ship_manifesto

Title: One Step at a Time
Author:

losertini
Fandom: Yotsuba&!
Pairing: Koiwai/Fuuka
Spoilers: All chapters of the manga (60 at present)
Disclaimer: Kiyohiko Azuma owns Yotsuba&! (and unfortunately doesn't ever intend to make an animated version ;_;)
Notes: It was only a matter of time, people! Oh, and if you're not reading this manga, DO IT NOW. You can thank me later.

One Step at a Time
(a Koiwai/Fuuka manifesto)

Yotsuba&! is a manga by Kiyohiko Azuma, the creator of Azumanga Daioh, and like its predecessor is serialized in the pages of Dengeki Daioh. Yotsuba&! (pronounced Yotsuba to!, or “Yotsuba and”) is a slice-of-life series focusing on the daily adventures of its namesake, five-year-old Yotsuba Koiwai. Yotsuba is referred to as a “weird kid”, even by her own father—aside from the four green pigtails that make her resemble the four-leaf clover she is named for, she has an oddly limited view of such everyday objects as swingsets and air conditioners, and learning how these things work are monumental discoveries for her. Her energy and curiosity are seemingly boundless. When Yotsuba and her father move to a new town, she makes an immediate impression upon the three daughters of the neighboring Ayase family, Asagi, Fuuka, and Ena—each of whom develops a unique friendship with the little girl.

While the central focus of Yotsuba&! is Yotsuba’s daily discoveries (everything from paper-cup telephones to global warming), the supporting cast of those who look after her—her father, his friends Jumbo and Yanda, the Ayase family and their respective friends—quietly go about their own lives in the background. Yotsuba&! might seem like a “kiddie manga” given that its protagonist hasn’t even started kindergarten yet, but it’s truly an all-ages affair and is serialized in a seinen compilation, or one targeted at 18- to 30-year-old males. The issue of romantic relationships involving the supporting cast has, in fact, been touched upon a number of times, though one has yet to be actually depicted.

This manifesto makes an argument for an eventual relationship between Yotsuba’s father, whom we know only by his surname, Koiwai, and the Ayases’ middle daughter, Fuuka.

Koiwai (age unknown, but often guesstimated to be around 25-27) is not Yotsuba’s biological father. He adopted the abandoned Yotsuba while traveling abroad, but very little else is known. When Fuuka inquires about it early in the series, he gives her an oddly vague explanation:

Koiwai works as a translator from home, which allows him to be a stay-at-home dad to Yotsuba. Like most bachelors, he is unconcerned with regular housework or even regularly getting dressed, often working at his computer in a t-shirt and boxers. However, he does cook regularly and makes a frequent effort to take Yotsuba out to experience new things, such as the zoo or a dairy farm.

Koiwai and Yotsuba lived with Koiwai’s mother out in the country prior to their moving next door to the Ayases, back to what is ostensibly Koiwai’s original hometown given that his two boyhood friends, Jumbo and Yanda, both live there. Virtually all of Koiwai’s interaction with “grownups” is with these two, and in fact is where the discussion of adult relationships pops up. Jumbo has a not-so-secret crush on college-aged Asagi Ayase and often attempts to use Yotsuba as a tool to get closer to Asagi—which Koiwai disapproves of. Meanwhile, when Yanda first meets Asagi, he too develops an instant infatuation with her, despite apparently already having a girlfriend—albeit one who hasn’t called him in a while. Koiwai himself has not been involved with anyone for the duration of the manga thus far, likely due to his focus on raising Yotsuba. However, he does have rather interesting encounters with Fuuka.

Fuuka Ayase is sixteen, vice-president of her class, volunteer for the neighborhood children’s committee, and “the responsible one” of the Ayase girls. She is often praised by her mother and other adults for being responsible, dependable, and polite—Koiwai, in fact, tells Yotsuba after first meeting her that Yotsuba should follow Fuuka’s example, since she has such good manners. However, she remains the quintessential awkward middle sister. She makes bad puns which make her dad laugh and Asagi groan, wears offbeat t-shirts that the family pokes fun at, and experiences “total rejection” by her mother and sisters when she puts on an impromptu ukelele concert. She is not quite the “brain” that her younger sister Ena is, nor is she remarkably pretty like Asagi (she is even teased for having “fat legs” by Asagi’s friend Torako and later Yotsuba, though this is a complete exaggeration played for laughs, since it’s not a party unless poor Fuuka’s being humiliated).

