Manga review: Yotsuba&! chapter 86 (minor spoilers) · 1:13pm Aug 29th, 2014
Surprisingly...after a nine month wait, there's finally a new chapter of Yotsuba&!.
And...after all the anticipation, I'm underwhelmed.
When last the series left off, Koiwai had just gotten a call, and we, the reader, learned we were about to meet Yotsuba's grandmother. Since most of the series' characters are fairly interesting, and Koiwai's bizarre personality had to have come from somewhere, there was anticipation for a dynamic, entertaining character.
Completely not the case.
Yotsuba's grandmother is dry, uninteresting, and has a sour personality. First impressions are everything when a new character is introduced, and she just comes across as a fuddy-duddy. Disappointing.
Also, Yotsuba was being a SPECTACULAR BRAT in this chapter, which left a sour taste in my mouth.
I'm not faulting Azuma-sensei, because above all, Yotsuba&! is the supreme example of slice-of-life, and that's just how old people and little kids are sometimes, but...after making us wait so long for this introduction of Yotsuba's grandmother, I was expecting something...better.
Wait... Yotsuba is still a thing?
2411359 Yes, but barely. As far as I know, nobody's even publishing it in North America right now (no idea about Europe), and Azuma is taking increasingly long breaks between chapters (this chapter was NINE MONTHS since the last one).
Which is sad because it's such an amazing series and there's so much more he could be doing with it...but then, there's always fanfics. Like mine!