よつばと!, Volume 2 Discussion (Beginner) October 2024

Hi Everyone!

This is the official thread for the book we will be reading as of the 27th of October 2024.

よつばと!, Volume 2 (Manga)


Pace :racing_car:

See bottom of post.


General Rules :spiral_notepad:

For a full list of rules, please refer to the book club rules post. However, we would like to reiterate a few things regarding individual books. Please keep the following in mind in this discussion thread.

Keep discussion related to the target series.

You may of course make comparisons between grammar or vocabulary usages between series, but for the most part try to keep discussion related to the unique challenges that each book or series of books presents.

Search the threads for users that have perhaps previously asked the same question as you.

Each book will have its own thread, so if you follow the same pacing as the group, it is likely that a simple search will result in finding someone having asked the same question as you are about to ask. In addition to this, if you jump into a book late, it is expected that you would search the thread history before asking questions about content most participants have already past.

When asking questions, give as much detail as possible.

For example, if you include the page number, who is speaking, which speech balloon (in the case of manga), and explain what you want to know more about, that will be far easier for other users to answer rather than just asking ‘What does てっきり mean?’
Taking a screenshot and highlighting the portion you’re asking about would also be suitable.

Be polite! Not everyone is the same level.

Just because something is easy for you does not mean that it is easy for someone else. Let’s be thankful to those that answer our questions, and thankful also for the opportunity to help others that aren’t quite at the same level as us yet.

Keep questions in line with the pacing.

We know that some of you may want to surge ahead of the group if you are really enjoying a book. However, this can result in confusion if you are asking questions about things that people haven’t read yet. If this applies to you. Make a note of the question you want to ask, wait until the group has caught up, then ask the question

Be mindful of spoilers.

If you are asking a question about something that includes spoilers to the story, please be aware of this and let users know with a ‘SPOILER’ tag at the beginning of your question. Hiding the question by utilizing the Hide Details function of the forums would also be appreciated. Let’s allow everyone to enjoy the experience of reading spoiler free.

Let’s all have fun and create a positive learning environment together! :grin:


Ongoing よつばと! :books: :books: :books: :books:

Once we have finished reading this volume, this thread will act as a legacy thread for the よつばと! Volume 2. Usually we would have one thread per series and just continue on in those, but due to the popularity of よつばと! in general among learners, we decided that it might be good to have a thread for each volume.

After the main group has finished this volume, feel free to continue discussing and reading through any further volumes together! Also, feel free to revive dormant threads at any time if you’re reading a book that the book clubs have already read, but that you want to read as well and ask people questions about.


Vocab Deck :writing_hand:

よつばと!, Volume 2 deck coming soon.

With all manga decks, please feel free to message @Haru if you notice any missing words, as she is in charge of putting them together!

Please read here for info about our vocab decks and their future development.


Okay, hope you’re all set to go! Looking forward to seeing the interesting things that everybody finds as they go through the book! :partying_face:

Here is a rough pace guide, assuming that we read one chapter each week. It may be better to aim for chapters rather than pages with manga, as it’s something easier to keep track of for everyone.

Week Start and End Dates Chapter(s) Page Count
Week 1 // - // Chapter 1
Week 2 // - // Chapter 2
Week 3 // - // Chapter 3
Week 4 // - // Chapter 4
Week 5 // - // Chapter 5
Week 6 // - // Chapter 6
Week 7 // - // Chapter 7
Week 8 // - // Chapter 8
Week 9 // - // Chapter 9
Week 10 // - // Chapter 10
Week 11 // - // Chapter 11
Week 12 // - // Chapter 12
Week 13 // - // Chapter 13
Week 14 // - // Chapter 14

Note that this is just the physical page count, and does not take into consideration empty pages, or pages with little to no dialogue. (Will add exact dates and page numbers shortly)

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Woo, happy to get back into this manga! Hope the vocab deck will be ready soon as well

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Hey, does someone know if this book is available as an e-book somewhere i have checked every site that i know without success :frowning:

I couldn’t find it anywhere legally, so I finally cracked and bought physical copies of the whole set. I live in the U.S, so if you do as well the cheapest way I found was to buy them here:
https://www.mercari.com/search/?categoryIds=141&countrySources=2&itemStatuses=1&keyword=yotsuba
Like, specifically this set:
https://www.mercari.com/us/item/m20755148562/?ref=search_results
will run you less than $60 for all 15 books. (used)

In other news, @Haru , any updates on the deck for this? I would prefer to wait to start reading once the deck is up.

