrip.

I don't think there's any need to sweat over the technical details though since Ashinano himself never gives complete explanations for his works. What I think is more important is the message that the author is trying to deliver to come up with such a premise.

Originally Posted by nojay

http://www.pander.us/ykk/
is home to a forum started to discuss YKK and PositioN but it has sprouted a subforum about _Kabu no Isaki_.

Most of us who have replied to this thread are already members there but dragging a few discussions out into the open (here at AnimeSuki) might draw in new readers.

[NaweG]

So I notice the Pander site has been "down for maintenance" for a couple months now. Is anyone else working on this? I presume that it's still ongoing Any feel for how popular it's turning out to be in Japan?

[mako1138]

The YKK forum is still down, it seems. Is anyone in contact with the "gnomes" who were working on KnI? I'm willing to take on this project, but I wouldn't want to replicate other folks' efforts.

[mako1138]

I have been referred to another forum: the Old Home Bulletin Board. Hopefully we can get this moving again.

[aaronibus62]

I've read the scanlations that have been produced up til now and there are only a couple that were really worth the time to read.

For me, stories featuring Shiro seem to be the best.
Shiro is a funloving sort even though she loves giving Isaki a hard time (though I wonder if she has feelings for him despite his being 16... see more below in Isaki comment). I so wish the series were Kabu no Shiro instead of Kabu no Isaki. I don't think she's as wicked cool or lovable as Alpha from Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou yet she's got her own charms.

Shiro leaves me with questions about why she stopped flying for the most part, though she did fly solo one night on chapter 11 and flew in another with Isaki where Shiro teaches Isaki flying techniques in another chapter.
In chapter 9, Isaki asks Shiro about a shipment of parts Isaki delivered but says coyishly "it's a secret." I bet Shiro's building an even better cub! :-)

Isaki doesn't interest me as much tho I was impressed by him in chapter 9 with his thoughts about Shiro's store. He may be 16 but he's got an old soul in him despite being sometimes rash and slightly "punkish". If allowed to age in this series, provided time passes like it should, I'd rather see Isaki with Shiro than either Kajika or Sayuri (because neither of them impress me).

My big complaint is that, by volume 4, KNI is off on an epic storyline with Isaki, Sayuri and Kajika apparently lost and trying to find their way home.... Shiro gets some cover treatment yet otherwise doesn't appear, a complete downer for me.
I guess Ashinano wanted to avoid creating another "Alpha" with Shiro....?

As for everything being 10X larger, that aspect of the plot turns me off. I really don't get anything out of it. If Ashinano were to throw in a twist, like, Isaki and the others are more or less cohabiting their world with giant humans (take that to mean an Ashinano spin on the old sci-fi series "Land of the Giants"), it might possibly be more interesting..... but I found the YKK universe to be more believable.

I honestly wish Ashinano would get the wayward kids home and focus on the friendship between Isaki and Shiro. They seem like a good fit at least as friends, and if he wants to add a little heat with no fulfillment like he did a couple of times with Alpha and Takahiro, I think KNI would be all the better for it.....

Personally, I'd like to see Ashinano give us a YKK spinoff.... Why not focus on Nai, Takahiro, Maki and (either as an occasional guest or regular) Maruko, since she has friendships with both Nai and Makki?

Oh well, Ashinano does what Ashinano wants to do, and that's ultimately what I desire for every mangaka. He decided not to copy his former boss and mentor Kosuke Fujishima, whose "Oh My Goddess!" is going on 23 years, but, whether I agree or not, that's his choice.

If Ashinano doesn't take KNI in a better direction, then I hope he ends it soon. I really don't want to see it go 100+ chapters because, even at its best, I don't think it deserves it (unless he suddenly goes in a new and intriguing direction.... he just could...).

Guess I'll continue pouring through the raw scans as they pop up.
Ashinano is still worth the time if even to look at the pics. He's got a style I so wish was the norm with manga. Too many mangaka seem to either overdraw their characters or dress them way too elaborately (Oh My Goddess! being a case in point).

What next, Ashinano? :-)