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Premier Mounts
This far into the series, there is no escaping the impatience that comes with its insistent avoidance of anything that doesn't fit into Yotsuba's foreshortened gaze. That impatience, of course, comes from the adult in us. And Yotsuba&! has a facility for making that adult immediately feel like a cad for it. Those little glimpses Yotsuba catches (or misses) of grown-up business do their part, as does the series' hilarity and beauty. Just try begrudging the series its reticence on matters teen-plus while Yotsuba is grafting herself onto Jumbo to create Mega-Yotsuba or experiencing, with startling clarity, the joys and terrors of fence-walking. The book has its weak spots—the acorn chapter is genuinely pointless—but they quiver, pale and frightened, before the joie de vivre stamped on every other page.
The show may know when to slow down and have some fun, but even while spinning pure fluff it's never standing still; even the entirely disposable cake competition serves as the basis for darker developments later on. And additionally, throughout it all—from the fan-service fluff to the creature smackdowns and hand-to-hand battles—runs a thread of pure psychological unpleasantness that lends everything a highly becoming edge. Tate and Mai continue to emotionally abuse each other and themselves; Shiho shows the first signs of an unbecoming catty streak; Miyu demonstrates the ugly flip side of her devotion to pint-size Alyssa; Shizuru begins to let slip signs that she's not nearly so simple or easy-going as she lets on; and Sister Yukariko's weakness and insecurity begin to undercut her devotion to God.
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