The last two eligible years in the Best Of competition had been good to Kiyohiko Azuma’s Azumanga Daioh. A favorite series of both fans and critics alike, this highly praised series had received a lot of good words from people, and in my own in house yearly awards (The Best Of Awards) it had won twice for Best Manga and once for Best Anime for it’s respective years (2003 and 2004).

But Yotsuba&!(?) It hasn’t been so blessed, especially with the long hiatus it suffered through from 2005 to today with it’s relaunch in July of 2007. But that is all done with now that your wait is over, with Yotsuba making her return this July with a brand spankin’ new Volume 4 on it’s way to you!
ADVManga is proud to present the return of Kiyohiko Azuma’s “Yotsuba&!”, and I am proud to refresh your memory as we look back at reviews past and new reviews. This week it’s Volume 1 & 2, with Volume 3 coming next week!

And once again, if we are getting back into knowing the Yotsuba it’s time to know that one little thing about the title that you might be still perplexed with… how do you pronounce “Yotsuba” anyway? (and why is the title “Yotsuba&!”, aka Yotsubato?)

Well, according to Mr. Chris Oarr of ADVManga, you pronounce “Yotsuba&!” like this… “yoh-tsoo-bah-toh”… huh? Confusing? One more time, slower…
Yoh (Yo) Tsoo (tsu) Bah (ba) Toh (&, which can be written as “to”).
Yoh-tsoo-bah-toh (Hence why it‘s “aka Yotsubato”)

So why isn’t the title just “Yotsubato”? Well, actually look at the way the Chapters are written (and still written to this day). Each Chapter is entitled as following… “Yotsuba & Moving”, “Yotsuba & Manners”, “Yotsuba & Global Warming”, and the recently non Yotsuba title “Asagi and Souvenirs”, etc. And you’ll notice that the “titles” (moving, manner, etc) are printed in exclamation marks. So, for instance, the first Chapter is “Yotsuba & ! (moving)“, with the word “moving“ in an exclamation mark. So the title, Yotsuba&!, is a play on the chapter introductions (from my POV in anycase).

Second…
Yeah. You might notice when you see Yotsuba, the main character, that she bears a striking resemblance to Azumanga Daioh’s Chiyo-chan (except she has four ponytails instead of two, and her hair (if you see color images of her) is green). I think I bring that up every review, so why not bring it up one more time.
Sure, you can forget any connections to Chiyo-chan, she is not Chiyo-chan, but still… I keep mentioning it all the same regardless. She looks like Chiyo, but is even more out there than Osaka, and has her childlike innocence and curiosity here where the super intelligent Chiyo-chan seemed to be lacking the purity that Yotsuba has. That and I’m sure we’ll never see any crossovers with Azumanga Daioh though a trip to Okinawa in Volume 2 DOES seem to have abit of ties to Azumanga Daioh’s trip (of which I’ll compare to Azumanga Daioh Anime Episode 21, Field Trip, later in this review).

“This is the work of an artist at the top of his game, with the crisp linework, comic timing, and wacky point of view that have made Azuma an international sensation.” (Chris Oarr, ADVManga)
That is a statement in truth if I ever heard one. Now let’s get into it once again.

Graphic Novel 1
Yotsuba & Moving(!)
It’s been awhile, hasn’t it.
Only this time it’s been sometime that has passed since we’ve first seen Yotsuba hit the marketplace running soon after the ending of Azumanga Daioh. Maybe you avoided it because you thought it was a knockoff of Azumanga Daioh (with it’s Chiyo-chan looking girl), or maybe you just thought it’d recycle all the old jokes of Azumanga Daioh… if you thought that you’d have been wrong, and would be missing a real gem of a humor title that stands on it’s own merits (with it’s own humor all it’s own).

Let’s remember once again how Koiwai met Yotsuba.
One day there was a man named Koiwai, a translator by trade, and one day while traveling abroad in foreign countries he “met” a girl who caught his attention, so much so he became her “father” and raised her as his own. This, in short, is a story of Yotsuba’s origin told in this story… but how much of it is true?
Maybe more than you know, because as Yotsuba and her father move into their new neighborhood it seems that Yotsuba is rather new… to the whole planet.

