Yotsuba & Sticks & Stuff

Last chapter:
>>280313017

PRÖÖÖH

Done. Asagi denies her stick its purpose.
See you tomorrow!

>>280345973
nice birb

>>280346042
fishe

>>280346221
Sankyuu

>>280346072
cool stick indeed

>>280346189
ENTER SEX

>>280346154
It was obviously not a tiger. What the hell was she thinking?

>>280346056
Bijin...

>>280346072
That's a mid tier stick at best, Yotsuba has a long way to go

>>280345938
that's abuse

>>280346189
SEX
SEX
SEX, SEX

>>280346221
Cute

>>280347638
In terms of shape, it'd pretty mediocre, but it appears to have decent enough sturdiness to knock it up a tier.

>>280346141
Perkele!

>>280346110

>>280347638
It would make a superb stick for dowsing.

>>280346072
A woman would never understand the value of the stick

>>280348052
Damn Yotsuba is packin

>>280346189
HOOOLY SEX

Ena was reasonably attractive this chapter

>>280348810
She's only 12 years old you sick fuck!

>>280346200
uh, just yesterday i was thinking its been a while since Yotsuba fell asleep at a random place

Here's something I meant to share at the end of the last volume if the thread hadn't archived before I got to it yesterday: an interview with Azuma that explains some of his philosophies and approaches to writing and designing Yotsuba&!'s story and its characters. A very interesting read that talks about Fuuka, Ena and Asagi each having a third friend who doesn't get to show up, and that Koiwai and the dudes only really act wacky when the girls and Yotsuba are watching.
https://mangabrog.wordpress.com/2015/08/02/interview-with-yotsuba-artist-kiyohiko-azuma/

>>280350570
>–The first volume of Yotsuba&! went on sale in 2003, making this the series’ eleventh year. Today I want to ask you about all the way back from when the series was just beginning. The manga you were doing before that, Azumanga Daioh, was the forerunner to the slice-of-life 4-koma genre as well as a major hit, so it came as a bit of a surprise when you drew Yotsuba&! with conventional manga paneling. Why was it you decided to do it in a normal manga format?

>Azuma: I wanted to broaden myself professionally. There weren’t a lot of 4-koma manga magazines out there at the time like there is now. I was afraid I’d be thought of as a 4-koma artist if I did another 4-koma after Azumanga Daioh, and that wasn’t something I wanted to be, so I went with a normal manga format.

>–Were you drawing manga in the typical format before you did Azumanga?

>Azuma: No, I’d hardly ever tried it, but I went ahead with it anyway, which is why I consider Yotsuba&! to be pretty terribly done up until the third volume or so. I can’t even bear to look at it until maybe volume four, and even then just barely. Seeing the earlier stuff makes me want to go back and redraw it.

>–Interesting. So: how it is that the manga Yotsuba&! came to be?

>Azuma: I’d submitted the idea for Yotsuba&! before Azumanga Daioh even started, so I’d already come up with the idea of Yotsuba as a character. Then the magazine Dengeki Daioh asked me to do a 4-koma about high school girls, so I set the idea for Yotsuba&! aside, started work on Azumanga Daioh, then came back to it after I finished.

>–Wow, so you’d be planning it for some time, then. That’d be, what, 15 years ago or so?

>Azuma: Since the 20th century.

>–Did you come up with the idea to make Yotsuba your main character because you thought children were funny?

>Azuma: I don’t remember what was going on in my head when I started the series, so maybe I’m just making this up, but I feel like I was looking for material that was just naturally funny on its own, and making it about a child is what I came up with.

>–You can have children do funny things and it’ll still be realistic.

>Azuma: True. I do sort of feel like I’ve toned down the cartoonishness levels in favor of realisticness with Yotsuba&!. That wasn’t true of the start, though.

>–You’re right, the series started off being drawn more cartoonishly than it is now. Has Yotsuba’s character changed from your original idea of her?

>Azuma: She was always going to have her hair tied into four pigtails like a clover, hence the name “Yotsuba”. Her hair was going to be green even then, I believe.

>–Her character design stands out as more cartoonish than the others in the Yotsuba&! world, and that makes her feel a little different from everyone else.

>Azuma: I do intentionally try to make Yotsuba the one who’s different. Yotsuba is drawn in a different style than the others, and she’s even kind of strange just in terms of human anatomy.

>–There was a time that her face was really round for a while.

>Azuma: She did go through a round-face phase. Lately she’s lost some of that roundness, but that changes depending on the moment. The hard part about it when I’m drawing the manga is that her head’s so much disproportionately bigger than the other characters’. If I focus on her head size, she ends up coming out too short; if I focus on her height, she comes out with too big a head. It doesn’t look quite right when you have her standing next to a character with a small head, like Asagi. I try to draw my way around it, but it’s hard. I lean toward realism, but at the same time, it’s not like I’m trying to make things actually realistic – what I’m going for is more like having a somewhat strange character within a realistic world. Now, that’s pretty standard in manga, but what I’m aiming for is to strike the right balance of being “somewhat” strange – not too out there, but not too normal, either.

>–I see. Yotsuba is certainly cartoonish on a visual level, but I think she also feels real enough that the reader finds himself wishing he had a kid like that in his neighborhood, too. Maybe it’s that balance of “somewhat” strangeness that makes people feel that way. Why was it that you decided to base the series on the parent-child combination of Yotsuba and her dad, anyway?

>Azuma: I wasn’t trying to make it about a parent and child — it’s just that when I went to create Yotsuba, her dad just came together with her. Yotsuba can’t live on her own, after all.

>–Is the fact that she’s not related to her dad by blood not of much importance to you?

>Azuma: Yes, I don’t care to expand much on that point. I might do it someday, but as of right now I’m not planning to. I didn’t want to make it into a manga about a family, which is why there’s no mother character. The title Yotsuba&! is supposed to indicate that the manga is basically Yotsuba plus someone else, the idea being that the manga is about Yotsuba’s interactions with the other characters, with Yotsuba at the center. So it’s not that I set out to draw a parent-child relationship – it’s just that “Yotsuba and Dad” happens to be a combination that comes up a lot.

>–Like “Yotsuba and Fuka”, then, or “Yotsuba and Jumbo”.

>Azuma: Right, it’s generally about Yotsuba’s interactions with adults. It’s basically structured to be about a weird little character among normal people.

>–The way you have Yotsuba as the child protagonist while the other characters are mostly adults felt pretty original.

>Azuma: If I had Yotsuba play with other children, that would be different from what I’m trying to do. It’d probably end up as something more about nostalgia. That’s why I have her at an age before she enters elementary school, specifically so that she’s not in a place surrounded by other children. Then again, having never done it before, it might be fun to have her go somewhere like that sometime. Hmm, but where to send her? Somewhere with a lot of children… Kidzania?

>–Sounds good to me. (laugh) I can just imagine Yotsuba having the time of her life there.

>–Yotsuba is so cute. I mellow out just watching her. She’s got a very unique way of talking that’s somehow… ungirl-like?

>Azuma: I suppose that’s true, but I don’t really think about it in terms of being girl-like or boy-like – I just think of her in terms of being Yotsuba-like. Her character has only recently come to Japan, so she still doesn’t really have a firm grasp on the language. She drops words from her speech.

>–It’s cute how sometimes she’ll have polite language mixed in, too.

>Azuma: She’s always hanging around adults, so I make a point of making her speech become a little bit grown-up. I feel like she’s slowly become influenced by Ena and Miura since she’s started playing with them, too.

>–The way her facial expression changes so much is cute too. I felt like her repertoire of facial expressions keeps increasing with each volume.

>Azuma: Partway through I started intentionally trying to add more variety to her facial expressions. It becomes a chore to draw the manga if I let it become dictated by a pattern. Like, I’d draw a character with a smile on her face, but it wouldn’t feel like she was smiling. I mean, it’s not like that many variations of smiles exist, but anyway: drawing her with an expressive face is something I do try to do. Yotsuba’s face doesn’t have much I can play with, though, so it’s difficult to do, but I try.

>–It does seem like it would be difficult to give her nuanced expressions, given how cartoonish her character design is. You can really see her emotions changing even just in slight differences in her expression, though. Do you have to do a lot of minor adjustments when drawing Yotsuba’s facial expressions?

>Azuma: Yes, I do a lot of erasing and redrawing for the times when her expression is important. It’s dangerous, though – once I start doing that, work grinds to a halt.

