Yotsuba&! (Volume 1)

"Nice to meet you!"

“Yotsuba&!” follows and chronicles the (nearly) daily adventures of lovable, energetic girl Yotsuba, a child whose outlook on life is so amazingly, contagiously positive that you have no choice but to smile along with her.

And that’s what this manga series is all about: telling the common adventures of an insanely positive child, all the while making you laugh along with her in the process. It’s a genius- yet so simple- formula: yes, the comedy does mainly center around the main character’s flubbing of basic speech (or just her basic misunderstandings of just about everything), but it’s just such a winning comedic formula that I just see myself giving myself into the comedy joke after joke.

The art is equally fantastic as well, taken into account that this is the author’s (Kiyohiko Azuma) first real out-of-the-box art style, given that his last previous large work was in the 4-koma style, a style in which the jokes are spanned only across 4 top-to-bottom panels, which doesn’t really allow for that many free-roam setting drawings. It’s vibrant, well-angled, and, above all, amazingly drawn, making the only real downside here the fact that it isn’t in full color (all the time, at least).

As mentioned earlier, this series chronicles the daily life of, well, Yotsuba, but what does that exactly mean? Daily, as in most of the days are the same, or daily, as in almost every single day in Yotsuba’s expanding childhood? Well, you’d actually be pretty surprised to hear that (just as I was) the path this manga takes is the latter, and not the former. You read that right: this series captures nearly every single day of this select time in Yotsuba’s life. And it’s not by putting the date directly on the page either: the author himself weaves various connecting threads (one chapter ending on one scene, and the next opening up just hours- if not earlier- later, “That happened yesterday,” etc.), making “Yotsuba&!” a surprisingly connected experience. Granted, it’s not like the series is gearing up for a huge, overarching plot or anything, but it’s still a nice observation all the same.

What else is there to say? “Yotsuba&!” is a downright fun series, and with great comedy, amazing art, and, overall, just plain endearing characters to boot.

9/10- With hilarious comedy, a great art style, and a cast that you can’t help but love, “Yotsuba&!” is just one of those series that you can’t help but laugh along with.