_The Way of the Househusband_
In _Breaking Bad_, a mild manned husband becomes a hardened criminal, losing his family and gaining power in the underworld.
What if we did the exact opposite?
This one is available on Netflix.
Tatsu, The Immortal Dragon, is a legendary Yakuza who beat up ten rival gangs with his bare hands in one night. Then, he disappeared.
Now he's a househusband.
For the opening episode, a series of small vignettes.
He tries to make lunch for his wife, but she's rushing out early. He races after her on his bicycle, and gets recognised and questioned by the cops.
A member of his former gang recognizes him and asks why he left. He takes him along to cooking class.
Former rivals follow him to a store. He presses them into bargain hunting.
He tries to get the perfect present for his wife's birthday.
In each of these, the humor comes from him treating an ordinary occurrence with deadpan seriousness.
I think these might be episode collections of micro-episodes, 6 3-minute micro-episodes to one 18 minute episode.
Anyway, Tatsu gets beat up by a roomba, and then tries to hide the evidence when the neighbor's kid breaks one of his wife's figurines.
Tatsu walks into a fight where his friend Masa is about to get beaten up by a bunch of dudes. He is carrying parts for a woodworking project and proceeds to beat down the gangsters with his 2x4s.
Could the way of the Yakuza and the way of the househusband be one and the same?
Tatsu takes a yoga class. He has new names for all the yoga poses based on his Yakuza background.
His wife, Miku, tries to change his style so he's less intimidating. It doesn't really take, but maybe an apron with anime characters on it is a little gentler.
Tatsu discovers that an old rival is a crepe vendor. They have a showdown...
on Instagram. Tatsu's parfait gets more likes.
Tatsu and Miku consider buying a car. "Be ready for anything" has a different meaning for a former Yakuza.
Tatsu shows Masa how to properly do laundry.
Tatsu tries to work a flea market and accidentally intimidates some active Yakuza.
The police mistake Tatsu's herb garden for drugs. And a surprise birthday party for a drug deal.
Tatsu joined the neighborhood volleyball team, just in time for a match... against a Yakuza team.
A good time is had by all.
Tatsu's wife gets off of work early and joins him in his market trip. What is his secret mission?
It's collecting stamps for a lottery.
Tatsu attempts to bond with his in-laws. It kind of works.
Tatsu and Miku try to eliminate a cockroach that has gotten into their apartment.
Tatsu dresses up as Santa Claus for the neighborhood kids.
(Okay, it's all in the delivery. Some of these are hilarious.)
Tatsu takes a part time job at a local cafe. Hilarity ensues when he gets two gangsters as customers.
Miku is tired from overtime. Tatsu attempts to pamper her.
Tatsu discovers the former boss lady of a rival gang now works at the supermarket.
That's all of it. Only five episodes.
So, what's my takeaway?
Let's begin by addressing the elephant in the room: the animation style.
This is barely animated at all.
I complained that Jojo was being to close to a comic still. I noticed the cost-cutting shortcuts on The Seven Deadly Sins season 3.
This is way beyond that.
This looks like a comic made in flash with animated panels.
This is not what a show that ran out of money looks like; this was done on purpose.
The giveaway is when the screen shows panels, which it does.
I have no idea _why_ they did it this way, but they sure did.
Chatter on the street says that they producer asked for it to be this way. They also say that there was no character designer for the anime, but they used the manga panels as reference directly.
(Take this with a grain of salt. I didn't bother to confirm.)
So, other than that, how is it?
Well, there are roughly three jokes:
Tatsu does something normal, but his affect makes people think he's up to criminal mischief.
Tatsu does something normal, but with a ridiculous intensity.
Gangsters are baffled by Tatsu's domestic skills.
But, uh, damn if it's not funny every time, even if it's the same three jokes done over and over again.
Should you watch it?
Yeah. It's pretty damn funny.
As long as you can deal with the weird presentation, it's a riot. Go in forewarned and have a great hour and a half.
🔒 says in Japan it was marketed as an "animated manga", which would set expectations a lot better.
Not sure who dropped the ball on that in the American marketing, or if it's just on Netflix, which sets expectations by itself.
Oddly, Netflix normally lets me download episodes of shows I want to watch to my phone, but I can't for this show.
Very weird.
Oh yeah, one more thing:
The joke is always that he's a former violent criminal whose become a homemaker, and never that he's a _man_ who has become a homemaker.
Always <I never expected _you_ to become a househusband> and never <househusband isn't a real thing.>
Does that make this a feminist anime?
Miku and Masa join forces to throw Tatsu a birthday party. Their incompetence in all things domestic defeats them.
Tatsu meets his former boss and wows him with his domestic skills. This was supposed to be a recruitment, but it's clear that Tatsu is doing better in his new life.