Mission: Yozakura Family

Episode 15

I have good news, and bad news, fellow Mission: Yozakura Fans. The good news is that this week delivered yet another solid episode of the show that has proven itself to be a reliable source of entertainment for the past fifteen weeks. The bad news is that, as we usher in the summer season of streaming reviews, M:YF didn't cut weekly coverage in the polls. That means that this will be the last time we check in with Taiyo, Mutsumi, and the rest of the Yozakura siblings until I catch up with the whole series with a full-season review sometime in the future.

My biggest concern going into “Yozakura Blood” was that it wouldn't make for a very interesting episode to cover as our final review of the show. The first half is mostly concerned with the very straightforward fight between Nohmen and Shinzo. It's a fine fight, given the fairly pedestrian production values, but there's not a lot going on here since it's clear up front that the battle is mostly a stalling tactic. The one funny bit comes from Taiyo having to act like a deranged terrorist to force an evacuation of all the hotel's guests. He really goes for broke with the whole “kooky gun pervert” act; I didn't know he had it in him!

Thankfully, the stakes get raised in a major way when a mysterious old man working with Tanpopo manages to nearly assassinate Taiyo with a simple embrace (and, presumably, a bunch of tiny stabbings). This puts Taiyo in the hospital, which allows Tanpopo's army of roided-out freaks to lay siege on the entire Yozakura mansion. It's the kind of all-or-nothing moment that gives the whole family a chance to show off their stuff. Goliath gets all big and imposing; Futaba struts her stuff, and Kyoichiro messes some more dudes up with his murder wires.

Of course, this means that the episode runs into the opposite of what I was initially worried about: Here we have an episode that sets up a truly climactic battle, with our hero unable to step in and defend his family…and it ends with a cliffhanger. It doesn't help that, for as fun as the opening act of the fight is as a concept, it's also barely animated, and all of those still frames and cheap-looking pans don't exactly inspire the kind of excitement you want in an impromptu last hurrah. Still, if we just looked at this episode as one more of a still ongoing season, it's a pretty good one. Far from “great”, mind you, but pretty good.

That's probably how I would describe this whole series so far. It's been good fun watching Taiyo come into his own and win over the affection of his new bride and siblings-in-law, but the show's ambitions mostly begin and end with being “good fun.” It's not the prettiest, most thrilling, funniest, or biggest showstopper of an anime out there, but so far as action-comedy anime with a hint of cheesy romance goes, you could do far worse than Mission: Yozakura Family. I'll miss these dorks and their wacky misadventures, and hopefully, I'll be able to return to this world of spies and true love someday soon.

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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.