Characters / Yotsuba&!

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

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The Koiwai Family

Yotsuba Koiwai

Our viewpoint character, a five-year-old with a very energetic outlook on the world.

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• Adorably Precocious Child: Zigzagged. There are times when she acts exactly like you would think a five year-old would act. There's also times she does or says things that you would expect from someone older, but this is almost always due to her innocently repeating what she heard someone else say, most commonly her father.
• Bad Liar: Her lies are easy to see through, though she's not noticeably worse than any other five-year-old. Props, though, for trying to use A Wizard Did It.
• Brutal Honesty: Due to her very young age, she sometimes makes very blunt and harsh comments, but with no intention to harm anyone.
• Cheerful Child: One of Yotsuba's main traits is that she can find excitement in anything. As it says in every chapter, "Today is always the most enjoyable day."
• Cloudcuckoolander: Her dad thinks she's a little weird. When describing her to Fuuka, he says, "If you see a girl that makes you think 'It's a weirdo', it's probably her." Sure enough, when Fuuka first finds her, her initial reaction is "It's a weirdo!"
• Color Motifs: Green. She has matching green hair and green eyes. One of her Flower Motifs is a four-leaf clover.
• Comically Missing the Point: She often misses the point to humorous effect. For example, because she doesn't understand why Jumbo asks her to invite Asagi along for things, she tends to fail and invite others instead.
• Constantly Curious: She is full of questions, especially when it comes to something new to her.
• Curtains Match the Window: In addition to her green hair, Yotsuba also has green eyes.
• The Cutie: Found to be both adorable and loveable by nearly everyone who meets her, and due to her young age she's naive (with a few Adorably Precocious Child moments) and always discovering new things.
• Daddy's Girl: Yotsuba adores Koiwai and spending time with him. When Fuuka asks her who she likes, she simply answers with "Daddy!", and when Fuuka tries to compare heartbreak to a mere scenario of Koiwai not liking her back, Yotsuba becomes incredibly teary and has to be reassured that he still loves her. Koiwai of course treasures Yotsuba more than anything else and liked her enough to adopt her in the first place.
• 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.
  • When she's told to return home alive from "exacting revenge", she replies: "Even if I die, I'll come home alive." And she does. That's determination.
• Drop-In Character: Constantly drops by the Ayases and treats their home like hers, even house-watching it once and welcoming in Torako like it's her house. Her and Mr. Ayase meeting for the first time lampshades it:
  Mr. Ayase: You be good friends with my girls.
  Yotsuba: I am.
  Mr. Ayase: You can even come over every day.
  Yotsuba: I do.
  (Beat Panel)
• Expressive Hair: Her pigtails rise and fall with her (rapidly changing) moods.
• Flashy Protagonists, Bland Extras: Her hair is naturally green, with four spiky pigtails she's never seen without, in a series where everyone else has realistic hairstyles in shades of blonde, brown, and black. This is pointed out in-universe, adding to Yotsuba's mystique of where she actually comes from.
• Flower Motifs:
  • Sunflowers have been associated with Yotsuba to symbolize her "sunny disposition".
  • She's associated with four-leaf clovers, to a lesser extent, since that's the meaning behind her name and her hair is styled to resemble one.
• Genki Girl: In spades. And the trump suit. This gets Lampshaded by Asagi: "Her default rate of movement really is running." In the Beach Episode Koiwai hangs a lampshade on her ability to keep going full-tilt, right up until she uses up her last reserves of energy, when she literally keels over fast asleep in the midst of building a sand castle.
• Girlish Pigtails: Acts like a standard five year old girl with girly interests, and she has four pigtails (which, along with her green hair, is meant to resemble her namesake).
• Happily Adopted: She doesn't care one bit about her parentage. Koiwai is her daddy, and that's that.
• Hate at First Sight: Yanda tries to enter the house while her dad is away. Yotsuba has been taught not to let any strangers in when she's alone. Which leads to her slamming the door on his face. The fact that Yanda enjoys making her angry on purpose doesn't help improve her opinion of him.
