Anime Review: Higehiro (Shaved the Bead. Then Picked Up a High School Girl.)

It is not often that I come across an anime that deeply moves me. I have been a fan of Anime for most of my life and there are several series that I enjoy; but beyond entertainment, they don’t really move me. This one did. If I were being honest, I would say that it shook my world. It hit me deep in the gut and brought me to tears. I don’t know if I have come across one before that has moved me this much. Because of this, I have decided to review it. All that said, let’s start with a synopsis and then I will tell you why I loved it so much. And don’t worry, I am going to attempt to avoid spoilers.

The series opens with our protagonist Yoshida confessing his feelings to his crush of 5 years only to have her turn him down claiming to already have a boyfriend. He decides to drown his sorrows and gets hammered. It is in this state that he makes his way home and finds a 17-year-old runaway sitting under a streetlamp. This event is our first introduction to Sayu. She tells Yoshida that she doesn’t have anywhere else to go and asks if she can stay with him. She even offers to let him sleep with her.

While Yoshida takes her home, he makes it clear that he is not going to sleep with her. The next day, he decides to let her stay in exchange for working around the house. He does reiterate that he has no interest in sleeping with her and not to proposition him again. With this, the stage is set for the story that is to follow. Over the course of the series, we learn more about what Sayu has been through culminating in the reason she ran away in the first Place.

Higehiro is sometimes heartbroken, while others are full of hope. As I said at the beginning, there were times when the story had me balling. Through the series, you get to see our two main characters grow: both in their relationship and as people. They both help each other and help heal each other.

The series deals with the themes of fate, emotional pain, kindness, and healing. The pace of learning about Sayu’s background and the trauma she has endured matches the pace at which she comes to deal with those things. We can see her process what she has been through, and that is a lot. Had she not met Yoshida when she did, things would have only gotten worse.

Pros:

There is a lot to like about this series. While some of the themes are difficult to deal with (I’ll say it again, I bawled hard several times) they were handled about as well as you can hope. The idea of a single man taking in a teenager who he doesn’t have any connection with could very easily go wrong, but Higehiro handles it so well. And this issue is the least dark theme in the whole series.

As I said before, another great part of this is the characters. They start out well rounded and for some of them, we see them grow. Also, as they navigate their relationships with each other, we see them change and adapt to what life is throwing at them. None of them feel cliche or two dimensional.

Finally, I will say that this story is full of heart. I grew to love these characters. It is as if they became my friends. I’m happy when they succeed and it broke my heart when I saw their pain. When they all got the happy ending, they fully deserved, I was overjoyed. It was the perfect ending. It did not erase the pain of the characters, it just showed that they had grown past it.

Cons:

The only con I can give is that the themes are very heavy. Sayu is only 17 at the start of the story and she had already been living on the streets selling her body for a bed. She is deeply broken and lost. When you learn about the traumas that led her to this point, it will break you.

There are some themes that might trigger some viewers, so if you have your own emotional and physical trauma in the past, I recommend you look up a more in-depth explanation of the plot and themes online so that you know if it will be too much for you.

While these dark themes are central to the story, and it is how Sayu deals with them that make this such an amazing anime, they can be difficult for some people. (As much as I loved this and want to share it with my wife, I also know that she would not enjoy it because of some of the themes.) I list this as a con simply because I know that the themes will keep some people from enjoying it.

Overall, I love this anime. I had to watch the ending a second time simply because it was so perfect. It had the perfect balance in the story. I think the best thing I can say about it is that once it was over, I didn’t need it anymore. It was a perfectly contained story. I highly recommend it. Easily a 5/5.

P.S.

If you would like to dig into the series more to see if the themes might trigger you, here is the Wikipedia page for it.