Mission: Yozakura Family

Episode 5

There's only one major bone that I have to pick with this week's episode of Mission: Yozakura Family, and it is the fact that the punchlines to its two biggest setups were really predictable. It wasn't more than five seconds after Taiyo got picked up by Detective Hotokeyama that I figured it was all a big setup being orchestrated by Kyoichiro to test his new brother-in-law's mettle against interrogation and whatnot. The show itself doesn't seem to think that this reveal is much of a reveal either since Taiyo barely even has to deal with mild psychological torture before the jig is up. Don't get me wrong, I love the kid, but if he is committed to this new lifestyle, he at least needs to prove that he can, like, withstand a few solid hours of waterboarding.

The same goes for Taiyo and Mutsumi's big date/mission at the amusement park. It's such an easy joke to get ahead of. The duo has to figure out which of the three sketchy-looking couples is smuggling guns into the park, so obviously, it's going to be the cutesy pair in the matching outfits that end up pulling a Pulp Fiction in the middle of the restaurant at the end of the episode.

Usually, an action-comedy like this would lose big points from me for undercutting the jokes for its two major storylines so badly, but as usual, M:YF makes up for its fumbles by being aggressively cute and charming. I can't help it, guys. Every critical faculty I have begins to buckle and break under the pressure of seeing these two kids be such a lovely couple. The interrogation story I could still take or leave, but the other two plots of the week are just so danged fun, y'all. I can't be mad at them.

The little classroom interlude that sees Taiyo being harassed into a state of superhuman waking sleep by Kyochiro mostly gets by on the strength of its stupid “Taiyo and Mutsumi yell at Kyochiro via Morse code” joke that only becomes funnier the longer it goes on. I always appreciate the way that Mutsumi continues to be involved in the bits, even when the focus remains mainly on Taiyo being tormented (although the sequence does miss a great joke opportunity by failing to include a reaction shot of one of the normal kids that are just sitting there for minutes on end while their freak of a sub and their two weirdest classmates continue to loudly tap their pens and chalk sticks at each other like a bunch of psychos).

The amusement park date wins me over simply by, well, being a date. The best part about these “Oops! Now We're Married” shows is that they allow the main characters to act like an actual couple when done right. Sure, there are plenty of one-off date episodes, but most of the time, they involve the main character going on a series of dates with all of the different love interests, or the date is merely a backdrop for whatever action is really supposed to matter in the main story. What makes Taiyo and Mutsumi's date feel different is that, as shown by his sheepishly perusing a “Dating for Spies” manual, the boy is genuinely invested in doing the work of being a good partner. The thing that so many romance anime fail to understand is that some of the most compelling and interesting moments in the story of a relationship can only after the people in question have gotten past all of the confessing and stuff.

In short, I just want these crazy kids to be happy, you know? Getting to see Taiyo and Mutsumi grow closer and depend on each other more is quickly becoming my favorite part of Mission: Yozakura Family, and I can't wait to see what's in store for them next.

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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.