Netflix's announcement that the anime adaptation of Kousuke Oono's The Way Of The Househusband manga will be hitting their service next year is both exciting and unsurprising. The series has been a sleeper hit, gaining plaudits from fans and critics alike as people fall in love with its likable protagonists and its amusing commentary on modern life. The series was the recipient of the 2020 Eisner Award for best humor publication, and it has sold over one million copies worldwide. It was only a matter of time before it got an anime adaptation.
The series follows former mob boss Tatsu as he retires from his life of crime and becomes a househusband so that he can support his wife as she embarks on her career as a designer. But The Way Of The Househusband is just one title in the emerging subgenre of yakuza-comedy -- a subgenre that has roots back to the early '90s but is increasing in prominence as various titles start to pull comedy from the world of crime.
Stories centered around the yakuza have been commonplace since the 1960s. However, these stories usually focus on their criminal nature, telling stories about faction warfare or about people who end up drawing the ire of murderous gang members. Because of this, yakuza focused shows are usually action series or thrillers as opposed to comedies. 1997's Great Teacher Onizuka is often considered the prototype for yakuza-comedy. This manga was a continuation of Tooru Fujisawa's other titles, Shonan Junai Gumi and Bad Company, both of which follow the titular Eikichi Onizuka. Eikichi is part of a Bōsōzoku biker gang. However, in Great Teacher Onizuka, Eikichi quits the group and decides to become a teacher.
But don't think Onizuka is embarking on this career change for noble reasons. His decision to become a teacher is motivated by his desire to hook up with girls. But he quickly realizes that he can't bring himself to flirt with the students. However, their moms are a different matter entirely. Despite his skeevy motivations, Onizuka is actually a great teacher. While his teaching methods are unusual, his uniquely off-kilter outlook on life and general charisma helps him connect with his students and allows him to resolve their issues. This series laid the foundations of the modern yakuza-comedy subgenre. Despite Onizuka being a great teacher, he is very much out of his natural element, and a lot of the humor comes from his unique teaching methods that contrast the stuffy school environment with Onizuka's rebellious nature.
Another prime example of this subgenre is My Bride Is A Mermaid. Written by Tahiko Kimura and serialized between 2002 and 2010, the series followed the young Nagasumi Michishio. While on holiday, Nagasumi nearly drowns, only to end up being saved by a mermaid named Sun Seto. However, mermaid law says that if a mermaid and a human interact, they must both be executed. Thankfully, Sun's parents are the head of the mermaid yakuza and decide to marry Sun and Nagasumi in an attempt at saving both of their lives. However, Sun's father Gōzaburō isn't happy with this idea and plans to kill Nagasumi to prevent the marriage.
The manga features the fish out of water concept that makes The Way Of The Househusband so enjoyable. However, in My Bride Is A Mermaid, the normal person is the one out of their depth, dealing with literal fish in water, oddly enough. While this series does use a lot of the tropes associated with yakuza-comedy, the show's fantastical nature makes it feel closer to a fantasy isekai series.
Another forerunner in the subgenre was Naoshi Komi's Nisekoi. The series started in 2011 and follows two high school students, Raku Ichijo and Chitoge Kirisaki. However, these two are not regular students, as both are the children of yakuza faction leaders. After an accident, Raku and Chitoge end up disliking each other. But they soon find that their parents' factions are planning to bury the hatchet by pairing up their children, forcing Raku and Chitoge to co-exist, lest they pull their families into a bitter and bloody war. You can draw many parallels between this series and The Way Of The Househusband as, while the protagonists are younger, the interplay between their school lives and their yakuza lives are central to the show's storyline and its comedy.
The nature of yakuza life makes it perfect for comedy, especially fish out of water setups where someone is forced to enter or leave the criminal underworld. And with The Way Of The Househusband's success, we can expect to see this subgenre grow and expand over the next few years as more studios realize just how popular and successful these titles can be.