The Yuzuki family consists of four brothers: Hayato, Mikoto, Minato, and Gakuto. The eldest son, Hayato, happily lives every day to the fullest. There are tears, laughter and excitement at home, at school, and in the neighborhood!
I enjoyed this whole anime series, it is tragic that their parents died with the 3 youngest brothers being so young, and the eldest brother being left with the responsibility of taking care of all his brothers at his young age. Even though Hayato had been reached out to by family and their family friends who offered him help like taking one brother for them to care of for Hayato, he refused their help and told them all that he didn't want to separate his family more than it already has with the tragedy that has happened to them all. He felt that separating them would make it even worse for his younger brothers, cause they were so young and he knew nobody else would be able to feel their pain like he did as their eldest brother. So Hayato, the eldest brother took on the responsibility to care for his three younger brothers, Mikoto, Minato, and Gakuto. He knew it wouldn't be easy but he knew he couldn't give up either on his brothers. Which I found very sentimental. Their average day-to-day life is interesting as there are four brothers so the house is usually lively even though their parents aren't there with them, their relationship is great, they get along very well and I feel like they have a bond that real siblings share, they get annoyed by each other but at the same time, they're all aware that if they need their siblings then they will be there for them. Which was such a great part of the anime and made me very happy seeing that. We saw many perspectives like how in __Episode 2__, Mikoto at first didn't like his younger brother as, Minato who was born only a year after him which had taken the attention away from Mikoto at a young age and Minato was pretty annoying to Mikoto when they were younger but Mikoto realized that he was doing all that he was doing because he wanted to be like him aka his older brother which made him happy and as they got older, their relationship grew or well for Mikoto as Minato was always weirded out by how Mikoto found him cute or fun. Even though Hayato is the eldest, I got this sense that Gakuto aka the youngest brother had the most mature mind considering his young age, he understood his eldest brother and how he must feel, so he always tried to be considerate of him. Mikoto is also a mature boy, even though there is a one-year gap between him and _Minato_, he is always shown off as the mature version of Minato. The anime showcased many emotions and feelings that one feels for example, jealousy, burden, sadness, happiness, enjoyment, relief, and fear. It's a great example to show that not all families are perfect especially those that have lost their role models in life but they only had a few moments where they felt sadness as they were usually always happy with being around their brothers. In __Episode 9__ Gakuto felt like he'd burden his older brother if he had told him about his first-grade classroom visitation, he knew that he was already busy with his work life and taking care of them all. So he tried hiding it the best he could, but in the end, they all ended up being there for their youngest brother. I would recommend this to people who are looking forward to a wholesome and sentimental but very heartfelt anime, it has its great scenes and moments and expresses emotions and one's personality well.
・ English is my second language, there may be errors in my grammar.. ・I try to make a spoiler-free review, however, in the section **opinion** might have some **spoilers**. ・General experience ≠ Final score. My personal score is *based in 5 star system*, so **I tried to put an accurate number here**, but isn't always the case. ・Locate **(Brief) Conclusion + Recommendation** section where the main points are summarized. ~~~━━━━━━━ ⟡ ━━━━━━━~~~ # ~~~**Experience with** __Yuzuki-san Chi no Yon Kyoudai.__ ~~~ ~~~━━━━━━━ ⟡ ━━━━━━━~~~ ~~~**Iɴᴛʀᴏᴅᴜᴄᴛɪᴏɴ**~~~ **After the unfortunate passing of their parents**, the Yuzuki siblings find in a difficult position, **where the eldest son, Hayato, take the responsability of the three youngest**, in order to preserve the family and taking care of their growth. In the midst of a despairing instance, as time passes, the story of these siblings gradually unfolds, revealing their daily routines. **We bear witness to their resilience in the face of loss, as they encounter various challenges**. With unwavering determination, they wholeheartedly embrace each day, experiencing a whirlwind of emotions that span from tears to laughter. This poignant and heartfelt narrative beautifully showcases the unique