Fuuka’s gift instead seems to come in the form of taking care of others, namely her young neighbor Yotsuba. She often drops whatever else she might be doing at the time in order to help Yotsuba out—whether leading her back to the house when she gets lost or helping her bring the laundry in before a storm. Despite this, she doesn’t possess the patience of a saint and often gets rather flustered when it comes to keeping up with the frenetic five-year-old.

Now, before I get the inevitable barrage of “omg but she’s only 16 and that would make him a pedophile/Kimura-sensei” comments (-_-;;), please note that I said “eventual”. Fuuka is sixteen, which happens to be the age of consent in Japan, so whatever personal hangups the Western audience has in regards to age is irrelevant. What isn’t irrelevant is the fact that Koiwai does still see Fuuka as a kid—he refers to her as a “big kid” during the stargazing excursion, and inadvertently insults her in the beach episode, saying he hadn’t figured her for a kid who studied. Fuuka is a high school student and for the most part still acts like it, despite being far more responsible than most of her peers or even some of her elders (Koiwai himself, for one).

The fact remains, however, that Fuuka will not be a kid forever, and it is entirely plausible that as she grows up, Koiwai might come to see her as more than the girl next door. This isn’t merely wishful thinking—through their interaction, Azuma has painted a sort of subtle innuendo between the two that makes it very easy for readers to see them as a future couple. As well as potentially some friends of the two.

(Readers will remember the callback here to "Yotsuba & Delivery" in which Fuuka's classmates wonder aloud if Yotsuba is HER child.)

Fuuka is the first Ayase that Koiwai meets. While his daughter has run off (for a lesson in swingset physics with a very bewildered Ena Ayase), he’s puzzling over where to dispose of an empty moving box. Fuuka, on her way home from school, stops to cheerfully introduce herself and give him a rundown on the neighborhood’s draconian trash policies. Koiwai is impressed.

This becomes something of a recurring theme throughout the manga, pointing out how “together” Fuuka is in comparison to Koiwai despite her age.

stuck in a moment (that you can’t get out of)

The second chapter has what is probably the most infamous Koiwai/Fuuka scene in the series as it served as the basis for a hentai doujinshi called Pretty Neighbor. The scenario is that the Koiwais’ bathroom door is broken and when locked, cannot be opened from the inside. Koiwai goes out to purchase tools to fix it; Yotsuba is left at home (yeah, this would be unheard of back in the States, but in the ‘burbs in Japan it’s a different story, I guess) and Fuuka takes it upon herself to stick around and keep an eye on her. After Yotsuba falls asleep, she decides to use the bathroom. Well, there’s only one way out:

Mortified, Fuuka asks Koiwai to pull her out, but not before Asagi walks outside, and getting an eyeful, calls Ena out so they can both gawk at poor Fuuka’s predicament. When she’s finally dislodged, Fuuka beats herself up over being so stupid, but Koiwai tries to console her, insisting that it’s all right. They uneasily laugh it off in the end.

This is not the last time Asagi will walk in on a “moment” between Koiwai and Fuuka: by sheer coincidence (or maybe not), Fuuka’s bedroom happens to look directly into Koiwai’s office. Yotsuba, Ena, and her friend Miura set up their cup telephone line between the two windows. When they lose interest, Fuuka decides to give it a try, goofing off with the cup until she gets an unexpected response from Koiwai, who’s picked it up on his end. They converse for a moment until:

Fuuka behaves like someone who’s been caught in the act, jumping to her own defense. Asagi, bless her, pretends not to notice.

UFO discovery!

When Fuuka, over at the Koiwais’ one day to bring over their neighborhood association paperwork, first meets Koiwai’s best friend Jumbo, he also automatically assumes the wrong thing—why else would Koiwai have a cute teenage girl in his house?

Near the end of this chapter both Jumbo and Koiwai teasingly take to calling Fuuka “Bishoujo Fuuka-chan”. Two chapters later, Koiwai is still addressing her as such until an embarrassed Fuuka finally asks him to stop.

playing it straight

When Fuuka is out and about with the Koiwais, she is naturally thrust into the role of straight man—a necessary role to counterbalance the offbeat Koiwai (this is a man who regularly entertains his daughter by wearing boxers on his head and calling himself 'Pants Man') and the hyperactive Yotsuba. Fuuka provides the sensible voice of reason to contrast with the Koiwais' occasional wackiness.

