Review of Mission: Yozakura Family
When the topic of “best new gen” shonen manga series gets brought up, Yozakura is often left out which is an absolute shame because having now spent the past 6 months in this world with these incredible characters, the surprisingly emotional and well written story, the great fights and seeing Taiyo’s journey from average high schooler to a proper spy, I have to say this deserves to be front and center in those conversations. If you ever wondered what Spy x Family with more action would be like, look no further than Yozakura family. This was such a joy to experience every week and I’mcertainly going to miss it.
Yozakura is great because it nails what many other shonen stories fail to, making the MC’s growth feel natural, earned and satisfying. Taiyo’s development is very much the core of this story along with uncovering the increasingly complex conspiracy around his parents’ death. Seeing Taiyo bust his ass week after week to become a proper spy who can hold his own and defend his wife was really cool. I became this guy’s biggest cheerleader over this last half a year, I think he’s right up there with Asta and Subaru as guys who just don’t know how to quit. The mental fortitude we saw from him and how he was able to outsmart opponents rather than beating them with pure strength was awesome.
But Taiyo’s not alone, this series is stacked with characters who you want to root for and see succeed. The Yozakura family dynamic is a massive part of the story. All the siblings have their own unique traits, strengths and weaknesses and although they may be a hodgepodge family not bound by blood, that doesn’t make them any less real. The Chemistry between all the family members is great. While they have a ton of comedic moments and fight a lot, when their backs are against the all they all come together and their differences become their strength rather than a weakness. I appreciated all the character arcs we got in this show. The family feels like an actual fleshed out cast, everyone had their backstory, their bonding moment with Taiyo and accepting him into the family over time. Also, Futaba best onee-chan.
Taiyo and Mutsumi also have one of the best ships in shonen. None of the beating around the bush or being flustered and dragging out a confession all season. They get married very early on and the show focuses on them growing into an actual married couple who can complement each other’s strengths and fill in for the weaknesses. I very much prefer shows that focus on the strengthening of bonds rather than just teasing a confession, couple gets together and it ends. Both characters here are also badasses in their own right. Mutsumi as family head is very capable, definitely not a damsel in distress relying on the MC to protect her. They have plenty of cute and wholesome moments too, really enjoyed seeing them be vulnerable with one another and learn to be a team in both body and soul. You can kind of think of them like the Tonikawa ship, but with much more action and frankly more enjoyable.
The story itself of Yozakura is really well done. Honestly, the first few episodes had me thinking this was going to be more of a gag comedy ala Spy x Family, but after the first few episodes it became clear there’s a lot more to it. It actually gets quite dark and emotional as things begin to unravel in terms of the main antagonists, their relationship to Taiyo’s family and the human experimentation that we see in the series. The main antagonist is one of my fave recent ones because of how pure dastardly he is. I’m so sick of every story trying to make villains sympathetic and victims of poor circumstances. It’s ok to have a villain just be an evil POS and that’s what we got here. The last 7-8 episodes in particular were definitely the best of the whole show and the staff delivered banger after banger, leaving me emotional on several occasions. Go into this one prepared to let the story unfold and you’ll have a lot of fun.
The animation is solid throughout, but there’s a few key episodes where it’s genuinely amazing. The art is consistently really good and I love how bright the colours are in this. Everything feels very vivid and I think it’s a perfect complement to the series’ symbol, the Sakura, certainly a spring like feel about the series.
Yozakura was an awesome watch and it’s a shame it didn’t get more coverage because of it airing on Disney+/Hulu. If you enjoy found-family relationships, a lot of twists, action and a great romance, look no further. This is the one. Thank you to the staff and the author for this awesome ride.
Yozakura gets 9 flowers out of 10.