Hitorijime My Hero

never have i ever... wanted to watch an anime that glorifies emotional dependency :(

“you can decide, do you want to sleep with me or not have anything to do with me at all“ (couple 1)
“enough, stop pretending, i know you want me to screw you“ (couple 2)
“i didn‘t mean the relationship when i asked ‚so this is the end?‘.“ (couple 2)

does the art even matter if you hate the show’s concept of love?
my inner alarm bells were triggered so many times throughout this show. it is sickening to think about how many people are stuck in unhealthy relationships like these. seriously guys, i ... even liked Super Lovers, but this is a whole new level. make a reality check before you’re tricked into fangirl mode. DEFINITELY DO NOT WATCH IF YOU’VE EXPERIENCED EMOTIONAL ABUSE IN YOUR PAST!

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couple (1):
uke1 and seme1 haven‘t seen each other since elementary school when they meet again in high school and seme1 drops that „sex or not spending time“ line. let me remind you, at this point they’re strangers, they missed crucial years for anybody’s character development! while the anime suggests somebody who is in love would say something like that uke1 wants his old best friend back so bad that instead of punching him and moving on, he realizes he’s in love with that jerk.

WTF, this is emotional dependency at its best. you’re so afraid to loose an important person that you would do anything said person demands. and adults comment „they were close as kids, must mean they love each other“ - great, so this is the level of depth this anime has...

in their actual relationship this pattern continues. seme1 can’t stand that uke1 has a best friend and is constantly mean to him. uke1 complains but does nothing no matter how unbearable it gets. it is sickening that the show implies this is ok and what love looks like and obviously gets away with it, looking at all the good reviews. just to be clear, this is not seme1 „having a character“, but simply being shitty. if he had any character at least you‘d be able to say uke1 has a messed up taste, but nah, there’s just nothing they could actually love each other for.

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couple (2):
neglected child meets man with helper complex. this dynamic of the main couple sounds dark and quite promising, both sides have a good psychological reason to fall in love. the gang history of both of them as well as the present teacher student situation feel a little like too obvious choices, but whatever, i like it, it‘s sexy. or so i thought. the problem is not the age gap but how seme2 behaves in this scenario.

uke2 lived in hell when seme2 lets him stay at his home. hero turns stray into housewife (eye roll), secretly feelings develop as familiarity builds up over the years. but ok, if the grooming a bride vibes don‘t turn you off, it‘s cute.

when the teenager finally shows signs of a crush but doesn’t make a move the adult gets impatient. deciding the time of restraint and patting hair is over because he might get some 15y old booty now he drops line 2 from above, in a casual conversation. eww. and to top his shitshow off he lies about not being able to return the teen‘s feelings, although he actually expects him to come forward afterwards.

WTF. we understand you can’t restrain your desires any longer, we know the drill, but is uke2 so unimportant to you, you didn‘t even think this through for 2 consecutive minutes? of course, not only does this crush self esteem, it destroys all the security you built up for him all. these. fucking. years. - for what? a quicker fuck? that’s just disgusting. how selfish can a person be? could this be handled any worse? is „l’m just not a hero“ all you got as an excuse for being an absolute ass? why don‘t you stop him from running away?

down falls the neglected child and with it all the likeability of seme2. but of course this is not the end of things, because... yeah, this is shonen ai.

future „romantic“ events include:
breaking into your student‘s apartment when your bad conscience is finally bugging you. not caring for the pace your 15y old is comfortable with, constantly telling him he needs to show more initiative. playing games about being found out at school although your partner doesn’t want it. knowingly hurting your partner for the sake of teaching him a oh so ‚valuable‘ life lesson. using your friends for a stupid loyalty test to further provoke the thought that the relationship is in constant danger. not seeking the healthy conversation immediately, making sure to trigger his insecurity problems, repeatedly, knowingly. seriously saying line 3!!!

all of this is painful to watch. because again - this is emotional dependency. when everything good that ever happened to uke2 is connected to seme2, then without him, he has simply nowhere to go. breaking up or even trying to avoid the other to think means going back to life in hell. and seme2 doesn‘t care enough to act a tad more responsible and prevent his lover from scarring. instead he is provoking the poor teenager again and again.

being in love is no excuse for totally misusing your position of power. don’t get me wrong, nobody’s perfect. but we’re talking bare minimum common sense here. seme2 could’ve easily taken the pressure from uke2 and given him the assurance he knows this boy needs. you don’t need to be a hero to tell your loved one that it’s ok to have doubts. that he can stay at home anyways. but he doesn’t. why this is considered love i don‘t know, to me it certainly is nauseating.

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if i have to give the anime credit for anything then it would be that it is bold enough to pick the topic of being stuck in an unhealthy relationship.

i think it’s great that gay relationships in general are normalized by the characters. i like the artstyle. i like that it concentrated on an established relationship. that it showed how difficult relationships with big age gaps are for the more experienced partner.

but in the end i can‘t forgive that it‘s romanticizing emotional abuse.
actually nobody should.
the devil lies in the details stated above.

i don‘t want to overlook everything just because this is anime and the industry cannot overcome its tropes. or just because it is shonen ai and there is not a lot of better stuff out there.

i hope someday the quality of my favourite genre will change into something the gay community mustn‘t be ashamed of - No.6 and banana fish are a good start, watch them instead if you haven‘t already, they have an actual genre besides shonen ai. it’s quite sad that this show has almost a rating as high as those...

“It might have looked that way to you, but I’m just normal ”
~ Setagawa, ep 4.

And that’s practically ever BL protagonist ever, isn’t it?

Anyway, if you aren’t interested in reading my entire review (because who enjoys reading long reviews, huh?), here’s a TL;DR version of it:
If you’re a fujoshi or someone who's tired of the same tropes being used in BL (abusive seme, weak MC, cliché romance), then Hitorijime is something you’ll enjoy. But if you’re looking for something new, refreshing or path breaking in the BL genre, look somewhere else.