>–That spaced-out face she makes when something happens and she doesn’t really understand what’s going on for a minute is really cute.

>Azuma: She does do a lot of spacing out, doesn’t she.

>–I think it’s really impressive how you can read her expression from just slight changes — things like her mouth hanging only slightly open.

>Azuma: That stuff comes from back when I was doing Azumanga Daioh, so I sort of consider it one of my work’s trademarks. That’s another thing I aim for with Yotsuba&!, having as many panels without dialogue as it does.

>–The scenes without dialogue where we just watch Yotsuba’s actions and mannerisms really made an impression on me. It’s funny how the adults just take all that bizarre kid stuff in stride without even pointing out how strange it is.

>Azuma: Yeah, that sort of scene is something I personally like. I don’t really like being explanatory about things. I consider the fact that there are no performers in manga to be one of the medium’s strengths. Well, I suppose there’s me, the guy drawing it, but movies have actors and anime have voice actors, and you have people making things very straightforward in their performances there, but that doesn’t happen in manga. The advantage to making manga lies in the fact that Yotsuba is Yotsuba, I believe. That’s another thing I wanted to do in Yotsuba&!: to get rid of the constrictions of doing a story. To just let Yotsuba naturally do as she likes as much as possible, without explanation. The parts that would get cut out of a story manga because nothing happens, Yotsuba&! serves up as the main dish.

>–Even within a single action of some sort by Yotsuba, you take the time to fully draw out all kinds of insignificant little movements that she makes during that action. That really makes the character feel real.

>Azuma: I actually wish I could draw more of that sort of thing, but I just can’t do it. I’ll draw a few certain panels, but it’s better in my head, where I can see Yotsuba’s entire movement. I’m still not satisfied with my ability to put that on the page. The way she acts is supposed to be cuter.

>–I see. (laugh) Are those insignificant little actions something you feel the cuteness of as you draw them?

>Azuma: I do. It’s fun to watch those meaningless things kids do.

>–Are those childlike actions something that you just come up with yourself?

>Azuma: No, it’s not very often that I just come up with that stuff. Generally how it goes is I’ll see an actual child doing something and think to myself, “I’m using that.”

>–For example, in the chapter where Yotsuba makes pancakes, her movements are very carefully drawn out and it made me feel like I was there in that moment watching over her. It seems like you must do a lot of research and test a lot of things out in real life when you create your manga. Did you actually make pancakes for that chapter?

>Azuma: I did. I figured that the key to that chapter was the movements of a child making pancakes, so I had one of my assistant’s kids make pancakes while I stood by and watched.

>–It was really cute how she made such a mess when she couldn’t flip them over right.

>Azuma: The way Yotsuba reacted was different from how the assistant’s kid reacted, but that’s what Yotsuba is like. The real kid is actually very bright and didn’t mess up that badly. The kids I use as reference grow up so quickly.

>–You’ve been making manga about Yotsuba’s everyday life for over ten years now. Do you not find yourself running out of material?

>Azuma: Yeah, I do. I had zero material stocked up when I started, so I’ve really been just making it up as I go along. I generally plan the manga in terms of volumes – like, I’ll figure out what it is I want to do with, say, volume 12, then go along creating it accordingly.

>–Interesting. The way time passes with every day following one after the other is another point that’s unique to Yotsuba&!.

>Azuma: It’s basically one day per chapter. I skip days here and there, but it’s pretty much every day.

>–It feels like we get to peek into their everyday lives. Things like how the acorns Fuuka collects can be seen in the Ayase family dining room days later, or how Yotsuba gets a fever and can’t go to the farm one day, but then gets to go later on.

>Azuma: Azumanga Daioh was the same way — rather than having time pass in that loopy way it does in Sazae-san, I try to have time progress slowly but steadily. The problem is that it’s so slow in Yotsuba&! that reality passes by too fast. Cell phones weren’t as widespread when the series started as they are now, so the dad doesn’t have one, for example. When I put in a specific actual model of phone, it immediately becomes dated. I’m sort of sneakily updating those things, but the times roll by so quickly that it’s hard to keep up. I don’t really have a set idea of what year it takes place in. Yotsuba&! started in 2003 and a full year hasn’t even passed yet within the story, but the way I think about it, it’s not November 2003 — it’s November in the present day, 2014.

>–I see. Having reread the first volume, though, I didn’t feel the time gap. Watching Yotsuba, there are times when I rediscover the joy and excitement of everyday life. Do you ever create stories based on memories from your own childhood?

>Azuma: I don’t even remember my childhood. It’s almost like I wasn’t even the same person.

>–I see. (laugh) Reading Yotsuba&!, there are times when I’m reminded of the way I saw and felt about things when I was a child, things I’d forgotten about since becoming an adult. For example, the time when Yotsuba looks at a puddle and says “This is a really good puddle”, I felt like it was really just such a childlike thing to say. Puddles are something for playing with when you’re a kid, and some shapes and depths are better than others. I thought it was amazing how you captured that way of looking at things.

>Azuma: Those aren’t things that I’m remembering from my childhood so much as I’m just a childish person, I suspect.

>–Are you still jumping in water puddles?

>Azuma: I’m not quite that bad. (laugh) But it’s not like I’m observing children that closely, either.

>–Could you tell me how the dad’s character came to be?

>Azuma: I didn’t do much to create him, actually – he’s sort of just what happens when I do manga without especially thinking hard about it. In some ways he’s sort of idealized, something like what I personally want to be like. But then, if I actually knew a guy as good-looking and perfect as him, I’d hate him.

>–(laugh) He does have a lot going for him – he’s a translator, he’s got a good relationship with his neighbors…

>Azuma: Right. He walks around in his underwear during summer, though. I figure most men generally do that, don’t they?

>(Editor: Most men would put on some pants when they’ve got a kid around, actually, or else the kid’ll stop wearing pants too.)

>Azuma: That makes sense – so everyone’s forcing themselves to wear pants because of their children, then. That’s not something that ever occurred to me as I draw the dad.

>–I really enjoyed that scene in the pizza delivery chapter where he and Yotsuba are both so excited about it.

>Azuma: That’s what I’m like, though – I get stoked about pizza. It’s an occasion for celebration. It’s not often that I order fattening food like that. I was ordering pizzas pretty much every day when I was working on that chapter, though — partially as research. I was drinking milk basically every day for the milk chapter, too. Which is how I learned that pizza and milk both make you fat.

>–(laugh) The dad generally gets excited about things with Yotsuba and plays with her a lot, but there are times when he just ignores what she says, too. That’s another thing I like about Yotsuba&!: the way it captures how adults can be sort of careless.

>Azuma: He is pretty careless, so he does do things like ignore her and make things up. That’s the sort of something that I’m aiming for, a little. You sort of realize once you become an adult yourself that adults aren’t actually so great and mature as you think they are when you’re a child. Sometimes people tell me that they like how my manga has such “childish adults”, but that’s what the people around me tend to actually be like – although that might be due to the fact that they’re all manga artists. I see them as all pretty careless.

>–I also like how the dad and Jumbo get really into the moment and strike silly poses, like the time when they’re playing badminton.

>Azuma: That’s what those guys get like when they’ve got an audience. Yotsuba was watching them when they were playing badminton, see. If it was just Dad and Jumbo together, they’d just sit around doing nothing.

>–Ah, I see. (laugh) Jumbo’s really good about taking care of the kids, the way he takes them to fun places and all that.

>Azuma: He’s surprisingly bad with people though, is the thing. Despite having to deal with customers for a living.

>–Oh, is he? (laugh) And Yotsuba really sees Yanda as her enemy, doesn’t she? Because he doesn’t deal with her like an adult.

>Azuma: True – Dad and Jumbo have sort of similar personalities, almost an eldest brother type. Yanda, meanwhile, has older siblings, so the way he deals with Yotsuba is different from the other two.

>–Interesting; that makes sense. Yanda looks young, but the fact that he was the Dad’s underclassman means that they mustn’t be too far off in age. I’d say it looks like Yanda is in his twenties, while Jumbo is something like in his thirties.

>Azuma: That’s about right. I never really gave them an exact age, and their age has sort of moved around anyway. I feel like now they’re all two or three years older than I’d originally had in mind. Basically, though, I think the dad is in his very early thirties, while Yanda is at the end of his twenties. I want to have the dad’s friends appear more regularly, but that tends to result in neglecting Yotsuba. I try to focus on Yotsuba and the people around her because she’s the main character, but then I just don’t have any openings to get the friends in there. I imagine they’ll show up soon, though I haven’t actually planned anything.

