Mission: Yozakura Family

Episode 4

As of Episode 4 of Mission: Yozakura Family, it should be clear to both Taiyo and the audience that the boy has married himself into a family of dang-ass freaks. I mean that in the best way possible, of course. For one, the Yozakura clan seems to be pretty accepting of whatever unexpected shenanigans they may walk into at any given moment, such as poor Taiyo being wrangled into a bra by Mutsumi and a femmed-up Kengo. It also means that we have a show that is chock-full of funny scenes featuring said dang-ass freaks, such as the aforementioned bra wrangling or any time when Shinzo, the weapons expert, runs out of weapons and crumples into a ball of pitiful anxiety. Taiyo and Mitsumi are obviously the most important components of this story. Still, it's good that the family members in a series with “Family” in the title are pulling their weight in the entertainment department.

Their respective specialties make for a pretty fun standalone episode of M:YF, too! Kengo's combination of expert disguise techniques and generally being a little stinker send our betrothed protagonists on a hunt around the mansion that is just breezy enough to work as a weekly sitcom adventure. While I was slightly less interested in whatever counterfeit operations Shinzo was investigating in his half of the story, it was amusing to see him act like such a wimp and need saving from our heroes. So far as the raw laugh factor is concerned, this episode had me chuckling often enough to be considered a success.

More relevant to my interests is how our central duo gets to play off each other and develop while they deal with the chaotic family drama that is the Yozakura Clan's status quo. Kengo and Shinzo are perfectly fine comedy relief characters in their own right, but I wouldn't have been as enthusiastic about their respective storylines if it weren't for the time we also got to spend with Taiyo and Mitsumi. Kengo's goose-chase, especially, gives Mitsumi a lot of opportunities to show how she is growing into her role as the soon-to-be head of the clan, and I loved seeing her take her doofus brother to task while Taiyo proved to be a more-than-capable partner.

That moment where Mitsumi catches Kengo's Taiyo-disguise instantly because she knows her man always holds the door for her is the kind of cute shit that I live for. Her getting to vandalize one of her brother's creepily enshrined portraits was also very satisfying. If she had ended up just as a doting and perfect love interest for some boring self-insert character, I don't think I'd be enjoying M:YF as much at all. Thankfully, Mutsumi is proving to be a compelling and likable heroine in her own right, which makes Taiyo feel more believable and human. Funny how that works, huh?

All in all, this is hardly the kind of half-hour that will cement itself in my memory for too long, but I am grateful for the opportunity to get to know Mitsumi's weirdo siblings a little more. After all, the closer we grow to the clan as a whole, the more potential Mission: Yozakura Family will have to really pop off later on down the road.

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Mission: Yozakura Family is currently streaming on Hulu in the United States and on Disney+ in other regions. James is a writer with many thoughts and feelings about anime and other pop-culture, which can also be found on Twitter, his blog, and his podcast.