Higehiro: After Being Rejected, I Shaved and Took in a High School Runaway

“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.

“Higehiro is a story about criminal activity, make no doubt it.” The words by Higehiro’s author, written in response to an alarming rise in copycat crimes since the beginning of the anime while true, do not prevent the enjoyment of said story. I’ve said it a thousand times, but I will say it again. You can enjoy a story and not agree with the things that occur in said story. I love playing Grand Theft Auto and Call of Duty. I don’t believe shooting and robbing random people is ok, yet I still enjoy playing video games. Why? Because my brain is developed enough todistinguish between fantasy and reality. I hope yours is too. For that reason, I found Higehiro to be a really enjoyable experience. I had some knowledge of the light novel coming into the anime, but didn’t get a chance to check it out before the anime aired. Admittedly, I too was thrown off by the premise, but once I got into it, I realised not only were people overreacting, they were missing out on a genuinely heartwarming story. Before I go further, I will add that as far as the anime goes, there are NO romantic goings on between an adult and a child. The light novel on the other hand… well that’s another story. So if you found that to be a deterrent, don’t worry, you’re good. Instead, what we do have in Higehiro is two broken people at different stages in life, crossing each other’s paths at the perfect time. Sayu and Yoshida are exactly what the other needs and are able to help each other move on from the past as well as look forward a new future. While the show at times does make a meal of the whole young high school girl living with an older guy thing, its purely an innocent relationship in nature and I respect that. While I personally would not have minded romantic undertones, I appreciated that the story(anime) gives us a genuine platonic relationship between a girl and guy. We don’t get many of those, so this was a refreshing experience. I enjoyed not only Sayu and Yoshida’s dynamic, but I think the side characters were great in this as well. There’s not a huge cast, but the 5-6 other characters that we see on a consistent basis in the story are really fun. While pacing wise, I felt things were a bit slow at times, that’s to be expected with this type of story. I loved the art style of the show. It’s the same studio and team behind last season’s Tomozaki-Kun, so similar glimmery style art and bright colour palettes. As with most slice of life, character designs were really well done too. Look, Higehiro is not for everyone. It’s slice of life, a bit slow at times and technically does depict illegal activity. If you’re sensitive or unable to separate reality from fiction, leave it alone. If you are able to enjoy things and not equate them to real humans, this is a very fun and heartwarming story. There’s some genuinely positive themes such as accepting and moving on from the past, as well as dealing with dysfunctional families that can be taken from the show if you’re willing to listen. Higehiro was one of the four best shows of this Spring 2021 season and I am sad to see it go. Higehiro gets 9 out of 10.

Imagine going home one day and see a high school girl at your doorsteps. Now imagine that same girl offering you sex for a place to stay. What would you do? Chances are, you'll have a million thoughts running through your head but would you take or ditch her? Twenty-seven years old Yoshida made a daring choice to take a high school girl into his home and thus begins their bizarre life experience, one that neither of them will ever forget. Based on the light novel of the same name, Higehiro does indeed sparks certain levels of controversy just by the premise and context alone. Theage gap difference is a red flag. High school girl Sayu Ogiwara is essentially a runway and at her age of 17, she lacks the financial support that a teenager needs. To get by, she sleeps with various men and made that same offer to Yoshida. In response, he refuses to sleep with Sayu but does offer a place for her to stay. What does that action tell us about Yoshida already? Honestly, it shows that Yoshida is a caring young man who isn't afraid to take risks. Some guys woul've taken advantage of her or worse, reported Sayu to the police. Instead, Yoshida offers her shelter, kindness, and companionship. Yoshida is fundamentally a hardworking salaryman who lives by himself until taking Sayu in to his home. He works overtime when needed and seems to have a decent working relationship with his co-workers. In fact, his personality and professional ethnics has attracted the attention of his female co-workers, including Yuzuha Mishima. Unfortunately for her, it seems Yoshida's inexperience with women made him dense about their feelings. Throughout the show, you can see the numerous hints she throws at him, including asking him out or showing signs of jealousy. Yoshida seems so dense that he