The Way of the Househusband Season 2 Review – Another very funny collection of shorts

By Jonathon Wilson
Published: January 1, 2023 (Last updated: February 24, 2023)
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The Way of the Househusband Season 2 Review - Another very funny collection of shorts
3.5

Summary

The Way of the Househusband Season 2 continues to be as entertaining as the first go-around, with smart subversions of well-worn tropes and a central gag that never seems to wear thin.

This review of the Netflix anime series The Way of the Househusband Season 2 does not contain spoilers.

Little has changed in the world of The Way of the Househusband. Adapted from Kousuke Oono’s manga series, the Netflix anime was a surprisingly funny and clever subversion of a lot of well-worn tropes when it debuted its first season back in 2021. The second batch of episodes in that season was released later, but the official second season debuted officially on January 1, 2023, as a palette-cleansing New Year’s treat that is equally as funny and weird as the first go-around.

The Way of the Househusband Season 2 review and plot summary

But, as mentioned, little has changed. The art and animation still have the same motionless style designed to evoke manga panels; it’s less fluid than most anime fans are used to, and I can see why people don’t like it, but it works here. The episodes – there are five so far, but if the release cadence of the first season is anything to go by, there could be another five on the way – are still broken up into several smaller mini-arcs, each lasting a few minutes. And the humor is still much the same, based around juxtaposing the seriousness of a Yakuza hitman with the mundanity of various household tasks and everyday situations.

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This, if you’re unfamiliar, is the hook. Tatsu is a notorious former gangster nicknamed “The Immortal Dragon” who has given up a life of crime for house husbandry, but he treats everything from cooking and cleaning to haiku and camping with the same no-nonsense, uber-masculine intensity. You’d think that basically one joke repeated across many – the fifth episode reaches the ninetieth vignette – segments would wear thin, and yet somehow, The Way of the Househusband is as funny when it ends as it was when it began.

As with the first season, the stories are pretty contained, revolving almost entirely around the same clutch of characters – Tatsu, his wife Miku, and his apprentice Masa, though there are some recurring figures, like Tatsu’s rival Tora, who functions as a (very) light villain, to give the whole thing some more continuity. Each vignette revolves around a very simple premise: Miku has a whole bunch of pastries to eat, Tatsu and Tora battle over the efficacy of camping cooking equipment, and so on, and so forth. Some highlights include Tatsu trying to gain membership of a women’s club group, a battle of haiku poetry – “Well, at least it’s moonlit,” is how Tatsu’s poem about a raid is described – and Tatsu trying to teach Miku how to play golf in a way that won’t get her killed by a Yakuza boss who must win but can’t know he’s being allowed to.

Is The Way of the Househusband Season 2 good?

There’s not much continuity here. Each episode is a clutch of smaller arcs that are mostly unrelated, but the same characters do crop up, and some recurring gags – like frequent references to “Policure”, a riff on the mid-2000s magical girl anime Pretty Cure, or PreCure – help with the sense of cohesion. It shouldn’t frankly be as funny as it is, but here we are. With the new epoch officially upon us, The Way of the Househusband Season 2 is a proudly bizarre and surprisingly entertaining way to kick it off.

What did you think of The Way of the Househusband Season 2? Comment below.

You can watch this series with a subscription to Netflix.


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