Yotsuba&!/Characters

Here's a list of characters and related tropes for the manga series Yotsuba&!.

Yotsuba Koiwai


Our viewpoint character, a five-year-old with a very energetic outlook on the world. ---
 * Bad Liar: Not that she's noticeably worse than any other five-year-old.
 * Cheerful Child: As it says every chapter, "Today is always the most enjoyable day."
 * Cloudcuckoolander: Justified because of her age, but even her dad thinks she's a little weird.
 * Constantly Curious
 * Curtains Match the Window: In addition to her green hair, Yotsuba also has green eyes.
 * Determinator: Yotsuba will deliver Fuuka her milk, even if she hasn't a clue where Fuuka's school is, or even what a school is. Because a milkman delivers.
 * Expressive Hair: Her pigtails rise and fall with her (rapidly changing) moods.
 * Genki Girl: In spades. And the trump suit. This gets Lampshaded by Asagi: "Her default rate of movement really is running."
 * Happily Adopted: She doesn't care one bit about the exact nature of her parentage. Koiwai is "dad" and that's that.
 * Improbable Hairstyle: Obeying the Rule of Cute, Yotsuba's hair is always in those four little pigtails, even when sleeping, swimming, taking a bath, etc.
 * Malaproper: She mostly knows the words, but how to say them is still a little beyond her.
 * Meaningful Name: It means "four leaves" as in "four-leaf clover". Thus her hair.
 * "Yotsuba" and "Koiwai" are also both brands of dairy products in Japan.
 * Mistaken Nationality: Based on her appearance, strangers constantly assume Yotsuba a foreigner, and indeed she was born in another, unknown country. As a result, some students at Fuuka's school try to speak to her in English because all gaijin are American.
 * Parental Abandonment: We know nothing about her origins except that Koiwai found her somewhere overseas, which Yotsuba claims was "an island 'to the left'".
 * Plucky Girl: Delivering milk is Serious Business.
 * Sitcom Arch Nemesis: Hers is Yanda.
 * Sunny Sunflower Disposition: She's such a Genki Girl, she appears with a bouquet of sunflowers in the cover of the 1st volume. A later chapter even sees her fascinated by sunflowers in Jumbo's shop, and wanting to buy some.
 * Super Drowning Skills: Suprisingly averted, Yotsuba can swim quite well. Koiwai, Jumbo and Fuuka on the other hand...
 * Sweet Dreams Fuel: Her very existence.
 * Third Person Person: Childishly, in the original Japanese (mimicked in the Yen Press translations); she combines this with an innocent imitation of her father's masculine language -- the effect is hysterically funny but is, alas, Lost in Translation.
 * Trademark Favorite Food: As expected for a five-year-old, Yotsuba really likes ice cream. She also has a fascination for cup ramen.
 * Curry is also a favorite of hers. In fact, one of the songs of the Image Album is called 'Eating Curry (Very Delicious)'.
 * Twin Tails: Technically, quad-tails.
 * Why Did It Have To Be Eyeballs?: Yotsuba is terrified of anything that has huge eyes, or anything that looks like a huge eye. Ironic considering her own are pretty big.
 * X Meets Y: Think Osaka plus Chiyo plus Tomo.
 * You Gotta Have Green Hair: Which makes her an oddity among the cast's otherwise realistic character designs.

Mr. Koiwai / "Dad"


Yotsuba's adoptive father, he works at home as a translator. He's devoted to her, but isn't exactly the most driven parent who ever lived. ---
 * Adult Child: Can be this sometimes when friends are over or when playing with Yotsuba.
 * Children Raise You: Possibly.
 * Cuteness Proximity: Put a guinea pig in his vicinity and he just melts.
 * Good Dad: So very much.
 * Hot Dad: According to some of Fuuka's classmates.
 * Mr. Fanservice
 * No Name Given: We have never learned his given name. Even Jumbo calls him by his family name.
 * Reasonable Authority Figure: He's more than willing to tolerate, if not participate, in Yotsuba's antics. On those occasions in which she does misbehave, the hammer will come down hard, sometimes overlapping with Scare Em Straight.
 * The Slacker: He doesn't even wear pants in the summer, if he has the choice.

The Ayase Family
The Koiwai's next-door neighbors, frequently visited by Yotsuba.

