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Yotsuba&! doesn't have a plot. It never did, and likely never will. Each chapter consists of our plucky little heroine executing a task—and usually making a hash of it. The chapters are largely independent, and change occurs on a geologic pace...if at all. It's those qualities that often get Yotsuba&! lumped into the "cuteness for cuteness' sake" category. It doesn't belong there. Yotsuba&! is cute. Incredibly so, both visually (Yotsuba is not to be trifled with on that front) and behaviorally (ditto). But it isn't cute for the sake of being cute.
If that sounded a little defensive, that's because there is good reason to be. After seven volumes and nearly as many years, and as loath as its fans (myself included) may be to admit it, Yotsuba&! is starting to wear out its welcome. We know the series has bigger themes to fry than adventures in souvenir-delivering and house-sitting. Several questions have been begging to be asked for eons now: Who is Yotsuba? Why is Koiwai raising her? And why is he so darned oblivious to the opposite sex?
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