Everyone Loves Yotsuba

Yotsuba&!

"Yotsuba&!", means "Yotsuba and (someone)", is by Kiyohiko Azuma, the creator of "Azumanga Daioh", which is a famous four-flame comedy manga in Japan.

"Yotsuba&!" depicts the everyday adventures of a young girl named Yotsuba as she learns about the world around her, guided by her father, the neighbors, and their friends. An original meaning of "Yotsuba" is, by the way, "four-leaf". I am not sure it is whether Japanese legend or all over world one but... "If you find a four-leaf clover, it gives you happiness and lucky."  

A description of the story from Wikipedia is: Yotsuba&! is centered on Yotsuba Koiwai, a five-year-old adopted girl who is energetic, cheerful, curious, odd, and quirky—so odd and quirky that even her own father calls her strange. She is also initially ignorant about many things a child her age would be expected to know, among them doorbells, escalators, air conditioners, and even playground swings.This naiveté is the premise of humorous stories where she learns about, and frequently misunderstands, everyday things.

At the start of the series, Yotsuba and her adoptive father, Koiwai, relocate to a new city with the help of Koiwai's best friend, an impressively tall man nicknamed Jumbo. Yotsuba makes a strong impression on the three daughters of the neighboring Ayase family, Asagi, Fuuka, and Ena, and many of her misadventures come from her interactions with them.

Fuuka and Yotsuba

The series has no continuing plot—the focus of the stories is Yotsuba's daily voyage of discovery. Many chapters take place on successive days, so that the series follows, almost literally, the characters' daily lives.The tone can be summarized by the motto, used on chapter title pages and advertising, "Today is always the most enjoyable day", or in the original translation, "Enjoy Everything".

Not only Yotsuba but also every character is attractive. In my case, I love Ena as the youngest daughter of the neighboring Ayase family and Ena's classmate Miura.

My favorite chapter of "Yotsuba&!" is "Danbo" from volume 5. Danbo is a robot which made by cardboard. Ena and Miura made it for their school free-homework of summer holiday. Miura costumed it and Yotsuba believed it was a real robot and named it as Danbo (from cardboard, Japanese says dan-bouru). You can read it from below.