This review will contain my opinions on what I liked and disliked about ... the anime. If you’re interested, read on! Man, I remember when news of a new Shounen Ai anime was released. EVERY fujoshi account in existence went crazy over this development, and the Mystic Messenger fandom couldn’t get enough of the fact that one of the MCs totally looked like Jumin Han (which he really did from certain angles, honestly). My Insta and FB newsfeeds were littered with scenes and GIFs from episodes as and when they were released. But me being the kinda person who waits for an anime to finish airing so that she can binge watch it in a day, patiently waited for three entire months for Hirotijime to, you know, finish airing.

Now, since it’s Shounen Ai, the entire anime’s focus is on the increased closeness between our two MCs - Setagawa (the blond aka MC1) and Kousuke (the Jumin Han lookalike, aka MC2), as well as the doubts and trauma they both go through. The anime’s first three episodes, for some reason, were dedicated solely to the love story between MC1’s bestie (Kensuke) and his long lost friend Asaya (whose character design looks suspiciously similar to that of Sunagawa’s from Ore Mongatari). The dialogues were lackluster, the story had tropey elements and had certain aspects that I sincerely hoped the BL genre would have got rid of by now. The biggest sinners, ofc, are tropes where the seme kisses the uke WITHOUT HIS CONSENT and that’s portrayed as totally okay bc the seme is in love with the uke. Uh, no. Consent exists for a reason. But I digress. I did not like how this secondary romantic relationship developed – the seme gave the uke an ultimatum – bed me, or leave me. What the fuck?? That’s not what you say to someone who genuinely thinks of you as a good friend. And magically, this ultimatum made the uke realize his actual feelings for the seme and tadaaaaaaa!! They’re lovers. Again - what the fuck??
Also, the character responses were 1 second too late. So that was annoying.

However, things did improve for the better when the relationship between MC 1 and 2 was explored. But there were several things that were not explained. Like, at all. First, how does a ruffian like MC2 become a respectable teacher in a boys’ school?? How and when did he get such an education? What forced him to make the change? How was his violent past (and I’m assuming, his criminal records) NOT an issue with the principal when hiring this dude as a temp??? Second, when and why does MC1 colour his hair blond?? The change in colour isn’t even used as a plot device, so why bother changing his hair colour at all? If you really wanted him to be blond this badly, then why not make him a blond child, instead of a child with ginger coloured hair?? These two things confused me till the very end if anybody reading this review has an answer, do let me know. Third, and most importantly, how could MC2 be so chill about kissing MC1 so openly in the school hallways? I mean, I get that you don’t care about what people think and all, but DUDE. You could literally be jailed for getting physical with a MINOR. Fourth, why did MC1 have to be a minor? The setting could have easily taken place in a college instead of a school and literally everything would have remained the same, except for the fact that this anime wouldn’t have been normalizing paedophilia. Ugh.

So, anyway. Some of the dialogues were very well written, especially in the second half. My fav was when the dude who was ‘grossed out’ by MC1’s relationship (and was eventually shunned by his friend circle) said,“Nobody’s on my side. The one who speaks out is automatically the villain”. Not because it’s very deep, philosophical or ground breaking, but simply because of how REAL it was. I also enjoyed the little character details which made the show a little more memorable for me. For example, MC1 is a nice boy, yet he has ear piercings and wears rings on his knuckles (which nice guys absolutely never do in anime). His mother’s a prostitute, and it’s a miracle the boy turned out to be as normal as he is. Perhaps that’s also why he was totally chill when his bestie started dating a guy – you’re not exactly in any position to judge anybody when you yourself come from a pretty questionable place, you know. MC2 is a chain smoker (I didn’t like that, but it’s a unique quality nonetheless) and has big eyes, while it’s the uke who has smaller eyes. Generally, it’s the other way around, so this one thing that definitely stood out for me. However, MC1’s eyes were so beady (they reminded me of the eyes of the MC from Yahare Ore whatever the fuck its name is) that they actually made me not like him as much as I’d hoped. Why go for such an eye design? And he was the only one with such small eyes. Another breaking of clichés that I enjoyed was the seme encouraging the uke to take an initiative to kiss him. We don’t generally get to see that in BL bc it’s almost always the seme who’s the more dominant one (and by extension, the one more in control) in the relationship.

***Spoilers***
It was cute to see how one of MC1’s friend reacted (and handled) to his relationship with MC2. The friend then went on to join a different group of guys, and the way the group leader spoke to him made for an unnecessary (and yet more likeable) aspect of the details of the anime that I enjoyed about it.
Episode 11 was definitely the highlight of the series. It had raw dialogues, show cased the internal/emotional struggles between both our MCs when MC1 decided to call of the relationship, and both the boys reacted exactly like normal people would in such a situation. I believe that episode was handled quite well. The engagement at the end of Episode 12 was totally ripped off Yuri on Ice, but I liked how it was played out. Totally did not see that coming!
***End of Spoilers***

My scores:
Art: 6 (basic)
Story: 6 (predictable)
Sound: 6 (Catchy OP)
Characters: 7

So, why an overall score of 7? Because of late, this has been the only anime that I binge watched in two days. It was nothing path breaking, but it was definitely worth a onetime watch.

After watching a few episodes of this anime, I have some mixed feelings about this one.

Firstly, when I think shounen ai, I think BL with a proper story and good character development. However, this anime failed to present these factors.

The story starts off with the main character, Masahiro and his past. How he coped with things and how he came to find his first friend. At first, I admit, i found this interesting. And thought it would differ from other foolish anime like Junjou Romantica ( sorry, yaoi fangirls, It's true) though, I thought his character was stupid, I also thought it would undergo development.

But, ... the thing about shounen ai anime is that they never meet your expectations and instead of trying to deepen characters they make them do stupid things so that we end up hating them.

Four episodes have gone, with the first two episodes being completely foolish. They focus on supporting characters, who have very little connection with the main story. They show the supporting characters falling in love, and throughout these two episodes, you see very little of Masahiro. The third was a little better, but was still very foolish in my opinion.

In the end, this anime is just a good way to spend time, other than that, I don't think this will particularly stand out is just meant to be forgotten as some BL anime which wasn't very entertaining.

