From the back cover:
Hello! This is Koiwai Yotsuba, Yotsuba Koiwai… um, YOTSUBA! Yotsuba moved with Daddy to a new house from our old house waaaaaaay over there! And moving’s fun ‘cos people wave! (Ohhhh!!) And Yotsuba met these nice people next door and made friends to play with. I hope we get to play a lot. And eat ice cream! And-and-and… oh yeah! You should come play with Yotsuba too!

Review:
I’ve learned through experience to be dubious when someone tells me that something is funny—oafs being oafish seem to be the standard of humor these days, but that sort of thing has never appealed to me—so imagine my delight when Yotsuba&! actually lived up to the hype.

I probably don’t need to describe the setup, since I’m the last kid on the block to get around to reading this title, but it’s essentially a slice-of-life story about the daily adventures of a permanently happy and curious five-year-old girl named Yotsuba. Yotsuba encounters something new in each chapter—prompting titles like “Yotsuba & Moving,” “Yotsuba & Global Warming,” et cetera—and never fails to greet these things with enthusiasm.

There really isn’t much plot aside from this. We do learn that Yotsuba is an orphan who was taken in by the fellow she now regards as her father, but her sad origins are not really the point. Instead, the story focuses on the wonder she finds in everyday things. The second chapter, for example, is a gentle farce in which Yotsuba accidentally gets locked in the bathroom, escapes through the window, wanders the neighborhood in her pajamas, and discovers the magic of doorbells. “A person came ouuut!”

While Yotsuba is the source of much of the humor, other characters do elicit some laughs, too. Most of the jokes arise out of either the situation at hand or some kind of universal observation, which I really like. I’m particularly fond of the silly song Yotsuba sings after a charmed ramen proprietor gives her an egg on the house: “Free! Free! This egg came out—and we were like, WHOA!”

Sometimes Yotsuba’s curiosity does cause her to misbehave, like when she and her father take a trip to the department store and end up disturbing other customers. On one hand, I sympathize with the parent who might find her antics headache-inducing, but at the same time, it feels like such a shame to have to scold her for her unrestrained behavior. Most of us were probably at least a little similar to Yotsuba at this age, but we learned to obey the rules of polite society and can now claim to be civilized. Are we happier for it, though? Knowing that Yotsuba will one day change offers a bittersweet counterpoint to the hilarity.

In the end, I add my voice to the chorus of those singing the praises of Yotsuba&!. While I own the other volumes currently available in English, I’m going to take this series one at a time to better savor its charms.

Yotsuba&! was originally published in English by ADV, but fell into licensing limbo after five volumes. The license was rescued by Yen Press, who, in addition to picking up where ADV left off, also reissued the first five volumes with a new translation. The series is still ongoing in Japan and is up to nine volumes there.

Review copy provided by the publisher.

Just in case you were uncertain about what kind of manga this is, the volume opens with five color pages containing about a dozen bra and panty shots and one profile view of bountiful, nude bosoms.

The main storyline involves a not-too-bright boy called Kentarou Sawai who lives in a building with a bunch of girls of varying character types. He’s in love with Karen, the pretty caretaker, and doesn’t realize that the bespectacled Arai is really his childhood love. Chapters are brief and focus on uninspired scenarios like “Kentarou is ill and must eat the foul concoction prepared by the girl he likes” or “Kentarou’s sister visits and to avoid being recognized, Arai dons a mushroom costume.”

The characters are all incredibly shallow and none of the comedy is in the least bit amusing. The tone does get a little more somber right near the end, but the angst is so sudden and over-the-top that it comes across as more ridiculous than compelling. Plus, it’s hard to take it seriously when, two pages later, a girl wearing a maid’s outfit and thigh highs trips and sprawls across half a page, exposing her undies in the process.

It’s probably to be expected that female fans of this title will be few, since women are obviously not the target audience. I certainly don’t begrudge the fellas their right to eye candy, but must it be so vapid? I really looked for something to compliment, but aside from the cover, which I think is pretty, I couldn’t find a thing.

Review copy provided by the publisher. Review originally published at Manga Recon.

I’m not a particular fan of moe, but Sunshine Sketch, a 4-koma series about a group of girls living in an apartment building across from the art high school they all attend, is actually better than I thought it would be.

It wasn’t a good sign when the character introduction page summed up each girl in three sentences, including facts like “She is always on a budget and hungry,” but the strips within seldom rely on these traits for punchlines, so it turned out not to be so bad. Instead, most of the chapters are about everyday things like failing an exam, greeting some new first years, or looking forward to trying a new dish at the cafeteria only to find it sold out. Nothing objectionable occurs and there aren’t any obviously pervy elements (aside from an exhibitionist teacher, the one character I actively disliked) to remind one that this series runs in a seinen magazine.

The main problem is that Sunshine Sketch is boring. Here’s the plot of one chapter for an example: Yuno fails her grammar exam and must take a make-up test. She studies. She passes. The end.

The best chapter in the volume is one in which the gang takes a trip to a home improvement store because one of the new first years wants some curtains. Mangaka Ume Aoki perfectly captures the feeling of vague creative inspiration that such places can induce. If only the whole volume had been the girls checking out doorknobs and dish towels, I probably would’ve liked it more.

Review copy provided by the publisher. Review originally published at Manga Recon.