Yotsuba&!

Volume 1
by Kiyohiko Azuma

I can see right away why people compared this manga to Bunny Drop. Both are about a girl being raised by a young man who's not her father. This story is a lot more casual and fun. It really made me laugh in some parts. Starts out with Yotsuba moving with her adopted dad to a new house- we meet the little girl just as abruptly as her new neighbors do. She's energetic, crazily enthusiastic about nearly everything, and oddly surprised at everyday objects like - swings in the park, air conditioner unit in her neighbor's house, items on the shelf in the store. You get the idea there's some strange story to her past. At the end there's a small revelation- basically the dad found her while travelling abroad, admired her spunky optimism and brought her home.

He's quirky himself. Obviously a guy who never grew up- but in a completely different way from the father-figure in Bunny Drop. The banter between him, Jumbo (a friend who's really tall) and Yotsbua makes you realize these guys know each other well... In this volume Yotsuba meets lots of new people, wanders the neighborhood into a park (her dad doesn't seem alarmed when she just goes off on her own), learns about global warming (and thus for a brief period thinks a/c is evil), gets locked in the bathroom, goes shopping with her dad- usual kid stuff, right? But then they all go on a cicada hunt. Yotsuba wants to catch the biggest one. This was my favorite chapter. So fun.

Rating: 3/5       208 pages, 2003

more opinions:
Puss Reboots
Musings on YA Libraries and madness