>–Oh, good, I can’t wait! We’re finally starting to see the grandmother, too. The cast is slowly expanding.

>Azuma: The thing is that a bigger cast makes things harder, so I don’t want to expand it too much. I’m aiming to slowly broaden the world in the manga, so I feel like I have to throw a new character in every few volumes. I’d like to be able to do stories about the side characters, but this series being called Yotsuba&!, that’s sort of tricky. I could do side story chapters, but I doubt that I will. I’ve thought up all sorts of material I could use – things like, how Jumbo and the bicycle shop guy actually know each other. That stuff probably won’t actually make it into the manga, though.

>–I’d love to see that! Moving on, I want to ask you about the Ayase family and the female characters. I feel like you don’t give many obvious physical characteristics to differentiate the girls in Yotsuba&!, and yet their personalities seep through their every interaction, which I think is just amazing. The way you express those individual personalities feels like something unique to your work.

>Azuma: That’s a challenge that I’d set for myself at the start: to not rely on cartoonish techniques and oversimplify the characters. Most of the characters in Yotsuba&! have the faces of background characters – visually speaking, only Yotsuba has a defined look to her character. I suppose there’s also Jumbo, who is extraordinarily tall. Anyway, though, I wanted to try not to make things overly obvious for the reader.

>–It’s true that the characters in Yotsuba&! are all pretty unique in a way that you couldn’t really sum up in a word.

>Azuma: You could also see how characters that are easy to sort into archetypes can be a good thing in that they’re easy to understand, but I tried to make Fuuka a character difficult to label as a certain type. I made this sort of dry-run test manga leading up to Yotsuba&! called Try! Try! Try!, and Fuuka was a totally different character in that. Asagi and Ena were pretty much the same, but Fuuka was what people nowadays call a tsundere. The word tsundere didn’t exist at the time, but I could feel that it was an archetype waiting to happen, so I changed her.

>–Yes, it’s become a standard character type lately. What kind of character do you intend the current Fuuka to be?

>Azuma: I’m not really aiming for her to be anything too particular – she’s pretty much just a dumb high school girl.

>–It’s great how stupid her and Miss Stake are together.

>Azuma: I want to draw a little bit more of those two. I feel like they’d be able to have funny conversations without Yotsuba.

>–They sort of come in sets together with friends, don’t they: Ena and Miura, Asagi and Tora.

>Azuma: I generally come up with the characters as sets. The truth is that I’d like to add another friend to each set, but that would mean leaving out Yotsuba, so I can’t bring myself to do it. The way I have it planned out, there’s another friend for Asagi and another for Fuuka, you know.

>–Really?! So, in your mind, they’ve had these friends the entire time?

>Azuma: Yes, there’s a lot of material that doesn’t actually make it into the manga. It sort of makes the manga easier to make, or, rather, I feel like it becomes more natural. Fuuka and Miss Stake’s friend shows up in the culture festival chapter… [opens volume eight] This is her, the third of the friends. She’s got a bit of a wave to her hair. The three of them hang out together.

>–I was sort of curious about this girl! Do you try to strike a balance with the personalities when you’re making these sets of three?

>Azuma: I guess I don’t really get analytical about it. The way I picture her, this third girl is the silliest of the group.

>–I see. (laugh) I can’t imagine what kind of third character could be added to Asagi and Tora.

>Azuma: The third character I have in mind is the one who receives the most abuse.

>–Interesting. The two of them are pretty free-spirited, so I can see that. Between Asagi and Tora, Asagi is the stronger of the two, isn’t she?

>Azuma: Right — I mean, she’s the queen. I want to have her other friend make an appearance, but I don’t know when it’ll happen. I’ve got a few volumes’ worth vaguely planned, but she’s not in any of those either. It could end up being three or four years down the road, and maybe I’ll have changed my mind by then. I generally try to be true to how I feel when I’m drawing.

>–I’ll be waiting. Speaking of Miura, I also want to ask a little about Cardbo. When you first drew Cardbo in the manga, did you actually construct it out of cardboard?

>Azuma: I did. I went inside, saw what it was like.

>–Wow – an adult-sized version, then.

>Azuma: Right. I saved it after making it, but then there was this terrible incident involving sewage water flooding out of my bathroom, and I’d been keeping Cardbo nearby, so it was ruined by the water and I had to get rid of it.

>–Poor Cardbo… (laugh)

>Azuma: I wanted to make the design something as easy to make as possible, so it’s pretty much just boxes. It’s surprisingly not so bad inside Cardbo – you can sit on the boxes that form the legs. It’s pretty nice, when you’re just sitting there.

>–You mean you can sit on the opening of the leg boxes?

>Azuma: Yeah, I discovered it by trying it for myself. I didn’t manage to work it into the manga or anything, though.

>–So on the inside Miura could just be sitting down, then.

>Azuma: When she’s not moving, she might be sitting. Cardboard boxes are pretty tough. Such wonderful things they are.

>–Cardbo hasn’t made that many appearances, but he’s been made into all kinds of merchandise and become really popular.

>Azuma: True. I was hoping he’d be somewhat popular as a character, but I never imagined he’d catch on the way he has. Once he started to catch on, I decided to just sort of watch and see how far it would go. I keep Yotsuba merchandise pretty controlled and allow them to slowly put out only things that I like, but I’ve got a different strategy with Cardbo merchandise, where I just let them go nuts.

>–Changing the topic a little, do you have any personal favorite chapters?

>Azuma: As a general rule, the newer a chapter is the more I like it, and the older a chapter is the less I like it. I don’t really have any one favorite chapter in particular – they’re all pretty even. More than the parts that went well, the parts that didn’t go well tend to stand out for me. Back when I’d finished Azumanga Daioh was when I was at my worst about that kind of thing. I’d done the series for three years and it was received quite well, and they were letting me end it when I wanted to end it – I thought I would’ve felt really excited about it all, but instead I felt only really upset and unsatisfied with what I’d managed to do with the series. That’s basically how I feel about every volume, so I get into a bad mood whenever a new book is finished. I get hung up on all the things that I didn’t get to do – although it’s purely from my own failings. If only I were better at drawing.

>–I think the art in your manga is really pretty, though…

>Azuma: I’m better than people who are bad, but I’m worse than the people who are good. People who are good at drawing are able to draw the same thing faster. I’m slow at finding the right way to draw things. If I were better at drawing I think I’d be able to do it somewhat faster.

>–The way you draw people is very pretty — very fleshy and soft. And then with the realistic backgrounds, it’s fun to pore over the pictures again and again.

>Azuma: I make a point of not drawing things too manga-like, or using manga-like page layouts. I would be able to decrease my workload using things like concentration lines or sound effects – techniques for boosting the amount of information on the page – but I feel obligated to draw the backgrounds anyway.

>–I see – it’s true that sound effects aren’t actually there in reality. Back in the earlier stages of the series you used to use more screentone and drew things in more of a manga style than you currently do. Why was it that you decided to draw the way you do now?

>Azuma: I was just drawing it as I normally would at first, so it looks extremely manga-y. It was somewhere around the time Torako appears that I came to the realization that this is probably the better approach with Yotsuba&! . Cut out the mangaishness, keep things more low key — more of an unfiltered, documentary-style approach, I guess.

>–Are you trying to make it feel more realistic by not using those manga tropes?

>Azuma: Yes, that was key, I figured. A pain in the neck to do, though. I won’t be taking this tack with my next series after Yotsuba&!. The look I’m going for here is to draw it so it feels like Yotsuba is really there.

>–Do you think a lot about the camera angle and framing?

>Azuma: I do. In terms of film, I think the camera in Yotsuba&! is positioned higher than it would be in a domestic drama. The idea is that the higher the camera is positioned the more objective it seems, and when you want to close in on how a character is feeling, you bring the camera down. I tend to draw things objectively when Yotsuba is doing something, so the camera is generally a little high.

>–It is true that it feels funny seeing Yotsuba drawn from below, looking up at her.

>Azuma: I don’t use that angle much. Up until a certain volume, I had it in my head that I wouldn’t do camera angles from below. I’ve since lifted that ban, so I think recently I’ve been using those angles a little bit more.

