I’m messing with your head…

September 14, 2009 in Manga Minutiae | 13 comments

Yotsuba&! is NOT about the life of a 5-year old child.

It’s about what it’s like to have a 5-year old daughter.

Yeah.  Think about it.

090914_yotsuba_1

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  1. kransom on September 14, 2009 at 5:44 pm

    I’ve mentioned this in other conversations about Yotsuba&!, but I never really realized this until last year when I had a professor in Japan tell his class that he’s glad that we enjoy the series, but that when he, a man with a young daughter and another one on the way, read it, he thought it was so excellent that he broke down into tears.

    also, first “but it’s in Dengeki Daioh!” post, never mind that the tank sells multiple times daioh’s circulation…

    Reply

    1. Simon on September 14, 2009 at 7:41 pm

      Yeah, this is an excellent series, and one of the few which I can honestly say has no dark ulterior motive. Still, it does cater to a kind of longing that can’t be helped but be seen as nefarious in hypersensitive US of A, so it’s an angle that reviewers here don’t address much. It’s truly an “all ages” book that’s sold as a kid’s title, even more so under Yen Press.

      Reply

  2. Masamonkey on September 14, 2009 at 10:55 pm

    I just recently started the series once YP made some copies available and I’m addicted. Now I’m being completely honest here: reading the series is a bit tainted for me since I find myself stopping every couple of pages to boggle at why on Earth anyone would read anything sinister into the book. I would really have liked to be able to read it before I read any articles expounding on the sinister fetishism dripping off every page, but unfortunately, that was ruined for me.

    Reply

    1. Simon on September 15, 2009 at 12:37 am

      It was never that the book itself had any sinister undertones, but the concept of single men vicariously experiencing fatherhood through the book that people in the US would find creepy. (Heck, over here, we aren’t even comfortable with single men adopting children.)

      In Japan, the difficulty of meeting mates and the low birth rate means many people will never actualize their dreams of a family, so they fantasize about it. Taken in that context, pining for manga children is not all that strange.

      Reply

      1. Masamonkey on September 15, 2009 at 12:46 pm

        Yeah, I understand that, it makes sense. I have to admit that experience for myself, I’m getting to be that age and haven’t bothered dating in years and years. A lot of guys look at it more like having a cute pet than actually raising a kid though which is a little messed up no matter where you’re from and when you have people looking at sexual abuse as a bonus perk of a father/daughter relationship, that’s an unhealthy attitude for someone to have whether they have actual children or not. The problem, as I see it, is a lot of western ‘otaku’ commentators like to paint everyone with that same brush combined with the extreme feminist idea you hinted at that says all men have a predilection for molesting children. My problem with reading Yotsuba is that some asshole came along and basically said, ‘Y’know, he really just wants to fuck Yotsuba, because he’s Japanese,’ before I got the chance to actually read it. Every few pages I have to stop and think, ‘Fuck you, guy who said that, why would you even want to think that?’

        Reply

  3. Anonymous on September 15, 2009 at 6:06 am

    Of course, the most frequently fanporn’ed characters in the book are Fuuka and Ena.

    And Ena is in many ways a lolicon ideal personified.

    Reply

    1. Simon on September 15, 2009 at 1:45 pm

      Oh no no no no no, don’t go there man. Don’t. Go. There.

      Reply

  4. Masamonkey on September 15, 2009 at 1:00 pm

    As a twist on you original head messing statement, I think the story’s about what it’s like to have a 5-year old daughter for everyone -but- the father. He himself is almost an expositional afterthought serving as a catalyst for this green-haired force of biological nature to come sweeping into town.

    Reply

  6. Lou Shumaker on September 17, 2009 at 3:48 pm

    By that logic, Get Fuzzy isn’t about the life of a cat and dog, it’s about what it’s like to OWN a cat and dog.

    Reply

    1. JM on September 17, 2009 at 4:43 pm

      Actually, with some of the earlier ones, that’s exactly how I saw the comic. The personality of our cat and dog fit the characters very well.

      Reply

  7. Randall Fitzgerald on September 17, 2009 at 11:18 pm

    And by that logic, Ichigo Mashimaro is about what it’s like to be a perverted camera man.

    Reply

    1. Simon on September 18, 2009 at 5:43 pm

      Nah, it’s about some old guy who wants to have a nice brunch at a maid cafe.

      Reply