About:
Warning:
This review will contain spoilers for the manga and anime series My Sweet, Husky Daddy. While the manga may vary slightly from all other forms of media, it may have similar story elements and could be considered spoilers.
Trigger Warning: There may be references to age gaps, child neglect, mentions of cheating (not by the main characters), divorce, and child abandonment, as it appears in the manga.
Synopsis:
Seichi is looking for a life partner. He's pretty popular at the matchmaking events he's signed up for, but when he starts talking about his favorite thing in the world, he loses all momentum and ends up alone. What is this favorite thing? None other than his son. Seichi's entire life revolves around his sixteen-year-old son Ayato, a bright and talented kid whom Seichi raised entirely on his own at the age of eighteen before his son was one.
Seichi is perfectly content spending his life parenting Ayato, but as Ayato gets older, he pushes his loving father to find someone to keep him company when Ayato inevitably leaves the house. Seichi can't imagine life without his son in his house, but it's a reality he has to face, so he's willing to try and find a partner with the intention of eventually marrying them. Unlike Seichi, at his latest matchmaking mixer, there's another young man there who seems perfectly capable of working the room. But to his surprise, they both walk away with no matches at the end of it all.
Not wanting to waste the night, Seichi decides to go out to drink with the young man, Inukai, and bemoan their bad luck at these events. What he doesn't anticipate is getting drunk and winding up in a hotel bed with Inukai that same night. Maybe he shouldn't have been looking for a wife but a husband instead.
Review:
I'm not too fond of the art style. Particularly, there's something about their narrow and pointed features I don't like. I think it might be the noses. They are giving Thundercats or Whos from Whoville. The side profiles are the worst, but I wouldn't say the art style is terrible. It just really isn't my preference. I'm also not fond of Seichi's haircut with his very exaggerated coif. If you're not fond of the cover art, which I wasn't, then you probably won't care for the art in the story itself.
What I adore, though, is Seichi's devotion to his son Ayato. I can 1,000% see why Inukai is attracted to Seichi (I mean, beyond his good looks and hot dad bod). There's just something so endearing and lovely about someone who is so selflessly devoted as a parent, and seeing a positive depiction of a single dad is always a nice addition. Even while courting Inukai, Seichi always puts his son first, which is just the best. We love Daddy Seichi in this house.
Seichi, as our main character, has a well-built background, which is great. However, on the other end, Inukai's background isn't as thoroughly explored. It's given to us in vague flashbacks, with very little in the way of explanation. We can make plenty of inferences, but it's not as blatantly put out there as Seichi's background. Inukai does come forward and describe his history, but it's not as powerful as Seichi's since we don't get to see it alongside his explanation as we do with Seichi's. It's unfortunate since Inukai generally comes off as more creepy in the beginning, and I think his character would have benefited from time exploring what makes him who he is.
Unfortunately, the smut in this isn't the best. It's very sketchy and hard to discern, which is unfortunate since it's between two beefy men, the bottom being the bigger of the two, which is definitely in line with my preferences. There are also mentions of a switch scene that never comes to fruition, which was a painful tease. More importantly, because Inukai has a father complex, they do some daddy roleplay, which I didn't think would be an ick for me, but it is. If that's your thing, that's great. We don't believe in kink-shaming here, but it definitely isn't my thing. I probably wouldn't have as big of a problem with it if Inukai didn't say that Ayato makes a great younger brother and Seichi makes a great daddy, giving himself this role as a pseudo-son and pseudo-brother in this family. It isn't incest. It isn't pseudo-incest. But that seems to be the play here, which did not vibe with me.
Results:
I think this has a ton of potential. Ayato and Seichi are super strong characters with a really powerful family dynamic. Inukai, unfortunately, is less so. If Inukai had been better developed, I think the cast and really the story would be stronger overall. This isn't my favorite thing in the world, but I think it has a lot of solid elements. For anyone looking to scratch their daddy kink, this is a pretty good one. It wasn't my thing, but I think it's worth checking out.
Have you read My Sweet, Husky Daddy? If so, what do you think? Do you agree with my assessment? Do you not? Let me know, and comment below!