Customer Reviews

Yotsuba&!, Vol. 6

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It's been a long wait for fans of Kiyohiko Azuma's "Yotsuba&!", but the sixth volume is finally here. And it's every bit as charming as the first five. These chapters feature the precocious five year old learning about recycling, getting a new bike, playing milkman, and helping to build a set of shelves. All of the scenarios maintain the slice of life feel of the manga, and I got a lot of laughs out of each of them.

Fans who read the first five volumes from ADV will notice some changes in the translation. Honorifics such as "onee-chan" are used, but translation notes are given. A little more jarring is the way Yotsuba refers to herself in the third person. This is probably more faithful to the Japanese version, but speaking in the third person is more common in Japan (though it has the same cute, innocent tone). It may seem a little strange to American audiences. I'm used to seeing manga characters talk this way, but it still affected the way I looked at Yotsuba. It took away from her sharp intelligence a bit. It's hard to ignore, even though I'm aware that it's just something lost in translation.

But it's a small complaint, not really that noticeable. The new translation is pretty true to the old one, even with some small differences. Yen+ has released their own translation of the previous five volumes along with this one, and I recommend that new fans read those instead of the ADV versions. This should make any translation problems less noticeable.

Overall, another cute, hilarious volume of "Yotsuba&!". It was definitely worth the wait.

So basically everyone with any heart at all loves Yotsuba&!. When ADV stopped putting out volumes I was crushed, but my happiness was restored when I heard Yen would be picking it up.

Then I bought it.

Third person. THIRD PERSON. Ugh! It really takes away from the image I had of Yotsuba: A whip-smart young lady with an undeniably precious innocence. Her calling herself Yotsuba is degrading, and it seems contrived. Yotsuba does not need assistance in being cute! ADV's translations were often spotty but this is one tradition I wish Yen had kept. And if, perchance, they read these reviews, please consider changing it for future volumes.

Jarring fonts. Yotsuba often speaks in a different font from everyone else. There's a rule for any sort of design, and that's use as few fonts as possible. Once you start throwing fonts in willy-nilly, things just get messy. While different fonts are used in the original versions of many manga (and look to Viz's translated Honey and Clover for a great example of English fonts being used like the original), Yotsubato! neither has nor needs this. It's not that sort of comic. Using different fonts for effect is fine, but one character should not have their own special font independent of everything else. Anyway, tangent.

The copy on the back of the book gets on my nerves, too.

But! Before you pounce on me saying I hate it, I don't. I love Yotsuba, her world, and the sense of innocence she brings back to my jaded adult life. When Yotsuba is waiting for her father to get the eclairs for snack time, I felt suspense. When she took her job very seriously and put signs on everything, my heart lightened. On her milk delivery, my heart went out to her father, yet also smiled at Yotsuba's sweet and straightforward nature. I don't know how Kiyohiko Azuma can do it.

In short, this volume has its flaws, but none of them are from the pen of the creator. Everyone should read this manga, for in Yotsuba's world, every day is the greatest day. Try to take that to heart.

Overall I still like this series a lot. But the translation does not seem fully suited to the lighthearted nature of the work, and the quality of the art seems to be slightly degraded compared to the past 5 volumes. Too many frames look like they were rushed leading to a very inconsistent feel that seems to pop in and out of the straight style the artist normally uses. These are just minor things, not enough to keep me from buying it, but worth pointing out in a review nonetheless.

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.

I can't wait for the next volume to be published.

As always, Yotsuba&! is an incredibly great manga. It is very fun, laid-back, cute, and the artwork is awsome. One of my favorite stories in this volume was when Yotsuba takes off, all by herself mind you, on a bike ride to the school where Fuka Ayase goes to so she can give her some realy yummy milk. You wont be sorry for buying this :D

With the beginning of autumn, Volume 6 marks a sort of narrative transition of the long-running series "Yotsuba&!" While the comic is as funny and delightful as ever, bolstered by creator Azuma Kiyohiko's slick storytelling and vivid portrayals of characters, and the 5-year-old heroine Yotsuba is cute and adorable, two big things take place in her ever-joyful daily life.

One is that she has a bicycle now. For a little child like Yotsuba, this is a life-changing event, and she goes out riding her small, brand new bicycle to the places where she has never been before. Naturally, her "adventure" becomes a little bit bigger, especially when she intends to deliver delicious milk to Fuka, who is at her school.

The other significant change is that summer is officially over. It is September and school is in session. (In Japan a new school year begins in April, so Yotsuba will not go to school until the next year, as Daddy says.) You may have noticed time is slowly moving on in the comic's world, and little girl Yotsuba's world is getting wider, as the recurrent motifs of riverbanks and power lines suggest.

A few words about English translations of Yen Press edition. As the previous reviewer says, Yotsuba in Yen Press books sometimes refers to herself as "Yotsuba," not "I" or "me." So she is often heard to say (in volume 5, for example), "Yotsuba likes cicadas" (Yen Press), instead of "I like cicadas" (ADV). Which is better is strictly a matter of taste, but as to her apparently peculiar use of third-person name as first-person pronoun - faithful to the original Japanese version - it is nothing unusual among the Japanese kids at her age.

Still, translation is a tricky business and I regret that some of the jokes seem to have been lost. One example will suffice. On page 38, Yotsuba says "Led by a great man, off I went!" Actually, she is singing a Japanese children's song "Akai-kutsu" ("Red Shoes"). The famous song is about a little girl led by "a foreigner" ("ijin") - not "a great man" ("ijin") - a sly joke that even some Japanese readers fail to catch.

But these "lost in translation" parts are not many, so enjoy the comic and its stories, which captures what it is like living a life in Japan with a four-pigtailed girl with a gift for finding fun and joy in everything she sees.

Book came in excellent condition. Took a little long to ship, but over all I would recommend.

Yotsubato is still funny. I am glad that Yen Press picked this up since it is a series I find a lot of fun reading. Yotsuba gets into more trouble and causes headaches for some around her. Yen has changed some things in how translations work. When Yotsubato first came out there was a 'Translator Notes' section in the back to reference Japanese aspects we might not have been familiar with however toward the end they removed such notes. With Yen they have the notes with the images so there is no need to reference the back for more information the only minus is that it does nto get as deep in explanations.

I was given the third volume by a friend years ago, and have been in love with Yotsuba since then. Well, until Yen Press started publishing it.
I used to laugh out loud while reading every volume, regardless of whether I'd already read it before. I used to think Yotsuba was adorable, but also very mature. Most importantly, she was funny.
Starting with volume 6 (as ADV manga published 1~6) she just seems like an unintelligent brat. Instead of laughing and rereading each part, I put this one down before I even finished. The differences between the two versions are like night and day, and I would not recommend reading the Yen Press ones at all, even if it means stopping at volume 5. (The only reason I'm even giving this two stars is because the previous volumes by ADV Manga were amazing).
Because it's a more literal translation, you lose a LOT of what the manga is trying to get across. While the third person (for example) as mentioned by other reviewers, is commonly used in the Japanese language, it does not translate well to English. This seems to be the trend throughout all of Yen Press's translation decisions, which really takes out the the aspects of Yotsuba we all loved from.
Needless to say, I won't be buying any more from Yen Press.

I own all the previous 5 Yotsuba books and I'm delighted that the series is not dead in the West.
I actually really like the new translation and the more accurate and expansive SFX notes.
The artwork seems fine to me and the first person usage of Yotsuba entirely appropriate.
I'm English and I've spent time in Japan so go figure ...