Yotsubato! #1 by Kiyohiko Azuma (Japanese)

[populuxe]

When the mighty juggernaut that is Azumanga Daioh finished its run in Japan, Kiyohiko Azuma started a new manga called Yotsubato! The title means "Yotsuba and!"

Yotsuba is a cheerful young girl about 5 years old who's just moved to Kyoto with her father. It would appear that Yotsuba translates as four-leaf clover, which makes sense, since Yotsuba has green hair she ties into 4 small pigtails that sprout out around the corners of her head making her look like a four-leaf clover. Well, just look at my avatar, and you'll see what I mean.

Yotsuba is energetic, cheerful and happy. She lives with her dad, Koiwai-san. They have a good friend in Jumbo, a gentle giant of a man. The have four new neighbors, three sisters and their mother. Asagi is the oldest and appears to be college-aged. She's a bit of a mischievious person who likes to tease her sisters. She's quite beautiful with long straight blonde hair. Fuuka is the middle sister and in high school. She wears her dark hair short and has the personality of someone who's constantly put upon. She very kind-natured and friendly. Ena is the youngest sister. She looks to be in junior high and wears her her dark hair long. She's rather studious, but still likes to play. Their mother is apparently single and still quite young looking.

Everything to Yotsuba is an adventure. She's always talking in a loud voice and playing. When they first arrive at their new house, Yotsuba goes wandering off while the unpacking is going on. She ends up at a playground, where the swing has her completely at a loss. She doesn't know what it is or how to use it. Ena (who is still a stranger at this point) walks by and Yotsuba gets her to show how to use the swing. Yotsuba loves it, but natually takes it too far, nearly launching herself into orbit from overdoing it. When her father realizes she's missing, Fuuka, who was riding her bike past the house, offers to help look. She finds her climbing a telephone pole and offers to take her home. They take off hand in hand until Yotsuba remembers what her father told her about bad people taking children away. And now here she is with a complete stranger. She freaks out and runs away. Fuuka has no idea what's going on and chases after her, which only freaks Yotsuba out even more. They finally all make it home, and after a lengthy round of explanations, Yotsuba finally figures out what everyone's been trying to tell her. Fuuka is a neighbor, so it's okay.

Every chapter is a another adventure in Yotsuba's life. There's the broken bathroom door, hunting cicadas with Jumbo and Ena, the new tv, shopping at the department store with her dad or simply playing out in the rain. The humor is pretty much what you'd expect from Azuma, off-beat and gentle, but fun. Yotsuba is very appealing as a main character. She loves her dad, she loves her new home, she loves her new neighbors, and she loves her life. Her cheefulness and energy are infectious. The rest of the cast are all great, too. Jumbo's reaction at meeting one beautiful woman after another who all live next door is priceless, as are their reactions at meeting him.

The book is surprisingly easy to read, since Yotsuba almost always speaks loudly and in hiragana. All kanji has furigana next to it, which is a lifesaver for me. I very much look forward to this one getting licensed.

[Sly05]

I've really enjoyed what I've read Yotsubato! so far. I think I actually am starting to like it more than Azumanga Daioh and I'm a pretty big fan of Azumanga Daioh. [img]/images/graemlins/happy.gif[/img] Given that it isn't restricted to four panels like AzuDai, Azuma has more room to work with and his writing really shines here. Very, very funny stuff.

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martialstax said:
It would appear that Yotsuba translates as four-leaf clover,

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That's neat. I wasn't aware of that. There are hints of some bigger things going on with Yotsuba's past, so I wonder if that's supposed to foreshadow anything?

[populuxe]

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Sly05 said:
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martialstax said:
It would appear that Yotsuba translates as four-leaf clover,

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That's neat. I wasn't aware of that. There are hints of some bigger things going on with Yotsuba's past, so I wonder if that's supposed to foreshadow anything?

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I wouldn't think so, but the second volume came out in Japan just a couple of weeks ago. I'm waiting for it to appear at my local Kinokuniya to see what else is happening in Yotsuba's life. As for her name, I'm making an educated guess. I did a google image search for the word Yotsuba, looking for good avatar material, and I found image after image of four-leaf clovers.

[Althalus]

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martialstax said:
[...] the second volume came out in Japan just a couple of weeks ago.

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Yup, it's such a nice series... I've got both volumes sitting here on my shelf as well, although I had to rely on the scanslations for reading them, as my Japanese isn't good enough even for this level... ^^;

But then, they're even funny if you don't know what the hell's goin' on there [img]/images/graemlins/sdsmiley.gif[/img]


~Althalus

[Sly05]

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martialstax said:
As for her name, I'm making an educated guess. I did a google image search for the word Yotsuba, looking for good avatar material, and I found image after image of four-leaf clovers.

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It would make a lot of sense if it is. It would make also some interesting symbolism for some of the events in the manga. Though mind you, I could be easily reading too far into things.

[rainking187]

There's a four leaf clover in chapter 15.

[Sly05]

Yeah, that's what I was thinking of.

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martialstax said:
As for her name, I'm making an educated guess. I did a google image search for the word Yotsuba, looking for good avatar material, and I found image after image of four-leaf clovers.

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Her name seems to at least mean "four-leaves". 'Yotsu' = 'four' in old Japanese numbers, and 'ba' ('ha') means leaf. Just like the name "Wakaba" means "young leaf". My JWPCE wordprocessor has "yotsuba no KUROBAA" = "four-leaf clover". I have a hard time showing Kanji in these forums, but if you see it written that way it's pretty clear.

Either way, what a cute name, and thanks for the nice review! I need to pick this up next time I'm at Kinokuniya.
[img]/images/graemlins/happy.gif[/img]

[WeirdlyGruesome]

Nice write up MS. I was probably going to check this out because it was done by Azuma, but now I will pick this up.

[Shinigamimitsuki]

I am really enjoying this series. Anyone else really want this to be animated? I know I do!