>–The world in Yotsuba&! manages to strike this great balance between capturing the reality of everyday life while still being fun as a manga. In reality, there are all sorts of difficult things about children, but Yotsuba&! is this pleasant little world that I could keep watching forever. I’d like to hear about how you managed to establish that balance.

>Azuma: That’s true – I’ve adopted a documentary style, but it’s not like I’m trying to actually do a documentary. It’s entertainment, at the end of the day. But I don’t personally like overly artificial stuff myself, and I have a pretty clear idea of how far I want to take things. I think that every manga artist probably has their own boundaries like that, and that’s probably what makes different people’s manga particular to them.

>–I felt like the balance between realism and mangaishness in Yotsuba&! was something that had never been done before.

>Azuma: I’d imagine that’s because I don’t really like manga as much as other manga artists do. They actively try to make their work into manga because they like manga more than I do. I simply don’t like manga that much, unfortunately, and so I think I distance myself from it a little bit.

>–I’d be interested in hearing about anything you’re into aside from manga, then – movies, photography, that sort of thing.

>Azuma: I do enjoy both movies and photography. I watch something like four or five movies a month, and I’ll buy a collection of photography by a photographer every month or so, and I’d say I take about 500 pictures every month myself. I’m also into cars, and design, and all kinds of stuff at different times. When I say that I don’t like manga that much, though, I’m talking relative to other artists; compared to the average guy, I’d say I read a crazy amount. I do try to have fun in a smart way, though – there’s all kinds of interesting stuff outside of manga, and exposing myself to that is something that turns to my work’s advantage. I wanted to make sure that I wasn’t doing a manga that I could make by simply shutting myself in my room. I’m basically an indoor kind of guy – if you left me to my own devices, I’d just spend all my time reading or playing video games indoors – so part of the idea behind Yotsuba&! was to force myself to go outside. It’s good for giving me the impetus to go outside in order to go find background materials.

>–Do you ever insert discoveries into the manga that you yourself make while you’re out taking the photos you use as reference?

>Azuma: Well, for example, for the chapter where they go to the farm, I wasn’t sure that it’d make for good manga until I went out to research it for myself. It’s just going to be a bunch of cows, I figured. I suppose I was right about that, actually – it was just a bunch of cows. (laugh) I don’t really come up with some sort of idea for what I want to draw before going out to do the research – how it works is more that things’ll just sort of end up so that Yotsuba is going to a farm, and so I have to go to the farm for research. I think up the story after going. A lot of times I come away pretty doubtful that I’ll be able to turn it into a chapter, though.

>–I love the chapter where they go to the farm. It really struck me as amazing how fun you were able to make everyday stuff like that. It made me feel like you manage to spot the things that the rest of us tend to miss.

>Azuma: You think? I guess it feels something more like taking photos: when you’re taking a photo, you pay attention to things that normal people wouldn’t notice; stuff like, the balance of color between an object and the wall it’s placed next to. That stuff. And then, plus, I’ve constantly got Yotsuba software installed inside me in order to draw Yotsuba.

>–What exactly do you mean by that?

>Azuma: Like, if I go to a farm, I’ll look at it in terms of, oh, Yotsuba would slip and fall down here, or whatever. I’d pass right by that stuff if I weren’t conscious of it, so I actively try to find it. The Yotsuba inside me sometimes even makes me do stupid stuff that I imagine must look pretty odd to someone watching me. I do even have a bit of experience with people actually getting angry with me over my strange behavior. Like, recently, there was an electrical cord at a convenience store that ran outside, and I realized that there was an outlet on the wall outside. As I stared at it, some older man living nearby started watching me suspiciously, and actually walked deliberately between me and the outlet.

>–Wow, that’s really blatant. (laugh) I really like the chapter in volume five where they go to the beach. Yotsuba gets it in her head that they’re going to the beach that day and gets ready, and then the dad says they’re not going, but then in the next panel he looks up to the sky and there’s a bunch of summery images, and he changes his mind and says, “Alright, let’s go.” It was like I could feel the dad’s change of heart in that summer imagery – like he was thinking something like, “Well, the weather *is* nice, and I do feel bad for her.”

>Azuma: That’s how I want people to read it. That chapter was actually the climax I had in mind when I first started making Yotsuba&!. It’s a chapter I really wanted to draw. Readers were even saying that it seemed like the last chapter. They said the same thing about volume twelve, too. (laugh) I guess it just naturally takes on that final chapter kind of feel when I reach a sort of end point. I’m creating the series in stages: with the beach chapter in volume five I’d reached the end of what I’d planned at the start, and so it was sort of like the first stage had ended. With the camping story in volume twelve, it felt like stage three was over.

>–Interesting. Out of curiosity, then: what part was stage two?

>Azuma: Stage two is sort of vague – a combination of the festival episode and the farm episode. After getting through that I felt burnt out and had nothing left that I wanted to do, so from there I just bluffed my way through those problems and started on stage three, and then after making it through that the series came to a stop. It felt like this wobbly thing had finally come crashing down. What I’m going to do next has started to come into focus lately, though. I feel like I’m back stronger than ever, but that might still be an illusion too. After starting to draw again for the first time in a while I felt like I’m still on pretty shaky ground, so I still need to shore things up a little better.

>–It’s exciting to think that the series is going to resume and we’ll be able to see Yotsuba’s day-to-day life again! It’s November at the moment in the Yotsuba&! universe. With the passing of the seasons and the new year, Yotsuba will be at the age where she’ll enter elementary school. Do you ever think about depicting Yotsuba as a student?

>>280350732
>Her character has only recently come to Japan, so she still doesn’t really have a firm grasp on the language
People who argued that Japanese is her native language or that she has been in Japan since she was a baby blown the fuck out.

>>280350904
>Azuma: I’m better than people who are bad, but I’m worse than the people who are good
He's literally me...

>Azuma: She still has five months before school, so at this rate I’d have to make it through another fifteen volumes. I’m not even halfway there. It’d take over ten more years, and this series is not going to make it that far. For now I still have things left that I want to do with Yotsuba&! and so I’m still continuing with the series, but when I reach a point where I feel like I’ve basically done most everything that I can do with it, I imagine that will be when the series ends.

>–Azumanga Daioh ended with the characters graduating high school, so I imagine there are a lot of readers out there who are wondering if the series will end before Yotsuba enters school, too. Do you not currently have any idea what the final chapter will be like?

>Azuma: No, I don’t have any goal in mind. Having Yotsuba enter school isn’t off the table either, though – I could always skip forward in time if I wanted to. I could just bring the story of her at age five to a close and skip straight into an elementary school arc. Nothing planned yet, though.

>–Ooh! It’d be fun to see her meet Ena and Miura at school.

>Azuma: They would be going to the same school – Yotsuba would be in first grade, Ena and Miura in fourth.

>–Yotsuba would change in all kinds of ways in elementary school.

>Azuma: True, she would change a little, but I think she basically wouldn’t change that much. She’d be starting school, but she’d still be in first grade, so she’d still just be a child. I’d say it’s around third or fourth grade that you start to develop a sense of self. Skipping forward in time is a very manga-like technique, though, which would mean it has the downside of straying from the feel that I’m going for. If I decide that there are a bunch of fun things I’d be able to do that outweigh that downside then I might do it anyway, but at the moment I don’t think I’d get that much fun out of it, so I don’t see it happening. Basically, if I think it’ll be fun, then I might do it.

>–I see. Well, I hope we’ll get to keep reading more of Yotsuba and company’s fun day-to-day life. Thank you for talking with me today!

Sorry for posting it all, but today's was kind of a slow chapter anyways.

>>280351022
I'm going to err on the side of what's actually in the manga over an interview. IE the panels that describe Yousuke adopting Yotsuba as a baby.

>>280351022
Counterpoint: >>280325100
I feel like the foreigner thing might've been retconned

>>280350772
>I had one of my assistant’s kids make pancakes while I stood by and watched
This is incredibly funny to me.
>yes, child... pour that batter...

>>280351031
>>Azuma: She still has five months before school, so at this rate I’d have to make it through another fifteen volumes. I’m not even halfway there.

>>280351099
>>280351103
Koiwai could have lived abroad with her for a while before coming to Japan though. That's pretty much the only explanation that fits all the facts that have been given.

>>280350873
>>–Interesting. The two of them are pretty free-spirited, so I can see that. Between Asagi and Tora, Asagi is the stronger of the two, isn’t she?
>>Azuma: Right — I mean, she’s the queen.
Tora bottoms confirmed. Deepest lore.

