We’re in the ending stretch for Spring ’23 anime. The season really flew by, but I’m excited for summer. Anyway, below are my episode reviews for the last quarter of the ultimately disappointing spring anime, My Home Hero.
Episode 10: One Thing I Did
This episode shows us how Kasen entered Kyoichi’s apartment and put Nobuto’s bones in the safe. It was really brave of her and I’m impressed. The story probably would have ended there if Kyoichi wasn’t so stubborn and smart. Refusing to give up and die, he makes a run for it. With some quick, inventive thinking, he manages to pull off an escape. With the mafia off his back for the moment, Kyoichi calls Nobuto’s father and says that the real killer is Tetsuo. Furthermore, Kyoichi can explain all of Tetsuo’s scehems now that he fully understands how Kasen planted the bones in his safe.
Although this episode really wasn’t bad, I am eager for this anime to be over. It’s unimpressive overall, as I’ve pointed out in previous episode reviews. However, Kasen was impressive in this episode. Her reactions are kind of cute, too. As for Kyoichi, I think he is sort of admirable with his tenacious will to survive and his quick thinking. I have no other thoughts at this time. My apologies for the underwhelming responses.
Episode 11: Father
Nobuto’s deranged father, Matori, goes to Reika’s old apartment with an ALS light, looking for proof that his son died there. Tetsuo is also in the apartment, having passed out there from exhaustion. He hides in the closet and watches Matori discover the leftover blood in the wooden floor. After seeing the distraught man cry for his dead son, Tetsuo reveals himself and confesses. He is tired of being in the shadows and says he will turn himself in to the police.
It should have been obvious that this was a monumentally stupid decision, so I can only think that Tetsuo acted on a sudden emotional impulse. Matori, of course, has no intention of letting Tetsuo turn himself in. Rather, he says he will make Kubo’s organization torture and kill Tetsuo’s wife and daughter in front of him. Finally realizing his stupid mistake, Tetsuo attacks Matori. The two men desperately fight each other. The police are on the way thanks to a call from a concerned neighbor, but in the meantime, Tetsuo is being strangled by Matori. To be continued.
This was supposed to be a highly climactic episode with the two fathers meeting again and exchanging blows. And although the episode succeeded in creating a little bit of suspense by the ending, it was once again underwhelming overall. I was annoyed at Tetsuo’s stupidity at several points. I don’t like the music, and the dialogue between the men was predictable and boring. The screenplay was incredibly awkward, too. I do want to see how this all ends, so let’s move on to the final episode.
Episode 12: The Current Happiness
Tetsuo is finally able to throw Matori off him. Matori grabs a large kitchen knife, but instead of attacking Tetsuo, he stabs himself. When Tetsuo asks why, Matori says he will understand when he loses his family. Basically, he gave up and died. But he also intended for Tetsuo to take the blame for killing him. The police come to the door about the noise complaint. While covering Matori’s mouth as he dies, Tetsuo lies to the cops with a ridiculous story. For some strange reason, the police believe him and leave without opening the door.
As a rainstorm rolls in, Tetsuo drives to the mountain wilderness with Matori’s body in tow. It takes the rest of the night to bury the corpse and clean things up. The next morning, Tetsuo finally goes home. Although Kasen was angry at his absence, it was only because she feared he had been killed. Now, with the organization off their backs, Tetsuo and Kasen can return to a regular life.
A few days pass and things return to normal. The couple spends time with their beloved daughter Reika. The episode ends with the family sitting in the living room and watching the news. The weather reporter warns of a sudden incoming typhoon. As he hears reports of landslides and erosion in the mountains, Tetsuo goes pale, but he quietly tells himself that everything will be fine. With that weird scene, the anime ends.
This anime hasn’t been great, and even the most amazing ending probably couldn’t save the show as a whole. Still, an interesting ending would have definitely helped. As it was, the conclusion was extremely boring and disappointing. The closest thing to a plot twist was when Matori stabbed himself, but that felt like a cop-out on the part of the writers. In a show that claims to be thrilling and dramatic, a creative ending with interesting plot twists is critical. Once again, My Home Hero failed to weave a good story.
Beyond simply not enjoying the conclusion, I also didn’t understand the intended meaning of the final scene. Why does Tetsuo react so strangely to seeing a typhoon on the weather report? There are multiple interpretations. Maybe he was glad about landslides covering up Matori’s body in the mountains. Or maybe he was worried about those landslides displacing and exposing the corpse. Or maybe we’re just supposed to think that it’s nice that the biggest threat to the family is a storm rather than the mafia. Any of these answers could work, but the problem is that viewers have no idea which is correct. It was unclear and bizarre.
It would almost have been better to let the show end with the scene of Tetsuo standing in the rain in the hole he dug. That at least was a fairly good scene, I thought. Anyway, that concludes my thoughts for today. Hopefully, I’ll get around to writing a series review soon. Don’t expect a high score for this one.
Thank you for reading~
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