Burn the House Down – Netflix Series Review

BURN THE HOUSE DOWN on Netflix is a new revenge series from Japan. The series has eight hour-long episodes. It does get a bit too soapy for my liking, but other than that, the sinister feeling often prevails. Read our full Burn the House Down series review here!

BURN THE HOUSE DOWN is a new Netflix series from Japan. It features a revenge story that has quite a lot of twists and turns along the way. Not too many really, but it does end up feeling a bit soapy. Both in a good (camp) way and one that makes it feel a tad low-budget.

This particular story begins when a home goes up in flames and the – otherwise happy – family living there ends up being torn apart. If you enjoy revenge stories, be sure to check out our “Revenge”-tag as we have covered quite a few both series and movies with this theme.

Continue reading our Burn the House Down series review below. Find all eight episodes on Netflix from July 13, 2023.

So many revenge stories

We’ve been getting quite a lot of Asian revenge series and, unfortunately, this is not one of the better. I would definitely recommend a series such as Celebrity which has quite a few plot elements in common with Burn the House Down. Especially when it comes to social media and influencer status.

In Burn the House Down, we meet Anzu, who goes undercover as a housekeeper in the Mitarai home. While being there, she hopes to uncover the truth about the fire that ruined her family 13 years ago. The head of the Mitarai house is a very icy woman, who has particular requests and boundaries.

Basically, she’s also hiding a few things. And you’ll find out a few of them early on.

Anzu Murata – who goes by a different name when working there as she’s undercover – is working as the housekeeper in her childhood home. All in an attempt to prove that her ailing mother wasn’t responsible for the fire that ruined their house and family.

Save the drama for your mamma!

Sorry, I just could not help myself as two mothers are at the center of this revenge story. One that also features quite a lot of drama. Two women (one with two daughters, the other with two sons) become friends and one ends up with the other’s husband.

That’s just one of the changes that comes after a family’s home goes up in flames and the woman living in that house is blamed.

In most ways, Burn the House Down is a suspenseful revenge drama that works really well. The more sinister – and yes, somewhat campy, at times – moments work brilliantly. When things turn a bit more of a “soap opera drama”-flavor, I find myself losing interest.

I still think the revenge story is strong, but the execution could’ve been better. If you want a really good and dark revenge story, then you’ll want to check out the South Korean series The Glory on Netflix!

Watch the Burn the House Down series on Netflix now!

The new Japanese Netflix series is based on the original Manga (or graphic novel, if you will) also titled “Burn the House Down” by Moyashi Fujisawa – published by Kodansha. The Burn the House Down series adaption was written by Arisa Kaneko, and the episodes were directed by Yuichiro Hirakawa and Koji Shintoku.

You probably won’t recognize many actors in this Japanese Netflix series. Unless you watch many movies and series from Japan, obviously. The series does have Yuri Tsunematsu from the hit Netflix series Alice in Borderland in a key role.

This new revenge series has eight hour-long episodes, which is too much for me. There’s enough storyline and plenty of twists along the way, but it also gets too soapy for me. With fewer episodes, the story could’ve been a bit tighter and the more sinister elements of revenge would’ve been more prevalent.

Burn the House Down is on Netflix from July 13, 2023.

Details

Directors: Yuichiro Hirakawa, Koji Shintoku
Writer: Arisa Kaneko
Cast: Mei Nagano, Asuka Kudo, Taishi Nakagawa, Yuri Tsunematsu, Kie Kitano, Mari Hamada, Sakurako Konishi, Michiko Kichise, Mitsuhiro Oikawa, Kyoka Suzuki