My Home Hero is a solid manga about a father that'll go to great lengths to protect his family.

 

After getting done with the two Taimanin blog posts, both of which were not fun at all to write, I decided to have something of a palette cleanser. After searching for something interesting, I came across Naoki Yamakawa's famous manga, My Home Hero. I planned to read a few chapters a day, but once I started it, I ended up powering through the whole thing. I have mixed thoughts on it as a whole and I wanted to write a blog post about it. 

My Home Hero tells the tale of Tetsuo Tosu, a seemingly ordinary salaryman who lives with his faithful wife, Kasen Tosu. One fateful day, Tosu discovers that his daughter, Reika, has been physically abused by her no good boyfriend, Nobuto Matori and naturally he is pissed and fearful for his daughter's safety. Investigating Nobuto leads Tetsu to discovering his ties to a crime syndicate, his scheme to rob Reika's grandparents of their money and his history of murdering previous girlfriends. Like any good father, Tetsuo will not allow Nobuto to harm Reika and eventually, winds up killing him. Before he can dispose of the body, he is caught in the act by Kasen. Kasen, being the best wife, decides to become Tetsuo's accomplice, helping in the body disposal. Together, the pair work to ensure that Reika remains in the dark about Nobuto's death whilst members of the crime syndicate investigate his disappearance. 

My Home Hero starts off brilliantly with being a crime thriller with a hint of mystery thrown in for good measure. The pacing is fantastic and the characters start out as realistic with maybe one exception, although that gets arguably worse later on. Noaki Yamakawa gives readers a great glimpse into the thought process and calculating mind of Tetsuo as the man makes use of his knowledge of crime novels to navigate the tense situations he is forced into. 

Tetsuo is an exemplary father figure, going above and beyond in order to protect his family. He's not some superhuman badass as he definitely fears for his life and isn't infallible, but that very human element just makes him more likable. I enjoy how he uses quick thinking to escape from dangerous situations with his hobby of reading crime novels helping him out on numerous occasions. He's also not afraid to throw down to save his daughter and his wife, even when outmatched. 

Kasen is one of the best wives in manga, maybe just below Yuuki from Ottoman. I love how she sees Tetsuo having killed Nobuto and immediately offers to help him dispose of the body. Throughout the manga, she also isn't afraid to assist in some dangerous ways, but not to the extent that Tetsuo goes to as he doesn't let her. Like Tetsuo, she is extremely smart, able to bluff when required, but is also human. She has a moment of weakness when her backstory is explored, but is saved by Tetsuo. 

On the other end of the spectrum, Reika is one of the most stupid characters in manga. She is so utterly clueless and dumb that it is really hard to believe that she is the daughter of both Kasen and Tetsuo. I understand that without her, the story and events wouldn't take place, but my word she is unbearable for the longest stretch. Tetsuo and Kasen have to save her on more than one occasion. Thankfully, towards the very end, she gets better and a bit brighter. I still somewhat resent her for her decisions though. 

Whilst the manga starts off brilliantly, I think it loses the plot following the whole village section. Perhaps even towards the end of the village stuff with a certain character becoming ridiculously tanky to the point of becoming farcical. It's after this point that things become less frantic, but higher stakes and yet seemingly more generic. Things start to make less and less sense as more characters and subplots are introduced and some of the charm it had in the beginning is lost. 

Overall, I would recommend My Home Hero as it is a great story about a father's struggles to protect his family and the lengths he goes to in order to do so.