Year: 2021
Studio: J.C. Staff
Episodes: 5
Way of the Househusband takes the macho protagonist of Yakuza (Japanese mob) films and makes him the domestic husband of a young professional woman. With an eye for hilarious fish-out-of-water situations, Way of the Househusband overcomes its cheap budget and short run time to be one of the more unique and watchable anime Netflix has released in a while.
If you watched the above trailer, you've got a good idea what each of the five 15 minute episodes is going to provide. A rough-looking former Yakuza known for his brutality embraces a life of cooking, cleaning, doing chores, and helping the local neighborhood association while avoiding conflict with former rivals and those he once considered brothers. Most of the humor derives from the fact this menacing guy is doing mundane things, and the direction will always make anything from cooking a meal to standing in line at the grocery store as dramatic as possible.
Viewers will get a chance to meet his wife; a fairly normal salarywoman with a love for a cute magical girl anime. She doesn't get much screen time and the mystery of how she met Tatsu (our hero) will remain unsolved, at least for now, but she works as the counterpoint to our rugged househusband. Other characters from Tatsu's Yakuza past also make appearances as anything from dogwalkers to managers at grocery stores (all played to over-the-top comedic effect).
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There is no real plot. Instead, episodes are divided into five or six vignettes, each acting as a self-contained glimpse into Tatsu's life (or his cat's life in a few of the weaker segments).
It's a good thing Way of the Househusband is actually funny, because it offers up little else aside from that. The music was pretty good and the voice acting (I watched the English dub) was fine, especially on the part of Tatsu.
But the animation is truly what will make or break the show for many. These fifteen minute anime are actually fairly common and tend to be lower budget comedy series that rarely make a splash outside of the season they air in (and even then they rarely manage to garner much viewership or discussion within the season). But Netflix is known for putting much more budget into their anime so seeing something this janky, cheap, and at times ugly is surprising. It looks like something you might have seen on Adult Swim on a Sunday night fifteen years ago.
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But honestly, I don't think any of that detracts from the entertainment value of the show. Between the situational comedy, the references to other yakuza-related media, and the vaguely wholesome nature of it all, The Way of the Househusband is pretty good. And the 75 minute runtime -- while short by anime standards -- allows premise to be explored without wearing out its welcome.
While not a home run, Way of the Househusband is still a fun, unique distraction.
2.5 out of 4 Stars
Way of the Househusband is available on Netflix
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