Oringal Release Date: October 7, 2021 Number of Episodes: 5 Genre: Comedy, Slice of Life Based on the Series Created By: Kousuke Oono
***Warning, the following may contain spoilers for The Way of the Househusband Part 2. Reader discretion is advised.***
Series Synopsis
A lifetime ago, Tatsu, the Immortal Dragon (voiced by Kenjirou Tsuda), was the fiercest yakuza in Japan. To this day, gangs and mobsters quake at the sound of his name. However, Tatsu’s violent ways are in the past. Now, he has happily settled down with his wife, Miku (voiced by Shizuka Itou), and has proudly taken up the role of househusband.
Cooking, cleaning, shopping, homecare, Tatsu does it all with ease and perfection.
Although his face remains quite scary and old habits die hard, Tatsu knows how to provide a comfortable and homely atmosphere.
Part 2
Series Positives
In a short amount of time, something happened. Let’s break it down.
The first season of The Way of the Househusband (Househusband 1) released in April 2021. Anime Hajime got around to reviewing it nearly a month later (May 2021). The Way of the Houseband Part 2 (Househusband 2) came out in October 2021, and this review went live two weeks after that. In the span between May and October, my opinion of season one must have changed.
If you read the Househusband 1 review, you’ll see that I did enjoy it and ended up recommending it. Still, my enthusiasm towards the series wasn’t particularly high. I accepted it as a goofy little oddity capable of entertaining you for ninety minutes, and not much else.
Perhaps the near half a year break between seasons one and two allowed my fondness for this series to grow because five minutes into Househusband 2, I thought to myself, “This show is freaking great.”
Then again, maybe this series simply refined what it did. After all, many of the “issues” I had towards Househusband 1 weren’t a factor in this installment. Sure, not all of Househusband 2’s attempts at humor landed. But overall, this show had me laughing more often than not.
If I had to take a guess, the novelty of this series – a former hardcore yakuza turned domestic homemaker – wore off. While something like that might doom other shows, Househusband 2 took advantage of the opportunity. Since there was familiarity going into season two, this installment had more freedom to have fun with its characters.
Nowhere was this more evident than with Tatsu and Miku. Despite how brief this series has been, even when combining the two seasons, they have risen to become my favorite couple of 2021; they were so cute together.
A quality I think I missed last time was how well Tatsu and Miku worked as a team. Can you blame me, though?
Tatsu was larger than life and the dominant personality of Househusband 1. Everyone followed his lead; it was difficult to see how anyone influenced him. That wasn’t the case in Househusband 2. This season, characters were equally absurd, and sometimes, Tatsu came off as the more down-to-earth person.
What impressed me most was how Miku could give Tatsu a bit of stress. Back in season one, Tatsu’s intensity was quite overpowering, so there were plenty of instances where Miku had to handle the fallout of certain – let’s call them – misunderstandings. However, this time around, Miku was sometimes a handful herself.
This dynamic demonstrated how strong and healthy Tatsu and Miku’s relationship was. It also did wonders to illustrate that their pairing makes more sense than one may initially think.
Along with our lead couple, all the characters in this season were enjoyable. For example, one scene that was notably hilarious came when half the cast got plastered; we got to see what type of drunk they were. This moment wasn’t long or anything, but it did capture this show’s brand of silliness.
And I suppose that is the operative word, isn’t it? Silliness. Househusband 2 was silly, plain and simple. But thanks to a nice balance of unique characters, a well-executed premise, and a robust sense of humor, this series was an amazing watch, through and through.
Plus, if the biggest complaint people have about this show is its animation, then I would say the Househusband franchise is doing pretty well. Sure this series is no visual masterpiece, but its style is fine. In fact, it is more than fine; it serves its purpose and adds to the overall charm.
Or, in other words, I’m sick of hearing people say, “this show is good, but if only its animation was better.” Why does it need to be better? Every other aspect about this series more than makes up for it.
Series Negatives
Because I just went off on the idea of complaining about this show’s animation, is there anything I can talk about instead?
Frankly, yes.
I brought this point up in the season one review, but it applies to Househusband 2 as well. This series was not on fire from beginning to end. Whenever a joke flopped, it flopped hard, and it took a second for things to pick back up again. This was a problem given this show’s short length.
Additionally, anime needs to stop rapping, or, at least, it needs to stop rapping as an attempt at comedy. It’s not funny. On the contrary, it is cringey, outdated, and, sometimes, a little offensive.
And while we’re at it, can anime stop having the foreigners sound like slow imbeciles with basic language skills. It’s bad enough that very few shows have other languages sound natural. Why not just have everyone speak fluent Japanese with no weird accent? It’s not that hard.
To finish off this review, I don’t think this next point is a criticism. If anything, it is more of a request in case there is ever a Househusband 3.
It would be nice to see the beginnings of Tatsu and Miku’s relationship. How did they get to where they are? In a slapstick kind of way, I bet that would make for a nice little love story. This series is at its best when it is focusing on these two.
And if I can take a guess; should there be a third installment, it would not surprise me if Tatsu and Miku added a third member to their family. That seems like the next step.
Final Thoughts
I firmly believe there is a lot more that can come out of this series. And if things continue down the same path, this franchise will only get better and better.
What started as a random Netflix oddity is turning into something rather special. If you need to spend two hours doing something, I can think of worse options.
The Way of the Househusband Part 2 has earned a recommendation.
But these were just my thoughts. What are yours? Have you seen this series? How would you advise The Way of the Househusband Part 2? Leave a comment down below because I would love to hear what you have to say.
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