I think Mission: Yozakura Family is pretty much the definition of a mid-tier Weekly Shounen Jump property. Middle of the rankings (usually), middle of the ToC (usually), middling volume sales, middling reviews. Of course mid for WSJ is still pretty big for anybody else. As such it’s a surprise it took this long for Yozakura-san to get an anime – it places solidly in the top ten for most chapters of all WSJ series at the time of adaptation premiere.
Late or no, an anime we do have. Kind of a mid one, unsurprisingly (at Silver Link) though with a very solid director in Minato Mirai. I have a pretty mixed record with WSJ myself, and Yozakura-san Chi no Daisakusen is not a series that ever made much of an impression on me. And the premiere didn’t either, if I’m honest. Sometimes Jump manga are just too dumb to click with me, and this is one of those. The whole premise and cast are so utterly silly that it would have to be a lot more charming than in is (or embrace the absurdity more than it does) to keep me hooked.
In short, we have yet another kid orphaned by a traffic accident (seriously, you’d think Japan has the worst drivers on the planet). He’s become so terrified of abandonment in the wake of losing his family that he shuts everyone out apart from his childhood friend Mutsumi-san. As it happens Mutsumi is part of a spy family (not that spy family) and her incredibly creepy older brother is posing as the vice-principal in order to “protect” her. Once the decides to eliminate Taiyou (the kid) as a threat, all hell breaks loose and he winds up being saved by another one of her older siblings, who says the only way to save himself is to marry her (which in the Yozakura family you can do by the mere act of donning a special ring, conveniently enough.
None of this really worked for me. The cartoonish siblings, the spy tricks, the siscon older brother, the resolution. None of it it really interesting or funny – just a ridiculous conceit foisted on the audience in the interest of kickstarting a plot. Still, this series has shown enough to avoid the axe for 27 volumes and counting, and Weekly Jump action series are notoriously slow (and often misleading) starters. So I’ll treat this ep as the cold open and check out one more to see what the actual story is like, but I’m not expecting to have a whole lot of patience.
Joshua
April 8, 2024 at 2:19 amI think that’s the issue in itself. The series managed to stick around for this long because it really doesn’t care much about stuff like story or character in the long term, but just kicking the can down the road with constantly teasing mystery boxes down the line while inundating the reader with as much “stuff” as possible, which while it was prominent in Shonen yes, it just feels much more pervasive in recent years when these publications are trying to find something that will last a long time.
In this case, it’s a family of spies, but not exactly spies but are glorified Marvel/DC superheroes with special powers whom we can stretch out to “develop” all of these family members while tied together with a tenuous theme of found family, all while giving us a shootout every now and then, and comedy meant to remind us not to be so damn self-serious. Oh and the plot is deliberately obfuscated with breadcrumbs that will possibly lead somewhere because who cares about a well-written narrative in this era of reading Wikipedia summaries?
Basically it’s Spy x Family for those who thought it was too boring because there weren’t enough shootouts or assassins.
Simone
April 8, 2024 at 3:25 amI read the manga and honestly I can’t really imagine you vibing much with it. It’s fun but pretty brainless, and it doesn’t even fully transition to full shonen action until later enough that this season might not reach that (and even when it does, it’s no HXH for sure, just a bunch of superpowers, transformations and cool one liners, the works). It’s somehow managed to hold solidly and keep a spot in the WSJ roster but it’s far from a stand-out. Even amidst the growing spy/assassin genre within the same magazine, I’d say both Sakamoto Days and Kill Blue are more interesting reads.
Scarred
April 8, 2024 at 11:26 pmI think it’s unfair to label series as mid-tier like that considering opinions are subjective and interpretations are different. Mission: Yozakura Family is only brainless fun if you make it and fail to pay attention to the nuance which can be said about pretty much anything. The character writing and the messages of grief, generational trauma, and the importance of having a support system.
I love the tone and the gags usually make me smile at the very least. The action is exciting and fun to watch. The romance is pure and wholesome which definitely has its place in the genre. The chemistry of the main cast as well as their individual ways of coping with loss (reflecting very well by their special abilities) is the highlight of the manga and their fun and chaotic interactions filled with laughter allows the more intense moments to shine.
I’m not saying everyone will or should enjoy it, but Mission: Yozakura Family has been my favorite manga in Jump for a little while now. It’s enabled me to look at myself as a person and learn to let people in like Taiyo does despite social anxiety. As for the adaptation, I thought it was a really good adaptation of Ch. 1 with some level of ambition despite not seeming high budgeted. OST and voice acting was my favorite part.
Guardian Enzo
April 8, 2024 at 11:29 pmNo problem with that, just stated my own opinion. However, to be fair what I said in the post was “Middle of the rankings (usually), middle of the ToC (usually), middling volume sales, middling reviews.”. Not a comment on the objective merits. And all those things are pretty much objectively true.
Joshua
April 9, 2024 at 10:05 pmThat’s the thing really. Outside of its general theme of found family regarding its orphan protagonist finding a place where he belongs in this new family of in-laws, there’s very little here for me to consider that Spy X Family (regarding spies and/or comedy) or hell, even Reborn or Black Cat (“found family” with superpowers) didn’t offer before. And frankly, the whole spy stuff here is just an excuse to throw in more shootouts rather than having actual espionage, which will just devolve into pseudo-superhero nonsense. Only reason why it’s hanging on is because it’s just that likable enough and has enough breadcrumbs/mystery boxes regarding the general plot and characters laid out to keep people reading no matter how “mid” it is.
Simone
April 9, 2024 at 9:36 pmI definitely think Yozakura Family shines in respect to the core idea (Taiyo is a pretty great family man and his relationship with Mutsumi is just really cute and healthy). It’s just that as still a fundamentally battle shonen manga it’s cool but not a stand out, and as a gag manga (when it’s in comedy mode) it elicits some chuckles but no big laughs, even compared to its competitors on WSJ (Witch Watch is much better at being gut-bustingly funny for example). The family dynamics are its strongest trait, but alone they don’t carry it to the levels of success of a Jujutsu Kaisen or One Piece.