• Hidden Depths: Yotsuba is surprisingly good at yoga (way better than Fuuka and Shimau), enough that she gives pointers to Fuuka to perform it correctly. It helps that she's a very active and nimble little girl, and being young, her joints haven't fully developed.
• 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.
• Instant Expert: In Chapter 92, Yotsuba does ridiculously well in her first yoga session.
• Intergenerational Friendship: Other than the little girl in later chapters named Mii-chan, majority of Yotsuba's friends seen in the series are a lot older than her, with Ena and Miura being the closest in age at ten. Justified because she just moved to town and isn't in school yet.
• Intergenerational Rivalry: Contrary to her friendship with most of the manga's adult characters, Yotsuba repeatedly squabbles with the much older Yanda (who's close to her father's age, yet acts as Yotsuba's Sitcom Arch-Nemesis). Yanda gets a kick out of taunting Yotsuba, and she in turn never hesitates to fire back.
• Limited Wardrobe: Her regular outfit is a white T-shirt with light red sleeves, matching red and white shoes, and a pair of beige shorts. She does have other outfits, but that's the one she's most commonly seen wearing.
• Magnetic Hero: Yotsuba can make anyone she meets happy. At one point, she delivers flowers to random strangers, including a down-on-her-luck policewoman; after briefly meeting Yotsuba, the policewoman promises to do her best as well.
• Malaproper: She knows a lot of words, but how to say them is still a little beyond her.
• Meaningful Appearance: She has green hair worn in four small pigtails, which is meant to resemble a Four-Leaf Clover. This, in turn, references how her name means "four leaves".
• Meaningful Name:
  • The Kanji for Yotsuba's given name (四葉) means "four leaves," as in "Four-Leaf Clover". Thus, her hairstyle.
  • "Yotsuba" and "Koiwai" are also both brands of dairy products in Japan, and a whole chapter is centered around drinking milk.
• Mistaken Nationality: Based on her appearance, strangers constantly assume that Yotsuba is a foreigner, and she was indeed born in another, unknown country. As a result, some students at Fuuka's school try to speak to her in English because all foreigners are American.
• Nice Girl: She's sweet to everyone she meets. Except Yanda.
• Non-Specifically Foreign: She was born outside of Japan, on "an island to the left". Yotsuba was evidently adopted young enough to be entirely Japanese in mannerisms, and is only differentiated from others appearance-wise by her green hair, which obviously doesn't correspond to any real place.
• The Noseless: Notably, she's the only character in the series who's never drawn with a nose.
• Parental Abandonment: We know nothing about her origins except that Koiwai found her somewhere overseas, which Yotsuba claims was "an island to the left". When asked about her mother, Jumbo bluntly says with a straight face that Yotsuba was abandoned as a child. She isn't bothered when he says it, but the Ayase girls freak out over it.
• Plucky Girl: Delivering milk is Serious Business, even if it means biking alone to your friend's school by yourself.
• Princess Phase: She starts to go through a princess phase in Chapter 93, where she sees a princess in a picture book about Cinderella. After confirming with her father that princesses are in fact real, she decides to become one and dresses up accordingly.
• Protagonist Title: Her first name is the title of the manga.
• Punny Name: "Yotsuba" is extremely close to a homonym for 四つ葉 (pronounced "Yottsuba"), meaning "four leaves" in Japanese. Sure enough, her hair's colour and styling makes her look like a four-leaf clover.
• Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: Hers is Yanda, who finds enjoyment in purposely annoying her.
• 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. Yotsuba even provides the page image for the trope.
• Third-Person Person: Typical of young children, she uses her own name instead of pronouns 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, alas, Lost in Translation.
• Trademark Favorite Food:
  • As expected for a five-year-old, Yotsuba really likes ice cream.
  • She also has a fascination with cup ramen.
  • Curry is another favorite — one of the songs on the Image Album is called "Eating Curry (Very Delicious)".
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Yotsuba is terrified of anything that has huge eyes, or anything that looks like a huge eye. Ironic, considering her own are pretty big (though that might just be the art style).

