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

Could've gone wrong, and it didn't thank the good lord. Premise is that a salaryman meets a lone high school girl on the street, and in exchange for a place to sleep she offers to sleep with him. This guy, demonstrating basic human decency that is unfortunately kind of rare, declines immediately and instead takes her in and looks after her like a guardian. Their relationship is odd and honestly somewhat fragile, it toes a line between wholesome and questionable, and far too often in other shows of this type that line is either blurred or ignored. But this show knows that, and the characters know that, and they navigate this odd partnership with interesting dynamics with a frankly wholesome core behind it. That's the thing about this show, it is wholesome. It sets up one thing and then sucker punches you with wholesomeness and then makes you feel bad for even suspecting the other thing. You watch this girl who hasn't been shown basic decency for far too long find herself in the company of someone she can actually feel safe around. That is good and far more valuable and enjoyable than if they did anything else. Would recommend.

When I saw the outline for this show, honestly I wasn't impressed. I accidentally clicked on it when my hands were a little overtired from work and found myself surprised. Middle aged guy and teenage girl sounds like pedo stuff, but he flipped the dad switch right off and slid firmly into the healthy mentor role. They both deal with stuff, real world tough emotional stuff. The supporting character interactions are less anime trope and more real than you expect. This show gives you hope, not so much fairy tale endings, but maybe a better tomorrow than you would have expected at episode 1. Slice of life, with a quiet and honest look at ugly human problems that don't have clean sit com or motivational speaker solutions. To do that with hope takes real talent.

There are so many moments where this could've have crossed the line, and certainly create a moment of "parent walking in and having explain", but the aftermath is just and wholesome. A troubled, abused teen is shown appropriate affection and care for the first time and she cannot deal with it, and this is her struggle. This is real, this shit happens, and this is a story of someone who has found a way out, but can't comprehend it due to trauma.