As a person who's very invested in the shounen-ai genre (mostly in manga, for reasons I'll explain later), this was a disgrace to it.
Watching the PV of this show, the art-style looked promising as a contrast to other BL anime, and the characters themselves were cute.
Boy, was I wrong.

Let's begin with the premise of this anime. The relationships themselves.
The show itself is based off two BL manga called "Hitorijime my Boyfriend", which centers around the first couple; Hasekura and Kensuke - and "Hitorjime my Hero", that was the show's biggest bulk couple; Settie and Kousuke. As I like to call him, bootleg Jumin Han.

Anyway, the ... first two were the cliche childhood friends that separated due to personal issues. Hasekura was far too possessive, and nearly throwing himself on Kensuke for him to love him, even going to such "extents" to do so, it made the relationship feel almost one-sided and unhealthy.

The other two were the ones that made feel especially uncomfortable.
Why you may ask?
The age gap. I've never been a fan of teacher/student relationships in any form of romance anime/manga.
Settie is 15, and Kousuke is a teacher in his early 30's. Seems weird, doesn't it?
May I be the first fan of this genre to complain about an age gap? Sure.
Nonetheless, it's weird. I'm aware the age of consent in Japan is 13, but that doesn't diminish the fact that kids under the age of 18 are still immature to some extent. The way Kousuke pushed his unhealthy relationship on Settie, even when he was doubtful and uncomfortable, made me uneasy.
Kousuke's teasing was constant and was possessive towards Settie, even when he refused. The relationship was forced, and Settie honestly deserved better.
I've said it before, and my friend agrees, it's pedophilia.
The attempts at light-hearted romance scenes between the two are cringe-worthy, as well as the "angst".
May I remind you, Kousuke literally broke in Settie's apartment, only to practically sexually assault him?
Pardon my saltiness, but I truly despise this show.

Neither of the two relationships are healthy in any way.

I did like Settie's personality, though. He was sweet, caring, and overly adorable, which is why I said, he deserves better!
Other than him, I liked Yabase. A side-character that ultimately had no other purpose in the show other than to create conflict and "plot development".
He looked like he truly cared for Settie, and I would've preferred to see him with Settie instead. Whoops.

I couldn't bring myself to finish the anime, due to how terrible its development and the overall plot was.

Now, moving on to the animation/art and OST.
The art was more inviting as a contrast to other BL anime such as Junjou Romantica and Sekaichi. The proportions were good, and the characters overall looked decent. The animation at the very least was mediocre, nothing outstanding.

The music wasn't that good, either. The opening sequence was average and the song itself wasn't very catchy, to begin with. The OST wasn't memorable and simply put there as a medium for changing the silence.
The ending wasn't even average. There was no animation, only panned shots of pastel-colored scenes with the characters. The song itself was sung by the character's VA's, and wasn't great at all.

Overall, the show was a failure in itself, and I wished another BL manga had been adapted in its place.
This is why I hate shounen-ai/yaoi anime as a group since they're poorly created with uninteresting characters, and a boring plot.

Story: 2/10
Art: 4/10
Sound: 2/10
Character: 3/10
Enjoyment: 2/10
Overall: 2.75/10

Hitorijime My Herooooo! I was very excited to have another shounen ai be adapted, and I was not that disappointed.

Story- basic concept that can be guessed from a teacher/student relationship. Common concerns and drama are present. If you're tired of the cliches, I wouldn't necessarily recommend this. However for those you enjoy fluffy cliches in this genre, oh boy you'll love this.

Art- It's a bit lackluster. No explosions of color or movement. It's relaxing.

Sound- romantic vibes all around. Gets repetitive in using the same fluff song. But the overall soundtrack is good.

Characters- Is there huge character development? Ehhhh not really besides some reconciling. ... There was potential in other characters like the barista and the mom (you'll know what I mean). Our main character is conflicted the entire show and that's what really drives it all.

Enjoyment- I will almost always enjoy a shounen ai anime just because it's still uncommon compared to other genres. Still, the anime left a sweet note with me and lifts up the heart!

Overall- I would recommend this to someone who is new to shounen ai or just anyone who loves sweet conflict.

Hitorijime My Hero is a decent BL story with likeable characters and fairly healthy relationships compared to the majority of the genre. It’s pacing, though, could use some work. And by some work, I mean A LOT of work.

Lucky for Hitorijime My Hero, all four main characters are engaging and play off each other well. It’s also nice to see our two couples not only interact with their love interest, but with other people - which is rarer in BL than I’d wish.

There’s also more at stake than just “will they get together,” especially with Masahiro Setagawa. It’s easy to get sucked into ... his story, because not only are you wondering if he and Kousuke Ooshiba will figure things out, but you’re also wondering if his bad home life will set him on a potentially dangerous path, raising the stakes of not only the story, but the success of his romantic relationship.

Despite spending time on Masahiro’s subplot and letting the characters interact with people other than their love interest, the anime spends the majority of its time focusing on the budding romantic relationships between two core couples - as any romance should.

The biggest success of Hitorijime is that it’s really easy to root for the couples. Not only are all the characters likeable, but the relationships are fairly balanced, healthy, and end up benefiting everyone involved. Unhealthy relationships can make for a good and drama-heavy story, but it wouldn’t fit the lighthearted tone of the show, so thankfully, there’s no overly forceful semes to ruin the fun, mostly relaxed atmosphere.

The animation, soundtrack, and voice acting aren’t anything to write home about, but they’re all solid and well-done.

The anime’s biggest issue, by far, is pacing. I believe this stems from the fact Hitorijime not only adapts the manga it’s named after, but a prequel too.

The first episode introduces us to the main couple. The next two episodes sidelines the main couple so heavily, that I thought they were the side couple. It was jarring, to get an intro, outro, and initial episode that seemed to set up one couple, only to switch to another pairing.

While the side couple is cute, their story isn’t nearly as engaging as our main pairing, leaving the first few crucial episodes as some of the story’s weakest. Once the story switches back to the main pairing, things smooth out until you realize that all of the plots and subplots are already wrapped up, and there’s still a handful of episodes left. There are other issues the characters have to work out, but the anime does a poor job giving the viewer cues what those problems will be until the characters are already dealing with them head-on.