Duralumin Koiwai

Yotsuba's teddy bear, constant companion, and partner in crime.

• Girls Love Stuffed Animals: Yotsuba takes her bear everywhere.
• Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: In several scenes, it seems to move on its own, but this could just be Yotsuba moving it around.
• Mondegreen Gag: Yotsuba names her bear Duralumin, which is her butchered attempt at saying Ena's bear's name Julietta (much to Ena's chagrin).
• Spell My Name With An S: Because it's named after a mispronunciation of a name that's also subject to this, there's no consistent spelling. Some translations have it as "Juralumin".

Yousuke Koiwai / "Dad", "Daddy"

Yotsuba's adoptive father, who works from home as a translator. He's devoted to her, but isn't exactly the most driven parent who ever lived.

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• Brutal Honesty: As a part of his deadpan persona, he can be rather blunt and tactless when talking to others. For instance, when Fuuka and Shimau come over to invite Yotsuba for a yoga session, his immediate response is to ask them how much weight they've put on.
• Character Catchphrase: "Important announcement!" (Yotsuba immediately stands at attention and assumes the seiza position)
• Children Raise You: Koiwai calls himself "irresponsible," but he all but admits that raising Yotsuba has forced him to get his act together, at least a little.
• Cuteness Proximity: Put a guinea pig in his vicinity and he just melts.
• Deadpan Snarker: Usually responds in a flat snarky tone when bulling around with Yanda, and sometimes in response to Yotsuba.
  Koiwai: It says "No admittance."
  Yotsuba: Even for me?
  Koiwai: What, are you a VIP?
• Given Name Reveal: His given name isn't revealed until chapter 87, when Grandma calls him by name. Everyone else is on Last-Name Basis with him, even his close friend Jumbo.
• Good Parents: So very much. He prioritizes Yotsuba at all costs, never condescends to her, and never dismisses what she says. He will discipline or tell her off when appropriate, and won't spoil her too much, but he takes genuine interest in her ideas and is often willing to treat her to something new, whether it be pizza or the zoo.
• Hypocrite: Despite his anger over Yotsuba lying to him, he himself frequently lies to her, though they are usually small white lies or pranks.
• Meaningful Name: The Kanji for his first name, Yosuke (葉介), mean "leaf helper." Not only does this tie in with Yotsuba's name using the Kanji for "four leaves" (四葉), but it also highlights Koiwai's position as her adoptive father.
• Mellow Fellow: A laid back guy who pretty much just goes with the flow.
• Nice Guy: He's laid back and pleasant with everyone he meets, making him be on generally good terms with the entire cast.
• One of the Kids: He frequently behaves in a childishly over-the-top manner when interacting with Yotsuba, but otherwise he's a normal (if slightly irresponsible) adult.
• Pretty Boy: A downplayed example. He has long, shaggy hair which, when combined with his skinny build and lean face, makes him look quite feminine, particularly when alongside Jumbo. He is also noted by Fuuka's classmates to be fairly good-looking.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: He's quite willing to tolerate, if not participate in, Yotsuba's sillier antics. On those occasions when she does actively misbehave, the hammer comes down hard — sometimes overlapping with Scare 'Em Straight.
• The Slacker: When he isn't diligently working or spending time with Yotsuba, he can be quite the lazy bum. He doesn't even wear pants in the summer, if he has the choice.
• Super Drowning Skills: He, along with Jumbo and Fuuka, cannot swim, and will immediately drown when pushed into deep water.
• Supreme Chef: In Yotsuba's eyes anyways, he makes pretty good food. When she mentions some of the food he makes to Jumbo and Yanda, they look genuinely jealous (especially Yanda).
• Tranquil Fury: He doesn't yell or anything, but it's obvious when you make him angry. Yotsuba made enough mistakes to know when he's angry. The only way to get him openly angry is if you do something to Yotsuba that makes her cry, such as when Jumbo accidentally knocks her away with his strength or Yanda taking his teasing a bit too far, like mocking how small her onigiri is compared to his.
• Troll: He has his moments, such as telling Yotsuba that the blue paint she's covered with will never come off and that she's "going to be blue from now on". He also messes with Jumbo and Yanda a lot as well, whether it be teasing Jumbo about his crush on Asagi, or going along with Yotsuba on treating Yanda like an enemy.

Grandma

Koiwai's mother and Yotsuba's grandmother. She lives in the countryside, and Koiwai and Yotsuba lived with her before moving to their current home. Grandma looks and acts stern but she's absolutely worshipped by her granddaughter.

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• Cool Old Lady: Grandma comes all the way to the city to watch a concert, all dressed up in trendy clothes, then single-handedly stops Yotsuba from headbutting her. She also has a bit of fun trolling her granddaughter by making her run errands for a souvenir, then pretending that there aren't any. And if that's not cool enough, she reveals that she bought a smartphone, and knows how to use it. And she gloats about that to her son, who doesn't have a smartphone. She's considered awesome by both fans and in-universe characters, and probably the reason why Yotsuba adores her so much despite being quite strict.
• Granny Classic: Of the sterner kind. As the Koiwais lived with her before moving, she helped bring up Yotsuba too and so is a secondary parental figure. While she clearly adores Yotsuba (showering her with presents, buying her clothes, and bringing fruit when she visits), she is also stern enough to scold her granddaughter when need be.
• Perpetual Frowner: Yotsuba introduces her to Fuuka as such:
  Yotsuba: Grandma looks like she's mad, but she's really not. She's always like that!
• Technologically Blind Elders: She asks if Koiwai bought a pillow "on the computer," to which Koiwai corrects her with "on the Internet". Later on, she's seen struggling to use FaceTime.
• Troll: When Yotsuba asks for a souvenir, Grandma first says she doesn't have any, then says she tricked Yotsuba and gives her pears as her souvenir, to Yotsuba's annoyance. Then she gives Yotsuba her real present, which are coloured pencils and a sharpener.
• Unnamed Parent: To Koiwai. She's only known as Grandma or Grandma Koiwai.
• Unseen No More: She makes her first on-screen appearance in Chapter 86, but she's often mentioned by Yotsuba or her dad up until then. They even briefly talk to her on the phone in two chapters, though she's obviously not heard by readers. Her husband, Yotsuba's grandfather, has been mentioned but not seen, being absent when she comes to visit the Koiwais (he's implied to have health problems).