>>280351231
That's not how lesbians work.

>>280351057
Cheers

>>280346020
Fuuka is FAT and LAZY!

>>280350921
>my next series after Yotsuba&!
Intriguing.

>>280346221
Thx mate.

>>280346042
Why would it be spicy?

>>280351199
Language acquisition is based on who the baby is interacting with, not geographical location. Your explanation hinges on the assumption that he never spoke Japanese around Yotsuba until he moved back to Japan.

>>280351103
Maybe the age Koiwai took her in has, but the foreigner thing definitely hasn't

>>280351031
>It’d take over ten more years, and this series is not going to make it that far.
>said in 2014
I bet he feels silly now.

>>280351420
People often mistake fizzy and spicy.
But there are definitely spicy soft drinks out there.

>>280351420
She probably just doesn't know how to describe the citrus flavor, so she calls it spicy.

>>280351424
Koiwai presumably has an excellent grasp of whatever foreign language they speak in Yotsuba's country of origin since he was (again presumably) working there as a translator. If he thought that he wouldn't be taking care of Yotsuba indefinitely (which seems to be the case since he didn't consider himself to be his dad until she called him that) or if he thought that he wouldn't be taking Yotsuba to Japan, it would make sense he would use the foreign language with Yotsuba so that she would learn it and could interact with people other than him.

>>280351657
NTA, but that's an interesting point. I never even considered Yotsuba having a mother tongue

>>280350772
>Yeah, I do
Well that explains the pace.

>>280351420
because given the context and the Japanese adjective, spicy fits better than "salty".

>>280350791
>I don’t even remember my childhood. It’s almost like I wasn’t even the same person.
What the hell happened to this guy?

>>280350791
>>Azuma: I’m not quite that bad. (laugh) But it’s not like I’m observing children that closely, either.
Good answer. Always keep FBI-san at bay.

>>280346221
Thanks OP. It's amazing how good Azuma is at communicating Asagi's hotness through her poses and movement

asagi is literally pure sex. i don't understand how she even lives without consisting of blood or vital organs. she's just sex.

>>280350873
>The third character I have in mind is the one who receives the most abuse.
What did he mean by this?

>>280350822
>Yanda, meanwhile, has older siblings
Yanda lore

>>280352533
No wonder he enjoys lording over Yotsuba

>>280325100
Probably a poor translation.

>>280351424
If he wanted to communicate with her at all before adopting her he would have had to.

>>280346221
Asagi is awfully considerate for actually using Yotsuba's stick.

>>280351918
Shouldn't the drink be sour?

>>280351031
Well after reading all of this it seems like the main thing holding back Yotsuba& is unfortunately Yotsuba herself. Dude just needs to get over himself and fire up a side manga featuring all of the characters equally. You could even have interesting chapters that run parallel to chapters in Yotsuba&.

>>280346221
Thanks anon

>>280352902
Why wouldn't you use a good stick if it was given to you?

>>280351719
>>280351424
We've seen like 6 months of her life and she hasn't ever said anything weird in her own language, not even with her daddy who can allegedly speak it well. She's come up with funny phrases and words in Japanese, but nothing from any foreign language.
The closest was that "NO" she told Yanda (in "English") afaik.

Given her personality, where she immediately shows anything funny or interesting to others it's kind of weird she'd never say anything in some other language. I don't see Koiwai telling her "Never speak a word in X language or they'll treat you like a gaijin, your hear me".
Similarly, there should be at least 1 homophone in any language in the world similar to Japanese, which could make some kid laugh or have a double take, yet it's never happened. She seems to be good on language acquisition since she can repeat things her granma said, etc.

In the end, it's all fiction, so whatever's convenient works, I guess.

>>280351293
Proofs?

>>280353089
She said hello in english to a kid at fuuka's school as well.
>"Never speak a word in X language or they'll treat you like a gaijin, your hear me".
Do you actually expect to see a fucking line like that in the manga?
The real reason we don't get yotsuba saying much in another language is because asuma doesn't want to explicitly give away where she's from you idiot

>>280353316
Anon, "I don't see" can be interpreted as "I can't imagine", i.e., piecing together things from their personalities.
Doesn't need to occur on the page, much like all this speculation about Yotsuba's past.

>>280353476
Why would he speak to her in her old language when he wants to make sure she learns japanese properly?

>>280351016
Do you guys suppose the stage 4 climax would be the Osaka chapter?

>>280353316
Your spoiler is right, the rest of your post, not so much

>>280353631
That felt like the beginning of a new stage.

>>280347638
>You are a third rate stick gatherer with a fourth rate stick

>>280346189
The Ayasex sisters have arrived

>>280352983
this. i look forward to the spinoff manga '&'

>>280355427
>&
Already exists

>>280352983
No? The unique focus is part of what makes this manga so good. There is nothing 'holding it back'.

>>280351057
Thanks, Anon. I've often wondered what was in Azuma's head

>>280350805
>Azuma: That makes sense – so everyone’s forcing themselves to wear pants because of their children, then. That’s not something that ever occurred to me as I draw the dad.

this guy is fucking hilarious

>>280350843
>Azuma: The thing is that a bigger cast makes things harder, so I don’t want to expand it too much. I’m aiming to slowly broaden the world in the manga, so I feel like I have to throw a new character in every few volumes. I’d like to be able to do stories about the side characters, but this series being called Yotsuba&!, that’s sort of tricky.

I wonder what he was thinking when he decided to bring Osaka into the yotsubaverse. I doubt his editor or publisher could force him to do anything at this point. Then again, it could simply just be him thinking it'd be fun to do. This whole interview he's been saying he doesn't think ahead too much. He does force his staff's kids to do random tasks for research though kek

>>280346221
thanks

>>280350873
>–I’ll be waiting. Speaking of Miura, I also want to ask a little about Cardbo. When you first drew Cardbo in the manga, did you actually construct it out of cardboard?
>Azuma: I did. I went inside, saw what it was like.
what a fucking legend

>>280350873
>it was ruined by the water and I had to get rid of it
Noooooooooooooo, Danbo

>>280352347
Shut up Jumbo

>>280347668
what is the point of a plush if you can't get a little rough with it

>>280346221
>Asagi denies her stick its purpose.
silly anon, you inject the purpose into a good stick. It can be a sword, a wand, a staff, a pen, a line
sky is the limit

>>280350689
>>–Were you drawing manga in the typical format before you did Azumanga?
>Azuma: No
liar, all those doujin say otherwise

I'm seriously considering impregnating all three Ayase sisters at the same time.

>>280345887 (OP)
why does it look like she's propelling herself forward with the force of her farts in this image

>>280351057
>Sorry for posting it all
It is a good read. Azuma comes off as an insightful guy. And humble as fuck.

>>280350843
>the dad is in his very early thirties
He is just like me...

>>280350805
>if I actually knew a guy as good-looking and perfect as him, I’d hate him.
real, I'd hate Koiwai's guts irl

>>280350873
>The way I picture her, this third girl is the silliest of the group.
A bigger dork than Shimau and Fuuka? Wife.

>>280348052
Jumbo's jumbo

>>280350700
>and she’s even kind of strange just in terms of human anatomy
alien theory confirmed

>>280351057
He sounds like a very cool guy

>>280350843
>I want to have the dad’s friends appear more regularly
he really should, the yakiniku chapter is great

>>280350860
>she’s pretty much just a dumb high school girl.
kek

>>280358855
I'm not looking forward to the day when Koiwai joins the list of characters that I once thought were old but have become notably younger than me

>>280352526
hes laid the groundwork.
Koharuko was a step in the right direction, but this is his ONE CHANCE to add the shy, reclusive slightly chubby glasses bookworm. Not at all like yomi but like a real doe-eyed sweater-wearing recluse.
and shes stacked as fuck

>>280351099
>I'm going to err on the side of what's actually in the manga over an interview. IE the panels that describe Yousuke adopting Yotsuba as a baby.
Yes, Yotsuba was adopted in a foreign land as a baby, then Yosuke took her to Japan. This is literally stated in the manga. They lived with Grandma for a while before moving into their current house. "Recently" in Azuma terms is probably something like 3 years prior, so the manga and interview do not actually contradict one another.

So when will Fuuka marry Kowai and become Yotsuba's official mother?

