Review: The Way of the Househusband

By Madhuryavalli Karunakaran

Akihabara News (Tokyo) — The Way of the Househusband is a Japanese manga series that has recently been picked up by Netflix and made into its own anime series. The following is an episode by episode breakdown of the series and a personal review.

The show focuses on a former yakuza (Japanese gangster) boss nicknamed “the Immortal Dragon” by his underground peers. Tatsu has been retired from his life of violence is a househusband to his wife Miku. Covered in tattoos and scars, Tatsu looks odd in his little apron as he goes about his domestic duties with the same passion and vigor of a violent gangster.

The series is edited the way any action anime would be edited: With close ups of the eyes, suspense, rapid cuts from scene to scene, and heavy metal music playing in the background. However, the juxtaposition of a hard-faced man packing a cute bento box for his wife is funny to watch.

The episodes are structured in a way that even if a section is missed, it is easy to delve right back in. The underlying story is not so significant to this series. It focuses more on the comical aspects and showing a scary man doing househusband duties. Despite occasional run-ins with his past rivals, Tatsu is fully committed to being the best househusband that he can.

In the first episode, a short introduction of Tatsu and his past life is shown, which then immediately cuts to him making lunch for his wife. His wife is introduced as a very busy designer who does not even have time for breakfast. In this episode, Tatsu runs into Masa, his former employee, when he was the yakuza boss. He then shows Masa how much work it is to be a househusband.

In the second episode, Tatsu takes a yoga class with a housewife from the neighborhood. It is entertaining to watch him in a class full of middle aged women doing yoga poses. He compares a few poses to when he was back in the gang with quotes like, “This is how we tie the body when we want to throw it in the river.”

In the third episode, Tatsu runs into Torajiro, his enemy from when he was a yakuza, running a food truck. They discuss their new domestic lives and have a cook-off to see who is a better cook. This scene is edited in a way that makes it seem as if their lives depended on who was the better cook.

In the fourth episode, Tatsu and his father-in-law bond over a game of catch. Miku’s father reminisces about the first time he met Tatsu and how he was terrified of the gangster. Nothing has changed over the years. He is still terrified of Tatsu. The episode ends with Tatsu pretending to be Santa Claus in a classroom of kids. They also seem scared of him due to his demeanor, but his gifts and his kindness win them over.

The fifth and final episode of the first season is Tatsu’s birthday. Masa and Miku try to clean the house and bake him a cake. When Tatsu returns from his errands, he finds the two of them completely defeated by their tasks. A burnt birthday cake and a messy house proves to be no problem for him as he cleans the abode and salvages the birthday cake in no time.

Throughout the show, Tatsu is constantly feared wherever he goes due to his appearance. The police are routinely suspicious of him carrying out illegal activities, but can never catch him. His past rivals also try to engage him in fights, which he avoids ingeniously. Over the course of the series, stories of his past are sprinkled in. In the second episode, someone mentions that this is the same man who killed ten people with his bare hands, which Tatsu then confirms is true, while riding a shopping bike and wearing an apron.

The combination of the action-style editing and the quirky storyline seemed to work well. I thoroughly enjoyed the dynamic of the scary househusband and busy designer wife. The dynamics of their relationship were revealed progressively in every episode. Miku does not even seem to care that her husband looks like a gangster. It goes right over her head. At one point, she even helps him kill a cockroach when he was too scared to do it himself.

The Way of the Househusband, although not terribly intricate or fully fleshed out, is still very enjoyable. This show is perfect for the days I do not want to commit to a long serial story but still want a laugh. At fifteen-to-twenty minutes an episode, it is perfect for a quick watch during lunch or dinner. As accurately described by Julia Lee, a writer for Polygon, “It is a nice, silly pick-me-up” show.
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