☾Unexplored|mind☽

Typically a story about a neglected house wife having an affair would have lost my attention after two chapters. However with Household Affair this story is told in such an interesting way that it got me hooked.

For one the husband isn’t just a workaholic he’s an assassin. That right there adds a layer to this story that makes it way more interesting if he had had some boring office job. Also I find the husband’s feelings about his wife to be interesting because they’re so conflicting. He admits he only married her for a cover but yet is still extremely protective over her. He claims he doesn’t care about her at all, yet when he’s dying he thinks of her. The question of whether he loves her or not is what really drives the story at least for me, so the moment when he has to choose between her and his work my heart was racing because I had no idea who he would choose.

The wife is also an interesting character because even though she’s having an affair it isn’t for lustful reasons. She clearly is doing it because she feels emotionally neglected by her husband, more so than because she’s physically neglected. It’s made very clear early on she loves her husband a lot and wouldn’t be cheating in him if he wasn’t so cold to her. She doesn’t even consider leaving him for her side-piece (Who is the only boring character in the whole story). Also she does appear dimwitted at first but she is actually very smart and was able to manipulate a killer into liking her to buy her some time. At the core of it she is a person who just wants to be with the person she loves and have him want her to. Because of that it’s hard for me to not feel sympathy for her. Do I like that she’s a cheater? No. But seeing the reason why allows me to understand her and not judge her.

Also I love how the story parallels the idea of love and obsession. The husband’s work partner (who I love as a character because she’s a murderous redhead who is also very vulnerable) has been obsessed with the husband for some time. Also it is later revealed the husband’s boss is obsessed with him too. The only relationship the husband has with a woman who doesn’t want to control him is with his wife, who despite her faults truly loves him. This really appealed to me because often in stories obsession and love walk a fine line, hell in a lot of stories obsession is viewed as love. But in this story those lines are made very clear and it was refreshing to see a story were someone’s obsession was called out as such and not rewarded.

Also the art work is pretty good. My one complaint is that the female characters all facially look the same, but that aside I really like the style and coloring.

☆ gif request meme: kenma + fall colors ☆ ↳ for kenmasan