>>280362770
She's a smart young lady and a member of the student council, so she's waiting to be legal to corner her prey. Until then she's fine just keeping an eye out for any floozy. It's not like he works outside.

>>280355732
It's literally holding back new chapters because asuma doesn't know what the fuck to make them about.

>>280356119
Azuma is barebutt man all the time.

>>280362914
She's legal in Japan. Also she's canonically as dumb as a brick according to the author.

>>280363038
I'd rather get less chapters of I know it's because Azuma is making sure he does the best work possible.
I don't need a 300+ chapters Yotsuba.

>>280363129
>making sure he does the best work possible.
No they're slow to come out because he says he needs to make the specifically focused on yotsuba herself. Did you even read the interview? He said he has plenty of material for the other characters, even ones that haven't shown up yet, but it doesn't make sense to use it without yotsuba being around.

The one chapter that focuses on the Ayases and only has Yotsuba appear in the final page is the worst chapter in the manga, so his choice to focus on Yotsuba is 100% correct.

I hate 4chan for introducing me to Yotsuba because now I have something to look forward to instead of killing myself to escape this world

Does azuma know english? if yes, how well does he know it? If i write him a fan letter will he even read it?
>>280357878
>all those
i am only aware of 3, where's the rest of "all those" doujin?

>>280364001
>Does azuma know english?
Doubtful.

>>280364111
well now i have to speedrun japanese lessons and hope i can write it well enough before azuma dies

>>280350772
>The real kid is actually very bright and didn’t mess up that badly
Yotsuba is a dummy!

>This will be Yotsuba in the future
Yanda is a lucky bastard.

>>280364111
Counterpoint: He had Yotsuba say "hello" and "no" in English! Clear signs of him being fluent!

>>280364772
I don't think Yanda is lucky if she also turns into a lesbian

>>280364001
>i am only aware of 3, where's the rest of "all those" doujin?
https://exhentai.org/?f_search=artist%3A%22azuma+kiyohiko%24%22
even taking duplicated uploads into account, assume there must be a few that were lost in time due to never having been scanned, thus those are quite a few

>>280366292
of course it would be on sadpanda
i dont remember my credentials

>>280350904
Fuuka is very fleshy and soft

>>280346221
Thank you for posting.

yotsubump&

MEGA YOTSUBUMP

>>280374068
What makes it "mega"? Just because you're shouting?

>>280351031
>Ena and Miura in fourth
They're younger than I thought.

>>280364772
Now that I think about it: Considering the fact that Yanda is attracted to Asagi, who is frequently said to be what an older Yotsuba would likely be like, him ending up with Yotsuba is more plausible than I thought.

>>280375396
As much as I love old salarymen romance. Yanda won't do his bro Koiwai dirty like that.

>>280366292
For some reason Sadpanda is just whitescreening at me. I don't know why. I deleted all my cookies and re-logged into the Sadpanda website.

>>280376991
Try again in incognito. You have to log in e- before trying with ex.

Yotsuba & Sandbox

>>280377565
WITCHCRAFT
GET THE PLANK AND THE ROPE, JEBEDIAH

>>280377739
ENTER officially

It's rough being a teen mom (virgin)

Done. Yotsuba is so nice to teach Fuuka all these things that she already ought to know.
By the way, I was meaning to ask, for the magazine chapters, do you prefer Ralen, or our own translation?
See you tomorrow!

>>280377946
>14 x 70
You have 5 seconds to answer.

>>280377635
Fuuka: no talent!

>>280377739
MII-CHAN'S MOM
HAS GOT IT GOIN' ON

>>280377739
Yotsuba's best friend

>>280377739
It's cute how they plan their playtime.

>>280377866
That is NO way to speak to your mother, missy.

>>280377776
My dummy and athletic wife

>>280377946
you should be able to solve this

>>280346154
certified dark souls moment

>>280377739
Funny how Mii-chan's name was revealed before Koiwai's

>>280377756
She tries hard for her

>>280377565
>real slav squat
yup yup, yotsuba is white

>>280377635
she's so gorgeous...

>>280377847
BULLYuka

>>280377838
>yots is playing vietcong
kek

>>280377692
>you're too slow
sonicsuba

>>280377594
>katatata
>tappa
Thank you, TL-kun. Very useful.

>>280377975
Thanks

>>280377713
Bounceukka

>>280377935
>Pretty Neighbour

>>280377739
Azuma better add her in Yotsuba's classroom if he ever makes school chapters

>>280377677
EXERT STRESS WHEN I EXPORT BEATS

>>280377642
Don't kid yourself, Fuuka.
You ALWAYS have room for dinner.

>>280377565
I fucking love baking bread so much

>>280378550
Chinese people do that too. Yotsuba is Chinese.

>>280377635
Fuuka olev

>>280377677
Awww

>>280377635
JUST A DUMB TALENTLESS HIGH SCHOOL GIRL

>>280377776
look at her go...

>>280377866
puffy suba

>>280377901
fishe

>>280377946
it's gotta be more than 5 alright
>>280377975
Sankyuu. I am too dekinai to choose, I'll leave that one to our Yotsuba experts

>>280377975
Thanks OP

>>280377692
fuuka ass
>>280377713
fuuka tits

>>280380310
shortened: fuukass, titsuuka

>>280377776
shes never beating the girlfailure accusations

>>280378550
I don't wanna be that guy, but
>slavs
>white

>>280378550
chillins are just naturally able to squat like that
it's something you have to practice as you get older and your joints stop being so rubbery

>>280377975
>do you prefer Ralen, or our own translation?
Both have their ups and downs. Yotsuba is fortunately not a series where it matters all that much.

>>280350732
>I didn’t want to make it into a manga about a family, which is why there’s no mother character. The title Yotsuba&! is supposed to indicate that the manga is basically Yotsuba plus someone else, the idea being that the manga is about Yotsuba’s interactions with the other characters, with Yotsuba at the center. So it’s not that I set out to draw a parent-child relationship – it’s just that “Yotsuba and Dad” happens to be a combination that comes up a lot.
A very anti-Oedipal summary of the manga here

>>280377692
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8M0jm-cwZeo

>>280379974
*Uyghur

>>280377997
>4*70 + 10*70
980 easy

>>280377975
thanks OP
very cute chapter. i consider this to be a fuuka chapter because fuuka was max cute today

>>280377611

You know, it's more convincing to go for psychological manipulation before throwing a tantrum instead of after.

>>280377866

>>280375396
>who is frequently said to be what an older Yotsuba would likely be like
Only really by random anons. Mom ayase said the opposite in an early chapter, that asagi used to be like yotsuba when she was young not that asagi is like an older yotsuba.

>>280378550
Nah japs do it too.

>>280377635
Do you think asuma forgot that fuuka is supposed to be student vice pres?

>>280377739
Family resemblance is strong.

>>280377847
NNOOOOOOOOO

>>280377921
Get it together, Fuuka

>>280378550

>>280377739
>>280377975
Fuuka small

>>280377565
God i should make some bread

>>280381954
Vice president is a useless position in any institution.

>>280383127
It's the best position, extra money and/or authority with zero responsibility.

>>280350960
>I’d say I take about 500 pictures every month myself
he must have a REALLY busy camera

>>280383127
I imagine in japanese society its more like you do all the work and the actual pres does nothing.

>>280377476
Nope, still not working.
And yes, I am logged into e-.

>>280377713
RUN FATTY RUN!!!

>>280377805
>Losing to a 5 year old
KWAB

>>280377866
Yanda could NEVER bully Yotsuba physically just for calling him dummy.

>>280377635
Fuuka my beloved

>>280377975
Thanks anon

>>280377724
Wonder what she's crying about
That elephant looks mean

>>280377776
>>280377789
is incredible of everytime Fukka tries to be cool she fails miserably

>>280377975
Fuuka and Mii looks like twins here, they're even dressed the same

>>280350921
>It was somewhere around the time Torako appears
Just as I thought; Torako makes everything better.

>>280377739
RIP Dottie.
Enter Mii-chan.

>>280345887 (OP)
>>280345906
>>280345921
Not as good as the geese, but a pretty good table of contents introduction.

Tomorrow's chapter contains horror and nudity

>>280378550
Russians don't consider themselves white and non-russian slavs don't consider themselves russians

>>280377789
Landing a long jump with one leg really is retarded.

