Yaku Yakuzen

Overview

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“	"Maybe someday you really will get me to take you seriously. Yes yes, I'll be looking forward to it."	”
—'Yaku Yakuzen to Rentarou Aijou at Chapter 75

Yaku Yakuzen
Name
Kanji	薬 (やく) 膳 (ぜん) ヤク
Romaji	Yakuzen Yaku
Aliases	Granny (by Kusuri) Grande Madre (by Naddy) Grande Dame (by Saki) Yakuhime (in Rentarou's Fairyland Family)
Personal Info
Status	Alive
Girlfriend Order	16th
Age	8 (physically) 89 (chronologically)
Birthday	♌August 9th
Gender	Female
Species	Human
Nationality	Japanese
Social Info
Family	Kusuri's grandfather (husband) (deceased) Kusuri's father (son-in-law) Kusuri's mother (daughter) Kusuri Yakuzen (granddaughter)
Occupation	Military medic (former) Drug maker/Scientist
Affiliation	Rentarou Family (member) Sukisugi Town (citizen) Japanese Self Defense Forces (military medic) (former)
Relations	Rentarou Aijou (boyfriend)
Physical Appearance
Eye Color	Turquoise
Hair Color	Red
Cup Size	A
Media Appearance
Manga	Chapter 74

Yaku Yakuzen (薬 (やく) 膳 (ぜん) ヤク, Yakuzen Yaku^?) is Rentarou's 16th girlfriend. She is the grandmother of Kusuri Yakuzen.

Appearance

Yaku has a similar appearance to her granddaughter, Kusuri, but due to the strength of her granddaughter's immortality drug prototype, her appearance cannot be reverted by the neutralization drug. She has turquoise eyes and long, straight red hair. However, her bangs are much more well-kept, and she has a smaller ahoge.

She wears a traditional kimono and wooden sandals.

When Yaku was young and still an active military medic, she wore a light-colored shirt, white medical coat, light-colored trousers, and boots and carried a medical kit.

Personality

Yaku comes off as a calmer and more mature version of Kusuri. She tends to act rather grandmotherly towards the others and seems to enjoy the youthful antics of the younger members of the family. She also is rather coy and tends to tease Rentarou.

Yaku is also technologically illiterate and easily confused by modern technology. She refers to smartphones as planks, and buttons as peony flowers. She also seems to be afraid of cars. Like her granddaughter, she ends her sentences with "-nanoja" ("yes, yes" in the official translation), a more antiquated version.

Abilities

Chemistry Knowledge

Like the other members of the Yakuzen family, Yaku has a large amount of knowledge about chemistry and medicine. Though she admits her currently ability pales in comparison to her granddaughter, Yaku is familiar with traditional ingredients that have medicinal properties.

Military Training

Yaku has served in the military, and was a medic in a combat zone. She used experimental drugs to treat injuries in the field, often with mixed success. Yaku is also surprisingly fit for her age, able to clear obstacles with relative ease as seen in the Quad Town Public Sports Festival.

Heat Tolerance

Like her granddaughter, Yaku has a high tolerance to hot and spicy food, due to having consumed plenty of failed drugs through her life.

History

Yaku seems to have been born in the early 20th century (though there are references that make her sound older). Yaku's interest in the making of drugs and medical treatments seem to go back to World War II where she appears to have treated Imperial Japanese soldiers. During this time, she met her husband, though she coyly refuses to go into detail.

It is not known when her husband died, but she gave birth to Kusuri's mother when she was roughly 34.

Etymology

• Yakuzen (薬膳) literally translates to "medicinal cooking."
• Yaku is written in Katakana (ヤク) to match the name traits of elderly Japanese women, thus she does not have a direct name translation. However, Yaku is the Onyomi reading for the kanji 薬, like in her surname.
  • Yaku, when written utilizing the Goroawase wordplay system, can be written with the numbers 8 (Hachi/Ya) and 9 (Kyuu/Ku), which is her true age. This is also represented in her birthday of August 9th.
  • Yaku was named by her mother after Yakusugi cedars, which are known for their incredible age and longevity.

Trivia

• Yaku has kissed and been kissed by Rentarou at least 18 times as of Chapter 180.
• At 89 years old, Yaku is the oldest member of Rentarou's Family (chronologically).
• Yaku's birthday is on August 9th, also known as Medicinal Herb Day (薬 (やく) 草 (そう) の日 (ひ) , Yakusō no hi^?) in Japan. This is due to the word for medicinal herb: やくそう(yakusō) being a Goroawase (wordplay), with 8(ya) and 9(ko/ku), and the fact that August is the time when medicinal herb fields are lush and green.
  • Her birthday also coincides with Nagasaki Memorial Day, commemorating the victims of the 1945 atomic bombing of Nagasaki during World War II. This date could be a reference to her war experience.