KANLen09

As a mega fan of the LN (that just recently ended), and even currently reading the manga adaptation of the original source material (which only solicited and solidified my love for the series), from the moment I first laid my eyes on it, the controversy has been slowly building up with the age-gap romance that's sprinkled with lots of depressing drama filled in, and novelist Shimesaba has done a wonderful job at trying to be the better and superior version of the lackluster KoiKimo that aired alongside each other on the same day this season. And before you ask, "cheap" drama doesn't happen here, nada.Your drama "tastes" may vary with this one. Runaway children. What do you expect for them to encounter while being defenseless without the supervision of adults a.k.a parents, boy or girl. In the case of the JK in question: Sayu Ogiwara, she ran away simply due to family problems that didn't work out, and had to live with the expenses given by her brother Issa until the internal problem could subside (which didn't happen). Being out of money and out of options, Sayu goes out to solicit sexual favours in exchange of having a roof on her head, just to live out another day, on and off. That is until she is spotted under a night lamp by an adult, which she attempts to repeat the same seduction behaviour again, only except that this man rejects her advances outright and teaches her how to do housework, and he goes by the name of Yoshida. From this day forward, the story begins the life of a JK who is being taught how to be a proper high school girl, and the man's constant love afflictions over women whom he desires or has a crush on him at work, going through the hustle and bustle of life while keeping this secret under wraps. First off, I really want to stress this point home: Age disparity relationships are uncommon but yet still a heavily debated relevant societal issue, though you would often see worldly views denouncing these relationships, from being the shortest marriage possible to facing day-to-day ridicules from people around them. Unsurprisingly, some have eschewed from the norm, and are still able to find happiness over their relationships, and this is definitely the case with the "parent-child" family rhetoric of Sayu and Yoshida. Being an easily vulnerable girl, Sayu has had her share of a depressing past, most of which stems from her natural beauty that others would be jealous of (and friends being scapegoats driven to death), not to mention that the numerous times of her successful sexual favours for a roof above her head slowly seeps in her forced mindless attitude and behaviour of going bleak, in a terrifying fall from grace as a growing teenager and already having her virginity taken away at such a young age. Her remedy is Yoshida, an adult man who is beginning to feel his romance clicks at work with one of his co-workers (the busty Airi Gotou) while being enamored by his junior (Yuzuha Mishima) in a love triangle, all in the name of love and hoping to score with her as a growing adult. Alas, with the arrival of Sayu, Yoshida has to keep everything about her a secret, lest his neighbours or anyone outside on the street parallel to his small apartment calls him out, even down to his colleagues, to which when hey spot Sayu with him, they begin to question his morales of "taking care of" her when he could've easily exploited her for sex. Nevertheless, this chad adult stood his ground, goes against the social norm by having her around like his own borne child, truly caring for her like a real and mannered adult should be. Even with the growing pangs of Sayu's past coming back to haunt her, as is the eventual reveal with relative colleagues both on Sayu and Yoshida's side, Yoshida faces it like a real man against these problems, though harbouring second thoughts on a clear head at times to stymie his actual body and verbal languages. This is where the original source material and this show finds its "wholesomeness" (and other haters "not buying the cringe drama") in the "parent-child" stranger relationship, where both Sayu and Yoshida grow more fond of each other, while keeping themselves at bay of the potential backlash that they will face in the series going forward. This is IMO character development and background done dreadfully-but-absolutely right, even if on a fictionalised level. If I were to consummate this akin to a quote in the real world, it would be this: "If you want to be successful, learn from the other peoples’ mistakes, don’t learn from success stories.” by Alibaba's CEO Jack Ma. I'd pray for any studio who got this adaptation to work wonders with the original source material (that's condensed due to time issues), and Project No. 9 got their hands on it, and truly delivered with its limited animation that is made up by the almost-gorgeous visuals, seemingly the best that this studio has pumped out so far that I've seen. It has been a dream come true for fans like myself to finally see HigeHiro on the small screen, and aside from some omissions, this is a largely intact adaptation that does not try to force its themes into one of the stalker kind (I'm lookng at you, KoiKimo) and anything else that detracts from the experience. As for the OST though, it's largely cheerful and doesn't give away the hidden themes that this is an R-rated show with some fanservice and such (that thankfully isn't much). Some good OP/ED songs that fit the expressions of the show well, and Seiyuu idol group DIALOGUE+ has definitely upped their song repertoire quality. This show won't be a masterpiece of a set piece of dark romance drama, but at least it's a good showing to newcomers who are intrigued with HigeHiro. Make no mistake, there are some scenes that will make you retch at the sight of it, and the drama may go ham and be superficial at times, but when you combine all of them together, it is one hell of an experience not to miss. Finally, a long-awaited show of mine that I can check out of my checklist of works made into anime. It's not for everyone, and you'd be best to have an empty stomach going into what HigeHiro is all about, to letting it ring the fact that you can never easily get out of once you start sinking into this deep rabbit hole of an engrossing drama.