Asagi Ayase


The oldest Ayase girl; Yotsuba looks up to her (figuratively and literally). She seems to enjoy it. ---
 * Badass: Hey, she WAS the only one to disarm the revenge-fueled water-gun toting Yotsuba. She even blasted Yotsuba right back! Nobody else is that badass.
 * Chaste Teens: Despite her attractiveness, she is never seen dating anybody, though Fuuka said she used to have a boyfriend. Some fans suspect she and Torako are an item, though.
 * Cool Big Sis
 * Cuteness Proximity: She gets this every so often around Yotsuba.
 * Long Hair Is Feminine
 * Sweet Tooth: She gets it from her mother. They sometimes clash over it.
 * The Unfavorite: She and her mother do not exactly get along, played mostly for laughs.
 * Considering the fact it's Generation Xerox clashing.
 * Tomboy and Girly Girl: Girly Girl to Torako's Tomboy.
 * Trickster Mentor: To Yotsuba.

Fuuka Ayase


The middle Ayase girl, and the one who seems to have the worst luck. Her travails, of course, go right over Yotsuba's head. ---
 * Big Ol Eyebrows: Though Koiwai in chapter 67, thinks this just makes her cuter.
 * Butt Monkey: Her life can kinda suck.
 * Dreadful Musician: Fuuka, drop that ukelele. And stop singing.
 * Friend to All Children: Especially prevalent during the Autumn festival.
 * Generic Cuteness: Often mocked for either her plain looks, eyebrows, or pudginess compared to her older sister Asagi. Doesn't stop her from being popular with her classmates though.
 * Kind of averted in that she is actually regarded as being fairly attractive. For instance, Jumbo's initial reaction to her was to exclaim that she's a bishoujo, only to drop the "Bi" when he meets Asagi because...well, it's Asagi.
 * Girl Next Door
 * Go Nagai Sideburns: Her hair seems to give this sort of visual effect, kinda like Kagura.
 * Incredibly Lame Pun: Her sense of humor leaves much to be desired.
 * Is That Cute Kid Yours?: Apparently Fuuka's classmates thought Yotsuba was her child.
 * Joshikousei
 * Ms. Fanservice: Shows off a lot more skin than any other female character, including wearing short skirts, swimsuits and turning up in sexy outfits on colour pages.
 * Pungeon Master: Of the incredibly lame variety. Her father enjoys them, but Asagi and Jumbo don't.
 * Ship Tease: Usually with Koiwai.

Ena Ayase


The youngest Ayase girl, she's the closest to Yotsuba in age and thus plays with her most often. Likes bugs, amphibians, and teddy bears. ---
 * Berserk Button: Don't do anything that isn't environmentally friendly, or keep calling any of her bears Duralumin.
 * Cheerful Child: Although not quite at Yotsuba's level, Ena still generally has a sunny disposition.
 * Cool Big Sis: The younger variety; Ena seems to go further than Fuuka or Asagi in treating Yotsuba as a little sister.
 * Daddy's Girl: Though Mr. Ayase loves all of them very much, Ena seems to be his little girl.
 * Considering the other two don't even recognize him sometimes...
 * Girls Love Stuffed Animals: She likes playing with her teddy bears with Yotsuba.
 * Granola Girl: She tends to be more environmentally conscious than others as well as having a fondness for recycling, but she doesn't mind eating meat or helping clean fish for a meal.
 * Tomboy and Girly Girl: With Miura in terms of looks and general personality but a bit subverted in that she looks like the girly girl but has some tomboy interests.

Mrs. Ayase
The mother of the three girls. ---
 * Happily Married
 * Housewife
 * Long Hair Is Feminine: Subverted
 * Like Mother Like Daughter/Generation Xerox: She and Asagi are quite alike, but don't tell either that.
 * No Name Given: Her given name has not been revealed so far.
 * Only Known By Their Nickname / Team Mom: Yotsuba calls her "mom".

