I Shaved. Then I Brought a High School Girl Home (Higehiro) is probably one of the biggest surprises of the Spring 2021 season. The great balance of comedy, realism, and emotion is why you should watch Higehiro.
What makes this show different from most romantic comedies I have seen is the attention to detail. From the beginning of the first episode, there you could sense that this story was all about the characters.
All of the characters feel like real people, and their actions feel like real steps a person would take. As such it’s so refreshing to see the characters interact in a way that makes sense.
In my opinion, a classic trope used in a lot of romantic comedies is that the characters hold in their emotions. This leads to misunderstandings along the way which acts as the plot development for the story.
Normally I have no problems with this, but if you are like me and you have been waiting to see something new from this genre, then this is the perfect reason why you should watch Higeiro. For instance, it is pretty early in the show, but there has been absolutely none of that so far.
Just from the interactions with his co-workers, we can see that Yoshida is well-liked. He cares about others, so the only reason he wasn’t sought after before was that he didn’t value himself more. He puts others above himself constantly, so when he finally takes pride in himself he has the looks to match his amazing personality.
Yoshida is honest almost to a fault so he doesn’t leave a lot of room for nonsense. From the beginning, he makes it clear he is only really interested in Gotou-san. So while he can acknowledge other women as attractive he won’t set his eyes on them.
This is why when Sayu tries to seduce him she instantly fails. Yoshida knows she’s pretty, and as a man, he can acknowledge the temptation. A young, alluring girl suddenly came into your life after you got rejected, so one would expect most men to struggle to resist.
However, Yoshida also acknowledges that this isn’t right either. A young girl shouldn’t feel the need to be with a man she just met, so why is she trying so hard? He sees her for what she is, which a lost child, and treats her as such accordingly.
Sayu, on the other hand, also acts exactly as you could expect a runaway child would. She obviously wasn’t comfortable at home, but she didn’t have a plan on how to get away. She did the only thing she could think of which was to find someone to take care of her, unfortunately by any means necessary.
We, the audience, can see that she doesn’t really want to live this way. Moving from place to place with no security other than the man who takes you in is stressful enough. To add to that, you’d also have to hope that the person who takes you isn’t malicious and it makes you wonder how she made it this far.
When Yoshida finally offers her a life better than this with no ulterior motives, she’s confused. The whole reason she’s on the run is because no one has ever treated her like a young person. Now, a man not only doesn’t want her body but wants a better life for her?
It’s still early into the anime but all of these are exactly why Higehiro is a must-watch to me. It might pass you by in an instant, but it’s the small moments that we see what makes it great. People act like people and it has been such a pleasant sight to watch. If you are a fan of the genre and you weren’t watching the show before, I hope this gave you the push to try it out.
If you are a fan of this show then be sure to vote for Higehiro in our weekly poll!
All images are from Higehiro streams on Crunchyroll.
©しめさば・KADOKAWA／『ひげひろ』製作委員会