Koharuko Koiwai

Koiwai’s sister and Yotsuba’s aunt. She lives in Tokyo, and rarely interacts with her family. She is to the point and does not emote often.

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• Buffet Buffoonery: Is very serious about getting their money's worth at a high-class buffet. Deathly serious.
• Cool Aunt: Plays along with Yotsuba's mischief and is determined to take her out to eat the best food possible in Tokyo, which she decides is a high-class buffet.
• Cool Car: Owns a convertible, which she gives away to her brother since she doesn't drive all that much.
• Serious Business: Taking Yotsuba out for an extraordinary meal is important, and you shouldn't ruin your appetite with cotton candy.

The Ayase Family

The Koiwais' next-door neighbors, frequently visited by Yotsuba.

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Asagi Ayase

The oldest Ayase girl; she's a university student who's kind and outgoing, but a bit of a prankster. Yotsuba looks up to her (figuratively and literally). She seems to enjoy it.

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• Alliterative Name: Asagi Ayase.
• Cool Big Sis: Yotsuba admires her very much, and likes clinging to her more than she does her sisters.
• Cuteness Proximity: She gets enthusiastic every so often around Yotsuba and her cuteness.
• Dude Magnet: Not that she notices, but Jumbo and Yanda both fall hard for her. At one point, when Yotsuba, in relation to Fuuka's boy troubles, asks Asagi what it's like to be rejected by a boy, Asagi admits that she wouldn't know because she's never been rejected.
• The Gadfly: Likes pulling pranks on people, or using Yotsuba to pull pranks on people.
• Hidden Depths: She was able to fix Duralumin for Yotsuba after it had been soaked in water and its voice box broke down, a very impressive feat given her tendency to be The Gadfly.
• Hilariously Abusive Childhood: Downplayed in a flashback to her childhood. After a young Asagi found a four-leaf clover for her mother, she told her daughter she'd only be satisfied if she finds a five-leaf clover, which nearly sent the girl to tears.
• Like Father, Like Son: Gender-inverted. Her father lampshades this after Mrs. Ayase complains about Asagi's personality becoming worse, as he rebuts that Asagi acts like how Mrs. Ayase was when younger. Both women will strenuously deny this.
• Long Hair Is Feminine: Her hair hangs below her waist, and she's more traditionally feminine than her good friend and tomboy Torako (who has short hair).
• One of the Kids: She is able to follow along with Yotsuba's train of thought better than anyone else.
• Sweet Tooth: Has a fondness for sweets, which she got from her mother. They sometimes clash over it.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Girly Girl to Torako's Tomboy. Asagi's an easygoing girl in very feminine clothing while Torako is an aloof girl with Boyish Short Hair and much less feminine clothing and traits. It's gone as far as Jumbo thinking Torako's a guy by judging her from Yotsuba's pictures and description.

• Troll: Yotsuba spends a whole day excitedly waiting for Asagi to bring her a gift, but upon returning from her trip Asagi pretends to have no idea what she's talking about. It's not until Yotsuba is dejectedly walking away that she pulls out a bag of fireworks.
• The Unfavorite: She and her mother do not exactly get along, which is played mostly for laughs.

Fuuka Ayase

The middle Ayase girl; she's a high school student who seems to have perpetually bad luck. Her travails, of course, go right over Yotsuba's head.

