MANGA REVIEW | "Mission: Yozakura Family" - Volume Fourteen
It appears that Hitsuji Gondaira is taking what I said in my last Mission: Yokazura Family review to heart. Okay, maybe not literally, but it’s a nice little coincidence. For a while, I’ve felt the side stories had been more entertaining than the main storyline of this Shonen Jump series. But now, Gondaira has seemingly found a way to make his manga’s plot all the more interesting. His solution: trick the readers into thinking they’re reading another wacky side story.
And doggone it, Gondaira succeeded in the fourteenth volume of Mission: Yozakura Family! At first, it seems like readers will be in for another collection of fun tales, starting with a good ole family movie night. Everyone shows their tastes, with nary a surprise in the bunch. (Kengo steals the show by showing a legit X-rated movie!) But it ends with a nice note about how Taiyo and Mutsumi are seeking a happy ending to their life in film, something that’s sure to be tough when so many organizations have painted a bullseye on the family.
Shinzo takes center stage in the next story, as he enters a muscle man contest to win something for his sister Shion. The tale puts the weapons expert’s social anxiety into focus, with his muscles becoming more beautiful the more stressed he becomes. But there comes a point where Shion sees how much mental pain her brother is, and her time to act like a good younger sister arrives in the nick of time. Of course, how it ends shouldn’t be so much of a surprise, given how this series tends to work.
That’s when Mission: Yozakura Family starts up its next arc, starting off with a way to fool its fans. It begins as a funny story about Kyoichiro going missing. The stress levels of the family plummet, and a feeling of ease hits the household for the first time in what seems like years. However, when Shion does a little digging, she’s finds out that Kyoichiro’s disappearance is no laughing matter.
From here, Kyoichiro takes center stage. Normally, I’d roll my eyes at such a thing, seeing as he’s kind of the worst character of the family. But man, did Gondaira find a way to actually make him likable for once! Not only does Kyoichiro fight his father, but many of the other previous First Heads of the Yozakura family. And in that moment, the eldest sibling showcases a beautiful display of violence.
For a moment, it appears the biggest problem in the family’s lives has been dealt with, until Kyoichiro also winds up vanishing for real. I don’t know why he’s gone rogue, but it is nevertheless an interesting twist after seeing what Kyoichiro did to protect Mutsumi. But after a visit with the head of The Spy Association, it turns out that there’s only one person who can defeat the eldest Yozakura: Taiyo.
Will Mutsumi’s husband succeed? Just why is Kyoichiro lashing out at his family? These are questions for what happens next time in Mission: Yozakura Family. But for now, Volume Fourteen does a great job with setting up what could be the series’s most interesting turn of events. I have no idea what’s going to happen next, but I now feel something about the main plot of Mission: Yozakura Family that I haven’t felt in a real long time: excited!
FINAL GRADE:
Promotional consideration provided by Chantelle Sturt of VIZ Media.
