Yotsuba Koiwai

Infobox animanga character
series = Yotsuba&!


caption = Yotsuba & sunflowers (on the cover of volume 1 of "Yotsuba&!")
creator = Kiyohiko Azuma
age = 5
gender = Female
relatives = Koiwai (adopted father)

nihongo|Yotsuba Koiwai|小岩井 四葉|Koiwai Yotsuba, also known as just nihongo|Yotsuba|よつば|, is a fictional character from the comedy manga series "Yotsuba&!", as well as the one-shot manga "Try! Try! Try!", both by Kiyohiko Azuma. As the title character of the series and almost every chapter, Yotsuba is usually the focus of each episode; most stories revolve around her meeting, and often childishly misunderstanding, a new concept or activity indicated in the chapter title. She is noted for her childish energy, unusual , and iconic appearance.

Development

Yotsuba first appeared in a one-shot manga and two webcomics called "Try! Try! Try!" published in 1998, where she appears substantially the same as at the start of "Yotsuba&!" [cite web | title=Try! Try! Try! (manga) | url=http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=4647 | publisher=Anime News Network | accessdate=2007-09-22] [cite web | title=Try! Try! Try! (manga) - Trivia | url=http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=4647&page=22 | publisher=Anime News Network | accessdate=2007-09-22]

Appearance and personality

Yotsuba is drawn as a small girl with green hair done in four pigtails, giving her somewhat the appearance of her namesake, a nihongo|four-leaf clover|四葉のクローバー|yotsuba no kurōbā. She has a carefree and energetic personality, taking delight in simple matters even as she learns about all manner of things in her daily life.cite web | title=Yotsuba&! vol. 1 | url=http://www.animejump.com/index.php?module=prodreviews&func=showcontent&id=639 | author=Chad Clayton | publisher=Anime Jump! | accessdate=2007-08-11] cite web | title=Yotsuba&! Vol. 1 | url=http://www.readaboutcomics.com/2005/03/24/yotsuba-vol-1/ | author=Greg McElhatton | publisher=Read About Comics | accessdate=2007-08-11] cite web | title=Yotsuba&! Vol. 4 | url=http://www.comicsreporter.com/index.php/briefings/cr_reviews/8824/ | author=Tom Spurgeon | publisher=The Comics Reporter | accessdate=2007-08-11] In Japanese, Yotsuba's dialogue is written without kanji, making it seem simpler and more child-like, and in a typeface that gives the impression of speaking with high intensity. Her energy is noted by other characters, especially members of the neighboring Ayase family. [Mentioned by Asagi in chapter 3, Fuka in chapter 13, and Mrs. Ayase in chapter 14; in cite book | last=Azuma | first=Kiyohiko | authorlink=Kiyohiko Azuma | title=Yotsuba&! | series=Volume 1 | year=2005 | language=English | publisher=ADV Manga | isbn=978-1413903171 and cite book | last=Azuma | first=Kiyohiko | authorlink=Kiyohiko Azuma | title=Yotsuba&! | series=Volume 2 | year=2005 | language=English | publisher=ADV Manga | isbn=978-1413903188 ] Her father says of her carefree nature, "She can find happiness in anything. Nothing in this world can get her down."cite book | last=Azuma | first=Kiyohiko | authorlink=Kiyohiko Azuma | title=Yotsuba&! | series=Volume 1 | chapter=Chapter 7: Yotsuba & Rain | year=2005 | language=English | publisher=ADV Manga | isbn=978-1413903171 ] However, when deeply frightened or upset, she does cry, [For example, in cite book | last=Azuma | first=Kiyohiko | authorlink=Kiyohiko Azuma | title=Yotsuba&! | series=Volume 2 | chapter=Chapter 13: Yotsuba & the Frog | year=2005 | language=English | publisher=ADV Manga | isbn=978-1413903188 ] and she has an unexplained fear of anything resembling a bullseye. [cite book | last=Azuma | first=Kiyohiko | authorlink=Kiyohiko Azuma | title=Yotsuba&! | series=Volume 1 | chapter=Chapter 5: Yotsuba & Shopping | year=2005 | language=English | publisher=ADV Manga | isbn=978-1413903171 and cite book | last=Azuma | first=Kiyohiko | authorlink=Kiyohiko Azuma | title=Yotsuba&! | series=Volume 2 | chapter=Chapter 13: Yotsuba & the Frog | year=2005 | language=English | publisher=ADV Manga | isbn=978-1413903188 ]

At the start of the series, Yotsuba is shown as having very little knowledge of the world around her, even for a young child. Things such as swings, doorbells, cicadas, and air conditioners all fascinate and confuse her, [Swings: chapter 1; doorbells: chapters 2 and 4; cicadas: chapters 6, 24, and 27; air conditioners: chapter 3; in cite book | last=Azuma | first=Kiyohiko | authorlink=Kiyohiko Azuma | title=Yotsuba&! | series=Volume 1 | year=2005 | language=English | publisher=ADV Manga | isbn=978-1413903171 and cite book | last=Azuma | first=Kiyohiko | authorlink=Kiyohiko Azuma | title=Yotsuba&! | series=Volume 4 | year=2007 | language=English | publisher=ADV Manga | isbn=978-1413903454 ] although she is not perturbed by her ignorance. She occasionally mispronounces new words and creates neologisms, such as nihongo|"Yotsubox"|よつばこ|Yotsubako as a portmanteau of "Yotsuba's Box", and often repeats, in incongruous ways, phrases spoken by adult characters around her. Yotsuba is frequently shown drawing, though she is not as good an artist as she thinks she is, [cite book | last=Azuma | first=Kiyohiko | authorlink=Kiyohiko Azuma | title=Yotsuba&! | series=Volume 2 | chapter=Chapter 8: Yotsuba & Drawing | year=2005 | language=English | publisher=ADV Manga | isbn=978-1413903188 ] and she is an excellent swimmer. [cite book | last=Azuma | first=Kiyohiko | authorlink=Kiyohiko Azuma | title=Yotsuba&! | series=Volume 2 | chapter=Chapter 12: Yotsuba & Pools | year=2005 | language=English | publisher=ADV Manga | isbn=978-1413903188 ]

