#brainrot fodder

[sage-reads-things]

Goliath lore!! We finally get an explanation for how Goliath is SO absurdly powerful. It turns out he's an Okami dog--I couldn't find the kanji version of his breed name, but I bet the name stems from the polite honorific 御 (o-) and 神 (kami), a deity spirit. It'd certainly be fitting, as we'll soon see. Mutsumi doesn't say where the Okami breed came from, but I feel like the Yozakuras had something to do with their creation. If that's the case, it's likely that someinine was involved and that's how Okami dogs can grow to such monstrous proportions. I would love to meet a mad scientist ancestor who bred superdogs using their own blood.

The Okami breed has been around since the mid-Edo period, which is around the time Tsubomi was active. Goliath himself is not nearly that old, but if he belonged to Mutsumi's great-great-grandmother, he's easily around 100 years old. He's an old geezer! No wonder he never wants to join in on the Yozakura siblings' shenanigans lol.

(Rambling about Yozakura heads and timeline stuff under the cut)

Goliath joined the family during the time of Mutsumi's great-great-grandmother, who was the 6th family head. The 6th head would have been Itsuwa's daughter, currently unnamed. The anime actually gives us a picture of her:

She's very cute! She definitely has strong Yozakura genes and looks a lot like a female Kyoichiro. (Side note, baby Goliath is so cuuuuuute <333 Look at his huge eyes and tiny little head!!!)

Itsuwa's daughter would be Keiko's grandmother. That means Goliath has been with the family for at least four generations, and has lived through several generations of Yozakura kids while living with them as their family pet. He may have even met Itsuwa, if their timelines overlapped. I love thinking about him as a puppy, hanging out with the sixth head and following her around everywhere out of puppy love. There's also something special about the thought that Goliath will always protect the family head because he's had a special bond with them from day one. He is and always will be the Yozakura family dog <3

[sage-reads-things]

We finally discover what gives the Yozakuras their unnatural abilities: the protein someinine, which "increases the speed at which cells divide and the threshold of the division." Basically it gives them way more cells than the average person, and those cells can handle insane amounts of abuse. And it's apparently so potent that it works in non-Yozakuras, making it an incredibly valuable doping agent. No wonder so many people are after the Yozakuras—getting to take down the greatest spy family in the business, AND you can get their powers by ingesting their blood? That's one hell of a prize.

Side note: It's still crazy to me that Taiyo had to learn about this from an enemy spreadsheet. He's been a part of the family for several months, but no one ever explained someinine or Blooming to him. And they don't ever explain it to him! There's never a moment where one of the Yozakuras talks to Taiyo about and explains it in their own words. I get that it's for plot reasons, but it's absolutely wild that one of the fundamental building blocks of the Yozakura identity is just...never brought up to him. He's part of the family now, and he's protecting Mutsumi from people who already know all of this—at what point were they going to share any of it with their newest member of the family?

[sage-reads-things]

Ayaka as a maid! Ngl this is a super cute outfit on her. I love the ruffles, and the brooch with the Yozakura crest is a classy touch. And she got to keep her little spider pincushion!

That said I do wonder how Kyoichiro allowed this lmao. Having another spy in the house (one that's equally obsessed with Mutsumi to boot) is a HUGE liability and would rub against his control freak tendencies. I have to wonder if Mutsumi strong-armed him into letting Ayaka stay. Although the fact that the Yozakuras have a "traditional Yozakura maid outfit" implies that this IS a thing they've done before, so maybe there's already a protocol in place for it. (And it's been shown that Kyoichiro is a stickler for tradition...looking at you seabass costume.)

[sage-reads-things]

can't find a good pic of it but here is a transcript of one of the volume extras after Ch28:

Dark Sweet (10,000 yen per gram)

"A stimulant that is several thousand times more effective than coffee. Excessive intake will result in death. If an ordinary person dilutes it by a ratio of 1,000 parts water to 1, the flavor is much more tolerable and is great for one's health. Kyoichiro drinks exactly three cups every day, undiluted."

I love this little tidbit because it has SO much going on. To whit:

1. Dark Sweet is INSANELY potent. Kaoru mentions that Dark Sweet is illegal because the seed can be used to make drugs, but honestly I think Dark Sweet straight up is the drug. A drink that's hundreds of times more stimulating than coffee and will kill you if you drink too much? That's more than enough to get it classified as a dangerous substance. Also, most stimulants (including caffeine!) are addictive and highkey mess you up if you quit cold turkey.

2. It costs 10,000 yen per gram, which equals roughly 65 USD. And that's per gram. A standard cup of tea uses about 2-3 grams of tea, which means you're paying 195 USD for a single cup of tea. Imagine how much a whole pot of it would cost.

3. Dark Sweet actually has health benefits if you drink a diluted form of it (although 1,000 parts water to 1 sounds like it’d make an incredibly gross watery tea). That explains how Taiyo, Momiji, and Kaoru were drinking it at the end of the chapter: Mutsumi probably diluted it so that it was harmless to regular humans.

4. Kyoichiro drinks three cups every day, undiluted. Yet another reason for why he is Like That lmaooo.

[sage-reads-things]

The baby Yozakuras are so cute ahhhhhhhh <3 I can't get over how little they are! I guess they'd all be 5 and under in this video, which explains why they're so itty-bitty. Even Kyoichiro is adorably tiny. And is Goliath biting Kyoichiro's leg??? I guess the "guard dog" aspect only applies when you're not Kyoichiro ahakdhjkahsdahjdha.

Futaba being told to keep the video a secret from Kyoichiro makes sense—if Kyoichiro knew the video existed, it would ruin the impact when it does end up being shown. It's also possible that Rei simply wanted to keep it a surprise, so she asked Futaba to hide it from all the Yozakura siblings. After all, the only time this video would ever need to be shown at the wedding reception would be if the Yozakura mom was no longer around to attend the reception herself. Maybe Rei asked Futaba to hold onto it without telling anyone until the time was right—to keep Kyoichiro in line, yes, but also to pass along one last message to her beloved children.

[sage-reads-things]

Oof, running at full speed for a full hour is a brutal test! And they only get ten minutes before the next part of the exam starts. No wonder there are years when nobody passes the test.

This part of the test might seem comedically difficult for the sake of the joke, but it makes sense—in a real mission, you don't know how long you'll be forced to survive without rest, so this section of the course is testing their endurance and how quickly they can recover between tasks. Sure, maybe running at top speed for a full sixty minutes is excessive, but this is over the top on purpose: if you can handle something this intense, you can definitely handle a hasty escape or a high-speed chase that lasts half that time.

[sage-reads-things]

This is actually kind of insane. Kurogao is broadcasting this LIVE to anybody who's in the plaza. All of these civilians are seeing “Kuroyuri” hold another politician hostage and confess to murdering several people. This is a famous politician! This is like if Richard Nixon in the middle of his resignation speech suddenly ripped off a wig and claimed he was an assassin on a quest for revenge. And all of these people (many of whom may have attended Kuroyuri's campaigning sessions!) are watching it happen. Social media is about to EXPLODE.

[sage-reads-things]

Since the Yozakuras are such an old and prolific spy family, it makes sense that they'd need to have an active social life and "make the rounds," so to speak, when something auspicious happens. Since they're a business first and foremost, they have to make sure they're keeping up appearances—as Mutsumi notes, this wedding reception is not only for celebrating the newlywed couple's marriage, but also for introducing the newest Yozakura member and the new heads of the Yozakura house to the spy industry. I'm sure it's also an ideal opportunity to network and make a show of house solidarity.