I think that instead of "prequel", you are meaning to say "spiritual predecessor", because there is no indication that the stories or worlds are connected at all. That is, unless we see little people riding on bees later in Kabu no Isaki.
Ahhh yes! I thought that was the meaning of 'prequel' with out checking the dictionary (my English is not good sometimes). Thanks for the correction.
I see two elements that support the idea that Kumabashi... is a spiritual predecessor of Kabu no Isaki. The first one is sketched in this page:
Roughly you can see here the idea that what is important when you fly is the act of fly not, for instance the time you spend on that. Later in Kabu no Isaki a similar idea seems to have bloomed in the lines said by Shirosan in this page:
"When you fly this Cub of mine the destination and such... they're of secondary importance". Isn't that line absolutely fantastic? What is of primary importance is to fly or to be in the flight.
And also in the whole chapter 14, which
"Dragonflies" nicely presents the idea: First
Shirosan is told by Isaki about Sayori and her enthusiasm for business. But she doesn't seem to be interested on it. After that in the following pages, Shirosan seems to be paying attention to the wind and to the dragonflies, and suddenly, in the middle of her conversation with Isaki,
she decides to take a ride. There's no much fuel in the cup but she takes off. And in the following pages Isaki offers the explanation of the idea:
"Just as steady as those birds up there, like a hawk, or maybe a dragonfly..." but it's not something done for fun. And after that Ashinano-sensei shows us Shirosan lets herself be driven by the wind just as dragonflies do:
And to point it clearly, he shows us that Shirosan flies with out handing the cup's rudder:
There I say the important thing in flying is to fly or to be in the flight. That idea is just beautiful and the whole manga is just magnificent in presenting it. I think that sense of freedom is what the Ashinano tries represent in Shirosan's hair in this panel, that, to me, it's like a masterpiece:
Sorry for the long post, but, ey... I had to say it. It's just absolutely magnificent...
Coming back to the spiritual predecessor topic, also in Kumabashi we can see the game with the proportions and sizes that later on it's presented in Kabu no Isaki (the tower of 3333 mt or
those giants plants in which Kajika lands).
---------- Post added at 09:46 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:38 PM ----------
This idea of being as steady as a dragonfly is something that appears again in his manga Position, in the seventh story:
It's an important topic used by the author. I don't know if that idea appears in YKK because I'm reading it now and I go just in volume 3. But I hope it appears there too.
---------- Post added July 05, 2013 at 11:01 PM ---------- Previous post was July 03, 2013 at 09:46 PM ----------
Now that I have read the chpater of the huge glider, the Tarpon, in YKK... thanks for not spoiling my reading of it. :-)
. You didn't spoil my reading at all. I share you 