perspectives of each sibling, painting a vivid picture of their unbreakable bond. ~~~━━━━━━━ ⟡ ━━━━━━━~~~ ~~~**Oᴘɪɴɪᴏɴ**~~~ This anime headed in the right direction, **as each episode maintains a delightful pacing**. This allows us to delve deeper into the lives of the main characters, providing us with a well-rounded understanding of their personalities, their unique circumstances, and their perspectives of the world. We have the opportunity to witness how each episode explores different topics, yet maintains a sense of cohesion. **It beautifully portrays the significance of those surrounding the siblings and how impact their own lives**. As the series progresses, we gain a holistic view of their lives, **which is incredibly refreshing and gives a sense of belonging**. This, I believe, is one of the strengths that sets this series apart. Respecting the composition of the series, I have witnessed intriguing elements that make this slice of life portrayal truly amusing to watch. They employ various drawing styles and incorporate real-life scenery, among other creative techniques, 'playing' with colors and essence that align perfectly with each moment. **These captivating moments infuse life into the series**, breaking away from the traditional 2D perspective in a truly unique way. Not to be forgotten, the voice actors in this series are absolutely top-notch! They have truly mastered their portrayal of each character, **capturing their essence and bringing them to life with their remarkable performances**. The direction in this aspect perfectly aligns with the imaginative understanding of each character. And speaking of the soundscape, **it is of exceptional quality**. Not only does it include an impressive opening and ending that *provide an accurate and enjoyable perspective of the series, but it also enhances every scene, creating a seamless shift in atmosphere*. ~~~━━━━━━━ ⟡ ━━━━━━━~~~ ~~~**(ʙʀɪᴇғ) Cᴏɴᴄʟᴜsɪᴏɴ + Rᴇᴄᴏᴍᴍᴇɴᴅᴀᴛɪᴏɴ**~~~ **This is the heartwarming life of the Yuzuki family** as they navigate through their daily lives, **adapting to the constant changes that have occurred since the departure of their parents** . Throughout this story, we will witness the underlying emotions of these siblings as they experience growth and resilience. By exploring different stages of the siblings' lives, I found great enjoyment in observing how they perceive each other as siblings, and how they navigate their roles within the family. **They learn and grow along the way, emphasizing the importance of their bonds and love, which surpasses any limitations they may face** . This anime is truly amusing to watch, employing unconventional methods to capture the diverse development. This experimental touch breathes life into the story, *creating a dynamic flow that highlights memorable moments*. To keep it brief, if you're looking to relax and immerse yourself in a heartwarming story with an interesting perspective on a family **of four siblings**, I highly recommend giving it a watch. Decide for yourself if it's worth your time, but *personally, I'm hoping for another season!* ~~~img300(https://imgur.com/wPjuzIA.png) img300(https://imgur.com/0uzTu7Q.png)~~~ ~~~━━━━━━━ ⟡ ━━━━━━━~~~ ~~~**_ᴘᴇʀsᴏɴᴀʟ sᴄᴏʀᴇ sʏsᴛᴇᴍ_**~~~ ~~~ ★★★★★ ~~~ ~~~━━━━━━━ ⟡ ━━━━━━━~~~
Yuzuki-san Chi es una serie bastante fresca dentro de los slice of life purificadores. Al contrario de éstos, nos encontramos en un extraño caso donde la cotidianidad viene acompañada por conflictos familiares reales. Lejos de disipar las particularidades, el sentido de pérdida y las consecuencias de ésta, a medida que los protagonistas crecen, conviven con la cotidianidad y la constituyen. En esta reseña veremos qué tiene de bueno esta obra y por qué considero que hay potencial en el slice of life como género. Yuzuki san chi, en primera instancia, ofrece historias simples, mayormente episodios autoconclusivos protagonizados por algún hermano. Desde ahí podemos observar los aciertos. En primer lugar, hay una diferencia de edades muy marcadas entre ellos, con excepción de Mikoto y Minato. Eso permite ver distintos puntos de vista sobre un mismo conflicto: desde los problemas de Hayato (el único mayor) para poder trabajar y cuidar a sus hermanitos a la vez; de Gakuto, quién, pese a su corta edad, se da cuenta del esfuerzo de sus hermanos y trata de no molestarlos; Minato, el más inmaduro y sentimental y Mikoto, quién es más sobreprotector. Se evidencia con lo mencionado que las historias son bastantes verosímiles y gracias a ello es fácil empatizar con cada personaje. El segundo acierto tiene mucho que ver con el primer punto: la sólida caracterización. Todos son muy diferentes entre sí y se vuelven fácilmente identificables. Sus motivaciones y rasgos de su personalidad