Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
Nazmus____Sakib
"Higehiro: After Being Rejected, I Shaved and Took in a High School Runaway" starts with a premise that could have been a heartfelt slice-of-life story about loneliness and unexpected companionship. The animation is passable—nothing exceptional, but serviceable for this genre. The sound design is similarly minimal, fitting the laid-back atmosphere but not adding much. However, the story quickly derails due to extremely questionable writing choices.
**Problematic Characterization of the High School Girl**
The main issue is how the female lead is portrayed. Instead of a complex runaway with understandable reasons for her choices, she’s depicted as someone who has slept with multiple men for money, essentially turning her into a stereotype of a “whore.” This portrayal is not only offensive b…
Read at the sourceFranqitoH
Ok, here we go for the twentieth time:
Characters:
-Principals: They're not perfect, but I like how MC always keeps her principles without letting herself be manipulated by the situation.(6/7).
-Secondary: The vast majority only fulfills one role, at least I highlight here the mentally ill Yaguchi who gave that dark touch to the series that made it objectively more good.(2/3)
Logic:
I love Higehiro, but kind of in the last episodes you realize some inconsistencies (6/10).
Entertainment (Personal): As a drama it was kind of simple, but then I remember that I love dramas.(9/10)
Basics in an anime:
-Animation: Great at the beginning, Good at the end (1/2).
-Music: Personally, when I think of Higehiro this is the first thing that comes to my mind. (2/2)
-Vice: They seem to be looking to c…
Read at the sourceAnimeExplorer21
Higehiro: After Being Rejected, I Shaved and Took in a High School Runaway... This anime is seriously one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen - it's like a masterclass in friendship and relationships.
I mean, Yoshida? He's like the ultimate dude. I'd have lost my cool like five times over if I were in his shoes, but he just keeps on trucking, always looking out for Sayu. And Sayu herself? She's like the most precious thing ever! I just wanted to give her a big ol' hug and protect her from the world.
What really got me was how the series tackled some heavy stuff - like abandonment, rejection, and finding your place - but did it in a way that was so gentle and uplifting. It's like the anime equivalent of a warm cup of tea on a bad day.
And the character development? Yoshida and Sa…
Read at the sourceRobRidd
It's been disappointing to see people knock this series and make a big fuss about how it promotes "criminal activity," specifically, relationships with minors. Unlike a handful of other anime/manga that come to mind, this isn't a story that revolves around an inappropriate, lewd relationship with a minor. The plot almost solely focuses on the bond developed between the MCs and how they individually grow as people and improve their lives as a result of their time spent together. More than anything, it's a coming-of-age story that highlights a young man and a teen girl each overcoming their own unique challenges & facing them together. The only two things keeping this from a PERFECT 10 for me are the ending and overall lack of romantic progression (don't worry no spoilers here).
The ending…
Read at the sourceimperadise
If i could describe this show in one word its hypocritical. For a show that talks about the sexual exploitation of minors it sure exploits its high school student a lot.
Spoilers
As a western fan of anime one thing i hate about anime is the over abundance of incest, minor exploitation and rape culture. this is a show that seemed to try and tackle the issue of real life sexual exploitation of minors in japan. the show does this by covering the story of a high school student who runs away from home and gets exploited by men until she meets the main character. while i understand some of the scenes to drive home their point the show does entirely too much fan service of the high school student and the entire show becomes meaningless with the ending. the show also has a problem with directio…
Read at the sourcesushiisawesome
HigeHiro is the embodiment of a series with good intent proceeding to then absolutely shit on them while being comically unaware of its failings. It covers a highschool runaway turned prostitute by the name of Sayu, who crashes in at the place of our resident main MC Yoshida, starting a rather heartwarming story about her increasingly finding family in Yoshida as well as others and becoming more and more self-sufficient on her own. This works for the first stretch of the series, but runs into numerous issues even early on that only become more and more exacerbated.
Even early into the show, there's a heavy emphasis on Sayu needing to pick up her bag and head back to her family - which considering this is a highschool runaway with clear traces of emotional abuse, is obviously out of the qu…
Read at the sourceDanae
Higehiro is a series that disguises itself as a show with mature content that tackles real life issues with the utmost care and empathy. However, it fails to do that at almost every turn, because it comes off as an erotic fantasy that is thinly veiled by abuse and trauma.
Let’s start with the plot. Yoshida, a 26 year old man, finds a high school girl, Sayu, sitting alone at a lamp post without anyone to take her in. He decides to give her a place to live in exchange for her doing housework. Sayu has been running away from home and living in random men’s houses in exchange for having sex with them. It is hinted lots of times that besides her sexual abuse, there must be something terrible that made her run away from home. Yoshida provides her a warm home and a place of respite. The scenario…
Read at the sourceZeusAceX
No spoilers ahead, so you can read without any worry.
This is my 3rd review on MAL. I have to start by saying that I generally do not write reviews, unless something left a deep impression on me. For this anime, I will tell you how I felt as I watched the episodes one after the other.
After I read the title of the anime, I was thinking "Ok, here we go, another anime with one of those weird long names". I read the plot a bit and thought, "Well, I will just give it a shot and see how it goes..."