If you like BL, Hitorijime My Hero is a must-watch. If you’re looking for a lighthearted, heartwarming romance, you might want to consider watching it. It’s an enjoyable, easy-to-watch story, but lacks anything that would take it from “decent & enjoyable” to “instant classic.”

I had no idea this was airing until I checked MAL today. I was interested to see how this shounen ai or BL looked like.

If you are going to watch Hitorijime My Hero, I found the first episode a bit confusing in my opinion. However, by episode 2 everything was explained. The first three episodes are mainly about the side characters, normally I'd click away but the relationship did catch my attention.

A small problem with this first couple, it lacks, in my opinion, some depth, a deeper meaning. In my opinion some scenes were very obvious and too predictable. I even started predicting ... when a flashback would appear.
The art, for me, is dull. But that's what makes the lighter (more colourful) scenes stand out even more.
I'd recommend Hitorijime My Hero to an average Fujoshi os someone who enjoys BL, yaoi etc.
However, this anime is nothing "heavy". I watched the seven episodes with ease and the opening song is quite enjoyable too.

If you have time to spare and are looking for an almost slice of life anime, try the first 4 episodes and see how it goes!

To be honest, it was the worst anime I have ever watched.

I hated the toxic realtionships and I would not reccomend it to anyone.

My friend told me about this show when I asked her for reccomendations of some good anime. She described it as classic yaoi anime, must see. I was very dissapointed.

The idea of love between student and teacher is a very repeated concept and in most cases the age difference it is not that conspicuous. A young teacher and a third or second year student at the age of 17 or 18. In this case I was really shocked how much it seemed ... like pedophilia. The teacher is almost in his thirties when the student is 16- he just stared the first year of high school.

The second couple are friends from primary school which haven't seen eachother for many years. Their realtionship is toxic as rat poison.

On the other hand music and art are not bad. The character designs and whole scenery appealed to me. I enjoyed the soundrack and I highly reccomend listening to it.

It's another gay romance where the tops are predatory deviants turning bottoms gay through sadism. At least time it's psychological and emotional blackmail rather than physical violence. Is that better or worse, though? Honestly I don't know - at least series depicting semes "raping ukes gay" just come across as smutty pornography for the author and audience's sexual enjoyment. This...I don't know. Did someone think this was a good idea for a romance?

Structurally, the series focuses on 2 couples. One between two high school students and former childhood friends recently reunited. The other between a former vigilante turned teacher and his underling, now a ... student at his school. One of these sounds far more benign and tasteful than the others. You would be surprised!

Hasekura and Ooshiba, the same age couple, essentially form because the former tells the latter that if he doesn't have sex with him he won't speak to him anymore, the latter being very attached and fond of Hasekura as a friend. Ooshiba is emotionally ruined by this, but for some reason none of his friends point out he's being abused by a sociopathic monster with no emotions and they all let him be with this disgusting, personality devoid character. Somehow a love story between two boys of the same age is more sinister and unpleasant than the one about the teacher trying to fuck his student...

This is just the first section of the show, but as an introduction it is quite nauseating. The bulk of it is made up of the romance between the two main characters, Ooshiba (the teacher, older brother of the previously mentioned Ooshiba) and Setagawa (his student). The concept is quite fun - I would have liked to see some sort of deliquent-romance hybrid story, where the two bond as they fight street gangs and Setagawa learns to see Ooshiba as an inspirational figure/lover.

Instead this all happens offscreen and in brief flashbacks. There's no chemistry between the two characters. They never act affectionate. There's no indication anywhere that one is struggling with feelings for the other until one comes out and says "I can't be with you" and then you're supposed to feel moved by the sadness of the other. It's...pretty pathetic. This show isn't supposed to be porn, but its characters are as shallow as if it was.

Visually, it's honestly quite nice, which is why I decided to give it a chance, along with its neat premise. It's not jaw dropping but the character designs are nice (if a bit generic bishy), the art style is consistent and things rarely go off model. The stylization during some scenes is a bit infrequent so when it crops up every once in a while it can be quite jarring, although it doesn't look bad.

Outwith the horrifically written romance, there isn't anything - so if you aren't enjoying that, the show positively crawls. It feels twice its length. Most episodes are just drama between the empty characters struggling with things you are not privy to.

As ever in BL, characters are never really gay. They don't have any semblance of sexuality prior to the story's events - and the story is always them being "turned gay" by this one special individual. They don't like men - except this one perfect guy! as if them being a childhood friend, or them being particularly effeminate makes it more understandable. This is a broader problem with the genre in general, so it's unfair to hold this show in particular accountable for it. But if you have problems with the genre, this is just those problems, iterated upon.

I see people exemplifying this as somehow better than its peers, or above them. Let me be clear: the only category that is the case for is animation (it looks better than other BL shows). In terms of story and romance - this is shit. This is not a good romance between men. This is a romance between cardboard cut out bishonen. If all you want is some cutesy bishies (and can find morally terrible bishies cute) cuddling or acting PG13 gay then sure, you may get some fun out of this. If you want a decent love story, this is not it.

i used to love this anime when i was younger, but upon rewatching, i realized how problematic both of the couples were. the entire series romanticizes age gaps, student-teacher relationships, manipulation, and toxicity.

though i must admit that if it werent for the issues i listed before, especially the age gap and student-teacher relationship, i would quite enjoy it. there were some cute moments, and the characters were quite enjoyable. unfortunately, these problematic elements are something i simply cannot and will not overlook, and neither should you.

i understand that there arent many anime focused on lgbt relationships for people to choose from, and its frustrating to ... see so many of them normalize things like pedophilia, unhealthy relationships, and abuse.

but trust me, you can find bl and gl anime that are good and unproblematic.

Hitorejime My Hero is anime of the genre shonen ai which normalizes pedophilia and sexual harassment (in a way) and it's UNACCEPTABLE. Ok, so there are two couples, the main one: Masahiro (a 16 year old student) and Kousuke ( a 28 year old teacher) with an age gap of 12 YEARS and Asaya and Kensuke, which in one point their relationship was basically sexual harassment.

