よつばと！
Yotsuba&! Volume 12 Review

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Yotsuba&! is the one I look forward to most, simply to escape from a world of stupidity all around me to one of innocence. Of all the manga purchases I make, there is no doubt that

There are five stories in this manga. The first story has Yotsuba house sitting at the Ayase home when Tora comes by to visit  Asagi. Tora has never seemed that comfortable with Yotsuba, but you can see her warming up to spending time with Yotsuba, even taking the time to show Yotsuba how to tie a bow knot. I’d like to see more of Tora becoming more fond of Yotsuba and warming up to her even more in the future.

The second story has Yotsbua and Koiwai visiting Jumbo, where Jumbo is painting a table. That gives Yotsbua the idea to paint the kitchen table at home. She tries not to make a mess, but does so anyway.  I love the kid logic here in that Yotsuba thinks that if she paints the table, her dad will be happily surprised. I also liked how when Yotsuba saw she was dribbling paint on the floor, she thought to put down newspaper. When she tread into the paint with her socked feet, she takes her socks off to not make them messed up. In that regard, she is pretty clever. Koiwai laughing at Yotsuba’s panic over not getting the paint off her hand was hilarious. Yotsuba’s fear (and later depression) over not getting the paint off her hands for life is punishment enough.

For the third story, Yotsuba and Koiwai go grocery shopping, then shop for a bicycle helmet for Yotsuba, followed by cleaning up the paint on the floor, then dinner, then fun with Yotsuba’s new helmet. This story is one of those awesome things about Yotsuba&! in that this chapter picks up the aftermath of Yotsuba’s painting adventure. At the same time, this is really a chapter about nothing more than Yotsuba and her father spending a late afternoon and evening together.

In the fourth story, Fuuka and Hiwatari dress Yotsuba in a pumpkin outfit for the mostly unknown Halloween. Fuuka and Hiwatari then do some dressing up themselves and escort Yotsbua to a couple of places for trick-or-treating. This is so sugary-sweet (pun intended), and humorous since the Japanese don’t celebrate Halloween. That said, Yotsuba cleaned up quite a bit for only hitting a couple of places.

For the final story, covering the final two chapters of the manga, cover Yotsuba, Koiwai, Jumbo, Yanda, Miura, and Ena going on a camping trip. I’ve never been camping before, but I almost feel like I have now, thanks to this story. I loved how the girls were put in charge of making the curry, yet Ena mostly dropped out thanks to getting oil splashed on her clothing. Yotsuba failing at cooking marshmallows over the fire made me laugh.  I was reminded of the first time I ever cooked marshmallows with my family over a bonfire as a kid. Good times.

Regardless, all of the other elements of the story were just a lot of fun from the girls being in the sleeping bags to Yanda scaring them with a stick and claiming it is a snake. I loved every moment.

On the Yen Press side of things, this volume is literally packed cover to cover, thus there are no extras. (Not that this matters since Yen Press’s normal extras are just ads for other manga.) The Japanese honorifics are retained as usual and there are the occasional margin notes.

As usual, when I read a volume of Yotsuba&!, I always have a warm, fuzzy feeling inside. It is just a shame it will be a long wait until the next volume.