A review by katharine_opal
Burn the House Down, Vol. 5 by Moyashi Fujisawa

5.0

Good God, this volume had so many rollercoaster moments! So many times I thought, "Oh no, this is it!" only for the series to turn around and yell SIKE! in my face.

Spoiler

The plot twist with the father and the twist with the head nurse was not what I expected at all. It is nice to see the team working to reveal the truth of the fire has gotten even bigger. These people are getting on some super spy-level espionage. Makiko is so clearly delusional. She says at one point, to some extent, "I won't let you take this away from me, I worked hard for this life! I earned it!" to her mental image of Satsuki. I just sat there staring at the page, because like...what the fuck do you mean you "earned this life"? You STOLE this life from another woman. Makiko is so deluded, and the fact that she goes so far as to wiretap her husband and children, and then have people follow her husband's daughters is insane. I did NOT expect Anzu to be able to worm her way back into Makiko's life as she did. That twist actually got me, I was shocked! But god, all of Makiko's horrible actions, and the way she tries to have iron control over everyone to the point of emotional strangulation, really have me praying for her downfall. Also, I really hope the twist isn't that Satsuki really did set the fire or something like that because that would be stupid. Wait. I just thought of something. What if the father was the one who set the fire? Or one of the father's sisters, one of the three aunts? One of the aunts attempting to burn down the house would sort of make sense since they clearly disliked Satsuki. But to go so far as to risk killing everyone in the house just to make someone look bad is...yeesh Also, did Makiko plan for everyone to be out of the house, or was it possible she was hoping the fire would kill Satsuki?

God, there are so many possibilities for how all of this is going to end!