>>280377739
Mob mom
Mob daughter

I only read up to vol 12 for Japanese immersion and if I were to catch up to the latest volume I'd run out of Yotsuba for at least another year. I'm also kinda lazy to mokuro what's left.

It's been a pleasure but I'm afraid I cannot continue participating in these lovely threads.

I'm so old

>>280377776
Fatty

STOP MAKING ME WANT TO HAVE DAUGHTERS

>>280377921
skill issue

>>280377677
she is so cute in that outfit
one of the only bad design choices in this manga are the school uniforms, they're so god damn ugly.

>>280377997
100/7 is about 14, so about 1000.

When you get good at math your head gets filled up with this sort of shit and your ability to actually answer the question goes down drastically.

>>280385040
It's not mean, it has to be fierce in order to protect the children.

I bet Fuuka was really cute when she was 14. Too bad she's essentially a hag now.

>>280377935
I love when adults are doing kids stuff with Yotsuba. Dad and Jumbo with the pearls. Yanda with the acorn necklaces. Now Fuuka doing sand taiyaki.

Hi I'm stuff.

>>280377975
Thank you for posting.

>>280346042
My first time tasting Canada Dry

>>280385167
I hadn't noticed that.

>>280390532
>brags about math skills
>doesn't get exact answer
you are a retard lmao

>>280377997
>14 x 70
>2 x 7 x 70
>2 x 490
>2 x (500 - 10)
>1000 - 20
>980
2 seconds

>>280289153
>The constant fear of "oh my god my kids are going to get raped if they're out of my sight for even a second" borders on hysteria.
Filthy rich retard spotted.
Try to get out of your all-white gated community every once in a while. There's a good reason why people in western countries are paranoid when it comes to their kids.
Japan doesn't have paki rape gangs, yet.

>>280396579
Oh and also
>mise-en-scène
Fucking pseud, I'm french and there's nothing more cringe than an upper-class angloid using french terms to appear educated.

>>280351293
They're not lesbians, tranny.

>>280374964
the fact that I called it MEGA

>>280396624
>I'm french
There's nothing more cringe than this

>>280377946
>but how much is it now?
watch and learn guys, THIS is how you haggle

>>280398599
>only 70yen
>50% discount
and that's how you ruin your business

>>280398345
Yeah there is, namely an amerishart from Vermont trying to be french.

>>280345973
>>280346223
birb

>>280346072
>It's dangerous to go alone. Take this!

>>280396624
you never heard of loan-words?

>>280397978
Fuck off.

>>280350873
>>280356760
>>280356840
>an adult-sized version, then
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7gi57NJDds

>>280400745
https://youtu.be/miwOmyvBqF4

>>280377960
My wife's a wagie...

>>280346072
The middle panel conveys so much emotion. You could tell Asagi was genuinely excited to see what Yotsuba brought as a souvenir and then she is hit with the realization that "yes this is a 5 year old child, of course it's something as simple as a stick." She's not disappointed though, it just brings her energy down while she is slightly amused at Yotsuba's innocence.

>>280385242
Cool, tallflat tomboys are the best.

>>280364772

>>280402813
That's a cute yober

>>280399853
You will never belong on 4chan, nor will you ever be a woman.

>>280382777
check'd (czech'd) and kek'd

>>280377935
>Which kind, red bean or cream?
>Choco-banana!
>O-Okay.
Extremely accurate representation of customer service. Nearly got PTSD flashbacks.

>>280404313
Did you get lost on your way to your cesspool? Here, I'll link it for you
>>>/pol/

>>280405712
>/a/ - Anime & Manga
>1. All images and resulting discussion should pertain to anime or manga.

>>280405712
You first, summerfagot.
>>>/lgbt/
>>>/u/

>>280406719
You're the retard that randomly brought up trannies first. Kill yourself.

>>280406676
Okay

>>280407087
my wives spending quality time together

>>280402813
>Start bickering like old couples calling each other "brat" and "baldy"

>>280407087
don't show this to Jumbo

>>280407087
Yotsuba's reaction seems out of character, she probably wouldn't think that there's anything out of the ordinary for Asagi to have her friend over for a sleepover.

>>280407004
You're the one who brought up your disgusting yurishit headcanon.
48% yourself already, we both know you're gonna do it soon anyway.

>>280407352
The joke is that Yotsuba wasn't surprised because she found their naked in the bed, but because she thought Torako would be the top instead of Asagi.

>>280407352
The joke is that Yotsuba wasn't surprised because she found them naked in the bed, but because she thought Torako would be the top instead of Asagi.

>>280407495
How would a 5yo know anythig about tops or bottoms, pedotroon?

>>280407576
Why would Koiwai let Yotsuba watch Elfen Lied or tell her that watching porn with Fuuka gets her in the mood? Because it's a joke, you cretin.

>>280407845
Funny how tranny "jokes" so often revolves around kids being sexualized.

>>280408300
indeed

>>280404941
wtf is this real???

Remember when Fuuka was competent?
Dark times these were

>>280409307
What the hell are you talking about?

I summon OP!

>>280409684
in the beginning mom said she is lucky that Fuuka grew up to be reliable girl unlike Asagi

Yotsuba & Night

>>280412727
!!!!!!!!!!

>>280412685
>ladle in the pencil cup
I raugh erry time

>>280412646

>>280413033
Not in the middle of dumps please

Done. If only there were someone you could call to deal with a ghostly infestation.
See you tomorrow!

>>280412885
Theme
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TldZUqrguno

>>280412794
Jesus Christ I thought this was a bra at first glance

>>280412939
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0G8DcaGegM0

>>280413034
>working in the middle of the night
relatable, like, for real. It's currently midnight where I live and I have to work at my homeoffice computer

>>280412727
>Grandma
Already? I thought I remember her coming much much la...
>chapter 85
ALREADY?! It feels like the daily threads just started

>>280377975
>store instantly goes bankrupt
This economy amiright?

>>280412939
Ah you think darkness is your ally? You merely adopted the dark.

>>280412939
>>280412956
>>280412977
>>280412997
>>280413016
BLAME-looking pages.
As usual Azuma does a great job at recalling childhood feelings. Being spooked by a normally familiar oblect (the toilet, in this case) is something I remember vividly from my youth, escpecially stuff like a coat hanged on a wall.

>>280412771
Look kind of like it was a last second addition as well.

>>280412747
I just realized that the sound effects yotsuba makes are also in hiragana.

>>280402813
Yanda's pushing 30 mate.

>>280412768
bath scenes are cute and wholesome.

>>280377997
980 in my head. Did take about 7 seconds, though.
10[(10 * 7) + (4 * 7) ]

>>280412977
Good panel.

>>280390532
"about" only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, brainlet-kun.

>>280402813
How the fuck ha Yanda not aged a day in all of these Yotsuba x Yanda shipping pictures...
HE'S A FUCKING VAMPIRE, THAT'S HOW.

>>280346200
!!!

>>280413140
thanks

>>280412794
>>280412823
>>280412849
daddy is so erotic...

>>280413140
Heheh, funny ending.

>>280415602
*Sniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiifffffff

>>280415602
DESTROY!

>>280412823
>>280412849
The way his hair clings to his neck... Also it's funny Yotsuba has black hair (water resistant)

>>280415602
yotsuba...

>>280413140
Thanks OP

>>280413140
Thanks OP. Fun chapter

>>280412747
Having good grandparents must feel good

>>280348052
by me

>>280413140
Sankyuu

>>280413140
Thanks anon

Yousuke Hanamura

>>280412708
>I don't care for surprises
I'm the same. I wish people would tell me about important shit at least a week prior.

>>280412794
koiwai is naked in this scene fyi

>>280415244

>>280419259
why did you utter my (bottom) husband's name?

>>280418108
Anon...

>>280421281
hot

>>280412768
why does she count in the bath?

>>280412794
>What will daddy do when he grows up?
mean

>>280423917
It seems to be common for Japanese parents to have their young children count to 100 in the bathtub at the end of their bath. There are many theories about why this is done, but Japanese themselves do not really know. Today, it is often explained as a way to teach children how to count.

>>280402044
I think it's even funnier because then she gets genuinely excited about the gigantic pinecone, but then Yotsuba doesn't want to give it to her.

>>280425497
Probably a mental trigger to keep you from having too long a bath. I could use something like that in the shower. I'll stand in there for 30-40 minutes just zoning out.

Someone earlier expressed a desire for a version of "Yotsuba & Blue" with the blue added, and I did my best.

