The Way of the House Husband Vol. 1
Author: Kousuke Oono
Illustrator: Kousuke Oono
Publishers: Viz Media
Age Group: Teen
Genre: Slice-of-Life, Seinen, comedy
Type: Manga
Content Warnings: Yakuza, hilarity, violence, unlearned expectations :P
Spoilers ahead
Plot
He was the fiercest member of the yakuza, a man who left countless underworld legends in his wake. They called him “the Immortal Dragon”. But one day he walked away from it all to travel another path—the path of the househusband! The curtain rises on this cozy yakuza comedy!
Character Development
Masa/Tacchan/the immortal dragon is just as serious about being a househusband as he was about being a yakuza. Now, instead of using his abilities for violence, he uses them to make sure his wife doesn’t have to worry about anything outside making money. As Masa says “The way of the Yakuza is also the way of the househusband”. He’s not afraid to use violence but he’s learned there are other ways to get the same results.
World-building
We are in a contemporary setting. The world-building is mainly doing different short scenes of Masa’s daily life. One of my favorite ones is when his wife gets him a Roomba. He tests it out and tells it that it has to earn his trust. It doesn’t do very well as it tries eating cords and doesn’t get into the corners. When his wife forgets her lunch he puts it in a silver briefcase and tries to go after her. Of course, everything he does looks sketchy but the total opposite.
Themes
Nothing is as it seems. Anyone can change their life no matter how dark their past. It doesn’t matter if you were the top of the drug world or a street urchin. There is always another path, even if you don’t see it. One of the greatest things is that from a simple interaction between him and his wife everything changed. He gave up the yakuza to be a househusband and finds joy in it. We can see this from the very cute bentos that he makes for his wife. He even goes to cooking community cooking classes to get better at it.
Observations & Predictions
Masa’s past may come back to bite him in the ass. He won’t take it lying down. My bet is he’ll find ways besides using his fists to resolve issues. We’ve already seen a little bit of this when a former rival gets involved in his life. Masa gives him some gloves to thank him for helping out with the grocery shopping. It affects the rival by reminding him of his childhood.
His former underling will turn more towards the way of the househusband instead of staying a delinquent. We see the beginnings of this in the first volume, even if his underling is on the lazy side.
Other than those, it’ll just be a dude living his life, even if he is intimidating.
Recommendations
The Yakuza’s Guide to Babysitting
By: Tsukiya
Sakamoto Days
By: Yuuto Suzuki
Mr. Villain’s Day Off
By: Yuu Morikawa
