A weekly look into American otaku culture

One of the best sleeper hits for me was a manga that featured a couple of high school girls on the cover. It looked so cute that I knew it would be my kind of manga. When I brought it home and opened it up, I was surprised to see that it wasn’t like anything I’ve read before. It was a collection of four-panel comic strips that told a linear story. But after reading the first couple pages of this quirky comedy about high school girls, I was hooked. Azumanga Daioh quickly became one of my favorite manga at the time, and I feel it to be one of the best series of all time. But I thought that I had seen it all, considering that all of the manga and anime has been out for quite some time. So, man, was I surprised to see this new title on the shelves the other day while at my local Borders. I wasn’t even aware that it was licensed in the US! But is it as good as it’s predecessor? Well, I believe it is, and maybe even a little better!

Yotsuba&! is Kiyohiko Azuma’s follow-up to Azumanga. It’s the story of a naive little girl, Yotsuba, and how she observes the world around her. The book starts off with her moving into a new house with her father, and we’re introduced to the family living next door, a mother and her three daughters. While the mother is very dull, each of the daughters have their own cute personalities that often clash with each other. The oldest is the pretty one, Asagi, and the youngest is the smart one, Ena. But probably the most important daughter is the middle one, Fuka. She’s not that pretty and draws some pretty bad artwork, but she’s very helpful and polite.

Fuka: We should take this next door for them to sign.
Mother: Mm.. Alright then. Do it for me, will you?
Fuka: OK. I’ll be back.
Mother: You’re such a good girl, Fuka. You do your mother proud.
Fuka: Ha ha. um… it’s no big deal.
Mother: Asagi on the other hand… she’s worthless. You know, she ate my ice cream last night. I’ll never forgive her for that.

Yotsuba and her father are also friends with a really tall person with the nickname Jumbo. Jumbo has to be one of the coolest characters in all of manga history. He has some of the funniest lines in the whole book.

Mother: YOU’RE HUGE! What happened to you?
Jumbo: My dad’s ancestors were giraffes.
…
Asagi: It must be difficult finding clothes in your size, huh?
Jumbo: Bah! Clothes! Who need’s clothes?!
…
Ena: YOU’RE HUGE! Oh, I’m sorry. I- I mean, you’re tall.
Jumbo: ROWRR!

If you hadn’t already noticed, Azuma has a very unique sense of humor. However, I feel that it does translate well to the foreign audience. He’s quirky, there’s really no other word to describe him. He has one of his characters do something very strange, and then all the other characters react to such bizarre behavior. Azuma’s hollow-eyed “in-shock” expressions have now become common in other anime series. Ken Akamatsu’s latest series, Negima, would be the best example of this.

How Yotsuba&! differs from Azumanga is that since the title character is just a naive little girl, her ridiculous behavior can be just considered, “oh, she just doesn’t know any better.” In some cases it’s considered more cute then funny, which may be a positive thing for this series. But every once in a while you’ll get the adults acting up to remind you that everyone crazy in the world of Azuma. Take, for example, this exchange between Yotsuba and her father when he put a pair of boxers over his head:

Father: I AM BOXERMAN!
Yotsuba: Boxerman! We meet again!
Fuka: What do you mean, “again”?
Father: Which way is up? Which way is down? I do not know!
Yotsuba: Curse you, Boxerman!

The only gripe I have would be the English title of the book. I don’t know why the guys at ADV would chose such a translation for it, but God is it an eyesore!!! The Japanese title is “Yotsubato!” with “Yotsuba” being the name of the main character and “to” meaning “and.” So the title is meant to be read “Yotsuba and…” with each chapter title filling in the rest. “Yotsuba and Moving”… “Yotsuba and Manners”… “Yotsuba and TV”… you get the point. So yeah, the title does make sense in that respect.

But an ampersand?!? Who the hell uses an ampersand anymore?!? That is a very, very poor and unnecessary decision on ADV’s part. I understand that they couldn’t leave it as “Yotsubato!” because it wouldn’t work with the chapter titles that way. But still, they should have just done it as “Yotsuba and!” or maybe just put a damn space before the ampersand. Yeah, it’s still difficult to read and understand, but it’s a hell of a lot better then trying to read “Yotsuba&!”

But that still doesn’t bring down one of the best books to come out this year. If you were a fan of Azumanga, Yotsuba is a must have book! With loveable characters, great punch-lines, and the most quirky humor out there, I can’t stress how much I just LOVE this book! (^_^)

Please support this series by buying Yotsuba&! vol. 1 at Amazon.com or your local bookstore.