The Underworld Volleyball League is No Joke

I always just got floor burns playing volleyball in gym class, they're out here breaking noses and yelling proudly about it. Hardcore.

The second volume of Kousuke Oono's Way of the House Husband is pretty much like the first. The retired Yakuza legend Tatsu takes care of various duties around the house and neighborhood, but brings his own unique perspective to it.

That's pretty much what all the humor revolves around. That he does this stuff, but he looks and sounds like a gangster, so people misinterpret him. Tatsu's genuinely doing a good job at most of the things he does, guys makes sweaters for cripes' sake. It's just his particular brand of. . . intensity frightens and unnerves people. There are several gags about how his smile is terrifying, even though he's trying to be friendly. Or Tatsu says something that is perfectly innocuous, but because of how he looks, the person he's talking to either say nothing, or answers with this very neutral expression on their face. There's a quality to the smile and the way the eyes are drawn that says the person is considering carefully what they're about to say.

The chapters I enjoy most are the ones that involve his wife, Miku (who works as a designer, though I'm unclear if that means buildings or fashion or computer systems or what). Because she looks kind of cute, especially next to this intimidating guy in the dark suit and glasses and the slicked back hair. But then he'll say something cheezy about her smile being the real prize, while she's trying desperately to make him hush. And then other times, he wants them to buy what he considers a sensible family vehicle, while she's eagerly shouting about a vehicle being cool or stylish. They get to switch back and forth between who's silly and who's serious.

It works a better than Tatsu's interactions with Masa, one of the members of his old family, who is basically just a lazy, immature punk who has no attention span or common sense. Those are always the same.