Yeah, I know. "DrSpengler liked Azumanga Daioh? Has Hell frozen over?"

Azumanga Daioh is about the closest thing to "moe'" that I'll ever be able to enjoy, but that's mostly because it cleverly managed to avoid most of the moe'/loli tropes I despise so much.

Sexual pedo humor was at a minimum, with the lecherous teacher being funny but harmless. Karin's affections for Sasaki also weren't a huge crux of the ongoing plot and they never really got sexual or all that lesbian, either. She just idolized her as being an ideal woman.

And although I don't like moe' art style, I was able to get over it very quickly becuase the writing was so clever. I've very rarely seen Japanese 4-panel comics that are any...um...good. I don't know if it's just a style of delivery that Japanese writers aren't very familiar with, but they tend to have the worst excuses for "punchlines" I've ever seen at the end of their 4-panel comics. Azumanga Daioh really mastered the art and was genuinely funny.

I liked the traditional comic book style storylines a bit less than the 4-panel stories, but they weren't bad, either.

Now, the anime I HATED. It retold the story from the comics but with the added attraction of all those moe'/loli tropes I openly despise. Karin became super lesbo, the teacher went from being a funny sleeze to a nasty panty-sniffing perv, they laid the fanservice and cheesecake on way too thick...and that "cooking is so fun" stuff was never amusing, just annoying.


But I still enjoy the comic.


Now, anyway, since I liked the Azumanga Daioh comic...would I like Yotsuba? I don't know much about it, other than it was written by the same guy. Does it share the same sense of humor?

One of the things I liked about Azumanga Daioh was that it was done in 4 volumes. It told it's complete story and called it a day. Last I saw, Yotsuba was up to 6 volumes and still isn't over yet. Is it one of those Japanese comics that goes on and on and on and on with no sense of direction (ie; DBZ, One Piece, Naruto, Inu-Yasha, etc) until it eventually outstays its welcome and gets canned?

Anyhow, it looks interesting. I've heard that most people think its BETTER than Azumanga Daioh, which tempts me, but a lot of those fans are really into the moe'/loli stuff, so I don't think we have the same definition of "good".

there are words in there that i don't know what they mean?

and I watched all of Lucky Star and Melancholy of hummina sumthingorother

Dengeki Daioh is a monthly magazine so you are looking at nearly half a year between each book and it seems to sell well enough for Azuma to have it go on hiatus to redraw Azumanga strips for the anniversary volume.

Anyway. Yotsuba is wonderfull. If you have any appreciation for Calvin and Hobbes you'll like it. It's bascily humor drawn from a childs perspective written for older readers. This also means that it's written episodic and has no real storyline beyond continuity.

Wholesome, well written and hilarious. Eh, try it.

Yotsuba is even funnier and more enjoyable than Azumanga Daioh was at its best, and that's saying something.

That said, I don't really care for the honorific heavy translation Yen Press is doing. If you can find them cheap, pick up the ADV Manga versions of the first few volumes.

Here's an old, old review of the release of the first volume by ADV. It's old, but still relevant.

Thanks guys!

All sounds pretty good (aside from the honorific heavy translation; I'm not a fan of "TV Nihon" style translations, if you know what I mean).

I'll snatch the first volume and give it a shot.

I read the first few volumes and enjoyed it a lot, the main character is just so adorable and the stories are pretty innocent and sweet. I definitely plan to pick the series up when I can.