The Yakuzas Guide to Babysitting watch

Sep 22, 2022

GG-WP

Recommended

Do you enjoy childcare?
Do you like wholesome and heartfelt moments?
Do you like shows that make you want to protect and care for others, as if you were a parent?
Last but not least, are you interested in reminiscing about your childhood days with your parents/nanny or any other parental figure?
Then this show is for you.

The show revolves around the Tooru and Yaeka duo, with Tooru in charge of babysitting Yaeka on the orders of the household's and Sakuragi Group's head, Kazuhiko. You can see how the duo clicked right away. Whenever Tooru does something sweet for Yaeka and vice versa, you go awwww, that's so sweet, ... and as a result you die from cuteness overload. You can literally see how both of them were vital to each other, practically inseparable, and aided each other's growth throughout the entire series. Tooru, formerly known as The Demon of the Sakuragi Group, literally mellowed out and learned to be more happy, enjoy life, control anger, and have other positive bearing as a result of babysitting Yaeka. Yaeka, on the other hand, was able to express herself more openly, learned to overcome her mother's traumatic accident, and made friends with people her age, which makes you as a viewer just cheer and be happy for her growth. But character development isn't the only thing the show has to offer; we also got to learn about their background, backstory, happy and sad moments, and feel for them. The show give a high level of emotional investment to its viewers.

We also saw supporting characters from the Yazuka gang and the Sakuragi family play a role in the overall story and plot execution. We learned more about the past and background of some of the supporting characters, which obviously aided our investment in them. We don't get the impression that they were thrown together for the sake of progressing the story, but rather that they played an actual role in the story's progression, as well as the Tooru and Yaeka tandem's growth and becoming closer.

Overall, this show is a must-see if you want to take a trip down memory lane and enjoy a heartfelt and wholesome moment. Just by looking at the trailer, you can tell that the art and sound are above average, and you should know what to expect from the show based on the synopsis and trailer. The only flaw in the story for me are the antagonists, who don't leave much of an impression aside from the fact that they're there and they have a grudge against the Sakuragi Group, particularly Tooru. Apart from that, the rest of the show, in my opinion, is flawlessly executed.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Sep 22, 2022

KANLen09

Mixed Feelings

Gokushufudou, Hinamatsuri or even Spy X Family, the wholesome Yakuza family version...but is it all true as the source material implies with the same tropes?

This is the first anime adaptation of a Micro Magazine Comic ELMO title, and mangaka Tsukiya's only work that once got its start as a web manga posted on the author's Twitter and pixiv accounts under the title "Gokudou Musume to Sewagakari" (you can see the Gokushufudou semblance here). Regardless, as much as Yakuza families go, there have been some that has made the rounds with their inert similarities with one another, taking one aspect and fusing it with the other ... in the author's own ways. Gokushufudou showed how a high-ranking member operates his life by putting both work and private life separate; Hinamatsuri has the same babysitting fare but with comedy that is just oh-so-perfect; and Spy X Family brought the family dynamic to the table.

And Kumichou Musume to Sewagakari a.k.a The Yakuza's Guide to Babysitting is just that: a guide for Yakuza members to also be productive members of society while hiding their identities as a secret that's known inside and outside the household. It is by no means a new type of show, but at least it gets the job done about a Yakuza being heralded as the one who's meant not to be trifled with, experience a 180 of a character change with his boss's daughter for babysitting. This is exactly the case for the Yakuza Crusher "Demon" Toru Kirishima, being the right hand-man of the Sakuragi Family under Kazuhiko's control and introducing his 7-year-old daughter Yaeka for a literate babysitting job. That's it. No whimsical plot premises, no over-convoluted setting, just pure familial goodness, and for the most part, it's just "fine" that's nothing amazing, but still, this can be a pretty good time waster (to which I'm kinda regretting a bit on the inside).

Everyone inside and outside of the Sakuragi Family is at least interconnecting to one another, save for some bad apples that have tried to retaliate to the Sakuragi Demon that is Kirishima. Both Kirishima and Yaeka has the aforementioned father figure-cum-daughter feel, which can look wholesome, but this is where the "nothing happens" syndrome really hits the source material like rocks befalling onto a garbage can of a shallow premise, being an echo-chamber to reiterate the same pointers again and again. At least for the other assistants (or minions) under Kirishima rather, I do quite take a liking to his right-hand man and close buddy that is Kei Sugihara. He's such a hilarious idiot that's a sight to behold, unconsciously playing along with Kirishima's antics, and you could feel the difference between his conversations with him, Kirishima and Yaeka. Even rival families (one obnoxious character comes in the form of Yuri Mashiro) and close friends like Aoi Tochiro made their presence feel felt in the face of Kirishima's overall life that's just a matter of unforgivings for his past erratic behaviour. It gets a deserving pass overall for being just OK at best, and that's not saying much.