After I watched the first episode, I thought "Yes, as I thought, this is one of those romance shows between a high-school girl and a salaryman". Is there anything new or different in this? And I was not very interested at this point either. The one and only reason why I thought of watching the sec…
Read at the sourceOniZen
TLDR; Don't let critics who complain about the fan-service or male fantasies or anything along those lines discourage you from giving this a shot. I explain more below as to why I have to say this. It's decent, not anything extraordinary, but decent if you're looking for a somewhat short wholesome series about a father-daughter dynamic with a dark topic at hand. There is fan-service but only early on, and there is a story reason for it relating to the topic at hand.
I mostly came across this anime because I found the art style to be quite pleasing to look at, as well as the cries of viewers from both perspectives whether this is a wholesome story or not. I've seen many others say the story presented here is very controversial especially with how it handles its problems it's trying to port…
Read at the sourceGween_Gween
When I first wrote a review about Higehiro I gave it a 2. I thought that this show was pointless, shallow and just a sad attempt to attract the lower common denominator of anime viewers into inserting themselves to the main character Yoshida. The premise, out of a hentai doujinshi, could have been treated better by being more risky, I wanted to see some tit. I didn't see some tit, I was disappointed. Now, when I have ended this series, I would gladly say that this is not a 2. It is a 1. And I will happily express why I think that this is case, why GROOMING HERO is a despicable piece of media.
Lets start with the production, the production of this anime is atrocious and can be compared to my favorites hentais, even worse than some of them. Maybe this decision had a deep reasoning. "Well, t…
Read at the sourcemythical_k
While I admit, the concept of having a minor living in the same home with an adult isn't something I like, the main focus of it is mainly on personal change. Take away the romance aspect of Higehiro, and then it'll form a good story on how to become a better person and overcome any obstacles in life.
The story's plot is mainly a drunk worker who takes home a runaway teenager, the man whose name is Yoshida refuses to do anything inappropriate to her. As each episode goes on, it focuses more on the runaway girl Sayu's past and how she goes through some emotional problems before the series began. With Yoshida not being considered interested in her sexually, he helps Sayu overcome her problems and finds her resolve with his help, showing how there're adults who treat others like humans and ar…
Read at the sourceExemplarCayman
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 is an 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…
Read at the sourceAnshulGoyal
I will need some basic spoilers to explain my View.
The show had great perks.
1) The start and summary of the show were catchy.
2) The anime had a constant flow to it.
3) The character design was in accordance to the story and all the characters had a charm to them including supporting characters.
4) The sense of fulfillment was there with this show.
An adult with a high school girl and the journey is completely platonic. The story couldn't get more exciting.
The flavors this show gave like yoshida in love with her boss.
Yoshida's female colleague in love with her and he having a girl at home. A little harem can be made and Platonic word adds more excitement to it.
Sayu's brother entry , sayu's former relationship being employed in same store with Sayu were really thrilling.
Read at the sourceKANLen09
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. I…
Read at the sourceFlyingsparks1130
Well, this anime certainly surprised me...
Before I begin, most of my reviews are made without prior knowledge of the manga or light novel. I usually read those after I get interested in a new anime. So my perspective is solely based on what I think after watching the anime this season.
So back to what I said earlier. The direction that the anime went was very different from where I thought it would go. Initially, I thought this was going to be darker and messed up with very explicit scenes. But this anime took a different turn from what I expected. As the story progressed, there was so much character development. Along with great chemistry between Yoshida (the salaryman) and Sayu (the runaway high school girl). Yoshida and Sayu kind of give me a father and daughter vibe throughout the s…
Read at the sourceStark700
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. The age 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…
Read at the sourceGilgameshuu
“I came looking for copper and found gold, then I went to get that gold tested and turned out it was a rock painted like gold.” - Basically my opinion of HigeHiro
HigeHiro was a huge disappointment, a painful waste of good potential. The premise is unique, I mean where before have we seen an anime tackle the real life issue of runaway girls in japan? Answer: Never before. The show started strong, and I had high hopes with the story but with each episode, I kept noticing that I get more and more bored and uninterested, and the quality was progressively getting worse and worse.
Considering the issue the show is trying to portray, you would think they would go about it in a mature and realistic way? Hahaha nope, instead we get a lot of unnecessary and contrived drama. Thought we would get a…
Read at the sourceMarinate1016
“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 to distinguish 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 che…
Read at the sourceLordSozin
This anime is not good. Higehiro tries to deceive its viewers by presenting itself as a more mature, well-researched, and well written by having some serious approach to pedophilia, rape, sexual harassment, and child abuse in anime. Yet, the anime also contradicts itself by neglecting the very same thing. I find it extremely baffling that the anime gets away with its hypocritical depiction of these elements.
Now, let me explain: To start off, Higehiro tries to showcase the trauma and tragedy that Sayu suffered from her days as a runaway on numerous occasions. The anime deliberately went out of its way to show flashbacks of Sayu being forced by a random grown-up working man to his, presumably, residence from a busy city street and forced her to have sex with him so that she could have a p…
Read at the sourceNyuw
“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 boss and 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 titl…
Read at the source