Some time ago, when talking to a friend about manga, I remember telling them "you shouldn't judge a shounen manga by it's first volume", or something to that effect. While this phrase may seem stupid to some, I believe it's of great importance when reading works from the shounen jump magazine. The works published there will often be forced to rush through an entire 'early arc' in order to cram it all into a single volume, in hopes of giving a good enough impression on their readers. Not just because it's what dictates whether future volumes will sell or not, but because those works exist on a constant state of panic over whether or not they will actually continue to exist under the Shounen Jump umbrella. If it doesn't manage to catch readers with it's first 15 chapters or so, it's usually going to end up cancelled by volume 2.
It's because of all that, that I'm sometimes surprised that Yozakura Family actually got to have as many chapters as it did. I'm not sure how good it does in japan, but it most certainly does not qualify as "popular" or "well known" in the western market, even after the release of it's anime adaptation. And that's honestly a damn shame.

Yozakura Family starts off as a comedy story about a regular guy being put into dangerous situations. It's the story of Taiyo Asano, regular teenager, who ends up marrying into a family of spies, all of them with absurd supernatural abilities and even more absurd personalities. It's also a story about Mutsumi Yozakura, the girl that he marries, and the hardships that both of them have to endure as a result of the world they inhabit. For the sake of his newfound family, Taiyo Asano puts all of his effort into becoming someone strong enough to protect them.
None of that sounds like a comedy, does it? Well, it's not completely a comedy. Yozakura Family shines in it's ability to tell this compelling story of family dynamics while also being able to keep it all light-hearted and fun. Even during it's more serious arcs, the tone is still kept mostly comical, which helps make the truly serious moments more impactful once they are needed.

Speaking of it's serious arcs, I believe one of Yozakura Family's best features is the way the story strings together all of the events that take place. Once you get past the first two volumes of the manga, all of the story becomes interconnected to the point that the events of it's final arc are tied all the way back to it's earlier chapters. This, while perhaps subtle during the reading experience, helps make the story flow into itself enough that I ended up reading a hundred and fifty chapters in the span of a week or so.

Another great feature is, by far, the characters. Even when it comes to it's secondary cast, and especially when it comes to the main ones, the characters never fail to be interesting, both in terms of design and personality. Not sure if I'd define most of them as 'complex', but they are really fun to read, which is what matters most to me.
Lastly, the romance between the protagonist Taiyo and his wife Mutsumi is probably the best feature in the story. Many other shounen out there will leave the romance of the main characters on the side up until the ending, which is why I really appreciate the fact that the story starts off by quite literally marrying them, and it only goes up from there. It's not as developed as a shoujo manga's romance, but it doesn't need to be. Every time I hear those two talk about each other, it's enough to light up my day.

As it stands right now, Yozakura Family is supposedly during it's final arc. I am not sure how much longer the manga has to go, but I'm pretty satisfied with the events so far. If you are still reading this review once the manga is over and done with, it means the ending was to my liking.
I wish I could provide you with more complex thoughts about Yozakura Family, some analysis of it's themes or anything more than this vague review, but I really don't have much to say about it. This review exists less as an attempt at analysis and more as a way to recommend it to someone else. My hopes are that one day the Yozakura Family fandom grows to double digits.