Mr. Ayase
The father of the three girls. ---
 * Happily Married
 * No Name Given
 * Parental Abandonment: He's coming close to it due to him working all the time. Asagi rejects him for it.
 * Salaryman
 * Satellite Character

Takashi "Jumbo" Takeda


Koiwai's best friend, whose nickname hints at his most notable feature. A decent guy, if a little overenthusiastic around Asagi. ---
 * Adult Child: Gets into a rivalry with a ten-year-old girl over going to Hawaii.
 * All Love Is Unrequited: Has a large crush on Asagi.
 * Big Ol Eyebrows
 * Friend to All Children
 * Gentle Giant: He's a florist.
 * Hot Blooded: Moreso than others; he shares it with his dad.
 * Only Known By Their Nickname
 * Phrase Catcher: "You're huge!"
 * She Is Not My Girlfriend: He corrects his dad after he assumed Fuuka was his new girlfriend.
 * The Big Guy

Miura Hayasaka


Ena's friend, who's not all that nice to Yotsuba (though she doesn't actively try to be mean; she just doesn't have everyone else's patience). Hates slimy things, in contrast to Ena. ---
 * Bifauxnen
 * Deadpan Snarker: On occasion.
 * Everythings Better With Princesses: Yotsuba thinks she's a princess after seeing the apartment complex she lives in.
 * Jerkass: Miura has a tendency of playing mean pranks on Yotsuba. Which usually backfire.
 * Miko: Was dressed for the part during the Autumn Festival.
 * She Cleans Up Nicely: Pulls this off as one of the matsuri maidens during the autumn festival.
 * Shorttank: She prefers sports clothing to tanktops, though.
 * Tomboy and Girly Girl: With Ena, a bit subverted in that she looks like the tomboy but has some girly girl interests.

Torako


Asagi's friend, she has a somewhat more aloof personality. Yotsuba seems to confuse her even more than the rest of the cast. ---
 * Cool Big Sis: See Smoking Is Cool.
 * Deadpan Snarker: Sometimes.
 * Defrosting Ice Queen: Toward Yotsuba, since she's not used to kids. The process is still ongoing.
 * In Series Nickname: Since her name looks like "Tiger Child" when written out, Yotsuba calls her Tora/Tiger.
 * Perpetual Frowner
 * Smoking Is Cool: Or so Yotsuba thinks.
 * The Stoic: Though she'll show emotion when the situation calls for it.
 * Tomboy and Girly Girl: Tomboy to Asagi's Girly Girl.
 * The punchline of chapter 77 specifically plays off this dynamic.

"Yanda" Yasuda


Koiwai's kohai who gets a kick out of taunting Yotsuba. Unfortunately for him, everyone treats him exactly like he deserves. ---
 * Adult Child: This guy enjoys being Yotsuba's Sitcom Arch Nemesis.
 * Butt Monkey: He brings it upon himself.
 * Drop in Character
 * The Friend Nobody Likes: Koiwai and Jumbo put up with him more than hang out with him.
 * Jerkass: Why he's the Butt Monkey.
 * Kick the Dog: He initially went out of his way to be mean to Yotsuba, though he seems to be getting better.
 * Mr. Fanservice: One of the few young and attractive guys around.
 * Only Known By Their Nickname: His real last name is Yasuda, but no one calls him that. His given name is completely unknown.
 * Perpetual Poverty: He barely even has money to eat well, at least until the end of the month.
 * Salaryman: White shirt, tie and all.
 * Sempai Kohai: Probably the main reason Koiwai has anything to do with him.
 * Sitcom Arch Nemesis: Of Yotsuba. He even seems to take delight in invoking the trope in regards to her.
 * Straight Man: Thinks the way that Koiwai and Jumbo go along with Yotsuba's antics is incredibly weird. However he's Not So Above It All at times.
 * Trademark Favorite Food: He practically lives off instant ramen.
 * Tsurime Eyes
 * White Haired Pretty Boy

Miss Stake/Shimau
A classmate and friend of Fuuka's. Her real name is Hiwatari, but acquired her nickname when flubbing her introduction to her class.


 * Happy Dance - Done by Shimau, Fuuka and Yotsuba while baking a cake.
 * Lost in Translation - The joke behind her nickname.
 * Nice Hat - Her Chef's Hat when baking a cake.
 * Only Known By Their Nickname - Her name's Hiwatari, but everyone calls her Shimau/Miss Stake.
 * Satellite Character - Satellite to Fuuka. She also only appears in a few stories.