A review by katharine_opal
Burn the House Down, Vol. 4 by Moyashi Fujisawa

5.0

The intensity just doesn't stop with the series. The pressure is constantly on and just feels heavier with each volume. The series has shown repeatedly just how much of a toxic influence Makiko is on everyone around her. Her sons, her husband, and the two girls. She's just a bottomless pit of toxicity. I do like how much this series uses technology as a device for finding out the mysteries. It's very realistic in that way.

Spoiler

It's interesting how this story has the truth slowly unraveling, and different revelations that each person is having. I do like some of these bright spots in the series, such as Anzu helping Kiichi get over his shut-in tendencies. It was a shock to find out that his mother paid off all of his friends to stop interacting with him. Like...did she not think that through? Of course, someone is going to be mentally affected if ALL of their friends just suddenly stopped talking to them out of no where and even go out of their way to avoid you! Then he got bullied at the same time because he was suddenly rich, except his mom paid off his friends, so he's going through it all by himself. And then after he finally gets through high school and works his ass off to get into a prestige universe, he finds out that she paid for him to get in regardless of his scores. Of course, he would feel like all of his efforts have become pointless! Of course, he would go a bit crazy! I did like that Anzu hears about all of this and comes to the same conclusion as the reader. That Kiichi is a victim of his mother's toxic behavior. I really hope this series ends with all of the people who were negatively impacted by Makiko's schemes getting their revenge on her.

The cliffhanger though! I felt my stomach jolt reading the last two pages.