REVIEW: ‘Burn the House Down’ Hits Josei Highs

Fixing the sins of the past is harder than letting them go, but when the injustice is too high, sometimes it’s the only option. A blend of tones and expectations, Burn the House Down is a slice-of-life series in some moments, a romance in others, and a thrilling mystery running throughout as its solid foundation. Based on the Josei manga series of the same name written and illustrated by mangaka Moyashi Fujisawa, Burn the House Down is directed by Yûichirô Hirakawa and written by Arisa Kaneko.

Over the course of eight episodes, Anzu Murata (Mei Nagano), her mother Satsuki (Michiko Kichise), and younger sister Yuzu (Yuri Tsunematsu) left their home 13 years ago when her mother was suspected of burning it down. Never able to return again, they lost more than just their house that night. They lost their future and their family in one fell swoop. However, 13 years after the incident, Anzu and Yuzu hatch a plan to prove their suspicions. Convinced that her ailing mother was wrongly accused, Anzu goes undercover to work as the housekeeper in her childhood home to gather evidence against the woman they believe is the actual culprit: their stepmother, Makiko (Kyôka Suzuki).

When the fire happened, all wrongdoing was put on their mother, but Anzu and Yuzu know better. Having been suspicious of their mother’s friend since they began hanging out, Makiko’s family is similar to Anzu’s family. A single mother with two sons, Anzu’s mother is virtually alone while her husband heads a hospital with her two daughters. After the fire, the two swap places to varying degrees of impact. For Makiko, she rebuilt her life in a perfectly curated image on social media, becoming an influencer and model, controlling everything about her sons and their lives to fit the life that she wants.

The series itself has moments of mystery and tension. However, they are balanced against moments of humor and an exploration of daily life. As a Josei series, this balance is a signature. The mystery makes the drama something more than just the banal every day. Still, the narrative never loses those moments of character connectivity and growth, keeping it grounded in the world. There is melodrama, but while the wild premise does teeter on absurdity, the series succeeds because it never loses its characters in any of it. The score also captures each emotion at just the right time. At moments, the score is dreamy, others it’s intense — driving the audience into a corner, and at others still it’s calm and pensive. The score in Burn the House Down does a lot of work to elevate every moment’s emotions.

Yuzu and Anzu are two parts of a whole, with each sister carrying different personalities and memories of the past. Those elements allow them to play different roles in their plot for justice. Mirrored in their step-brothers, Shinji (Taishi Nakagawa) and Kiichi (Asuka Kudô), the women know how to play each of them. Manipulated by their mother, Shinji and Kiichi are fragile, and while at the very least Kiichi seems intimidating at first, he’s easily calmed by Anzu.

The relationships that form between the step-siblings are interesting ones — resilient women shaping broken men. And while the four of them eventually end up moving towards a similar point to stop Makiko’s control over everyone’s life, their paths run parallel instead of intersecting, each with their own motives to uncover the truth about the fire and bring it to life.

Burn the House Down is a gripping story about more than just family, it also uses class to dissect what greed and vanity do to ruin people’s lives. Right down to their father’s ineptitude to be controlled by the power-hungry and malicious Makiko. In Makiko, you see the lengths that someone will go to escape their own loneliness and class status. But while the entire cast of Burn Down the House is stellar, the series is strong because of Kyôka Suzuki as Anzu and Mei Nagano as Makiko. Two women pushing against each other, both are steadfast in their own ideals and goals. As they collide, the series picks up its pace and offers a fantastic payoff.

Burn the House Down isn’t perfect, but the drama and tension between Makiko and Anzu sell the series past what you would expect. Simple in some ways and slightly convoluted in others, the series is balanced in ways that show its josei origin in the best ways, even with some bumps.

Burn the House Down is streaming now, exclusively on Netflix.