hardly notices any signs of romance aimed at him until she confessed directly. By this act, you can pretty much say that when it comes to romance, Yoshida really needs more social experience. However, that doesn't mean he lacks a love interest at work. In fact, we see that Yoshida confess but rejected right off the bat by his co-worker, Airi Gotou. It set off a chain of events that ended up with Yoshida taking in Sayu to his home. They say that romance can begin like a fate so perhaps it's also a sign. However, do very aware that Yoshida and Sayu's relationship isn't exactly romantic. The meat of the show is about Yoshida and Sayu's rather complex relationship. Besides their age difference, it's shown that Sayu hides her vulnerability and believes in a simple way of living her life. She often puts on a facade behind her smile although it's shown in rare occasions in the beginning when she is surprised by other people's kindness, especially Yoshida. As more episodes progresses, we see that she opens up more to others and be more of herself. Thanks to Yoshida's influence, she even gathers the confidence to face her future rather than running from it. Life is a reality and Sayu had her own troubled past with her mother, a fellow classmate, and even herself. On the other hand, Yoshida is rather resistant to Yoshida's charms. Even when asked if he wants to join her in bed, he passes it off as a joke. However, Yoshida does grow as a person when taking responsibility. Previously, he was a very independent person who works hard to get by, a contrast to Sayu's carefree way of living. Now, he realizes the importance of also being a people person. Similarly, Sayu begins to take responsibility by taking care of the house and even getting a part time job. Luckily, she also encounters a co-worker who gets along with her named Asami. Their sisterly bond represents a beacon of light in Sayu's new life as Asami is very protective of her. Thanks to Asami and Yoshida's influence, we finally see Sayu being able to open others like ways she didn't realize she could before. As a romance drama, you can bet that the show is prone to some emotional outbrusts and sensitive topics. These include underage prostitution, bullying, suicide, and social alienation. When I came into this show, I had this level of expectation with the materials the show promoted. If you're a new viewer, chances are that you may be thrown off by some of the show's plot elements. Most importantly is Sayu and Yoshida dealing with life challenges. Watching Sayu facing her past is one of the most important part of her character growth. At first, she couldn't do it alone and the past comes backs to haunt her. Two examples includes her own strict mother and Yaguchi, a guy she once hooked up with. The latter becomes a main problem that triggers Sayu's vunlerable side until she is finally able to let go of her past. Indeed, Higehiro wanted us to experience what Sayu has been through but honestly, her character and choices are controversial. Let's ask ourselves, if Yoshida refused to take Sayu in, what would of happened to her? Chances are, she'd end up in the streets again and using her body to make a living as she always have. It's a shameful reality when we look at the real picture. There are individuals in our real life society that can be relatable to Sayu. When you examine her character, Sayu is fundamentally a naive girl when taking on the world by herself, or at least was, until Yoshida entered her life. The real question you may still be asking yourself if the romance truly develops between these two people. Fate tied them together to meet but does it bloom into a true relationship? Unfortunately, this season remains ambigious and doesn't make them into an official couple. Sayu and Yoshida's relationship does develop from strangers to close friends but it's not the type of close where they are considered lovers. So if you're looking for some real romance, prepare for some disappointment. To be fair, this anime isn't truly about romance in the first place. In other words, this show is more about facing life obstacles and challenge themselves to make the best them. Art style and production quality retains a consistent pacing throughout the series. It adapt straight from the light novels to give our characters an appealing look. Sayu indeed has the look of a high school girl decorated with a charming face and slim figure. Yoshida is also crafted with a handsome face that attracts the attention of ladies. As a salaryman, he retains a sense of professionalism at work and adult at home. If you're also asking for fan service, there's definitely some controversy. This comes from Sayu's early attempts to seduce Yoshida and to be quite frank, it's slightly disturbing to watch. Again, controversy is a word that seems syonyomous to this show at times so be aware. Higehiro seems like a series that was destind to get an anime adaptation. Controversial or not, Higehiro is one of those shows that tries, to be real as it can be.