Which is not to say she doesn't occasionally allow herself to get swept along with the tide.

This is another aspect of the appeal the two have as a couple—when their powers combine, they form a complete parental unit for Yotsuba. Yotsuba is largely clueless at present about what a mom actually is—she addresses Mrs. Ayase as "Mom" because that's what her daughters call her. It's not an issue now, but one can imagine a scenario down the road in grade school where Yotsuba develops mom-envy because her classmates have them and she doesn't—let alone imagining Koiwai trying to handle those thorny adolescent years all by his lonesome. Fuuka comes to mind as the most natural candidate because she's served so ably in the role of surrogate mom since the very day they met, and will no doubt continue to do so.

On top of that, we've already gotten hints of what domestic bliss with these three might look like.

Here's to many happy curry fights in the future.

"aren't you getting ahead of yourself there, miss?"

Of course, I am aware of a number of points detractors enjoy making such as 1) pairings have nothing to do with/no place in the overall theme of the manga, 2) the pace of the series moves at such a glacial rate we'll be lucky to see Yotsuba start kindergarten in the next five years, let alone Fuuka grow up and marry Koiwai, and 3) there's no proof that there's any hint of attraction between Koiwai and Fuuka, anyway dude it's all about this Jumbo/Koiwai yaoi doujin I read.

All of which are perfectly valid points. But you can't say that Azuma will eschew any sort of romantic plots given that this IS published in a seinen compilation (oh yeah, and I'm aware that JMPA and Wikipedia call it "shonen" which is a dirty dirty lie); Jumbo's raging infatuation with Asagi, comedic or no, is one. And while it's true that the time frame of the series has moved forward exactly four months since its inception in 2004, that's no reason not to speculate about things we'll likely never see take place. It's fun, dammit.

Oh, and as for the issue of attraction, that is still a matter to be resolved. As of Chapter 60 ("Yotsuba & Guests"), we're on the eve of a hot air balloon festa that Asagi and Torako are attending, with Ena and Yotsuba inviting themselves along. Fuuka, resigned to studying for exams, has to sit this trip out. Koiwai doesn't like the idea of the elder girls being saddled with caring for Yotsuba all day and tries to convince her not to go, which doesn't go over well with the five-year-old. But Fuuka has a novel idea:

Shocked!Koiwai is shocked! Seriously, his expression here is almost as puzzling as the fact that Azuma chose to give it its own panel. It's an innocent suggestion. There's no reason for him to look all "oh holy shit what was that?" Unless maybe he thought a sixteen-year-old just asked him out.

Fuuka goes on to sensibly explain that having Koiwai along will not only help with Yotsuba but help defray the costs of tolls and food, and he ends up agreeing to accompany them. But then:

"Oh, Fuuka's not going?" ~~DUDE WHY WOULD YOU EVEN POINT THAT OUT IF~~One beat, and then he immediately starts having second thoughts about the trip. Oh, Azuma, you sly dog. There's no way this isn't a total elbow in the ribs meant just to make us draw these kinds of conclusions.

To borrow a phrase from my homeboy Emperor Palpatine, I will continue to watch their progress with great interest.

fandom? what fandom?

Yotsuba&! fandom exists all right, it just lies very low and has remarkably little crazy. The series itself was previously distributed in the US by ADV but was dropped; Yen Press is reportedly picking it back up. I strongly recommend people pick up the actual books if possible. There's one general-purpose lj comm,

yotsubato , and a handful of fics on FF.net ~~that aren't even afforded the dignity of their own section~~ which thanks to a persistent losertini, now have their own section. Of those, only two to my knowledge can be classified as Koiwai/Fuuka:

Michael Hopcroft's "I Don't Like Him!" merely offers the suggestion through some amusing dialogue between Fuuka and Asagi.
Time Passages by yours truly. This the only straight-up Koiwai/Fuuka fic currently in existence, and it takes place over the course of three years, concluding when Fuuka is 19.

At times I rather like the near-exclusivity of my teeny tiny fandom, but ~~not when I want fanfic, dammit~~ Yotsuba&! only deserves more readers. And more converts to the temple of Pants Man and Bishoujo Fuuka-chan. I can only do so much for the cause.