__Gokushufudou: How a good anime has exposed the one dimensional lens that we look through when judging shows.
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Hello everyone! This is a spoiler free review so feel free to read without worry. This will probably be a bit of a lengthy review as I believe this show has multiple aspects to it that need to be addressed.

I know the title of this review seems weirdly philosophical but I implore you to read this review with an open mind. My goal here is not to disrespect the opinion of people who dislike the show, but to simply and hopefully help people understand why this show is a bit more than “an animation failure”.

With that said, let’s get into it~
First and foremost, I want to start by talking about the story itself; As someone who’s read the manga and very much enjoyed the short nature of each chapter, I was pretty happy to know the anime followed the same format. Short, to the point with a funny gag at the end of each segment. The anime is comprised of 5 episodes, each one being about 15ish minutes; The story follows a former yakuza boss who’s might was unrivalled, Tatsu the immortal dragon. Tatsu “retired” from his old yakuza life got married, and became a househusband who basically takes care of the household while his wife works. A very simple story, and the punchline? The dude is downright scary and still operates like yakuza, including in his everyday life chores and interactions with people.

And so just based on my above description, I hope people are at least able to see the comedic attraction this show creates. Just a very manly yakuza, being a househusband. And I think what really makes this story worth to watch is how short each “daily interaction” (aka segment/chapter) are. Each episode is divided into roughly 6 segments, each segment covering a different event in the daily life of Tatsu as he juggles between his old life as a yakuza and a househusband. Most segments have their own “end joke” and its own humour, which is something I enjoyed.
I won’t try to tell you that each segment was hilarious, because some of them just didn’t make me laugh as much as others. And that’s fine. The story as a whole is enjoyable and a very fun watch, comedy is hard and sometimes the joke just isn’t meant for you. This is why I enjoyed the short nature of the segments, if that segment isn’t for you then the anime has 5 more attempts to make you laugh throughout the episode. Overall, it was fun and it stayed somewhat true to the manga if that’s something any of you would like to take up.

Now let’s get to the controversial part~ The animation!!
I won’t lie, it took me a while to figure out how I want to review this section. As you read through this section, I would like to ask of you to try and keep this following statement in mind as I tackle this discussion: Gokushufudou has highlighted how one dimensional our thinking (as anime fans) has become when judging anime.

I will start this section by saying and emphasizing this: the animation is practically non existent.
And I think the presentation of the anime through this lack of animation has, quite understandably, angered or disappointed a lot of fans; The anime community has created kind of a “peak standard” for shows which include: animation, music, art, story etc.. Essentially, a show is only good if it scores high points in every one of these categories. What that created is a very one dimensional approach on judging animes. We rely solely on the sum of all these parts rather than acknowledging that some parts are in fact, not necessary for the success and enjoyment of a show. In fact, I’m not even sure how better animation would actually elevate the show.
A lot of people have referred to the animation as simply, a coloured manga with a few animation. And personally, I very much enjoyed this “coloured manga” approach. Unless animation is being used to elevate certain aspects of beauty or themes that an anime tries to portray (Violet evergarden is a great example), then I believe animation plays a very little role in actually making a good show. The anime simply wants to portray the everyday life of a househusband in its most simple, comedic and exaggerated form.

Anime itself should be judged on the way it chooses to present its content, rather than having to set every anime to a very narrow standard that is inapplicable to most shows. To me, it’s almost like comparing apples to oranges; While they do have similarities, it would be wrong to judge an apple based on the standards of an orange.

Watching this anime was almost like I was actually reading the manga. It was weird but I liked that feeling. It was like I was reading a very elevated manga (if that makes sense) where its elements are being portrayed through a basic animation. It created very exaggerated scenes as the emphasis of the animation was on the facial expressions; It was like watching
animated stills of the manga. A bit hard for me to put into words but that’s how I kind of see it and very much liked it!

And while I have more I want to say about other aspects of the show, for the sake of time I’m going be moving on to our last section of score evaluation.

As discussed I believe the story to be quite funny, moving away from very cliche and repetitive plots. Actually in a sense, it’s pretty cool how they can portray a househusband (who’s usually seen in a pretty low light by society) to be this macho, strong and cool character. Because let’s face it, TATSU IS COOL.

The OP and ED of the anime is very meh but really, has no impact on the anime itself.

Personally I will be giving this show a 90/100, this reflects my enjoyment and entertainment as I watched the show.

However from a more objective opinion, taking into account every factor I have talked about. This show is pretty binge worthy, but I feel like they could’ve tried harder to sharpen the quality of the art; They had the time since they didn’t focus on the animation at all. It was a good watch, but probably wouldn’t be worth rewatching. Overall, I’d give it a very nice score of 80/100.

Anime is an art form, different expression of artists and authors is something that adds layers of complexity to the anime genre. If every show was held to the same standard, variety will cease to shine through and only stale content will ever be made.

Thank you all for reading through this very lengthy review. I hope this was not intimidating for new fans still waiting to watch the show, and I hope I’ve helped convince some of you to see this show in a more positive light. If not, then that’s okay! Variety and different taste is what drives creativity!