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• Berserk Button: Don't call her fat or mention her weight. Jumbo (and Koiwai) find out the hard way in the pool chapter when they get pushed into the pool.
• Big Ol' Eyebrows: She has thicker eyebrows than everyone else, which she's a little self-conscious of. Koiwai in Chapter 67 thinks this just makes her cuter.
• Butt-Monkey: She frequently takes the brunt of Yotsuba's Brutal Honesty and Jumbo and Koiwai's teasings. She also seems to have terrible luck. Some examples:
  • She gets stuck in the Koiwais' bathroom window when they first moved in.
  • She wakes up late when Yotsuba came to bring milk to her family, and misses the good stuff.
  • Her crush gets together with another girl, and Yotsuba's attempt to cheer her up makes things worse. And she also asks Yotsuba to keep it a secret — cue the next day, when she wakes up to Yotsuba writing a newspaper announcing that "Fuuka has heartache", and everyone in her family is reading it.
• Class Representative: She's mentioned in passing to be the vice president of her class. She apparently has a good reputation among her classmates, an interesting inversion of her usual Butt-Monkey status.
• Dreadful Musician: Her family does not react well to her spontaneously playing the ukulele and singing, implying she has no musical talents. It's mentioned later on that even her humming is bad, since she can only hit one note.
• Friend to All Children: She handles young children like Yotsuba well, which is especially prevalent during the Autumn festival.
• Generation Xerox: Takes after Mr. Ayase, notably his romanticism and love of puns (much to Asagi's chagrin).
• Is That Cute Kid Yours?: When Yotsuba visits her at school, Fuuka's classmates wonder if Yotsuba is related to her because of how familial she is towards her.
• Joshikousei: She's a high school student and so is often seen in her sailor uniform.
• Lame Pun Reaction: Her sense of humor leaves much to be desired.
• Ms. Fanservice: Early in the series, she tends to be subject to this the most, turning up in revealing outfits or compromising positions, even on a few of the color pages. It's heavily downplayed as the series goes on.
• Pungeon Master: Frequently makes up puns, of the incredibly lame variety. Her father enjoys them, but Asagi and Jumbo don't.
• Ship Tease: Played for Laughs moments between her and Koiwai sometimes come up, due to quite a few (non-perverted) Not What It Looks Like situations between the two. One classmate even asks her other classmates once if he's her husband.
• Weight Woe: Not as prominent as Yomi before her, but she's apparently sensitive about her weight, even taking yoga classes as a weight-loss measure.

Ena Ayase

The youngest Ayase girl; she's a fourth grader who's the closest to Yotsuba in age, so she plays with her most often. Likes bugs, amphibians, and teddy bears.

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• Adorably Precocious Child: Mature for her age, especially when compared to her sisters and mother.
• Berserk Button: She's greatly irritated by anything that isn't environmentally-friendly, and misnaming her teddy bears.
• 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. He goes as far as saving up his last handmade Father's Day back massage voucher from her to use for her wedding day.
• Encyclopaedic Knowledge: She has a lot of random knowledge about a great many things, such as stars. It's sometimes justified as relating to her schoolwork.
• Girls Love Stuffed Animals: She likes playing with her teddy bears with Yotsuba, and screams when Yotsuba uses one of them as a weapon in a fight with (a disguised) Miura and accidentally rips its arm a bit.
• Girly Girl with a Tomboy Streak: Ena dresses in a girly fashion and loves tea parties with her teddies. She is also not afraid of frogs, bugs, or other icky animals, and she doesn't hesitate to take the inner organs of a fish. All of these freak out Miura, the more outwardly tomboyish of the two.
• 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.
• Hidden Depths: She really likes experiencing new things, even if they may be unpleasant, like cleaning and gutting fish.
• Out-of-Character Moment: Ena is one of the most patient characters when it comes to Yotsuba, and has a sweet disposition in general, but in Chapter 58 she very pointedly corrects Yotsuba when the latter calls one of Ena's teddy bears by the wrong name ( "Duralumin" instead of "Julietta"). It's unclear whether this is some sort of Berserk Button for her or if she was just in a bad mood, though she does apologize for it in the subsequent chapter. Funnily enough, Yotsuba didn't actually notice her light scolding at the time, and doesn't understand why she's apologizing later on.
• Nature Lover: She really likes the outdoors.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: She looks like the girly girl to Miura due to her feminine looks (in contrast to Miura's boyish attire), but has some tomboy interests and more boyish personality than Miura does, such as liking frogs and being brave enough to gut fish (while Miura is terrified of things like that).

Mrs. Ayase

The mother of the three girls. She's always seen in the Ayase house and is affectionately called "Mom" and "Mommy" by Yotsuba.

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• Housewife: She's always seen inside her house, usually preparing food in the kitchen or doing laundry.
• Like Parent, Like Child: She and Asagi are quite alike, but don't tell either that. Mr Ayase lampshades this when Mrs. Ayase complains about Asagi's personality becoming worse, saying Asagi acts like how Mrs. Ayase was when younger.
• Parental Substitute: Acts as a surrogate mother figure towards Yotsuba.
• Sweet Tooth: She seems to be fond of foods like ice cream and cake. She once sends Yotsuba, Ena and Miura to buy cake mainly because she wants some.
• Team Mom: Besides being the Ayase girls' mother, she's also a minor maternal figure to Yotsuba. She often takes care of her and treats her the same way as her own daughters whenever she visits their house such as feeding her. Yotsuba even calls her "Mom", and she automatically thinks of Mrs. Ayase whenever mentions of a mother are made to Yotsuba. She also treats Miura the same way as her daughters whenever she comes over.
• Teasing Parent: She used to prank her eldest daughter Asagi. Unfortunately for her, Asagi has picked up that character trait and often pranks other people herself, including her mother.
• Unnamed Parent: Her given name has not been revealed so far.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: She looks visibly terrified when Yotsuba releases a bunch of cicadas in the house.