Yes, school is out for summer and Yotsuba is seemingly out… of her mind.
She is inquisitive, curious, not much of a clue about the things we take for granted, yet the kind of person who’ll steal your heart and befuddle your brain at the same time! And she also looks like Chiyo-chan but she is most certainly NOT Chiyo-chan, just so you know!

Oh, and besides her father she also has another “family” member in the family friend Jumbo, who is one tall dude… way tall… sorta like a basketball player whose a nice guy. You’ll meet him here for the first time. You’ll also hear about some “other guy” named Yanda but he never shows up (which will change when Yotsuba&! Volume 5 shows up in the near future) and so forget about him.
Anyway as this is the first day in the new neighborhood you meet the neighbors, a woman and her three daughters (who’ll become regulars of the series) named Asagi (oldest), Fuka (middle) and Ena (youngest).
In fact their first meetings with Yotsuba triggers the “Running of the Yotsuba”.

When Ena first meets her she’s in a nearby park, puzzling over the riddle of park swings. One thing leads to another and… : )… uh, you have to see this.

Meanwhile Fuka is meeting with Yotsuba’s dad… yeah, he’s not an alien cat despite what Sakaki thought of Chiyo-chan’s “dad” from Azumanga Daioh… then again… anyway she says she’ll keep an eye out for her and find her she soon does, only Yotsuba has been raised to not go off with strangers and she thinks Fuka is a stranger and… well… it’s off to the Running of the Yotsuba from there!

Yotsuba & Manners(!)
Yotsuba still needs to get used to a few concepts… like the concept that she now lives in a house other than the house she used to live in. Once she’s past that she’ll learn the riddle of buzzers that summons people out into the streets, as well as bond with Fuka some more… too bad nobody told her the bathroom door is broken and… : )… uh… some places do allow you to order your copy in advance… go on, order it. Really. Don’t just sit here reading this, go pre-order a copy! It’s that good!

Yotsuba & Global Warming(!)
Today it’s the mixed signals concerning the A/C! That’s air conditioner to you and me by the way.
Yotsuba doesn’t understand what the strange device in her neighbor’s house is that makes the house so cold, so getting mixed signals about how good it is, and then how it causes global warming (from Ena) just is not good for Yotsuba… it’ll set her off like nobody’s business and then watch out!

Yotsuba & TV(!)
No, no, she’s not going to be on a reality TV show… no show could hold her… except maybe the anticipated Yotsuba&! Anime Series… there is one, right? Anyway it looks like the neighbors are going to give Yotsuba and her dad a TV they’re getting rid of so they’ll come over to pick it up, and they’ll bring Jumbo along which will lead to lots of panic since it seems the neighbors haven’t seen someone like Jumbo before… go figure.

Yotsuba & Shopping(!)
So far Yotsuba has been kept restrained to her own neighborhood, but that is about to change as she is set loose amongst the consumers in a local shopping district! Be afraid, oh consumers, be very afraid!
(Or just get ready to laugh out loud, one or the other!)

Yotsuba & Cicadas(!)
What? You don’t know what cicadas are? You never played Animal Crossing during the Summer or seen the right Animes before? Well, now you’re about to find out what cicadas are, and why the wisdom of Blathers should have been headed when he warns… warns… hmm… something about not opening the insect cage indoors… wonder what the warning could be…

Yotsuba & Rain(!)
It’s the end already? But wait… there’s more!