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I’m finishing it up soon! Hopefully within a few days!

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image

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This volume has two of my favorite panels in all of yotsubato :slight_smile:

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I would like to join, but I’m not sure if I will now. I had actually started vol. 2 a few months ago but stopped (got busy, reading burnout). I was reading on Open Library, but hackers put a stop to that plan. :anger:

I might just sit this one out. I should eventually just track down a physical copy so I can continue reading.

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Thank you. I ended up buying them from mercari.jp and importing them, since that was the only option i could find, its quite expensive but i hope they arrive in time so that i am able to participate

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I’ve read the first chapter. When does the conversation start?

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Yeah, I am waiting for the deck to be added and the dates to be populated before I start.

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I’ve done my work for the deck 10 days ago, so I’m sure it will be added soon when other staff finishes what they need to do!

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Woo hoo! I dropped off hard halfway through chapter 6 of volume one after getting overwhelmed with all the things, but staring last week I just went back, re-read, and then finished it off. And what do I see now— our beginner reading group is just starting volume 2! I already had it on my shelf, so I’m rearing to go!

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There are no English language e-book stores that carry Japanese language books (beyond the lack of wide demand, I think it’s not possible because of rights management). If you are willing to deal with the hassles that come with shopping at a foreign locale store, there’s an article on Tofugu: The Best Japanese E-Book Retailers for Japanese Learners

I can save you some time and tell you that よつばと!is not available at any of the stores listed in the article, but the article will still give you an understanding of the challenges involved with buying things from a Japanese retailer. I did find the e-book at Rakuten, but I have no idea how painful it would be to actually purchase it.

For anyone looking for physical copies, I got my volume 1 from Amazon — you can use the link Asher posted up top, or if you don’t want to use the Japanese locale, you can just search for “Japanese import” in your own locale.

Another option for those in the USA is to order from Kinokuniya, a chain of Japanese book, art, toy, and bric-a-brac shops. Even better, check Kinokuniya Store Locations — Kinokuniya USA and see if you can pick up a copy in person at a location near you. That’s how I got my volume 2, and I guarantee you will enjoy the experience!

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Thank you for the Response. The purchasing itself is not the issue for me its just the finding of an eBook version, even the one you linked is an English language version. It seems there just doesn’t exist an eBook of the jp one, I am fine now tho i ended up ordering a full set of the physical version of Yahoo auctions.

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I got volumes 1-14 on Amazon about a month ago. I will say though, for all the talk of how beginner friendly this series is there are definitely some chapters that are hard. I find the main character using almost no kanji makes things more difficult. For example, I’ll read a word I should know but since I’m used to it being written with kanji I’ll completely fail to understand it.

Anyways, since I have this book I’ll join this discussion as well.

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Yeah, I couldn’t find any digital copies through any stores as well. I know I already recommended it, but I would still suggest going through Mercari. The shipping and handling is $25-30 bucks (cheaper if you bundle other items in it) but you could get the whole set for the same price as one or two books from other retailers.
https://www.mercari.com/search/?categoryIds=141&countrySources=2&itemStatuses=1&keyword=yotsuba


I have purchased a disgusting amount of manga from them at this point. Better to bundle as much as you can together to get that shipping discount!

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OMG you’re right, I completely missed that even the .jp site was only offering an English language ebook… I just assumed it would be in Japanese and didn’t see the English on the cover. Wild.

Yeah now that I’m looking at Mercari I’m quite amazed… really good options there!

@Asher - Since Haru is done putting the deck together, any ETA for when the deck will be posted and we will be able to start this?

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