English Dub Review: Mission: Yozakura Family “Tanpopo”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Taiyo uncovers the identity of his family’s assassins, a group called Tanpopo, who just so happen to be the group that also killed the previous Yozakura matriarch.

OUR TAKE

Alright, we’re more or less at the halfway point of the show (remember that this series has twenty seven episodes, which is unusual for six month/two cour anime shows) and we might finally have a main antagonist to center the plot on. It’s been fun and all giving the Yozakura family and Taiyo introduce us to the world and establish things about being a spy, drip feeding us recurring antagonists and dropping hints at larger things here and there, but now we have officially hit the next stage with the reveal of not only the group that killed Taiyo’s family but also Mutsumi’s (and by extension the rest of her sibling’s) mom. We have something definitive that ties them together in a common cause, but also something that Taiyo can be personally motivated by separately from his connection to the Yozakuras. And on top of that, we already have a face to go with the whole organization: seemingly mild mannered doctor Makoto Kawashita, whose plans with Tanpopo involve harvesting Mutsumi’s heart in order to create a drug that would give anyone powers like those of the Yozakuras. This now gives Taiyo a new reason to protect his new family, including the siblings we’ve gotten to know along the way, and a reason to protect Mutsumi and take vengeance for their mother.

This handily sets the stage for the remainder of this season by turning the focus directly onto Kawashita and his plans with Tanpopo moving forward. While I have little doubt we’ll still get plenty of comedic and cute romcom antics here and there, I’m guessing we’re also more likely to have to focus on Tanpopo related agents doing much more serious stuff than we’re used to. We got a taste of what that might be like already with the Kuroyuri stuff, which also showed us how dire the spy world can get, especially when civilians are put in harm’s way, but now it will be essentially all out war between Tanpopo and the Yozakuras. And frankly, I’m quite looking forward to seeing just how much things can escalate here in the remainder of what is likely to be the first season of many. Things will continue to catch fire in a new arc, starting next week, which will begin the search again for Kawashita, and likely introduce us to several more Tanpopo agents, so I guess I will see you then!