Yotsuba&! Volume 2
Yotsuba & Drawing(!)
Yes, being honest in your critique of the work of others is an important thing.
It helps you, it helps them, it helps everyone… it helps even more if you do said critique with several thousand miles and an entire ocean between you and said critique (like me!)
However it seems Ena’s friend Miura didn’t get that memo because (when she, Ena and Yotsuba go to the park to draw) she decides to critique Yotsuba’s artwork harshly… turning the day into a very bad day.
Hopefully somebody can come along and save the day.
Oh, and a possible alternate title for this chapter could have been “Yotsuba & Heelys” (you’ll see)

Yotsuba & Revenge
In this very special Gunslinger Girl somebody has armed Yotsuba with a water gun (after her exposure to crime drama TV) and she has gone on a water gun shooting rampage of her neighbor’s house… why… why must the neighbors “die”? And yes, like Khan we’ll see Yotsuba learn the valuable lesson that vengeance is not best served in any way (cold, hot, in water, etc) especially when she returns to report her “death” in her quest for “revenge”… eh?

Yotsuba & Cake(!)
Yes, there will be cake. And there’ll be Asagi. And strawberry theft. Things go bad from there.

Yotsuba & No Bother(!)
Shh! Yotsuba’s dad needs his beauty sleep… NO BOTHER!
(What? Wake him up before Yotsuba graffitis over his face The Warriors style? NO BOTHER!)
(NO BOTHER NO BOTHER NO BOTHER NO… what? Move on? NO BOT-- I mean OK.)

Yotsuba & Pools(!)
Before I go further I have one question.
How the hell old is Jumbo and is it even legal for him to have the hots for High School Senior Asagi?!?
Oh… Yotsuba and the gang go to the pool and lots of near drownings occur (not Yotsuba though, unlike Chiyo-chan she actually is pretty good at swimming… unlike the other three near drowning victims).
Now about Jumbo…

Yotsuba & The Frog(!)
Yotsuba is deathly afraid of those strange “Scarecrow” things that look like target bulleyes.
Miura is deathly afraid of frogs.
Guess what happens when the two fears collide painfully.
Something is going to be maimed because of this event! Get out the needle and thread!

And Finally…
Asagi & Souvenirs(!)
The only story to date that mostly does NOT involve Yotsuba, Asagi has returned from her senior trip to Okinawa and has brought souvenirs. Souvenirs that have ties to a similar trip taken by the Azumanga Daioh gang (which became Azumanga Daioh Episode 21, Field Trip). That’s a long story though, so maybe I can write it as an article one of these days.

You’re not listening to me, are you? I don’t think I can rave enough about this title, though I guess I should because if I raved about this title more it wouldn’t have gone into such a long hiatus between 2005 and now! Once again, hopefully to turn some more sales on this title because I can’t take another long hiatus without Yotsuba(to) here’s some more words of praise from Mr. Oarr on this read… (from the original Volume 1 review way back when).

Mr. Chris Oarr (ADVManga)
“Little Yotsuba is a green-haired and wide-eyed girl who doesn’t have a clue… about anything! She’s the perfect comedic foil, and if anything Yotsuba&! Is an even better example of Azuma’s absurdist humor than Azumanga Daioh. It is an “all ages” title in the truest and best sense of the word. No matter how old you are, you can’t help but laugh out loud reading Yotsuba&!”

I couldn’t agree more with that sentiment… too bad more people didn’t believe me.
Yotsuba&! is a truly priceless treasure of a read, this one has the most beautiful writing laced with genuine humor that really makes you laugh (or in my case smile widely since I’m not really the laugh out loud kind of guy), and is a brand new addition to your nightstand for that nightly read that’ll put you to bed in a good mood. A wonderous read, filled with characters that are lovable and who’ll easily find a place in your heart as character you enjoy reading about (now that it‘s making a comeback with Volume 4 this July)!

With storytelling that is divine, artwork that is beautiful and captivating (sorry, no 4 panel strip format ala Azumanga Daioh), and a cast of characters you’ll never forget this is a series you must have because it demands a place in your collection! Without a doubt Kiyohiko Azuma’s latest Yotsuba&! Is a wonder to behold and something you have to read to believe. It’s all good, without a shadow of a flaw or something negative to push readers away, a must have for all ages that is for the ages. Just plain excellent!

Yotsuba&! Volume 1 & 2 both get in equal measure two 4s... Out of 5.