The Way of the Househusband – What Makes an Anime?

I tend to have issues remembering when Netflix releases their anime. I’m so used to the quarterly seasonal framework and the week-by-week single episode release schedule that most seasonal anime follows that when Netflix drops an entire cour’s worth of anime it’s almost always a surprise to me (even when I know it’s coming and have my Netflix notifications set up to remind me. Yeah, I know). I always think “oh, I’ll get around to it” and then in many cases I never do. I’ve been trying to remedy that lately by watching a little bit of (mostly) Netflix anime on my phone before I go to bed a few times a week. It’s been a fairly successful endeavor, even though I’ve realized I can get through maybe an episode-and-a-half of material before starting to feel sleepy. This shouldn’t be seen as a criticism of anything I’m watching – I fell asleep through the second half of Vivi -Fluorite Eye’s Song recently despite feeling very invested in it. My body just doesn’t seem to obey any “clean sleep” rules and gets settled into bedtime mode by watching videos or listening to the TV. Weird physical adaptation or ADHD side-effect? You decide.

For those reasons I’m thankful for anime with shorter episodes because I can accumulate more Anilist points (I’m kidding) in a shorter amount of time. I have the image of being a well-read otaku to maintain after all. In all seriousness, though, I think some genres are just more well-suited to tighter timeframes, especially gag comedies – which is what brings me to one of the recently-completed items on my Netflix list, the adaptation of The Way of the Househusband.

Our hero is Tatsu, a former member of the yakuza and current homemaker for the house he shares with his business-woman wife and their cat. He’s a great cook, takes pride in keeping the house clean, and can shop discount sales with the best of them. But, his scary appearance and the fact that former “associates” of his keep popping up around town help cultivate a lot of prejudice around what his current activities are and what he’s capable of. His wife, Miku, and the neighborhood ladies see him as any other homemaker, but out-and-about there are often folks who expect him to behave like the typical yakuza he once was.

Every time I watch a comedic series, I find myself obligated to mention how specific and personal humor is, and how not all types of humor will hit well with every viewer. So-called “fish out of water” premises are comedies I tend to like, and this one was no exception. I think it partly comes from a personal desire to manage and un-learn harmful prejudices in my own life, and even though a TV series like this doesn’t have nearly the same serious implications as many of the thoughts and feelings we wish to disengage ourselves from in reality, I think the satisfaction in having our expectations turned upside down in a humorous way can sometimes scratch the same itch, especially when it’s accomplished with such skill and care.

“Expectations” are a loaded concept when it comes to this adaptation, though, because Netflix has billed it as an “Original Anime” when I don’t feel like that’s accurate. I think the discrepancy between what fans expect of an anime versus what this adaptation actually is – a motion comic – has worked enough people into a lather that they’re not really willing to give it a fair shake.

Funny story, I’ve been going through my old Twitter archive lately, just to kind of get a sense of what I was talking about a decade ago and what anime I was watching (tragically I lost a lot of my old writing due to various reasons, and while I don’t think most of it would be worth reposting here anyway I still kind of wish I had it in hand to know for sure). What fascinates me is just the way in which I chose to express myself at the time. My opinions were so harsh and so final. I felt as though I was an authority on taste and anyone who believed differently was wrong, full stop. There are complaints to be made about the ways in which certain content producers nowadays farm manufactured outrage for their own benefit, making constant blog posts or videos on sometimes the most minor, overblown “controversies” in the anime fandom or other fandom communities. I think in some cases this is definitely intentional (outrage builds engagement, and engagement turns into financial gain if you’re lucky), but in my case I think I was still searching for my own genuine voice and being overly-dramatic, angry, and unfairly critical definitely got me attention! This isn’t to say that everyone crying foul all the time is inexperienced; some people are just very comfortable being a member of the no-fun brigade. But I think it’s much easier to get caught up in a frenzy when you’re not in a frame of mind to see things as part of a bigger picture.

What prompted this aside is a comment I saw online related to this series as the tag line to a larger review: “A disgrace to the anime industry.” It seems like such a hyperbolic statement to make, especially since the anime industry is no stranger to truly disgraceful practices (overworking its animators for poor pay being a major one). But this certainly wasn’t the only reaction of this kind that I saw while poking about online. Most of the vitriol seems to stem from the fact that this ONA is a sparsely-animated, nearly one-for-one interpretation of the manga on which it’s based. It seems the entire anime industry is at risk solely because… *checks notes* someone made a motion comic.

For those who haven’t heard the term, a “motion comic” is a type of media where mostly still images are used to tell a story, usually with some music or voice-acting added. There’s often also some minimal animation to help with the narrative process, but the focus is more on the specific quality of the illustrations. Here’s an example of a motion comic that was released alongside the film adaptation of “I Am Legend” (content warning for blood and gun/military violence). There’s no dialog; it simply tells a short, related story through visuals and music, creating drama through framing and soundtrack and punctuating it through use of color and some deliberate movement.

I think Netflix made an error in marketing this manga adaptation as an anime (they seem to make that particular mistake in many cases, but I’ll save that can of worms for another time), because the term brings with it many expectations of what the associated content will be. The anime fandom is extremely passionate – that’s one of the things I enjoy about it! But that also has a dark side that can often turn ugly when some perceived injustice has been committed. To be honest, I kind of get the snarky reaction to this series in English-language spheres because the manga is well-liked and I think folks were led to believe something that didn’t quite come to pass. Even Chiaki Kon, the director of this adaptation, reportedly expressed some frustration to being held to the sort of restrictions required of a motion comic. On the other hand, the author of the manga reportedly didn’t want an anime adaptation of their creation at all, and allowed one under these conditions. Creating adaptations is a more complicated process than we might ever be privy to!

All that said, I really enjoyed this adaptation for what it was. I went back to my book shelf and flipped through the first volume of this manga after I was done watching the series and appreciated how good the comic timing was and the detail in the artwork. I think that those are both aspects that this version replicates well, and to be frank I feel like any adaptation with more fluid animation would have trouble keeping the small visual details intact. Tatsu has a full yakuza tattoo that shows up periodically, and he also often cooks elaborate food. Sometimes certain art styles aren’t well-suited to being directly adapted to animation, and the shortcuts required to make that transition often remove the essential character of the original art. There are sacrifices to be considered in every direction, it’s merely a matter of what choices to make.

To sum things up, I think expectations are key. I think it’s worth mentioning that when I initially saw Netflix’s trailer I had some fleeting feelings of disappointed. I think it’s easy to get caught up in thinking that certain types of stories aren’t afforded the same resources as others, and I felt myself feeling slighted as an older anime fan who’s always on the lookout for anime that features older characters. But I also had realistic expectations when I eventually watched the series, which then gave me the opportunity to consider the fact that motion comics are their own art form. Not an art form that everyone needs to like, but one with its own standards and measurements of success that ought to be appreciated on its own terms.

This series is cute, funny, and brief; it left me looking forward to more (and there’s more coming, hooray!). I enjoyed the cute domestic moments between the main couple and enjoy how their personalities contrast one-another. I think the show is well-paced and the episodes just the correct length. It’s a charming story that’s told well in both manga and motion-comic form; I especially appreciate the voice work in this version, because Kenjirou Tsuda is a real treat to the ears.

Hopefully this serves as a counterpoint to the more negative reviews floating around out there, but if not, there’s also a live-action adaptation of this story that you can find if you’re willing to do some “internet detective work.”

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The Way of the Househusband is a 5-episode ONA (Original Net Animation) currently available on Netflix in the US.