My Home Hero – Season 1 Episode 1 Recap & Review

From Today, I Am a Killer

Episode 1 of My Home Hero begins with a man gasping at the sight of a terrible car accident on the highway. Meanwhile, a man is on the phone with his daughter, who wants to meet at a restaurant. Whilst there, the man checks some reviews of his work on his phone.

Suddenly, his daughter (Reika) arrives wearing a disguise. Reika’s father tells her he’d like to visit her apartment later, going on to ask her to remove her disguise. Reika removes her mask, and her father’s bewildered to see all the bruises on her face. Reika tells her father she fell, but he thinks her boyfriend abused her. Reika leaves, and her father makes a fool of himself.

Reika’s father arrives at the apartment and spots her boyfriend discussing his abuse toward her with his friends. Reika’s father hesitates to confront her boyfriend and gets stopped by someone who seems to be in cahoots with Reika’s boyfriend. The man beats Reika’s father up and takes photos. He warns him not to inform anyone about what happened here.

Reika’s father visits an internet cafe and tells his wife he won’t come home tonight. The next day, Reika’s father tells his boss he won’t head to work since he sustained injuries. As a recluse, he listens to some music Reika composed in the past called “Tetsuo’s Theme.” This is her father’s name.

Tetsuo recalls Reika saying she won’t play this ever again, so if he wants to listen to it he’ll have to pay 30,000 yen for a CD. Tetsuo arrives at Reika’s apartment since he borrowed her spare key in the past. He wants to investigate her quarters to confirm if the man he saw was Reika’s boyfriend.

Tetsuo hears the man approaching and hides in the closet. Reika’s boyfriend enters the apartment and tells his buddy that he plans to milk Reika for her cash and dump her. He prattles on about past victims and wants Reika’s grandfather’s inheritance. Someone tells Reika’s boyfriend he was being followed by Tetsuo.

Tetsuo tries calling Reika about the situation, but he drops his phone. Before Reika’s boyfriend opens the closet door, he hears Reika’s cell phone going off. While Reika’s boyfriend yells on the phone, Tetsuo vows to protect his family from harm no matter the cost.

At the same time, a man named Kubo arrives at the complex and isn’t happy that Reika’s boyfriend isn’t picking up his calls. He orders one of his men, named Kyoichi, to head inside and bring him here. Tetsuo’s wife arrives and enters the apartment. She sees Reika’s boyfriend’s dead body on the ground and Tetsuo next to it in tears.

We receive a flashback of what happened between Tetsuo and Reika’s boyfriend. Tetsuo had beaten Reika’s boyfriend to death with an electronic device. Tetsuo’s wife argues that he shouldn’t panic since he probably acted in self-defense. He tells his wife they’re up against the yakuza since Reika’s boyfriend may have worked under them. Tetsuo’s wife suggests sweeping this murder under the rug to get people to believe it’s a missing person’s case. She knows she did this for Reika’s sake, so she tells Tetsuo to assist her in hiding Reika’s boyfriend’s (Nobuto) body.

Meanwhile, Kyoichi informs Kubo of the situation, and he feels something happened to Nobuto. Reika returns to her apartment, where her parents greet her, and Tetsuo breaks the news about Nobuto planning to kill her.

He tells Reika to go home with her mother tonight, refusing to let her visit one of the rooms. Reika’s mother sees her wounds, and Reika confirms that she received these from Nobuto. Reika’s mother jokes that people who abuse others should die, but Reika isn’t really in the laughing mood. Reika cries and tells her mother she wishes Nobuto treated her better.

They leave Tetsuo behind at the apartment, with Kyoichi planning to investigate since he wants to know who Reika’s mother spoke with. Before Tetsuo can cut Nobuto’s body apart, he hears someone fiddling with the front door. He fears this is one of Nobuto’s friends, so he hides.

Meanwhile, we receive a flashback of Kubo speaking with someone about his mindset when he kills people. Afterward, the man negotiates a money deal with someone on the phone. It appears this is Nobuto’s father, and he sent Kubo and Kyoichi there to retrieve his son since he didn’t hear anything back from him in eight hours. The episode concludes with Kyoichi discovering Nobuto’s dead body inside the bathtub.

The Episode Review

My Home Hero delivers a fun opening full of thrills and minor chills. It appears this story will have a father and wife going up against several yakuza groups to protect their daughter from harm. It’s a nice change of pace, but Tetsuo’s wife’s reaction to the situation felt a tad contrived. Her calm response to Tetsuo sitting next to a dead body may not sit well with most people.

Nonetheless, this indicates that Tetsuo and his wife have strong chemistry and a fabulous relationship. It’ll be great to see the anime introduce more flashbacks of what their lives were like in the past to make her reaction to Nobuto’s death feel plausible. Otherwise, it’ll feel convenient and unnatural. Furthermore, the art and animation in some scenes looked decent.

Many folks will get goosebumps seeing Tetsuo bash Nobuto’s head in with a rice cooker and him planning to carve his body to pieces with a knife. It shows how far a father’s willing to go to protect someone he holds close to his heart. It’ll make many people wonder what Reika’s reaction will be when she learns of her parents’ murderous habits.

Will she react similarly to her mother or will she think ill of her parents for resorting to murder? Overall, this was a fun episode of My Home Hero. It had enough thrills to keep me invested and poses many questions. Hopefully, the anime can continue delivering enjoyable content going forward!