An anime adaptation of the “you have to eat all the eggs” meme (google it). Considering this series is tagged by MAL as Drama/Romance, but is not, in fact, tagged as Hentai, anyone who ever read half a book should be able to guess that its title is not meant to be taken at face value. Anyone who read an entire book would likely go even further and, taking the Drama tag into account, assume the title is intentionally provocative and the story is some sort of social commentary on sexual exploitation of minors or something. That assumption is, sadly, couldn’t be further from reality. HigeHiro isan otaku-pandering ecchi harem with a heavy dose of soap opera in form, and a rapist’s wish-fulfillment fantasy in substance. Vulgarity-wise, I would put it in the ballpark of such titles as Domestic Kanojo, but that would be insulting to Domestic Kanojo and similar smutty soap operas, as, for all their flaws, those at least manage to not be hypocritically pretentious in their moral bankruptcy. How is it pretentious: Episode 1 - an underage runaway girl escaping domestic problems spends six months traveling across the country and prostituting herself for a roof above her head. Episode 2 - a faceless self-insert protagonist has a harem of three big-breasted moeblobs who are all tripping over themselves in a race to suck his dick because of how nice he is, resorting to soap-opera-tier scheming in order to win his attention. Episode 3 - straight-up sex scenes. Both heavy drama and frivolous smut have their place. That place, however, is not within the same fucking story, it is incredibly tone-deaf and distasteful. How is it morally bankrupt: Evidently, not everyone knows how morals work, so here’s a PSA: if an adult man runs into an underage prostitute soliciting him for a homestay - the ONLY moral course of action for him is to call the police and child protection services. If he is actually bringing her home - he is a rapist aiming for sexual gratification. Period. No amount of closeted pedophile’s mental gymnastics about “helping” her, or “having good intentions” can change that. The MC of HigeHiro is a rapist. Romeo, Alfa, Papa, India, Sierra, Tango. Rapist. He isn’t a nice guy, he is a “nice guy” - a predatory creep “helping” a vulnerable underage girl with an ulterior expectation that his wahmen-respecting effort will get rewarded with her affection. PSA No.2: the premise of this series is a well-known irl occurrence in Japan, commonly referred to as “kamimachi,” and housing a minor that ran away from home is legally considered abduction there - exactly to protect minors from rapists like this one (refer to Chapter 23 of We Shall Now Begin Ethics manga for a non-delusional portrayal of these “saviors”). But instead of framing this rapist like the lowlife scumbag and literal criminal he is, HigeHiro attempts to glamorize and glorify his abduction, clearly with the intent to peddle him as a self-insert fantasy to his real-life counterpart white knights/male feminists/aspiring rapists (PSA No. 3: if you’re a woman, never be alone in a room with a self-proclaimed male feminist). Oh, “but the MC doesn’t literally stick his dick into the girl, that makes everything fine.” Yeah, no. That’s a load of hypocritical crap and exactly what makes this show masturbatory wish-fulfillment. The MC doesn’t stick his dick into the girl - he just keeps this gorgeous-looking, dick-hungry JK waifu that is completely dependent on him in his apartment as a pet/house worker, getting hard from all the boobs she voluntarily shoves in his face and cumming from his sense of superiority that he refuses to fuck her even though she begs him for it every 30 seconds. That, kids, is something called “domination fantasy.” Where I’m coming from, using BDSM slave roleplay as a “moral” substitute for sex makes a story more degenerate, not less. Just let it sink for a moment - this show would become LESS depraved if it had its protagonist fuck a minor. That’s how far up its morally bankrupt ass it is. Btw, I’m sure that the female lead being a 10/10 underage fapbait has no relation whatsoever to this “wholesome” show’s appeal. This “drama” would be just as popular if the MC was trying to help a 40-years-old crack whore with rotten teeth, or an HIV-positive gay twink, right? Hige wo Soru is also morally bankrupt in a different sense - it glorifies Darwin-award-worthy stupidity. Here’s PSA No. 4: if an underage prostitute solicits a man to “adopt” her like that, realistically only one of the two outcomes is going to happen: 1) The next day the man wakes up with a terrible headache to find both the girl and all of his valuables missing. 2) The next day five “brothers'' with baseball bats show up and demand compensation for defiling their “sister.” Anyone taking this idiotic shlock seriously should try to watch more crime reports on the news to learn how real life actually works. Even if viewed exclusively as an ecchi harem, HigeHiro is still subpar trash. I’m no stranger to fictional smut. A story can be infinitely vulgar - and still have artistic merit, as evidenced by ShindoL’s Emergence, or, if you read actual books, the entire bibliography of Henry Miller. If you don’t know who that is - try reading his Wikipedia page. Does it give you an impression that he was writing hardcore pornography? It probably doesn’t - in recognition of his pornography’s artistic merits. Hige wo Soru has no artistic merit. Its plot is soap opera trash, its characters are shallow one-dimensional trash, and its story is beta-male wish-fulfillment