chapter 2: "Yotsuba & Manners" (20 July)
chapter 2: Our Heroine wakes up in a strange place and panics until -- oh, right, we moved yesterday. An anime cliche, but never mind. She then demonstrates her energy and indiscriminate oversharing, accidentally locks herself in the bathroom, escapes out the window -- her triumph at nailing the landing is spot on -- and goes walkabout again, this time wearing pajamas and indoor shoes. Fuka meets her trying to ring a suspiciously high doorbell (comedy again controlling the details?) that she doesn't know the function of (definitely comedy in control), takes her home, and ends up doing the responsible thing again and babysits her. When Yotsuba naps, Fuka locks herself in the bathroom too, is mocked by Asagi, and is rescued by Koiwai.

Nothing like literal bathroom humor to make a story, I say.

Nonetheless, it's not my favorite chapter: small children get something of a pass for not yet knowing proper manners, at least until they've been civilized, but Yotsuba here still comes across as something of a jerkass. The bathroom thread works better, even if it skirts closer to humiliation humor, and the punchline makes me giggle every time. And, seriously, not knowing what a doorbell is? How far out in the boonies WAS she? Not understanding Fuka's explanation of her name's kanji, I buy, but not the doorbell thing. OTOH, some running threads are established here -- Asagi's mischievousness, Fuka's drawing skill and pride in her name, and Yotsuba's pride in her drawing skills, childish tendency to invent answers, and of course her origin story ("to the left") -- while Fuka's sense of responsibility is shown even more strongly than in chapter 1. Oh, and we get Yotsuba's first major malapropism (rendered as "humble aboard").

Favorite panel: Fuka smiling, eyes closed, into the summer sun (page 66 frame 3). That expression is just about perfect.

Scattered notes:

• I am delighted by Azuma's ability to make his characters' drawing styles distinct from his and each other's, and in character; Yotsuba's in particular is spot-on for a child of about five -- it was one of the details that made me suspect her true age, the first time I read the series.
• I also like how he conveys Yotsuba's energy as she walks by how high she swings her rigid arms -- should have mentioned this in chapter 1.
• OTOH, what's with sleeping with her hair still tied up?
• And looking to the future, pay attention to the state of that living room over the next chapters.

---L.