Mr. Ayase

The father of the three girls. He's not seen at home very often due to his busy work schedule.

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• Disappeared Dad: He's rarely at home because of his job, and Asagi frequently pretends he's already dead because of it. Played for Laughs, though.
• Eyes Always Shut: His eyes are rarely open. One occasion where he opens them is his Blue with Shock Papa Wolf reaction to finding out about Fuuka getting her heart broken.

• Like Parent, Like Child: Fuuka takes after him, notably his romanticism and love of puns (much to Asagi's chagrin).
• Papa Wolf: Shows signs of an overprotective dad when Yotsuba hands out her newspapers on which she's written "Fuuka has heartache". He warily asks Yotsuba who the boy is and he tells Fuuka that he won't let anyone break her heart.
• Salary Man: He works as a salaryman, which is why he's rarely at home.
• Satellite Character: Does not have much characterization aside from being the girls' father. He only appears in a few chapters when the Ayase household is involved, and has very few lines when he does.
• Unnamed Parent: Like his wife, his given name is completely unknown.

Friends

Takashi "Jumbo" Takeda

Koiwai's towering best friend, whose nickname hints at his most notable feature. A decent guy, if a little overenthusiastic around Asagi.

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• Achilles' Heel: Miura is able to manipulate him by saying she'll mention how good or bad a person he is to Asagi.
• Alliterative Name: His real name, Takashi Takeda.
• The Big Guy: He is enormous, both in height and in breadth.
• Big Ol' Eyebrows: Has large eyebrows, which suits his large build.
• Characterization Marches On: During the first half of the series he is more spontaneous and emotional but as of recently he is depicted to be a down-to-earth guy more akin to someone like Koiwai.
• Childhood Friends: It's implied he's been friends with Koiwai since childhood. In "Yotsuba & the Stars", he mentions that he's taking them to a field that he and Koiwai went on a field trip to when they were children. Also, he's probably the closest friend Koiwai has. Yotsuba seems to think that he's Koiwai's only friend, as stated in Yanda's introductory chapter.
• Failure Is the Only Option: Any time he tries to get Yotsuba to invite Asagi on an outing. It usually results with another Ayase girl or two going in her stead.
• Friend to All Children: He gets along well with kids, especially Yotsuba who adores him. Helps that he is practically a child in mentality himself. He also makes an effort to make Miura feel included because her parents spend a lot of time on business trips during her vacation time.
• Gentle Giant: He's very tall, a florist, and a Friend to All Children.
• Hopeless Suitor: Has a large crush on Asagi, but she doesn't notice and all his efforts to get her attention or go on a date with her fail.
• Hot-Blooded: More than anyone else, he's overly eager about many things, especially if competition or Asagi is involved. It apparently runs in his family, as his father shows the same trait.
• In-Series Nickname: The main joke of "Yotsuba & TV" is that everyone in the Ayase family has a different name for him: "Takeda-san" (his actual name), "Jumbo-san" (what Yotsuba calls him), and "Giraffe-san" (after a joke about his height). Koiwai, Yotsuba, and Yanda have always called him Jumbo, and so everyone else settles in on calling him that.
• Jack of All Trades: He is pretty knowledgeable in a lot of areas, as seen whenever he and the gang go out to do different activities such as stargazing and fishing.
• One of the Kids: Gets into a rivalry with a ten-year-old girl over going to Hawaii.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: He's always referred to as Jumbo, named after his terrific size, in contrast to his real and rather plain name Takashi Takeda.
• Phrase Catcher: When he first meets the Ayase family, all the girls say (in separate scenes), "You're huge!"
• She Is Not My Girlfriend: He corrects his dad after he assumes Fuuka is his new girlfriend.
• Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: Seems to be actually trying to be Miura's rival, by competing with whatever she's doing (such as going to Hawaii).
• Special Person, Normal Name: Downplayed in that his only "special" trait is his abnormal size, but his real name is still incredibly generic, hence why he goes by a nickname instead.
• Unrequited Love: He has fallen for Asagi pretty hard, but he can barely talk to her, let alone ask her out. When Yotsuba tells her about Torako, he assumes the latter is Asagi's boyfriend, much to his dismay.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Koiwai calls him out on using Yotsuba to try and ask Asagi out, though this fails every time.

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.