trash. Trash, trash, trash, trash. I’m gonna elaborate on the characters, as they are great at driving this point home: Yoshida, the “nice guy” rapist MC. I described him already, his whole personality is that he respects wahmen and is non-descript enough to self-insert into. His real substance is that he serves as the perfect representation of this show on the meta-level. Every woman within the story wants to suck his dick because of how “not like the other guys” he is. Then the story itself fellates him as a saint because he doesn’t put his dick into a minor, as if it’s some grand moral achievement, and not, you know, sane human behavior. And then the fanbase fellates the story for being stunning and brave, delusionally overlooking how evil and repugnant it actually is. Sayu, the white-knight-bait female lead. 10/10 moeblob looks (to get the white knight’s dick hard). A prostitute (always thirsty and down-to-fuck without the need for grooming/forcing on the white knight’s part). Underage and underprivileged (submissive to, and dependent on her “daddy”). At the same time, no inconvenient baggage that will make “saving” her harder or less appealing - no rap sheet, no drug addiction, no disfiguring injuries, no Hepatitis B. She also has no agency whatsoever - sure, she might beg the MC to fuck her, but if he refuses - she obediently desists, because she’s not a woman that wants to form a relationship with this guy, or wants to get an advantage over him, or just plain wants to have sex - she is a fuckdoll whose whole raison d’etre is to be the object of his savior fantasy. Gotou, the soap-opera-incarnate female senpai. She is a manipulative psycho that was friend-zoning the MC who had a crush on her for years, supposedly because she just wasn’t attracted to him. Except when he gets female attention, she becomes insanely possessive and tries to seduce him - and instead of being framed like the sociopath she is, the show treats her with the “tee-hee, what a tsundere” attitude. Also claims to be a virgin, despite being 28 and having a disposition of an onlyfans millionaire - because every harem trash has to have a pure waifu. Yuzuha, the likes-the-mc-because-she-just-does female kohai. Exists to accept the unnatural relationship of the leads without questions, deluding the audience into thinking that an “average” person won’t call the MC out on being a rapist. Also exists to have more body types/waifu options/fapbait in order to boost sales. Asami, the gyaru. Exists to accept the unnatural relationship of the leads without questions, deluding the audience into thinking that an “average” person won’t call the MC out on being a rapist. Also exists to have more body types/waifu options/fapbait in order to boost sales. Yaguchi, the human-shaped “NO U!” See, he is the only sane person in the entire show, calling the MC out on his hypocrisy and bringing up all the sane person arguments on why the MC’s actions are not okay. He’s also a psychopathic remorseless rapist - so that the target audience can screech NO U and dismiss those arguments based solely on who is making them. Plus, no hypocritical moral masturbation is complete without the “savior” having to make a “sacrifice” of becoming hated and criticized for doing the “right thing.” There are also Sayu’s mother and brother, they’re plot devices that exist to force some contrived soap-opera-level drama which I can’t describe without spoiling the ending. Which I would actually do if there was some critical point to be made about it, but the thing is, the ending is just a resounding “meh,” as delivering any sort of compelling finale was never on the author’s to-do list, and here’s why: This series is a scam. My first impression was that the author was just writing his own wish-fulfillment. But after seeing the interview where he openly admits that what Yoshida is doing is a crime and urges his readers not to imitate his fiction, I know that’s not really the case. “Guys, buy my novels and live vicariously through the MC that gets praised and rewarded for his actions by the entire universe, but don’t do what he does, it’s bad, mmkay?” What a fucking hypocrite. This author knew exactly what he was writing and why - he was writing a get-rich-quick scheme because he’s an unscrupulous grifter. Kamimachi has long been a staple hentai plot. And it always plays out in hentai exactly like in HigeHiro - the guy “selflessly” showers the girl with fatherly caring, which makes the girl fall for him and “willingly” fuck him out of gratitude. So the author seems to have figured out that copying that, removing explicit penetration scenes, and putting up a hypocritical veneer of false moral superiority would sell like hotcakes with otaku. Good for him and his wallet. But as an audience, I couldn’t care less about how well a story sells, I care about its substance - and this is vomit. 1/10 for “cynical low-effort cash grab.” P.S. Eleven days prior to the airing of the final episode of this show, NHK News Web ran an article about a 29-year-old lawyer (sic!) arrested for housing a high school runaway after just four days of cohabitation, and as of the date of publication of this review, I can’t stop laughing. You can find the story by googling “Real life doesn't work like anime – Tokyo man arrested after letting schoolgirl live with him”. P.P.S. If you want to see the kamimachi premise explored in an actual drama not written by/for human garbage, I recommend the “7 troublesome days with the future bride who is too kuudere” LN/manga (it's still NSFW, just without the moral bankruptcy).