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

The height of cluelessness. Some clever individual thought they'd write a story about an adolescent runaway rescued by a saint from the local software company (which is fine, and frankly I not only find the subject matter relatively intriguing, but it could also work in both dramatic and comedic directions), but then they stuck a dusty, typically LN title on it as a warning right away to hopefully lower expectations to the very bottom. And surprisingly those first episodes were decent; I even take that controversial 3rd episode as a strong last stand for the slowly sinking and hitherto warped character of Sayu. At that point, you could still sort of forgive the lustful camera, which was disingenuously looking for angles to peek at the ladies' cleavage or around the edges of their skirts/underwear with the intention of exaggerating the sexual subtext of the story. Then no longer, because the plot dropped through the floors of the idea-ridden basement more abruptly than a loose elevator and began drowning in a swamp of fluff, all to the accompaniment of an astrophysically unnecessary and annoying panopticon of supporting characters: the desperate lovestruck cinephile, miss "virginal buxom tease", and that know-it-all meddlesome work colleague who gossips and offers unsolicited advice like a character from Babovresky. The seconds ticked by about as briskly as the hours on a broken clock and Higehiro stalled for the gold in order to stretch the totally predictable finale into 3 episodes about how to successfully beat up a desk, have juice, and practice almighty slow-motion situps. The feeling of suffering and awkwardness was ubiquitous, the catharsis inappropriate, and the mission outlined initially disappeared before it could introduce even the minimum. While I liked the female seduction-resistant Yoshida and the confused Sayu quite a bit, their campaign was woefully underdeveloped relative to its opening potential. They didn't win here, and neither did the audience. (28.06.2021)

This anime, unfortunately, embarrasses itself with every episode, with the author absolutely running out of steam and his brain locking up in episodes 3-4. This isn't even fluff, this is worse than the coal in Santa's sock. (07.06.2021)

Eyes dart angrily at each other, tension mounts mightily, sharp internal monologues go nonstop, followed by aggressive grabbing of a full glass of juice, banging on the table: "ENOUGH!!!....now I want to take a drink." (22.06.2021)