están correctamente fundamentados por sus experiencias y rol dentro de la familia. Ante los problemas, cada Yuzuki reacciona a su modo y de forma creíble a su edad. Durante todos los episodios podemos entender los pensamientos que tiene cada uno, desde sus frustraciones, debilidades, temores o deseos. Al respecto, la dirección y el trabajo de Shuka ha sobresalido bastante, representando estos pensamientos en muchas ocasiones por medio de técnicas de animación experimentales. De esta forma se consigue que cada episodio te toque el corazón, porque las historias, pese a su simpleza, son absolutamente creíbles e identificables. Puede que una historia sobre hermanos perdiendo sus padres suene en papel muy deprimente y que todo lo que fui mencionando vaya hacia esa sintonía, pero quiero ir desarticulando ésto. Si bien los episodios son emocionales y en más de una ocasión se te puede caer una lágrima, éstas no siempre se dan por cuestiones tristes. El tercer acierto tiene que ver con cómo retrata perfectamente la superación del duelo a través de la fraternidad. Gran parte del encanto de la sólida caracterización de los personajes tiene que ver con cómo cada uno empatiza con los demás. El tono de la serie consigue estar balanceado entre momentos tristes y superadores, generando una sensación de alta satisfacción al final de cada episodio. Siempre consigue una reflexión sobre valores como la solidaridad, la empatía y la amistad. Si hablamos de la organización de los caps, podemos decir que los episodios con drama más pesado están al principio, a modo de presentación de la historia. Progresivamente, a medida que los vas conociendo mejor, el tono de la obra se vuelve más amistoso y de comedia. No se pierde en lo absoluto su eje central, pero a esas alturas disfrutás mucho las vivencias de cada uno de ellos. Todo esto nos lleva a decir que Yuzuki resuelve una de las principales dificultades de los slice of life: la monotonía. En ningún momento se siente que la serie se está repitiendo o se vuelve melodramática gracias a que se refresca con momentos familiares graciosos o entrañables. Si bien hablé bastante de los personajes, quisiera dedicarle palabras a cada uno por separado. Si solo uno de los cuatro tuviera que ser el protagonista, este sin dudas sería Minato. Como ya mencioné, es inmaduro y sentimental. Sus conflictos están más que nada vinculados a la aceptación de la pérdida, puesto fue el más mimado de los hermanos tras ser el menor por tantos años. Al mismo tiempo, su relación con Gakuto permite desarrollar ese lado más maduro. Si hablamos de Gakuto, hablamos sin dudas de mi personaje favorito. Es el más chico y el más grande a la vez dado que a sus 6 años parece de 60 xddd. Su madurez temprana viene acompañada de su conflicto más recurrente: el ver los sacrificios de sus hermanos y sentirse una carga. Mikoto, por su parte, es el más discreto de todos; si algo le tuviera que criticar a esta serie es que se siente más como un personaje de soporte de Minato que ocupa el papel cómico de “el buda que ama a su hermano”. Así y todo, el capítulo 2 explora el cómo nació su amor hacia él. Finalmente, Hayato, “la mamá” de todos. Sus problemas intercalan la vida como profesor y como tutor. Se trabaja mucho el sacrificio que conlleva aquello y eso nos regala uno de los momentos más memorables de la serie en el capítulo 4. Podemos decir que todos sus personajes afrontan conflictos reales y están perfectamente entrelazados entre sí. Solo quedaría destacar a sus secundarios, la familia Kirishima, que también es clave a la hora de ofrecer otro punto de vista a los Yuzuki, en especial a Uta, la mejor amiga de Minato, con quién hace una muy buena química; y el abuelo, el mejor amigo de Gakuto. Quisiera terminar hablando del trabajo de Shuka. Desconocía este estudio por completo, pero resulta que son especialistas en este tipo de series y que trabajaron en muchos proyectos interesantes, como Natsume Yuujinchou. En líneas generales, el trabajo es demasiado pulcro, colorido y expresivo. No será una eminencia de la animación, pero no se llega a ver nunca un bajón de calidad. Lo más interesante que tiene para ofrecer el apartado artístico tiene que ver con aquellos momentos donde la serie se anima a experimentar, generalmente en la parte intermedia del episodio, para representar los pensamientos o sentimientos de uno de los protagonistas o bien para algún momento cómico. En aquellos casos se hizo uso de imágenes reales, stop motion, estilos más cartoon, el uso de negativos, etc. Al venir acompañada con alguna escena importante, nunca se llegan a sentirse ajenas al estilo normal de la serie, salvo un caso en concreto. En resumidas cuentas, la respuesta sobre si me gustan los slice of life es afirmativa. Y hasta diría que me gustan