Let's talk about why this anime has had the potencial to be at least a 7 but failed miserebly. First of all, pedophilia. As I said before the main couple is a relationship about a teacher and ... a student with an age gap of 12 years. Does this seem normal to you? Like, Masahiro is a kid and he fell in love with not only with an adult but also is his teacher. Why do the anime has the NEED to have a such a huuuuuge gap? Why can't we have a 16 year old with a 17 year old, or an 18 year old or geez even 20 year old (a little cuestionable but at least the gap isn't that huge and the younger one is soon to be an adult), but no, we want the main couple to be pedo teacher student prohibited couple. Like if you wanted the prohibited couple teacher student stuff why not make Masahiro a college student and Kouseke the teacher for one of his classes? You HAD to make it pedo. Yeah i know there are older couples with bigger age gaps but at least they both are adults. This couple is ILLEGAL. It makes sad because the couple has a kinda cute romance but they ruined. But maybe the anime is innocent romance they nay say but no. There were mutiple implications of Kousuke wanting to fuck with Masahiro, he didn't seemed very eager to fuck either. Like at one point Kousuke wanted to touch him in the school before classes began. ??? Why? This is illegal enough, Masahiro is 16, my god. This is not the only scene. Masahiro wanted to cook but Kousuke wanted to kiss him and touch him, obviously there were people at his house so he rejected so what does Kousuke do? Take him to an hotel! They end up doing nothing, just cuddling and sleeping buuuut the IMPLICATION IS ENOUGH.

Masahiro is actually a good character, he's not great but he's nice. He actually acts, kinda, like a normal gay guy, not like his friend Kensuke, but im touching this subject later. Like he can be a gay man that doesn't act femenine (sadly as the uke troupe stablished in yaoi, he is weak and his seme has to protect him and cries easily and a lot). Kousuke obviously goes for the troupe of seme, protective, jelous, possesive and strong. What pisses me up the most is the fact that on the firsts few episodes he goes: "Yeah I know how you feel but I cannot accept your feelings", but the very next episode kisses him, gets close with him and suggest him to wanting to be alone in his or Masahiro's house (sexual very much?). Liken, first he rejects him, without Masahiro actually confessing him, but doesn't wait a day to kiss him? Fun fact, when Masahiro asks him how did he got the idea that he likes him he responds: "Your eyes are yelling me I want you to break me, to fuck me" ???? HE'S A 16 YEAR OLD HELLO? So yeah, the point of this couple is that it's illegal and runs into to many troupes to be good. The last episode romance scene was kinda cute tho.

Asaya and Kensuke. Ooooh god, I HATE this couple and the characters. Asaya is super manipulative, jelous and possesive. He doesn't have a redeeming quality. The first three episodes where the couple was stabilish made me so mad. The thing is, Asaya was Kensuke childhood friend and because of changing of school and stuff, they lost contact. When they meet back, Asaya confesses he likes Kensuke but he's oblivious of the kind of liking, so Asaya force kiss him and literally goes, we cut relationship again or you fuck with me, you decide. Kensuke rejected very harshly the kiss, so it's not that situation that in the very deep he likes it. That's so wrong in many ways. Like why? Of course Kensuke is innocent and thought that was a joke, so he continued to talk to him as normal until Asaya force kiss him and ask him again, and Kensuke realizes it's not a joke. So Asaya goes "let me touch you for 5 minutes or we ain't friends anymore" Kensuke accepts this by pressure of losing his best friend again and lets him touch his body. (This last scene is taken in the rooftop in school btw). After one episode they talk and Kensuke realizes he """"likes""""" Asaya, says he doesn't want to loose him and boyfriends and happily ever after.

Kensuke love for Asaya came out of nowhere for me and feels so forced. Kensuke is the typical femenine, crying baby, innocent and bubbly uke and never made me think, haha cute or haha funny, because after all he was annoying and dumb. Asaya doesn't have a good personality, whenever he talked I wanted to punch him. When he tried to "helped" he was just been a jerk. I don't see any good in him and I just rather not see him at all.

In general, this anime is bad. I almost put it a 2, but a few times made me like the main couple (if it wasn't illegal) so there's that. If you expect a story in this one, there's basically none. They should had eliminated the gang scenes because I feel they are a waste of story and sometimes a tangent. Like in one episode they put so much focus in this and I didn't even cared. And other episode that I didn't cared about is when one of the side characters discovered the relationshop of Kousuke and Masahiro and gets mad and sad because of it... I didn't cared for him. Like i didn't even knew him, so I couldn't even get mad at him.

So, the main characters have more flaws than goods (if they have any) and the side characters I couldn't care less.

theme of the show: Morally questionable couple dynamics


The childhood friend couple has a very concerning dynamic of the seme's tendency for blackmailing and gas lighting.......... yeah what the hell and the teacher student couple is just outright inappropriate to begin with.

highly not recommended. watch better BL shows.
I know BL anime is rare and far in between but we deserve better.

The only positive aspect of the show is that there's a character that comments on how gross the relationship between the ADULT TEACHER and the MINOR STUDENT. I really like him -- he's a rad dude.

I also like the fact that ... they do not completely villainize the neglectful parent of the main character.. She doesn't seem like a obtusely abusive mother -- just a sex worker trying to get by. Is the mother neglectful -- yes but its not because she's a bad person... It's more like how sex work is treated by society as well as the lack of social net for those who do not follow typical family structure (i am assuming the main character either has divorced parents or he never had a dad in his life).

Anyway all things considered, would not recommend.

Okay, so I usually come to My Anime List to get recommendations for an anime, and this is my first review so bare with me, but I felt that Hitorijime My Hero was such a great Anime that I needed to review this for anyone on the fence about watching. The synopsis doesn't really do it justice and it firsts it didn't make me want to stop everything to watch it, but I found this anime through a YouTube suggestions list. At the time, I was looking for another BL to watch and low and behold this one comes into my life and I'm ... so thankful for it. Yes, this is a Shounen-ai anime, but that's pretty obvious.

