My Home Hero

Episode 5

While last week's episode separated our husband-wife duo, this episode sees Kasen brought back into the fold after Tetsuo's disastrous attempt to handle things solo—to be precise, she forces her way back in. Tetsuo starts the episode by attempting to lie to her about the ongoing situation. Of course, Kasen, being hyper-observant, sees through it instantly. The issue that the two are facing is one of perspective. Their goals are similar but different. Tetsuo's goal is to keep his wife and daughter safe. Meanwhile, Kasen's goal is to keep her family safe—including herself and Tetsuo. In her mind, if anyone dies, they have failed.

Luckily, by talking about the situation like a good married couple, they can work through this point of contention. After all, even Tetsuo would have to admit that most of the success they've had so far is due to them working together rather than alone. The two can come up with a new status quo: Tetsuo will work on the inside to allay suspicion through his everyman charm, and Kasen will support him from the outside—getting him what he needs to cover his tracks.

This new situation also allows us to learn a bit of backstory about our power couple. They were both in an acting club when she was 20 and he was 26. At some point, they started dating, and when he asked her parents for her hand in marriage, they beat the crap out of him. Yet, instead of being deterred, this caused him to double down on being with her. This helps to explain her loyalty towards him—especially after she walks in on him post-murder. In her eyes, he has always been a man willing to do whatever it takes for those he loves. It never even crosses her mind that he would turn violent towards her.

If all that character building weren't enough, this episode also explores our heroes and main villain by confronting them each with a single question: “Are you happy?”

Kasen isn't happy—how could she be? Her family is threatened by the yakuza, while her husband keeps trying to withhold key information from her instead of relying on her for help. However, she has things in her life that she views as more important than personal happiness. As long as those she loves are alive and healthy, that's good enough for her, and she's willing to do whatever is needed to protect them.

Yoshitatsu is likewise unhappy—his son is missing and presumed dead. Everything he has done as a yakuza boss has been for his son. Nobuto was his sole ray of happiness and the reason for living. To him, protecting his happiness meant utterly destroying anything and everything that could threaten it. Now that it appears that it wasn't enough, all his focus is on revenge. Not only on the one who committed the crime but also on their friends and loved ones

Then we come to Tetsuo. In this episode, he dodges the question, and for a good reason. Because if he were to confront it, he would have to admit to himself that, despite the precarious situation his family is in, he is happy. All the danger and suspense make him feel like the criminal in the mystery novels he loves so much. He's outsmarting those trying to catch him at every turn, and even turning some of them to his side with nothing but his charm. He's living his dream of writing his own mystery story, but instead of writing it, he's living it. How could he not be happy?

From start to finish, this is an amazing episode of My Home Hero. We learn a bit of history about our main pair while watching them confront and overcome their dilemmas. We get a thematic exploration of how both of them and our main villain view happiness and what it means to protect it. It's solid writing, and I can't wait to see how things continue next week.

Rating:

Random Thoughts:

• I can't help but question what the yakuza think such an obviously coerced confession is going to accomplish. Perhaps they just think that Tetsuo is so dumb that they can blackmail him with it—in which case they are sorely underestimating him.

• I love that while Tetsuo's everyman charm is able to lull almost anyone into a false sense of security, it doesn't work on Kasen at all.

• Watching Kazen casually blackmail her old friend into working for free was a fun bit.

• So the pet's name is Cap... I wonder what kind of animal it was.

My Home Hero is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.