mucho. No obstante, hay que leer bien la letra chica: siempre y cuando consiga contarnos y transmitirnos algo. Yuzuki san Chi es un ejemplo más que adecuado de que tener sustancia y ser un slice of life no son aspectos incompatibles. Muchos SOLs se vuelven aburridos porque, en su pretensión por volverse purificadores, se olvidan de lo más importante: la humanidad. No hay que ignorar que nuestra propia vida cotidiana está llena de pequeños dramas que nos movilizan. Por tanto, un buen SOL es aquel que permita retratarlos y matizar esos momentos de tristeza y felicidad. La calma y la alegría no se llegan a sentir genuinamente auténticos sin aquellos momentos más sentimentales: allí descansa la profundidad de lo más simple. No tengo nada más para decir que no sea que amo esta serie y la recomiendo mucho. Me satisfaría que alguno la viera.
Alright, let's get the elephant out of the room, the only reason anyone even heard of _The Yuzuki Family's Four Sons_ is because of the fact that for some reason, when the first episode went up on Crunchyroll, it was saddled with absolutely abysmal English subtitles. [No, I'm not kidding](https://fast.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2023-10-05/the-yuzuki-family-four-sons-episode-1-briefly-inaccessible-on-crunchyroll-after-subtitle-quality-/.203183). The subtitles were not only extremely literal, with zero syntaxes, punctuations, and sentence structure, there are times when sentences are repeated for no reason, and they even went as far as to straight up translate some characters' names. It was especially bad because other streaming sites in other regions had their own English subtitles for it, but they were nowhere near as bad as the ones Crunchyroll got. Luckily, the ensuing backlash convinced Crunchyroll to reach out to the original licensor to give it a newer, better translation, and the subtitles have since been updated. It is a shame this is how people had to get introduced to the series, because _The Yuzuki Family's Four Sons_ is honestly a very sweet, heartwarming, low-key drama that deserves more appreciation than it gets. The Yuzuki family consists of four brothers: 23-year-old teacher Hayato, stoic middle schooler Mikoto, his younger, more rambunctious and hot-headed brother Minato, and six-year-old Gakuto. A couple years back, their parents died in an unspecified accident, and the loss completely upended their lives. This left Hayato to become the closest thing his three younger brothers have to a parent, with all the responsibilities that come with it: Cooking, cleaning, paying the bills, making sure the kids are in school, and so on, on top of his own teaching career. The younger three are also made to mentally grow up faster than they should, because as much as they want to ease the burden on Hayato, they're still kids at heart. Through growing pains and emotional ups and downs, the four Yuzuki brothers stick together and try to make the best of things, with help from their neighbors the Kirishimas and their friends. I haven't read the original manga for this, though after seeing how good the anime is I kind of want to now, so I don't know how the manga's art translated into the animation medium here. For the most part, the animation can be rather stiff, with a lot of still shots, walking scenes are rather stiff at times, and bodies don't always move naturally. Thankfully, what the show lacks in consistent animation at times, it manages to make up for with experimenting with different animation styles at times and creative storyboarding. You know how sometimes live-action footage or backgrounds were used in _Bocchi The Rock_ to depict the main character's mental state or for the sake of a joke? The Yuzuki Family's Four Sons does the same thing, though primarily for the former. I don't know if it was done just to save on the budget or a deliberate artistic choice, but if its the latter, I thought it was used pretty well. I did like one scene in episode 8 where Minato and Uta accidentally eavesdrop on Gakuto's conversation with Waka and Kojiro and are so freaked out they run through town screaming their heads off, and they're running through live-action scenery, which was pretty funny. The ending theme even shows the characters as tiny wooden figures in a lit up toy house, which is just cute as hell. The series also experiments with other animation styles at times: In episode 2, a young Mikoto's simmering frustrations about being the middle child and resentment towards Minato getting all the attention are depicted as shaky child drawings, and Gakuto's few memories of his parents are drawn in charcoal. While the animation for this show isn't the best, its certainly not the worst, and good directing on the director's part helped to