The series provides few details about her life before its start. She is an adopted child, with her birthplace unknown to the reader, although she claims she's from an island "to the left."As reported by Ena Ayase in cite book | last=Azuma | first=Kiyohiko | authorlink=Kiyohiko Azuma | title=Yotsuba&! | series=Volume 2 | chapter=Chapter 14: Asagi & Souvenirs | year=2005 | language=English | publisher=ADV Manga | isbn=978-1413903188 ] Koiwai, Yotsuba's adopted father, says he met her as an orphan in a foreign country and before he knew it he was raising her as his own; she is sometimes taken for a foreigner by strangers. When asked about her mother, she doesn't understand the question, and she gets confused by the concept of having two sets of grandparents. [cite book | last=Azuma | first=Kiyohiko | authorlink=Kiyohiko Azuma | title=Yotsuba&! | series=Volume 3 | chapter=Chapter 17: Yotsuba & Flowers | year=2005 | language=English | publisher=ADV Manga | isbn=978-1413903294 ] Before moving to her current home, Yotsuba lived in the country with Koiwai and his mother. She initially claims to Fuka Ayase she is six years old, but her father later corrects this, saying she is in fact five years old.cite book | last=Azuma | first=Kiyohiko | authorlink=Kiyohiko Azuma | title=Yotsuba&! | series=Volume 6 | chapter=Chapter 36: Yotsuba & the Bicycle | year=2006 | language=Japanese | publisher=Mediaworks | isbn=978-4840237024 ]

Yotsuba has never attended school, and as of the first chapter does not know what a grade is. In chapter 35, she fails to understand repeated explanations of homework.

Reception

The character of Yotsuba is cited by reviewers as one of the key appeals of "Yotsuba&!", especially her energy, enthusiasm, and sense of wonder. For example, one wrote, "Yotsuba’s wide-eyed awe at each discovery, from the idea of a milkman to learning how to catch fish, is both inspiring and infectious. You want to see what happens next, because she continually comes across as genuine without turning into cloying."cite web | title=Yotsuba&! Vol. 4 | url=http://www.readaboutcomics.com/2007/06/21/yotsuba-vol-4/ | author=Greg McElhatton | publisher=Read About Comics | accessdate=2007-09-20] A reviewer at "Anime News Network" wrote, "What is really special about Yotsuba, though, is that newness with which she, as a child, sees the world. That the manga allows us to glimpse the world through those same eager eyes is what gives it appeal far beyond its humor."cite web | url=http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/review/yotsuba&/gn-5 | title=Review: Yotsuba&! GN 5 | author=Carl Kimlinger | publisher=Anime News Network | date=2008-02-09 | accessdate=2008-02-10] Another claimed that "Yotsuba Koiwai's adventures are ... a lucid and charming look at the world through a child's eyes, as she gets into scrapes that remind us all of our own childhoods (if only through manga-tinted glasses)."cite web | url=http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/right-turn-only/2007-11-27 | title=RIGHT TURN ONLY!! - Society for the Study of Really Awesome Endings | author=Carlo Santos | publisher=Anime News Network | date=2007-11-27 | accessdate=2007-11-27]

Reviewers often describe Azuma's depiction of her as realistic, especially compared to depictions of children in other manga and anime. One review claimed that "Yotsuba in particular is amusing, because she acts and speaks with that peculiar mix of honesty, immediacy, and childish logic that only young children seem to possess ... Yotsuba isn't a silent, simpering sweetie-pie, she acts like a real four-year-old." On the other hand, Tom Spurgeon claimed Yotsuba is "an idealized kid of that early age, retaining a wide-eye wonder and furious energy, minus the things that crop up at that age like cruelty and deception" and a reviewer in "Newtype USA" said that "Her hijinks are sweetly innocent, like a cuter, more naїve version of Dennis the Menace minus the 'menace'."cite journal | last=Johnston | first=Chris | year=2005 | month=June | title=Yotsuba&! Volume 1: Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic | journal=Newtype USA | volume=4 | issue=6 | pages=162]

In other media

*The popular English-language imageboard 4chan, which is known in Japanese as "Yotsuba Channel", adopted Yotsuba Koiwai as an unofficial mascot: the site logo and icon at one point consisted of four leaves positioned identically to her distinctive four green pigtails, and she appears in the HTTP 404 message (leading to the nickname of "404 Girl"), banned user messages, banner ads, and logos. The software the site runs on is code-named Yotsuba. [cite web | url=http://www.4chan.org/faq.php#software | title=4chan.org FAQ | accessdate=2007-09-05 ]

*In the Korean MMORPG "MapleStory", Yotsuba's hairstyle can be obtained in a salon located in a town called Zipangu (an archaic name for Japan). [cite web | url=http://global.hidden-street.net/cashshop/zipanguhairsalon.php | title=Zipangu beauty parlor | accessdate=2007-09-06 ]

References