A woman sets on a compelling payback journey in the riveting Japanese series, Burn The House Down!
If quick thrilling series is right up your alley, then book this series in your next Netflix binge.
- Main Leads: Mei Nagano | Asuka Kudo | Kyoka Suzuki
- Romance/Addictive Meter:
- Overall Rating:
- Rewatch Value:
- Dramas of Similar Vibe: The Glory | Anna |
Bubbly Haruhi watched Burn The House Down on Netflix
Burn The House Down Series Recap
Burn The House Down is a show based on a manga series of the same title. It is an eight-episode mystery drama series revolving around Anzu Murata and her quest for revenge against the woman she believes caused the destruction of her family.
Anzu is the eldest daughter of Satsuki and Osamu Mitarai. She goes to work in her childhood home with a false identity to collect evidence against her stepmother, Makiko. She has a younger sister, Yuzu. Satsuki is Anzu and Yuzu’s ailing mother. Because of what happened thirteen years ago, she now has generalized amnesia and doesn’t recognize even her own daughters.
Osamu, their father who is rich and a hospital director married single mother Makiko who has two sons. He never reached out to her daughters during those years.
Makiko is a single mother with two sons, Kiichi and Shinji. She is now a popular model and social media influencer. She is determined to keep her image as a perfect homemaker, mother, and career woman of the Mitarai household.
In the opening of the series, we see Anzu’s grand family home burning to the ground. Her mother is on her knees saying sorry. She apparently left the stove on. Anzu is in shock and sees her mother’s friend, Makiko secretly smiling among the crowd.
13 years later, Anzu is back in her family home as a housekeeper with a different identity, eager to find evidence to prove that her mother is innocent of what happened to their home and it is Makiko who is now her stepmother is actually the culprit.
Makiko secretly hires a housekeeper because she wants people to think that she can efficiently balance her work and household chores. Makiko forbids Anzu from going upstairs.
As Anzu is trying to collect evidence against Makiko, she finds that the eldest son, Kiichi is not working abroad, but actually living in the house and does not have a good relationship with her mother.
Meanwhile, little did she know that her sister is also doing something to help her. Yuzu tries to contact Shinji the youngest son of Makiko.
Shinji eventually leads Yuzu to meet his estranged father, Osamu after thirteen long years. After their first meet-up, Yuzu decides to contact her father regularly to learn more about her mother and what happened in the past.
Kiichi who Makiko portrays to be his successful son working abroad, is actually staying in the room upstairs for the past 10 years. He’s been hiding in his room carrying the guilt that he knows his mother is the one who burned the house thirteen years ago.
Burn The House Down Series Highlights
How did Makiko become Makiko Mitarai?
In the past, we see Makiko befriends Satsuki in school where the children go. As they become closer, Makiko sees how luxurious Satsuki’s lifestyle is and secretly starts to envy her. Her desires grow bigger and even started stealing Satsuki’s clothes and pieces of jewelry. She pretends to be like her and even created a blog about her imaginary life.
Kiichi discovers Anzu’s real identity and asks her the reason why she is back in their house. Will she be able to keep her real identity a secret from Makiko and make Kiichi his ally or Kiichi will blow up her cover?
Osamu learns the truth about what happened in the past, is he ready to protect his daughters this time or will just let the past stay in the past to protect his reputation as a hospital director?
Anzu works hard to gain Makiko’s trust so she became her manager. As a manager, she was able to work with Makiko closely and learn her secrets more. Taking advantage of these things helps her destroy Makiko’s so-called perfect life.
Who really burned the house down?
When Makiko realizes that the image she built starts to crumble, her lies about her life resurface and everyone turns against her, she was forced to confess that she burned the house. Anzu says, she just wants her to apologize sincerely to her mother, Satsuki so she can be free from the guilt of burning her own home.
Makiko thinks that Kiichi is the one who started the fire in Anzu’s home to protect her because Kiichi caught her mother stealing things from Satsuki. That’s why when Makiko was forced to admit the truth, she says she is the culprit to protect Kiichi this time.
Unknown to her, it is really Shinji who accidentally started the fire. In the end, Anzu gets the real culprit, Shinji to apologize to her mother.
What happened next? Makiko and Osamu file for divorce. Makiko begins her own YouTube channel to share with her fans. Shinji asks for another chance from Osamu so that he can work in the Mitarai hospital after his studies.
Anzu and her family put the past behind them now. Yuzu starts working. Her mother goes back to living her life with Yuzu. Anzu and Kiichi confessed their love for each other and start living together. Eventually, Kiichi finds a job for himself.
Burn The House Down Series Musings
In all honesty, the title itself is intriguing and viewers might be drawn to watch it like it did to me. It is packaged as a thriller but as the show progress, it’s more like a family drama.
With enough plot twists and turns, the show is engaging enough for the viewers to finish the series. Expect nothing grand or you might get disappointed. Don’t try to compare the series with other revenge dramas because Japan has its own style and flavor unique to the culture.
Expect less and you will be able to enjoy and appreciate Burn the House Down. The actors did a great job portraying their characters, especially Mei Nagano.
The actor who portrayed Osamu’s character as being a weak person who can’t even protect his own family did a great job. Just his presence on the screen effortlessly annoys viewers which is a good sign that validates he did a great job. Kyoka Suzuki (Makiko) also consistently did a great job doing the villain role.
This show tells us that envy is really a bad habit. It brings out the worst in us, making wrong choices and hurting the people around us, especially our loved ones. There is so much going on in this series, but everything was explained and settled perfectly by the end of the narrative.
As a whole, we can say Burn the House Down is a good watch considering how it navigated the story in the right number of episodes. Moreover, the thrilling points are done in subdued and heightened approaches which emphasize the emotions and motivations of the characters.
Burn The House Down Takeaway Quotes
“I’m leaving. I can’t live like this anymore.”
“Now I can see you’re like the rest of us, a weak person. And I intend to fight back my own shortcoming, so I can be a stronger woman.”
“Kiichi, stay strong. Quit worrying. You just need to get over here already! This time, I’ll cheer you on. Don’t give up and trust that I will, forever stay with you at your side.”
Photos: Netflix
