La pequeña Yotsuba se ha metido a los lectores españoles en el bolsillo gracias a su simpatía y sus travesuras. En este tomo nuestra amiga aprende a montar en bicicleta, a llegar al estante más alto, a usar la cinta adhesiva... La vida es toda una aventura cuando la ves desde los ojos de la niña del pelo verde.
Kiyohiko Azuma (東清彦 or あずまきよひこ Azuma Kiyohiko) is a Japanese manga author and artist. His most well-known work is Azumanga Daioh. His current series is Yotsuba&!, which is serialized monthly in Dengeki Daioh magazine.
Let's face it: Yotsuba&! will always be the sweetly endearing, slightly off-kilter, forever hilarious manga we've come to know and love. Kiyohiko Azuma has created a comedic juggernaut here, and there are no signs of it slowing down or shutting off any time soon. You would think that by volume five the jokes would slow down or stop being funny? You'd be wrong. Volume six is one of the funniest volumes by far, and introduces a new item into young Yotsuba's world that promises much more hilarity down the road: a bike. Yes, a child's bike with training wheels and a basket and a tiny bell - which means that Yotsuba is now mobile, ladies and gentlemen. The town she lives in is about to get a lot more hectic, I think.
While some volumes have spread out the love evenly between the cast members, this volume is all about Yotsuba. It does not suffer from moving its focus back from its ensemble of characters back onto its main protagonist, especially when the adventures she gets into are so amusing and quirky and so very Yotsuba. Her curiosity about the world can make anything exciting - from drinking fancy milk to making a bookshelf. Her big bike trip to deliver Fuuka some milk turns what could have been a simple trip into a big, world-expanding adventure that not only lets us as readers see more of Yotsuba's world but also shows us Yotsuba's first proper rolling steps into city life and places new to her, like bridges and schools. Any slice-of-life manga that can make things like those interesting deserves all the gold stars in the world.
The best thing about Yen Press' release of Yotsuba&! over ADV manga's handling of the series - that is, other than the superior translation and the honorifics being kept in dialogue - is that they add a preview of the following volume at the end of the book. For a series like this, it's almost a must. After all, once you finish one book, the only thing you want to do is get your hands on the next.
World: Amazing art that makes this series so special. The emotions! World building is small and intimate and through the eyes of Yotsuba making is familiar but magical.
Story: Fun little tales of work and play and bicycles. Laugh out loud at times and heartwarming at times, this series continues to be a cute and charming slice of life. I really enjoyed the little smiles when Yotsuba was learning to ride get bike.
Characters: Nice little character moments. Nothing major but what we have are tiny small things that seem mundane but are actually quite precious.
I JUST LOVE THIS SERIES!! Yotsuba will probably be the most adorable and loving girl you can read about in a novel. She's a little girl eager to learn more and more about the world. In this book she learns more about recycling, organization, delivering things and how to bike. My favorite part of this book is when Yotsuba pretends to work with her dad and she actually knows a lot about businesses. She had a tie on and she was making little business cards. She's just so adorable! She also made a bunch of signs all around the home such as "laundry" on the washing machine and "don't run" on every step of the stairs. She found a snack in the refrigerator and wanted to eat it really badly but her dad said to wait until 3. She did but she ate all of it and didn't leave any for her dad. She ran over to her neighbors house so her dad won't yell at her. She is a smart little girl that knows her ways to life. I strongly recommend this book to anyone because it's just great!
Once in awhile parts of the ditties in the Yotsuba books get almost too cloyingly cute. However, they are more than outweighed by good stuff. The third story here might have been my favorite one so far. I really did laugh until I cried. Yotsuba goes on a bike ride with the teenage neighbor and her friend and the results are hilarious.
Five Years Later
I didn't laugh as much as I did the first time, but that is me, not the stories. Yotsuba gets a bicycle in the second story and that drives a lot of the fun in other stories here too. I was impressed by that actually. And damn, this author is amazing at finding humor in the everyday.
I read the first 5 volumes an age ago and have finally got around to reading volume 6. I have loved every single bit. It's got all your favourites, plus the evil Yanda, eater of noodles. If you can read this book without loving it then there is something wrong with your head!
Chapters: 35,36,37,38,39,40,41 . Yotsuba is learning about school and homework's and Recycling she did a cute funny shirt with so many useful stuff on it :D She has a Bicycle now and she tried to have her own milk delivery serves .. I'm really in love with this girl .
This was one of my favourite Yotsuba&! mangas to date, for sheer enjoyment factor. I laughed out loud, sent a couple of my favourite sections via snapchat to my boyfriend, and read the majority of it in half an hour. Oh, and I'm now craving a bike ride and a glass of milk. Wonderful.
Toujours aussi mignon et adorable, Yotsuba passe le cap de l'apprentissage du vélo !
Par contre je ne peux pas m'empêcher de me faire la réflexion que son père à un problème niveau attention portée à son enfant, elle sort de chez elle un peu comme elle veut à 5 ans, moi j'aurais déjà fait plusieurs attaques le long des 6 tomes. Dans ce volume c'est flagrant.
Eeeee! Yotsuba! is perfect for a crappy day! Reading these books never fails to brighten my mood.
Yotsuba gets a bike in this volume and goes on a bit of an adventure. She has fun, but there are a couple of scary moments (at least from a mom's perspective) but everyone came out okay. I love how she talks and has the typical little kid mentality of not being afraid to speak her mind. I think my favorite line from this book was when she was explaining to Jumbo that she couldn't ride her bike because she was "dirted." Koiwai (her dad) said, "Grounded. She's grounded."
These books are always a fun, quick read and MUCH needed after the clunkers I've been reading.
Yotsuba gets a bike! She's prone to trouble for sure, and we see her first real punishment here, where she is grounded for a time due to her hijinks. Super cute, and will make you think back on those days before adulthood and even before school...
I loved this book! The illustrations in it are amazing and so is the humor! Yotsuba even went to Fuuka’s school! Yotsuba got a bike,too. This book is brilliant! Thanks for reading this review!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
This series is really hitting its stride. I read this one to my children recently, and they loved it. The slice of life nature and aspects of life in Japan are really resonating for me and my family.
At long last, the next volume of Yotsuba& has been released under a new publisher, after the demise of ADV Manga. Yotsuba&, Volume 6 continues the slice of life hijinks of Yotsuba with her child like innocence and fun of life, with hilarious results.
Compared to the volumes released under ADV Manga, Yen Press seems to release a higher quality publication on better quality paper with a more faithful translation, as some of the puns are explained in their Japanese context (as opposed to ADV Manga, which would try to 'Americanize' it and write themselves into a corner when that same pun comes back at a later volume under a different context). Although the simple cover art had me worried at first, once I started reading the volume, I found the story to be as engaging as before.
Overall, it's good to see this series continued, as it would have been a shame to see it relegated to publication limbo. For those who are not familiar with the series, it's probably best to start from the beginning, though due to the slice of life nature of this series, it doesn't hurt to try this volume first. You just won't get as much of the humor out of it, as opposed to having read everything before.
It's official, the Yotsuba&! manga series is the ABSOLUTE best thing ever. I just cannot get over how great it is. I rushed to order the rest of the volumes that are out (7-12), and the agonizing wait for them to arrive continues. Go get and read these NOW!