But otherwise, the show has a pretty consistent production phase along its run thanks to the studio co-collab between feel. and Gaina (formerly Fukushima Gainax), and as you would expect of a light-hearted show, it gets all of its notes right from the get-go. This trickles down to the OST of being a "fine and OK" level, though uplifting, they are not as memorable when the show wraps up.

Yes, while that may not be a bad thing as it could help construct the family dynamic as both the source material and anime now as should, as Gertrude Stein puts it: "Repeating is the whole of living, and by repeating comes understanding, and understanding is to some the most important part of living.", but as Rose Wilder Jane puts it: "Constant repetition dulls receptivity.", and it's a shame that the latter is what I felt while watching the show.

I like shows that have a family-found rhethoric (a la last season's Deaimon), but for some reason, Tsukiya's Kumichou Musume to Sewagakari...really doesn't bring anything new to the table, and that I feel is a mistake to repeat the tried-and-true formula without something that will make it stand out amongst the crowded space of similar works. It can be decent at spots, and that's the lingering on my tongue to say that it's fine, it's OK. Take it or leave it, it's your choice.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Sep 22, 2022

Mcsuper

Recommended

Funny

Family. It’s the essence of most of my emotion nowadays, and in modern media, any type of familial bonding just hits me in the feels, every time. We saw little tidbits of that in this show, and I only wish they executed the importance of family even better, but it’s alright, because Kirishima and Yaeka’s relationship is pure sweetness and wholesomeness to the extreme.

Babysitting shows always remind me of Hinamatsuri, a wonderful show that was wholesome, emotional, and extremely funny, and it’s hard not to compare the two shows. What this show lacked was a more creative approach to humour, and while it’s very wholesome, ... it felt unfocused and the story didn’t flow very smoothly, but I enjoyed what we got.

My grading criteria: Story: /25 Art: /10 Music: /10 Characters: /20 Enjoyment /15 Thematic Execution /20

STORY: 14/25

It’s very sweet, and I can’t emphasize that enough. The relationships are sweet, the dialogue is sweet, the personalities of the characters are sweet. It didn’t have much else to tell though, and while it tried to go in a darker route at times with all the yakuza shenanigans, the tonal shifts felt awkward, because we’d have a set up for darker times ahead, and then proceed back to playing in a playground in the next episode instead of following the dark storyline. It just felt disorganized and unfocused. It felt like a lot of set up at times with no clear conclusion. The villains were kind of just all over the place, and they felt underwhelming as well.

Overall, there isn’t much to write home about the plot, there are just many cute moments and honestly, I’m ok with the simplicity, but I wish the darker moments were executed in a more clear fashion.

ART: 6.8/10

Not the biggest fan of the character designs, but they’re alright. Nothing special in terms of animation, it just works.

MUSIC: 7/10

The soundtrack is pretty simple, and fits the tone of the show well. While I didn’t enjoy the OP and ED very much, it still works for the show. Nothing too special.

CHARACTERS: 13/20

There was a lot of potential with the characters, but in my opinion, just not enough time to flesh them out. If we get a season 2, I’m sure that they’ll be better developed. The cast of characters are fun to watch, and wholesome to the max. Kirishima, the babysitter of Yaeka, probably had the biggest change within himself. He was a cold, and rather brutal yakuza member, and after being tasked with taking care of his boss’s daughter, he became nicer, and learned how to be more responsible. Sugihara existed for decent comedic relief, though his bits did get a bit repetitive as the show progressed.

There were some emotional moments too, and a few backstories that were engaging to watch. Each character had their own pasts and some of them had a rather dark one. With more time, I’m sure the characters will keep gaining depth to them and feel more interesting.

ENJOYMENT: 11.5/15

I loved the wholesome moments and the family moments, they always get me in the feels.

THEMATIC EXECUTION: 14.5/20

They were going for wholesomeness, and they did that very nicely, the theme of babysitting was really hammered home. The darker moments felt a bit short at times, but some of the moments hit pretty hard, and it would have been better if the more dark moments were in consecutive episodes rather than sprinkled in every once in a while.

OVERALL: 66.8/100

If you like wholesome shows, I’d gladly recommend this. While it definitely wasn’t my favourite show of this nature, it achieved what it was trying to convey decently, it just lacked focus. That said, I enjoyed my time watching this, and I’d love to see more of Kirishima and Yaeka having the time of their lives together.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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