Story (10)
Although this is your typical slice of life/high school/romance anime, the story keeps you very engaged the whole time through. If you're not convinced by the first episode definitely watch the second one, things become clear. So, what exactly is the story? Well, it centers on a boy named Masahiro Setagawa. He's in a gang because he wants to have this sense of belonging. After some circumstances (I'll try to refrain from spoilers) he meets this other young boy named Kensuke Ooshiba and through some other circumstances his older brother Kousuke Ooshiba, who is older than them. They don't specify much older, but I'm assuming in his mid twenties. He has a reputation among gangs to be very tough. Upon meeting the two, Masahiro starts to become involved in their lives and stops hanging with the gang. Kousuke feels this need to protect Mashiro and their relationship grows stronger because of it.

Another sublot to the story revolves around Kensuke and his childhood friend, Asaya Hasekura, that, after unfortunate events from when they were younger got diconnected from each other. Hasekura moves back for the start of high school and the story focus on them reconnecting. The story from here develops the characters and their relationship to one another.

So my take on the story, like I said before it kept me engaged the entire time through. The characters are well fleshed out and it has a great balance between the comedy,drama, romance. Oh the comedy in this anime. If you need an anime that delivers on the comedy it's this one. I swear I'm not lying when I literally laughed every episode. Although the comedy is great, it also has a great balance of drama, as well as the emotional parts and the romance. If you're also looking for a great BL anime, this is for you.

Art (8)
The art for this anime is actually good. The character designs are nice to look at and it provides a nice scenery. It's nothing that's distracting is basically what I'm saying. The art design isn't much to talk about because it doesn't do anything particularly unique with the animation style, so I gave it an 8 because it's still pleasing to look at.

Sound (9)
The soundtrack for this anime is very good. The opening is catchy. At first I found myself not caring for it, but over time I found myself bopping my head to it when it plays. The ending is also good and calming, but what really steals the show for me in this anime is the tracks that play during the emotional scenes. They were very heartfelt and beautiful. I watched this with my brother and he and I both said that they need to release a full soundtrack because the tracks they use are beautiful. If it's enough for me to want to download, then it's good. The sound is definitely a strong part.

Characters (10)
Okay so let's talk about the characters. There are really only four main characters in this anime with a couple of side characters, but I'll be focusing on the main four.
Masahiro Setagawa
I would say out of all the characters in this anime, Masahiro gets the most character development, which makes sense because he's our protagonist. He starts off the series as this kid that wants something different with his life. He doesn't want to be apart of this gang, but he feels he has no other options. His home life isn't great and he doesn't really have anyone looking out for him. He also does what everyone tells him to do and has the tendency to apologize for everything. Over the course of the series, we learn about his home life and how he does develop as a character. I can't say too much without giving plots to the story, but this is a very well fleshed out character, especially over a twelve episode anime.

Kousuke Ooshiba
He is the older brother to Kensuke. He's a teacher at the high school that both Masahiro and Kensuske go to. He's very tough and has a lot of street cred, but also feels the need to protect Masahiro, especially from the gang. He's very dedicated to his school work and takes a liking to Mashiro when he sees how much potential he has as well.

Kensuke Ooshiba
He's the younger brother to Kousuke. He does serve as the comedic character, but also shows much care for his brother and his friends, especially Hasekura, his childhood friend. The story doesn't focus so much his character, but he was still a delight and you still grow to like his character.

Asaya Hasekura
He is the childhood friend of Kensuke and seems to care very much about Kensuke, but he also seems very intuitive about the relationship between Masahiro and Kousuke. He usually is the first to see if something's up before anyone else. His character was also good because he seemed to play a part and pushing things that needed to be pushed.

I also want to say that I also loved the side characters. You really get involved in the all the characters. There was even an episode that focused on one of the side characters and it is very well handled and interesting. When watching this, I felt that these characters were very real in the way they interacted. It was very believable and if not for everything else that's great about this anime, the characters are really what shine here.

Enjoyment/Overall Thoughts (10)
I guess by now it's no secret that Is really enjoyed this anime. I feel like it was exactly what I needed. Like I mentioned before, I was looking for a nice BL because I had already watched all the good ones. This one though I feel like will stick with me in a different way than all the others. While the others that I've watched like Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi, Junjou romantica, Super Lover, and even Yuri On Ice have their moments of fan service, and don't get me wrong I don't mind fan service, I felt like this one was genuinely trying to tell a story of the romance between two couples without needing to incorporate any of that other stuff. It felt genuine and it doesn't feel forced in the slightest. The development of the romance in this anime is what really keeps you invested. There were so many good and cute moments where I couldn't help but just smile and squeal like a fan-girl. If it isn't obvious, I'm a fan of boys love anime, but this felt somehow refreshing in the development of the romance. For once, there was no rapey scenes, that in it's self was a surprise. The characters, like I said were well developed, you grow to love them. The story is interesting, it can be emotional and may even give you that lump in your throat at certain parts. The drama is good and so is the comedy. Above all the romance is exactly what any person looking for a good BL anime looking for. If you're looking for Yaoi, then this isn't for you , but if you simply want a shonen-ai with believable characters and a great story to match, look no further. If the whole student-teacher thing throws you off and you can't get behind it maybe this isn't for you, but this anime does such a great job at developing the relationship that you almost forget about that aspect and see just two guys falling in love. I mean if people can get behind Super Lovers, then you'll have no problem watching this. Hitorijime My Hero is a beautiful anime that really focuses on the romance part of it and isn't just smut. I hope that this becomes more recognized now that it's finished. I highly recommend this to any fujoshi, but also to anyone that loves a good love story.

Short Review here -
Recommended: nope
Spoiler-Free?: Nope
Pros: the characters themselves are mostly good
Cons: relationships. It’s almost unbearable. Don’t get with your Teacher.
Swears in review: nope
♥
I hate it here.

Always remember to not get with your teacher and consent is important.
...
[Story]: the plot is mediocre, mostly based around the relationships between the characters, which is important towards the plot. For Shounen Ai, I’ve seen better. The only issue is that if the characters weren’t problematic it would’ve been better.