>>280425848
>>280425497
In Nichijou the counting was used to make the child stay longer in the bath

>>280425910
holy fucking based
thanks, anon

Why ISN'T there a Yotsuba colorization, even just a fan one
I was able to read the entirety of Jojo in color

>>280426290
you should upload this to mangadex

>>280426269
>>280426290
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQ28FcRePAo

>>280425910
Can you also color this page in the next chapter? It's very wonderful; the added blue will make it even better.

Cute yotsuba foot

>>280412747

>>280426290
Thanks anon
Appreciate it

>>280426960
stop appreciating things.

>>280426290
Verry nice thanks

>>280426500

Sure.

>>280412727
oh shit

>>280419259
Never ask what daddy was doing during his days as Inaba citizen

>>280412921
>>280412939
>>280412956
>>280412977
Yotsuba & Horror

>>280408300
If you're going to be a moralfag about the sexualization of kids, then anime and manga might not be for you. Do you also avoid anything with lolicon or shotacon content?

>>280414075
How good is BLAM?

>>280427671
can you draw me a trex?

>>280429172
It's so good that you should go read it right now.

>>280377776
The agony of de fat

>>280428711
>Do you also avoid anything with lolicon or shotacon content?
Not him but unironically yes. You're in a thread for a very wholesome manga. Even Daioh was anti-sexualization with how comically distasteful Kimura's characterization is.

>>280351420
からい has a different nuance in japanese. While it can mean spicy, something that is very "dry" or crisp can be karai as well (e.g. a dry white wine).
The lemon "soda" Yotsuba is drinking is not sweet or sour but lightly flavored and heavily carbonated.

>>280346056
>Here is a panel of Asagi being pretty, because

>>280412939
this is exactly how darkness feels when you're a child, Azuma is a genius

>>280346221
sweet jesus imagine close dancing with asagi

>>280412849
why did she did that?

>>280431037
Jellyfish are a menace, it deserved it.

>>280350805
>Azuma: That makes sense – so everyone’s forcing themselves to wear pants because of their children, then. That’s not something that ever occurred to me as I draw the dad.
Naruhodo

>>280430522
What? Azuma is very obviously a pervert, and /ourguy/.

>>280364772
This is true, all of it. It's really how I picture her grown up (but still with big dreams)

>>280382823

>>280431348
Doesn't change the fact that perverts were ridiculed in Daioh and (rightfully) uncatered to in Yotsuba.

>>280396579
>>280396624
Is everyone this upset all the time in France?
I don't live in a gated white community btw, I live in Tokyo.
I have a french friend here who runs a burger place and he seems pretty well balanced.

>>280431567
>I have a french friend here who runs a burger place and he seems pretty well balanced.
Much time spent away from déclassé "New French" elements does wonders to a frog's soul.

>>280412768
>losing track of something you were just using
this is hard enough without a kid's stuff all over the house

>>280377565
>this confuses the american

>>280413140
>turncoat
That's a really rude translation of おまわりさん

>>280414075
How can anyone be scared when there's a stupid sexy Killy there?

>>280415019
>>280415320
Yotsuba is probably like 14 in that doujin so that makes Yanda +9 years older. If he's originally in his mid to late 20s then it's not too much of a visual age difference for a mid-30s man who doesn't eat like a pig.

>>280429172
Probbaly the best manga I've ever read.

>>280428711
You ar etrying to hard to fit in. You come from a discord server with the mistaken belief that 4chan is le epic anonymous and safe pedo haven.
Yotsuba is 4chan's mascot, it's in the fucking name. You out yourself as a tourist/raider by sexualizing her.

>>280431567
>I don't live in a gated white community btw, I live in Tokyo.
That's even worse lmfao. You pontificate about muh media fearmongfering and paranoia while you live in the safest and most homogenuous country on Earth.

>>280433552
Buddy you really should take a walk and smell some fresh green leaves, it's summer in the northern hemisphere.

>>280433316
Are you implying that the classic edits of Yotsuba distributing Fuuka porn, or talking about Koiwai's sexual habits, are sexualizing her?

>>280433316
Never in my life have I used Discord. I just don't like it when the type to complain about "pedotroons" bitches about any depiction that doesn't fit their mold of wholesomeness. It's like when people try to sell a certain anime or character as representing their trad Christian views or whatever, despite Christians making up only about 1% of the Japanese population.

>>280413140
>>280431782
>policeman
I just found a Japanese riddle "A policeman arrested an animal doing a handstand. What kind of animal was that?" The answer is a squirrel. This is because, when you turn the Japanese word for squirrel (RI-SU) upside down, i.e. read it backwards, it becomes SU-RI, which means pickpocket. Perhaps Yotsuba remembered this the wrong way.

>>280433578
>no retort
Imagine my shock. Enjoy your 0% immigration host country.

>>280432146
>so that makes Yanda +9 years older.
your math is not mathing
Yotsuba is currently 5, Yanda is the junior(i.e. 1-3 years younger) of a guy who is around 30.
This retarded ship is fucked up and only pedos like it

>>280433724
>It's like when people try to sell a certain anime or character as representing their trad Christian views or whatever
>shit that never happened
You're forcing yourself to get angry at imaginary stuff again, Anon.

>>280433797
>no retort
...why would I need a "retort"?
Why would I want to argue with some unhappy, miserable guy who sounds like he has a lot of anger at the world for no clear reason I can see?

Buddy, I don't know whatever convinced you to look at life as a constant zero-sum game of arguing, but it doesn't interest me at all. I think there's other boards on this site that can better serve your need to argue about.. whatever it is you wanted to argue about.

>>280433881
While I agree with you that Yanda is probably in his late twenties and that all shipping is retarded, Kohai doesn't refer exclusively to students so you can't conclusively tie Yanda's age to Koiwai's.

>>280433881
You're taking it way too seriously. It's just fun.

>>280434138
just like how acting retarded is not funny and just makes you look retarded, so is acting like a pedo
there are plenty of jokes you can do with this manga, a 25 year old guy fucking a 5 year old is not one

>>280414890
Onomatopoeia are usually written with kana, yes

>>280434622
Most sound effects are in katakana.

>>280345973
why do some birds walk really fast while others make little jumps?

>>280434584
I am not even a Yanstuba shipper but this is categorically not what has been going on.

>>280423917

>>280434584
lmao what is your major malfunction

>>280434826
Not necessarily. Katakana are used for pure sound to emphasize the, well, sound. Hiragana can be used for action, or descriptive movement

This image is EVIL and it's SEXUALIZING Yotsuba!

It's pic related for me.

>>280435554
I liked it when yotsuba still had her antennae

>>280413140
>turncoat
She says policeman/patrolman?

>>280425910
That's 水色, not 青色

>>280436404
looks like a light blue to me

>>280377824
>>280377838
>PIT TRAP
Yotsuba is will defend her homeland from the capitalist pigs

>>280436466
That's what I said

>>280436588
I mean the color that anon used, looks like a light blue to me.
Of course, after I wrote my previous comment I used google and searched for "light blue" and then "水色" and noticed they are two completely different colors. Languages a bitch

>>280436156
I feel like the turncoat thing might be a reference to an english riddle.

>>280426290
very nice anon

>>280435619
>JK instead of OL
Still would read a comfy SoL about this.

>>280383127
>Vice president is a useless position in any institution
Let's see anon's card

>>280433316
>You ar etrying to hard to fit in.
You're the clown calling people things like "summerfaggot" or "raider" and name dropping fucking anonymous of all things, while decrying classic edits, saying "pedotroon" unironically, and complaining about "sexualizing minors" in the >suddenly board.
Fuck off.

>>280429219
>can you draw me a trex?
I sure can, anon. You can tell it's me because of my signature colour palette

>>280438835
Akhsually Trex had feathers and looked like a giant gay chicken so that's not scientifically accurate!

>>280430522
>>280431523
Kimura has a hot wife who loves him and a cute daughter, though.

>>280436156
>>280437191
Maybe something to do with the children game 'cops and robbers'?

>>280439175
>Trex had feathers and looked like a giant gay chicken
I can see it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2fti41xyRM

Yotsobari da

>>280439210
Kimura is definitely not just a creep, part of the joke is how he's an upstanding member of society

>>280412661
>>280412768
here:

>>280433985
>but it doesn't interest me at all
Then why do you keep replying, you smarmy, reddit-spacing tourist?