This is the first of the Yotsubato ehon series (picture book series). It's questionable what the target market is. My first impression is that it's purely a children's picture book. However, when you think about it some more, Yotsuba&! comics target far wider range of audiences, so with that in mind, I tried to look at it more carefully. Each animal is described with katakana name, English name, and species name. Species name? How useful do you think "Ailuropoda Melanoleuca" is to children? Heck, I didn't even know what that was (Giant Panda). I suppose children ought to outpace older generation like me.
Whatever the target market, it's cute, short, and kind of expensive. Hmm, I wonder if the target market is the middle-upper class otakus with money to waste.
Buying a "winter" CD (GNCA-1108), comics volume 6 (ISBN4-8402-3702-6), and this picture book; and sending in the special seals that come with each item, along with Y300 (I'm sending $12 to be on the safe side), is supposed to get you a "Yotsubato! Visual Fan Book (temporary title)." I thought I would get to test out another Japanese company (Geneon), but it looks like Media Factory is handling this one, so I imagine I'll get my book.