[Art]: It’s also pretty mediocre. It’s not super expressive as it should be for its comedy bits and also has an issue with fluidity and transitions, which is what you mostly get during this time period of a slice of life anime. I’m coming from the age of 2018 and above animation so my view on animation is a bit skewered. What this anime does has for it is how they paint the night sky. Honestly, whenever a character is walking behind the night sky it’s pretty nice. The character designs aren’t too bad either but when I started the first episode I had trouble trying to figure out who is who.

[Characters]: I’m entering spoiler territory here. First I want to mention, the relationships are awful. Absolutely disgusting and because I love analyzing characters this will be the most lengthy section.

To start things off, easily the worse relationship in the show, Kensuke Ohshiba and Asaya Hasekura. Basically, I hate it here. Asaya is incredibly possessive and toxic and carries so many red flags with him. Hell, when they first finally became friends again in the earlier episode he forced a kiss on Kensuke to get his feelings across, which no, don’t do that. I want to point out consent is key and at this point, Asaya didn’t have any indication that Kensuke replicated the same feelings towards him or that he even was gay. He legit sexually assaulted him and then he begins to manipulate Kensuke by saying “you either can make love with me or we are no longer friends.” (Something along those lines.) and then get again forces Kensuke to do other things that are left towards the imagination. Asaya is incredibly possessive and overbearing and doesn’t even accept that Kensuke has other friends until later in the series. Asaya sucks, he really does. He’s my most hated character throughout the anime just because his personality is completely awful too with nothing remotely redeeming about him. What’s sad is that Kensuke is easily manipulated which is sad and what is most likely the thing that pushed him towards pursuing a relationship with Asaya. Consent is important.

Masahiro Setagawa and Kousuke Ohshiba are to put it simply, disgusting. I honestly should’ve known what I put myself into when the premise was about a delinquent boy and his teacher but, here I am. To point out the main issue, Kousuke is twice Setagawa’s age and Setagawa is a minor. Kousuke also just happened to be his teacher, which just really seals the deal, Kousuke also has been shown to have feelings for Setagawa for a while now, which means he’s been praying on a minor since he was in middle school. I hate it here. I really do. I never understand why in anime it’s suddenly acceptable that a student a teacher gets together and no one bats an eye. ALTHOUGH, CAN WE GET A AMEN FOR MITSURU FUKUSHIGE FOR CALLING THEM GROSS? Then everyone frickin yelled at him for pointing out the obvious. I wish you the world baby boy, you are the only sensible character in this show.
Overall their relationship isn’t terrible, frankly, it’s healthier than Kensuke and Asaya by a long shot but it’s disgusting and Kousuke deserves to be locked behind bars. I’m also curious how Kousuke is still alive considering he legit smokes a pack of cigarettes per episode. Characters smoking is always a fun trait but Kousuke does it so much that I’m honestly concerned.

The characters aren’t truly bad in general, except for Asaya, I would pay for his coffin personally. Most of the character chemistry is fun to see play out and they have their comedic moments.

[Overall]: Here’s a list of Shounen Ai stories with actually well depicted and not fetishized gay characters:
Anime: Given, Doukyuusei, No. 6, Banana fish, yuri on ice
Manga: Blue flag, Ganbare! Nakamura-Kun!!, All about J, lonely to Organdy, Shimanami Tasogare, Koimonogatari, My son is probably gay, I hear the sunspot

It's your usual BL, I'm a sucker for cute romances so I continued watching it. However, I can't get behind the age gap of the first couple (high school freshman + teacher). Also the usual drawn out BL drama, an episode that could be 5 minutes is stretched to 20 based on a misunderstanding. And I also dislike the whole 'older man/Top dominates and bullies younger man/Bottom into realize he's gay ONLY for him. If you can look past all that, then it's a cute feel-good show.

I know sexualizing high schoolers in anime is common, but I don't think it should be common: pop ... culture is a reflection of society after all. If this was purely pornographic it wouldn't bother me, since the intent behind it would then be not to tell a good story but to fulfill a kink.

The animation can be a bit stiff at times, but considering it's not an action anime, it's fine. The voice acting is great and I enjoy the character designs as well.

Hitorijime My Hero isn't a very pleasant show to watch, both visually and plotwise, but it's not entirely without merits.

The story falls into the trap of a lot of cliché romance stories in that it is just a series of misunderstandings and miscommunications stringed together. The characters seem to strive for maximum stupidity in all their decisions in a way that almost no real person would, which could maybe be excused with them being teenagers new to this whole romance thing, but several characters are adults, which makes it a lot harder to overlook their willfully dumb behaviour for plot's sake.
The story brings up a ... handful of more serious topics (most importantly the focal point of the series, the teacher-student relationship) but those generally never go anywhere, get dropped or are played for laughs right after they were supposed to be emotionally impactful themes. I don't feel like any of them are handled well.
The supporting cast stays rather bland and one-dimensional considering they are around an astonishing amount of time, but it is nice to see actual friendships in this romance-focused plot regardless.

Visually, Hitorijime My Hero is below average. The animation often feels stiff and unnatural (a surprisingly common problem in BL anime in general, that this one sadly couldn't escape). While the backgrounds tend to be nice and functional, they aren't mindblowing or anything, and can certainly not make up for the character designs - one of the biggest issues of the series. Almost all the characters look the same: exact same hairstyle, same face, same body type, maaaaybe minor differences in eye shape. The only thing to really tell them apart by is the hair color, which isn't helpful when it changes throughout the story or depending on lighting. It can be genuinely hard to tell characters apart sometimes.
The romance itsself is rather unsatisfying; the anime constantly shies away from actually visually portraying any romantic scenes for both main couples which is quite mind-boggling and comes across like censorship of even the most innocent moments.

The music is alright, it works as intended in supporting the scenes but doesn't stand out positively either. A nice exception from that is the opening, which does a great job at motivating the viewer to start each new episode with a positive mindset through its catchy energetic tune.
The voice acting is okay, the voices fit the characters well but don't exactly try to break from the norm in any way; from the whiney uke voice to the cool aloof guy voice to the deep manly typical seme voice, you get the full range of "typical BL".

