I certainly didn’t see that coming at all. While Housekishou Richard-shi still utilizes its episodic format, the last two episodes reveal some backstory regarding our pretty boy and very quickly that plot thread becomes my favorite part of the show. So far, we see Richard as an all-too-perfect specimen that it’s hard to regard him as a full-fledged human. Not until the closing scene of episode 6 that is. Throughout the previous episodes we have seen how Richards always ticks off whenever people (especially Seiki) comment on his good look, and episode 6 expands on that with the case regarding scammers who try to sell their fake gems to young girls. Normally this could be a cause for our local hero Seigi to stir up, but surprisingly it’s Richard who does. Richard’s scheme is a bit far-fetched if you ask me, but it’s all the service of that flashback at the end. It turns out that Richard used to be a schemer who uses his good look to deceive customers, and with that he suddenly appears to be much more complex than he normally lets on.
It’s also quite apparent to me how Housekishou Richard-shi keeps feeding us on Richard and Seigi’s possible romance. There are countless times where Seigi acknowledges how handsome Richard is (more than necessary I would add, considering he never compliments Shouko at all), and Richard grows to be more comfortable with that. An old rival of Richard warns Seigi about getting too close to Richard and while it comes off more as a venomous insult to Richard than fair warning, based on what we see in Richard’s past his words might have some merits. Will the show explore further on this dark thread though? I honestly don’t think so. But it’s good to see Housekishou Richard-shi at least tried.
Episode 7’s case is about a precious Buddha-hand jade, and as someone who is in the dark about this industry, it’s kind of refreshing and educational to learn how the proper auction works. The “twist” here is that Richard helps out (with his own money) to acquire that precious jade, and that old rival is a bitter loser because he thought that Richard’s budget was much lower. Yeah, based on how I described the situation you can tell that I am not too fond at all with how the plot pans out, nor do I really care about how that jade means personally to a member of the previous owner’s family. Still, the context of Richard’s past is intriguing (it appears he uses his current name from his mentor). These past two episodes’ development takes me by surprise, but for good effects and hopefully the show can build itself from there.
