At
first Yokohama Shopping Trip seems to take place in a normal countryside
setting, but all is not as it appears. Whole cities have been flooded and it seems
some kind of catastrophe has occurred not a long time ago. The story follows Alpha,
a gentle female robot, long left behind by her owner, and now running a quiet
coffee shop. Yokohama Shopping Trip is a slice-of-life show where not much
of importance seems to happen. While the mystery of the flooded cities is not
explained, we do slowly get to know Alpha better. She's a very friendly girl,
a tad shy, and a bit on the emotional side. Being a robot she finds it surprising
to experience all these kinds of emotions, but she isn't one to repress them,
instead she treasures them.
The show starts with
a courier appearing with a package from Alpha's owner. It's a camera, and the
rest of the show has Alpha trying to find images worth taking a picture of. It's
a story of self-discovery; quiet and moody. Watching Alpha is quite an enjoyable
experience, though sometimes it does get a tad boring (one segment has her making
coffee and drinking it. It's only 10 minutes or so, but since nothing much happens...).
The art is absolutely gorgeous, especially the backgrounds. The animation is also
quite detailed yet subtle. It's a shame only 2 episodes were ever released. More
episodes were planned (and rumored to be actually made), revealing more characters,
and perhaps providing even some answers, but I guess the first 2 OVAs just didn't
sell that well. The manga is still running (up to 9 volumes as of this writing),
so you might want to check that out as well.
