The following contains spoilers for Episode 1 of My Home Hero, “From Today, I Am a Killer,” now streaming onCrunchyroll.
My Home Heromay have gone a little under your radar getting ready for the Spring Anime Season this year, what with huge titles likeDemon Slayerto compete with, but its worth giving it a shot. The seinen anime is based on a manga that has been publishing since 2017, but this is the first time it is having an anime adaptation. The story follows a normal office worker named Tetsuo Tosu who discovers his daughter has been dating an abusiveyakuza who plans to eventually kill her. To protect her, Tetsuo kills the boyfriend first, leading to a spiral of disaster as he tries to keep his family safe from the yakuza.
The first episode spent most of the time establishing the characters, and building the relationship between Tetsuo and his daughter, Reika. While it had a slow start trudging through this kind of plot, after its turning point the pace picked up somewhat.My Home Herostill has a way to go to compete with other anime this season, but its idea is good, and with the right pacing and some improved characterization, it has potential that we could already see.
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An Unlikeable Cast
The main issue withMy Home Hero’s first episode is the representation of its main characters. Tetsuo is portrayed to be a well-meaning, if awkward dad who is struggling to maintain his relationship with his adult daughter. Reika’s mother does not have that much screen time, but she shows very little personality during the time she does have. Reika herself is just shown as mean to her father even when he is trying to care about her life, and does little to show growth in that regard so far.
As for the yakuza we have seen, they have all beenclunky and stupid, not really creating any sense of real fear or even tension. The best character so far as been the yakuza leader, Mr. Kubo, who at least showed his ability to manipulate people and get what he wants. We are looking forward to seeing more of him in the future. IfMy Home Herowants us to care about the rest of the cast, though, it is going to need some serious character development now that the cast has been established - and introduce some better yakuza, so the stakes actually feel high.
A Turning Point
Easily the best part of “From Today, I Am a Killer” was when Tetsuo killed Reika’s boyfriend. After seeing him only as a weak person so far who wants to do the best for his daughter but does not know how, seeing him find the resolve to kill someone to protect her and then being willing to cover it up for his family was great. The scene was violent without beinggory or grotesque, and the change in illustration and color added to the effect.
From this point in the episode, the pacing picked up, and the actual problems began to unfold. How will they dispose of the body? How can they hide what happened from the rest of the yakuza? How can such an ordinary and unspectacular man and his wife hope to stand up to an organized crime group? Finally, we felt like we were interested in where the story was going.
A Cliffhanger
The other good thing thatMy Home Herohad going for it was a decent cliffhanger at the end. Of course, Tetsuo cannot just get away with murder easily or thestory would not be interesting. The first episode ended with him potentially getting caught by another yakuza who came to look for the missing boyfriend. He is hiding with the body holding a knife, so there may be a double murder happening next week.
This cliffhanger more than anything else makes us want to watch the next episode, because not that much else in the first episode really sold us. However, we are still willing to giveMy Home Heromore of a chance than just the first episode, and hopefully next week it will be even better!