Overall, Hitorijime My Hero is about as cliché as it gets for basic BL love stories, and it doesn't even do a particularly good job in delivering them in a pleasant way either, but it does have its sweet little moments that make up for its many flaws at least a little bit.

this anime would have much more potencial if i werent about a teacher and a student. like what the hell?? how can u guys watch this with a straight face and enjoy it knowing there is a big difference between the ages of the two main characters?? honestly, i would only watch it for asaya and kensuke THAT LEGALLY CAN HAVE A RELATIONSHIP SINCE THERE IS NO AGE GAP BETWEEN THEM. If the teacher were like idk 18 years old it would be still kinda strange but hes 28?? and you guys are supporting an anime that show a relationship between someone whos 28 and ... someone whos 16? this makes no sense.

Twelve parts and I will write review. Hitorijime my Hero confirmed that is one of the better. And for me it's the most beautiful anime. I love typical yaoi / shounen-ai anime like Junjou Romantica, Sekaiichi Hatsukoi - This is a typical anime for people with love to homosexual love. But Hitorijime my hero is one of my best. After view all parts i feel lucky and sad. I want second season (But I know it would be the same like first season.)

Characters:
Everyone character is special. First couple ist nicely, but Kousuke and Setagawa... Oh my god. I am glad, that Setagawa was first, ... who showed interest. (Usually first, who showed interest seme and convinces uke that they love each other.) Other characters is not so much interest, but it belongs to the story.

Story:
10/10 - Every part is special. Something unexpected appears there. The relationship of the main characters is not a typical cliché, it is always something enriched. I laughed and wept in every part.

Music:
Fantastic! All music go to my phone. Openning, ending - amazing! The music that the lovely pairs sing ... (Setagawa, Setagawa x Kousuke, Kousuke, Hasekura x Kensuke ..) I also like to listen.

Overall - I think, that there is to offer here much. I Hitorijime My Hero I love, I am dependent on it, and I accept the criticism for me, because not everyone gets into the taste. :-)

well first off READ REVIEWS FIRST like no seriously, I went into this anime thinking it was gonna be a wholesome bl anime ha. ha. ha.

yeah NO nothing of that sort, first off the age gap is like huge like at first i did not think it was gonna be like this but of course something has to be wrong with it.

when i find out that the age is like um not right then i immediately drop it but i did not know about the age gap so i kept watching (and of course not knowing i got a volume of the manga) ... yep just my luck.

my point is DO NOT watch it it is very uncomfy once you find out about the age gap so yeah thts about it.

My reviews and writing suck, don't read this.

TL;DR: Shounen Ai is not for me.

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I've never watched a Shounen Ai show. I'm just a straight, male anime fan who didn't really realize what he was clicking on when he logged into Anime Strike. Here is what I thought of Hitorijime My Hero.

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Scrolling though MAL catching up on the top rated shows from last season, I had made my way down the list to this show. I didn't give the genres a glance as I typed the title into google to see which subscription service I needed to use to view it, but based on the ... title cover, I had a good idea of what I would be getting into. It didn't take long for my initial skepticism to have validation.

From an outsider's perspective, I have no means of comparison for this show. Although, if this is supposed to be an above average shounen ai show as the ratings suggest, I don't think this genre will ever be something I can see myself going out of my way to watch again.

*Some Spoilers ahead*

Story:

The plot of the show focuses on one of the two pairs and how they realize their love for one another, and then becomes a story of how they grow closer in their relationships through certain events and various emotional conflicts. Notice that I said "pairs". The show decides that the side pairing should take up the majority of the first 3 episodes before fleshing out the main pair. A decision I believe was made just so the show could have more BL than it already was planned to, and so that it could showcase different "top" and "bottom" troupes. The issue that really takes the cake for me though, is the #1 piece of evidence that you are watching a terrible romance: the "it was all a misunderstanding and I run away from our actually non-existent, but rather self-inflicted and imaginary, problems" cliché. Setagawa continually finds himself ramping up these scenarios and ideas in his head that Kosuke and him will never work out for this reason or that. Some of them plausible, others are problems that he creates in his head (although they may have some truth behind them) which end up hurting and straining their relationship beyond how things should have been.

All this accompanied by common romance melodrama, boils down to a poor execution at making a compelling narrative designed to show that true love can overcome all odds.

Art:

Nothing special, but there is nothing inherently wrong with it. The characters are well polished to make them show off whatever features define their character, and the surroundings and environment aren't forgotten.

Sound:

Not a big fan of the OST, but the music accompanies the situations well and the VAs fit their characters.

Characters:

All 4 main characters in this show fit into a specific troupe so that no one's favorite is left out. Setagawa is a clearly defined bottom that is very powerless, dependent, and caring. Another obvious bottom is Kensuke, the younger Ōshiba. He is the typical comic relief through his childish antics and attitude during the lighter parts of the show. This makes Kosuke and Asaya the respective tops. Kosuke is a college graduate teacher who is meant to be the calm, cool, collected, powerful, strong type with an emotional, loving side to him. Lastly, Asaya is the tall, model-esque, inquisitive, jealousy-prone, selfish type.

These 4 characters are created this way in episode 1, and have little to no development by the ending.

Enjoyment:

I finished all 12 episodes in a rather quick fashion, so something about this show must have kept me entertained enough, right?

And to that I'd say: "No, not really."

The only thing that kept me watching past a very laughably dramatic plot point in an early episode where Asaya tells Kensuke something the lines of "Leave me for good or fuck me", was the rather terrible habit of leaving things I completed. That coupled with a curiosity to complete a show in a genre I would have never watched, led me to complete this show.

Overall:

This leads to my overall score of 4/10 or "Bad".

I know this show isn't the "Steins;Gate" or "FMA:Brotherhood" of shounen ai, but it is the show that, barring an over 8/10 score on a show that airs in the future, only reassures the fact that this genre will never be my cup of tea.