Alternative title(s): Yuzuki-san Chi no Yonkyoudai.
Manga Adaptation by Shuka
Streaming on Crunchyroll

Premise

Four male siblings whose parents passed away two years ago – Hayato, Mikoto, Minato, and Gakuto – live together in relative harmony as they each navigate overlapping worlds of work, school, and relationships, both with one another and their local community. That’s… about it.

Artemis’ verdict: Perfectly Pleasant

For anyone on the lookout for a series that’s neither an isekai/isekai-like fantasy series or a high school dramedy, The Yuzuki Family’s Four Sons might just be for you. Sure, it might not be the most subtle story overall, but it’s also not really trying to be. It’s just one of those sweet, purely slice-of-life shows that will probably spend roughly the same amount of screen time on each character, highlighting their various trials and triumphs over the course of maybe a year or so of their lives.

All the main cast have their own various quirks and traits, and these are fairly obvious from the get-go – like I said, The Yuzuki Family’s Four Sons isn’t necessarily a subtle or complex series, and most viewers can probably see the individual story beats a mile off. Still, given the characters’ ages (23, 13, 12, 6), there’s enough variety here to keep the show from feeling too boring or static. I also like the fact that it focuses mostly on the family’s home life, so while we do see them go to school, interact with classmates, etc., the focus is on the family themselves rather than being a school-centric drama.

In any case, the opening of this is a pretty good indication of the series itself, so watch that and you’ll likely know exactly what you’re getting, both in terms of visuals (simple but charming) and story/tone. I’ll probably be sticking with this one, but your mileage will definitely vary depending on your tolerance for slow-paced slice-of-life and coming-of-age fare.

Jel’s verdict: I’m rooting for Brother Falcon

Everything about this episode is pretty bland, from the plot choices to the characters themselves, and yet it still managed to warm my cold, dead heart a little bit. As predictable as the episode was, it is a nice change of pace to have a story focused on family. The four brothers are all doing their best in their own ways, and it’s very endearing. I would like to see how they continue to balance the light tone of the show with the very heavy circumstances they family finds themselves in, and if they can keep that balance I think this could be pretty decent.

It’s unfortunate the main buzz around this episode has been the terrible official subtitles on Crunchyroll, which were temporarily taken down but as of writing are back up. At best the translation was done by someone not qualified to do professional subs, at worst (and what most people are speculating) they appear to be machine translated. Telltale signs like translating one of the brothers’ names literally as “Falcon” are all over the place. Hopefully Crunchyroll learns their lesson (not holding my breath) and the subs are fixed because this show deserves much better.