Comedy
Dead Boy Detectives
Dead Boy Detectives targets teens in style and story. But it comes with very adult, problematic content.
Keeping up with household tasks is not for the faint of heart. There’s cooking, cleaning, budgeting, shopping, caring for animals and plenty more that goes unnoticed and often unappreciated. Not to mention the mental load of trying to balance it all.
Most housewives know exactly what I’m talking about. But former gangster, Tatsu, is not a housewife. No, he’s a househusband. And he will be the best at his job.
Tatsu used to run the streets as the boss man that most wouldn’t dare confront. He was intense, fearsome and violent. But things have changed. Now, Tatsu may be just as fervent as he was in his former days, but he’s tossed in the gangster hat to make sure his breadwinning wife, Miku, has a clean home and a meal prepared for dinner when she walks through the front door.
It’s different alright, but it’s the sort of laid-back-life that Tatsu has willingly chosen, even if he himself can’t seem to grasp what laid back really means.
It’s not often that you see a show that focuses on a man staying home and keeping house. Perhaps that’s why Netflix’s The Way of the Househusband is so unexpected. This anime series, with each episode divided into multiple, bite-sized stories that last no more than three minutes each, focuses on former yakuza boss Tatsu; his working wife, Miku; and his mafia friend, Masa.
Tatsu, also known as the Immortal Dragon, was formerly infamous for smashing rivals without care. But now his days are filled with ordinary tasks. The hilarity here is that nothing that Tatsu does is quite ordinary, not even keeping house. Each day is filled with normal chores that are undertaken with a glowering intensity.
Need a meal cooked? Oh it’s gonna get cooked alright, with a fire as bold as the sun. Need a tent set up? Prepare to get your brains bashed in, mere tent stake.
Where other anime series are filled with violence and sexual innuendo, this one–which looks like a motion comic with its still scenes–kicks most violence and innuendo aside and fills its minutes with a hefty collection of profane language and deadpan humor.
It’s not as bloody or graphic as some other anime series’, but that doesn’t make this TV-MA show viewable for all. Some may find this humorous, but this fierce stay-at-home-dad and his friends still have plenty of their own problems. That’s for sure.
The Way of the Househusband is full of the kinds of mundane things that might happen in any given home–all played with comedic intensity, of course.
Tatsu and Masa go house to house, collecting association fees; a woman pays a lot of money to spend quality time with a group of cats; Miku tries to eat her way through a pile of pastries to win an award, but Tatsu and Maku have to help her; Tatsu attempts to fight off a typhoon but doesn’t succeed; Tatsu, Miku and Masa go camping.
Tatsu tells a tent stake that he’s going to “bash” its brains in with a rock. Tatsu gets hit in the head with a roof tile and starts bleeding.
God’s name is misused once. The f-word and s-word are heard a few times, along with words like “h—,” “a–holes,” “son of a b–ch,” “a–” and d–n.”
A man smokes a cigarette.
Kristin Smith joined the Plugged In team in 2017. Formerly a Spanish and English teacher, Kristin loves reading literature and eating authentic Mexican tacos. She and her husband, Eddy, love raising their children Judah and Selah. Kristin also has a deep affection for coffee, music, her dog (Cali) and cat (Aslan).
Dead Boy Detectives targets teens in style and story. But it comes with very adult, problematic content.
An elf mage contemplates on connection and regret as she watches her human friends grow old and pass away.