keep it afloat. I don't have as much to say on the soundtrack, but it was nice and did its job well. But it's really the show's writing that helps it shine, especially around its characters. This is a quiet family drama at heart, and all four of the brothers have their own unique personalities, strengths, weaknesses, and ways of coping with the events that followed their parents' untimely deaths. Every episode is told from a different brother's point of view, rotating between the four of them depending on who's the focus. As far as character development goes, Minato and Gakuto get the lion's share of it since they tend to get more screen time compared to the other two, though that's not to say Hayato and Mikoto don't get anything to do. The series itself has a fairly small ensemble of characters and does an admirable job of getting you to care about all of them and be invested in them and their plight. I'll admit, I absolutely love Kojiro and his friendship with Gakuto. As somebody who often befriended people outside my age range throughout my childhood, I could totally buy their chemistry. I do feel Mikoto got the short end of the stick when it comes to character development though, because not only is he completely defined by his love for his brothers, Minato in particular, other than in episode 2 (Which mostly consists of a flashback, mind you), he comes off as way too perfect and flawless a lot of the time, with the show itself even joking that he's basically a little Buddha. One can argue that he fixates on his brothers as a coping mechanism for his grief around his parents' deaths, but I don't think that came through very well in the anime. This might have been remedied in the manga, but since the English scanlations haven't gotten very far, I don't know how true this is. There are some other little things about the show that felt really off to me, though they didn't hurt my enjoyment of it in any way. For one, something about the way Minato's face is drawn just looks...off to me. I don't know what it is, but his constantly squinty-looking eyes and his round face don't feel like they go together. But I know it's like that in the manga too. Second, this series seems to believe children between the ages of 3-6 are able to talk and think at a higher maturity level than they're actually capable of doing. I don't interact with children much in my daily life, but my cousin has a young daughter who's turning 5 this year, and I've seen her enough to know that children around the ages of 3-6 don't speak in perfect, full-on sentences that feel more in line with someone in the 8-12 range would say. This was present in episode 2 with the young versions of Minato and Mikoto, but it's especially prominent with Gakuto, as he's canonically six years old, but constantly talks like he's a very well-spoken adult, with perfect sentences, complete with worrying about how his actions could cause trouble for others, which is completely unrealistic for a child his age. Don't get me wrong, I love Gakuto, he's a cutie and deserves all the love in the world, as do all the other characters in the show, but I almost feel like the series is idealizing him. I'm no expert on child development, but most kids that age tend to speak in short, slightly broken sentences that rely on dumb child logic. Just watch any video featuring a kid aged 3-6 on Facebook, YouTube, or whatever for further evidence on this. Hell, I myself didn't start speaking verbally until age 6 because of being autistic. I honestly do have to question what Shizuki Fujisawa's views on children are, because they really need to do a better job at portraying young children more accurately. In all honesty though, these are just minor nitpicks in the grand scheme of things, because I do genuinely like this show and think it absolutely deserved better than the awful first impression the bad subtitles it was saddled with gave it. _The Yuzuki Family's Four Sons_ lives and dies by the strength of its writing and emotional honesty, and while it wasn't able to give all its characters their due, it managed to make me feel for these dumb little goobers and get invested in their lives and want them to be happy. I also appreciate that their parents' deaths aren't simply used for one-off cheap angst but make it the driving force behind literally everything they do for both themselves, each other, and their peers, so it never feels like it's used for melodrama or emotional manipulation. To me anyway, your mileage may vary. But yeah, if you're hankering for a low key family drama that manages to tug at your heartstrings without the overwrought sentimentality that goes with it but still manages to make you feel warm and fuzzy, definitely give _The Yuzuki Family's Four Sons_ a try.