Plot

The overarching plot of the show is about the main character, Tetsuo, trying to cover up the murder of his daughter’s boyfriend in an attempt to protect her. This sounds fairly simple and straightforward. However, the show presented Tetsuo’s elaborate scheme to do anything to not get discovered. The show presented this in a very convoluted manner and halfway through the series it was hard to keep up (especially when you are watching one episode per week). The show cycles through the format where they present the outcome and show short flashbacks as to how Tetsuo and his wife get to the outcome. This made the flow a bit confusing and hard to follow. At the same time, the show also tried to insert backstories to explain more about the characters, adding to the confusion.

As for the methods itself, they were pretty interesting but as mentioned earlier they could have been explained in a more creative manner instead of just monologues inside Tetsuo’s head. Shows like Summertime Rendering come to mind, where there is a single end goal and the plans taken to achieve are portrayed in a creative and clear manner. Nevertheless, My Home Hero has its fair share of action and suspense. These mostly came in the last three episodes where Tetsuo carries out the final stage of his plan. Until then, there was not really much suspense. In the end, whenever Tetsuo is highly suspected, he just gets away somehow.

There is also an element of luck at play here which I do not enjoy. We never saw a moment where his plans had a major flaw and was backed into a corner with no way out. Perhaps this is to convey the message that family is important and the resilience he has to protect his daughter till the end. No man is an island and he had his wife supporting him every step of the way.

Characters

Funnily enough, I felt more sympathy for Kyoichi than for Tetsuo. At least we got to see different sides of Kyoichi: when he is vulnerable, when he is strict and when he is being loyal to the organization. For Tetsuo he never looked strong, always meek and worried as he carried out plans, which annoyed me throughout the whole show. I guess there is some juxtaposition that he may look fragile on the outside but is actually cold hearted and cynical on the inside (we did get a snippet of this at the very end). At the end of the day, he is doing it for his daughter right?

Kasen was more peculiar as when she first saw the body, she agreed to help Tetsuo without an inch of hesitation or surprise. I was honestly taken aback. The show did attempt to involve the daughter in the case but that was unfortunately short lived. They did try to bring an angle that the daughter too cared about the family and she was strong and independent. However that was shoved under the rug within one episode.

Animation

The animation generally, for most of the show, was alright. As someone who watched Human Bug University, this is not the worst animation I’ve seen. However, there were some serious moments in the show that could have been more intensified with better animation. Still frames with sketchy special effects did not cut it. There was a mismatch of voice and visuals. Voice acting was expressive but plastered on non-expressive facial expressions, it seemed odd. Nothing notable about the OP and ED either.

On the whole, My Home Hero has an interesting premise but lackluster execution. There were some emotional moments especially when it came to Tetsuo’s past and the reasons for his actions. However, we had to sit tight till the good part. The show did get a bit philosophical at the end and I wished there was more discussion throughout the show whether Tetsuo’s actions were justified or not.