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• Bifauxnen: She has short hair and wears boyish clothes. Not long after Jumbo first meets her, he has to ask if she's a girl or a boy.
• Brutal Honesty: She tends not to keep her opinions to herself nor express them politely enough. For example, she once points out that Yotsuba's drawing is terrible, almost driving her to tears.
• Cool Toy: She keeps amazing Yotsuba with various things, such as Heelys, a unicycle, and a push scooter.
• Deadpan Snarker: Considering she is markedly more serious than most girls her age, Miura can easily trade barbs with Jumbo and Koiwai, though her childishness comes out whenever she's out of her comfort zone.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Miura is brutally honest and has a tendency to play mean pranks on Yotsuba (like wearing an eyeball mask after discovering that Yotsuba is afraid of eyeballs), but she remains friends with her and Ena all the same.
• Lovable Coward: She is easily frightened, and cannot stand bugs, snakes, frogs or anything slimy. Nevertheless, she is Yotsuba and Ena's good friend.
• Miko: Dresses up as a Miko as part of a ritual during the Autumn Festival.
• She Cleans Up Nicely: She usually looks like the typical tomboy, but dresses up in Miko garments as one of the matsuri maidens during the autumn festival, giving her a more feminine touch than usual. The gang comment that it suits her and makes her look cute.
• Shorttank: A major supporting character who hangs out with protagonist Yotsuba, and she dresses in a tomboy manner and has a spunky attitude. She prefers sports clothing to tanktops, though.
• Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: Jumbo tries to be her rival by teasing or competing with her, though she only sometimes takes the bait.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Miura looks a lot like her mother, and upon meeting both of them many characters have commented on it, although Miura herself disagrees. Yotsuba even calls her mother "Big Miura" when she first meets her.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: She looks like the tomboy to Ena's girly girl due to her short hair and boyish clothes, but Ena is actually more tomboyish than her personality-wise, as she's willing to do "gross" things that scare Miura off (like catching frogs and gutting fish).
• Tomboy with a Girly Streak: She's a mischievous tomboy, but she also has some girly interests, is surprisingly squeamish, and has a distaste for anything slimy and gross.

Torako

Asagi's friend, she has a somewhat more aloof personality. Yotsuba seems to confuse her even more than the rest of the cast.

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• Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: Dark hair and a composed and stoic demeanour - part of the reason Yotsuba thinks she's cool.
• Bifauxnen: She's rather androgynous due to her short hair. When Yotsuba draws her, Jumbo mistakes her for a guy (no thanks to the lack of pronouns when Yotsuba talks about her).
• Boyish Short Hair: She has short hair and lacks any girlish traits.
• Cool Big Sis: Yotsuba thinks she's cool at first sight. Later in the series, Torako actually teaches Yotsuba how to tie bow knots.
• Deadpan Snarker: Though perhaps not intentionally, her disposition naturally leads to her having blunt comebacks to the others' antics.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: She initially acts cold towards Yotsuba, since she's not used to kids, but is beginning to open up to her antics.
• Expy: She's one for Sakaki from Kiyohiko Azuma's previous series, Azumanga Daioh; an Aloof Dark-Haired Girl who's stoic to the point of nearly emotionless, bad at expressing her feelings, but secretly Not So Above It All. Azuma acknowledged this by drawing Sakaki and Tora together, but noted their differences; Sakaki is taller and has sharp Tsurime Eyes, Tora is a Perpetual Frowner and has gloomy Tareme Eyes with long eyelashes.
• In-Series Nickname: Since her name looks like "tiger child" when written out, Yotsuba calls her Tora (meaning "tiger"), or in certain translations, "Tigey".
• Kick the Dog: A minor case when she blows cigarette smoke directly in Yotsuba's face the first time they meet. It's unclear what the intention behind this was.
• No Social Skills: Downplayed. She tends to keep to herself and often proclaims that she's not good with kids; this is best seen in "Yotsuba & Torako", where the two are left alone and she has a hard time keeping up with Yotsuba. This doesn't keep Yotsuba from liking her, anyway.
• Not So Above It All: Even though she says she's not very good with children, she is fond of having Yotsuba around and tries to play with her as best as she can. When she's teaching Yotsuba how to tie bows, she offers herself as a guinea pig, allowing Yotsuba to tie an uncharacteristically girly bow on her head.
• Perpetual Frowner: A slight frown is the only expression outside of shock she shows.
• Smoking Is Cool: Torako tells Yotsuba at their first meeting that she smokes because it makes her look cool. Yotsuba seems to agree, though quickly changes her mind once Tora blows smoke in her face.
• The Stoic: Perpetual Frowner is her default expression, though she'll show emotion when the situation calls for it (like Yotsuba setting off sparklers on her car). She never quite seems to smile, however.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Tomboy to Asagi's Girly Girl. Torako is an aloof girl with a Boyish Short Hair and much less feminine clothing and traits while Asagi's an easygoing girl in very feminine clothing. The punchline of Chapter 77 specifically plays off this dynamic.
• Unknown Rival: Jumbo thinks Tora (whose nickname is gender-neutral) is Asagi's boyfriend, due to Yotsuba being rather unclear about her and her relationship to Asagi.

