Kousuke Oono

A humor manga built around one joke: a former member of the Yakuza is now a loving and doting househusband, doing all the cleaning, cooking and shopping while his otaku wife brings home the bacon. Complications arise because he still looks like a thug and the gangsters with whom he used to compete and associate keep popping up at unexpected moments.

The chapters in this first volume are very episodic and focused on going for the laugh, but the creator is slowly building up a supporting cast show more and fleshing out the relationship between husband and wife.

I give it a thumbs up as I find it very relatable, having been a househusband and stay-at-home dad at different points in my life. show less

In this volume, Tatsu attempts to deal with a cockroach, volunteers to be Santa, tries to help his wife relax after a long day at work, takes on a part-time job, bakes bread, and more. He meets a few other people from his yakuza past, including a yakuza boss's widow who's trying to live a normal life but having trouble adjusting her behavior and mindset (so, basically the female version of Tatsu).

This volume was a relief after the previous one, with better jokes and more chapters showing show more Tatsu interacting with his wife. Also, Oono's depictions of children were much better this time around - no distractingly "off" facial features, and their stunned/mesmerized expressions were amusing and made me think of the students in Azumanga Daioh watching Yukari-sensei doing or saying yet another weird or stupid thing.

This time around I actually liked almost all of the chapters. The one exception was maybe the weird AU bonus in which Tatsu was a teacher and all the other characters were his students, but even that one wasn't too bad.

My favorite moments in the chapters were the various tough guys enjoying cute/pretty things (like cute cafe foods and dog sweaters), as well as the chapter in which Tatsu went on-stage during the Policure show because his wife wanted to do it but couldn't bring herself to volunteer.

The energy and humor in this volume was great, but considering the previous volume, I'm not sure whether this means that the author has finally found their groove in this series or whether this was just a fluke. I think it'd be worth continuing this series, but I'll probably do it via interlibrary loan requests rather than purchases.

Extras:

Includes a recipe for fluffy omelet rice, as depicted in the manga. Sadly, there is no corresponding recipe for the bear-shaped bread.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) show less

The single joke in this manga -- a former yakuza tough guy is now a doting househusband -- has been stretched about as thin as possible now, and the creator doesn't seem much interested in developing the cast as actual characters beyond their initial quirks.

It should be time to stop, but I am intrigued by the introduction of the widow of a yakuza boss who now works in a grocery store. I have a sad feeling that too will be run into the ground by next volume.

I’m enjoying playing Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth at the moment, a game about an ex-yakuza trying to make things better for others but getting involved in a lot of scrapes. I was recommended by a friend to try this manga as it’s along similar lines – a yakuza called ‘The Immortal Dragon’ leaves that world behind to become…a house husband. He’s involved in the cooking, cleaning and shopping but along the way he seems to get caught up in righting various injustices and gaining show more a fan or two.

I haven’t read manga for ages, but these volumes were a lot of fun. The chapters are short and funny, looking at various aspects of the house husband’s life from shonky salesmen to meeting acquaintances from his other life. I did feel that I raced through these (being used to novels and not having a lot of time to read) but I did try to slow down and appreciate the backgrounds and drawing, as well as practise my reading of the various signs etc in Japanese.

Volume 1 is a great introduction to the story, capitalising on the problems an ex-yakuza may face when trying to start a new life. He’s recognised by former enemies, idolised by a junior yakuza and saves the day multiple times while barely being aware of it. He also starts to realise that despite his cute aprons with dogs and cats, he might look a little scary to others…and it’s not just the sunglasses indoors...

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