English Dub Review: Mission – Yozakura Family “Yozakura Front Lines; The Blooming”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

As the rest of the family prepares to go to war with Tanpopo, Taiyo trains with Ban to unlock his own special abilities, and Mutsumi is given a special task.

OUR TAKE

We’re in the build up to the climax of the arc which means everybody is doing a bunch of training in order to get ready for the big final battle against Tanpopo. Most of the family is working on what is apparently their big emergency combo attack, known as Yozakura Front Lines, which I imagine will be some cool way of utilizing every special skill the siblings have, while Taiyo works with Ban, the other GOOD male who married into the family, in order to unlock his own special Yozakura ability that he gained once he got Mutsumi’s blood. This process is known as The Blooming, which makes sense considering it involves something maturing into its full abilities and also…their eyes turn into flowers so why not go with the motif? And like any big training to unlock a special power, it’s pretty tough to get through and requires a bit of mental trickery to get Taiyo fully in the right head space. In this case…it involves Ban shooting Mutsumi to trigger Taiyo’s instinctive protectiveness, which then reveals that his ability is Hardening. Sounds like pretty fitting theming for a guy who wants to be a shield for his wife and her family from all the bullets and swords that’ll be flying their way, but also not one I usually see as a protagonist’s main ability, so points for originality there I guess.

The other thing is Mutsumi being taken by her grandmother Keiko to see where the secret history of the Yozakura is kept hidden, in a bunker deep below the mansion. Apparently the secret history is within a book that no one knows how to open anymore and trying to force it open will destroy the mansion, so Mutsumi is told that if the worst case scenario happens and everyone is dead or captured, she must do what she can to make sure these secrets remain hidden. Which then makes me think would be the most dramatic option to happen if worse comes to worse, which to me would be if Tanpopo actually did get their hands on it. Usually when a good character says “this absolutely cannot happen or it would be terrible”, that’s usually a sign it will likely happen near the end. Hard to say what will actually happen, but we have effectively set that up, and there are six episodes left in this season to see if it ever comes to pass.