"Yanda" Yasuda

Koiwai's underclassman who gets a kick out of taunting Yotsuba. Unfortunately for him, everyone treats him exactly like he deserves.

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• Butt-Monkey: He brings it upon himself. Having Yotsuba as an archenemy means having Koiwai and Jumbo against him too, so his friends don't hesitate to go along with Yotsuba and call him unreliable and a bad guy, and will nearly always side with Yotsuba when he defends himself.
• Childhood Friends: Seems to have known Koiwai since their adolescence - he not only recognizes his mother, but also addresses her as "auntie" (or Grams, depending on the translation), and she treats him in a reciprocal fashion.
• Drop-In Character: Frequently visits the Koiwais so he can mooch hot water for his instant ramen. In fact, he outright admits that the entire reason why he convinces Koiwai to buy a blender was so he could use it to make smoothies for himself too!
• In-Series Nickname: Koiwai and Jumbo call him Yanda, so Yotsuba does too.
• Intergenerational Rivalry: Despite being close to Koiwai's age, he acts as the five-year-old Yotsuba's Sitcom Arch-Nemesis, getting a kick out of teasing her and repeatedly bickering with her throughout the series.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Yotsuba certainly sees him as a jerk, because he not only steals her ice cream, but he also takes back the candy he gave to her. He's mostly amicable with other kids and adults, however, and he does become nicer to Yotsuba as time goes on. Any time Yanda goes a bit far in his teasing of her, that of which causes her to cry, he immediately tries to cheer her up.
• Kick the Dog: He initially goes of his way to tease Yotsuba, though he improves his attitude later on.
• One of the Kids: He's the clear Sitcom Arch-Nemesis of Yotsuba, who is five.
• 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 (living on a diet of mostly instant ramen), at least until the end of the month. His bad eating habits and barely paying his rent seem to be his only issues though, and he still manages to find money for things like bubble toys.
• Pet the Dog: While not as bad a guy as Yotsuba makes him out to be, he seems to enjoy messing with her. That said, he is also the one who gets her out of her funk when she's worried about Duralumin, and shows her the awesomeness of bubbles.
• Poverty Food: He lives paycheck-to-paycheck and thus is constantly seen eating instant ramen.
• Salaryman: He works as a salaryman and is usually seen in a white shirt, tie, and slacks.
• Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: He's Yotsuba archenemy, and often gets into squabbles with her.
• Straight Man: He thinks the way that Koiwai and Jumbo go along with Yotsuba's antics is incredibly weird, but he's Not So Above It All at times.
• Took a Level in Kindness: Around chapter 72, he drops his playful antagonizing of Yotsuba and starts acting kinder, though she doesn't reciprocate. He brings in bubbles for Yotsuba to play with, he's the one who cheers up Yotsuba from her slump when Duralumin's voice box breaks, and he even praises Yotsuba's artwork (albeit in the context of selling it as modern art).
  Yotsuba: Yanda, you're being nice today. Keep up the good work.
• Trademark Favorite Food: He practically lives off instant ramen.
• Tsurime Eyes: The corners of his eyes slant up to give him a more arrogant look. Appropriate for his obnoxious personality (towards Yotsuba anyways).
• Unseen No More: Yanda's name is mentioned by Jumbo and Koiwai several times ever since the first chapter, but he doesn't make an actual appearance until chapter 30.

"Shimau" / "Miss Stake" Hiwatari

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

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• Happy Dance: Shimau initiates a celebratory dance, followed by Fuuka and Yotsuba, while baking a cake.
• "Miss X" Pun: Introduced in some English translations as a means of adequately carrying over her nickname. In the Japanese version, she gains the nickname "Shimau" after a bungled class introduction. In the translations, her nickname is instead "Miss Stake".
• Mondegreen Gag: "Shimau" comes from when she accidentally introduced herself to Fuuka's class and said "yoroshiku onegaishimau" ("please take care of me regretfully") instead of "yoroshiku onegaishimasu" ("please take care of me"). In certain English translations, the nickname is instead translated as Miss Stake, but the actual reason behind it remains untranslated.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Only her surname is known, Hiwatari, but everyone calls her Shimau or Miss Stake.
• Satellite Character: Satellite to Fuuka. She only appears in a few stories when Fuuka is involved.

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