Nyuw

“To the girls that will never graduate from highschool, to the girls that will never find warmth in this world, to the girls that have been abandoned by their parents. I pray that you will find peace in your heart, I pray that you will overcome all your demons, I pray that one day you will say “I’m happy””. Higehiro is not a romantic comedy, it is an anime that seeks to tell a story, a story about despair, about home and most importantly about need. To tell this story we are introduced to two characters. Yoshida, a man who falls in love with his bossand is rejected, and Sayu, a schoolgirl who has run away from home and exchanges sexual favors in order to have a roof over her head. Through these two characters, the author's vision of the world is presented to us. We learned that the title is the summary of an opera, and in this case it is no different, HigeHiro: After being rejected, I shaved and went to a High School Runaway is exactly what the title says. What makes us think about why such events occurred, the main one, why Sayu exchanges her body for a place to stay? And yes, the main question is not “Why Sayu left her home”. the main point that proves this is the protagonist's attitude towards Yoshida, she not only teases him, but incessantly seeks him to have sex with her. This point is not only stupidly discarded, it is also tossed aside during the rest of the plot and minimized in exchange for another point, her past. her past is portrayed as something dark, traumatic and life-changing, a question that even Yoshida is reluctant to ask. As we incessantly think about the event that brought about sayu's escape, we are led to believe in Yoshida's goodness and to see him as a moral example to follow, the man who blame his boss for rejecting him, the man who lets a minor spend days in his house, is the same "morally upright" man. The other characters are despicable and replaceable at any time, besides completing the social circle of our protagonists, they are used to reinforce Yoshida's criminal behavior. They accept the situation calmly and even support him to stay close to Sayu in order to give her the necessary support. As we go through some deplorable fan service scenes, Sayu's long-awaited past is revealed to us, a discussion. The cause of the whole plot is not only stupid, it uses suicide in a disrespectful way, The death of her friend is not the reason for the escape, also there’s no reason for her friend suicide at all, the lesson that is given to the viewer is “Let propel alone, friendships tarnish the beauty of individuality”. In addition to all of the above, we see an incongruity between the facts when Issa is presented in the story, Sayu's brother whose existence proves that the past doesn't make any sense, he always supported her and sought her happiness, he came to afford hotel stays to leave her alone, away from her demonic mother, and how is he presented? Like the villain that will separate lovers. In the technical aspect, HigeHiro is a mess, the direction is terrible, besides being quite visible how the lack of experience harmed the director, the excess of static scenes (which served in this case to represent the character's thinking) makes the anime dull and uninteresting, there are so many scenes in this format that the thoughts of the characters became predictable. The soundtrack is boring, nothing impactful or memorable, with the exception of the song “Forgotten Event”, which despite not being totally original, is worth listening to. In the end HigeHiro uses a real and troubling theme to bring out a happy story, where he treats the protagonist as a guardian angel while treating anyone who sees the problematic relationship between Yoshida and Sayu as the story's villain. If you felt bad for Sayu's early story, see other true stories about girls who gave up everything in search of a happy life and a place to call home and all they found was a dark and cold world.