All in a day’s work, as they like to say. But first up, we have Rich Girl Caretaker. On the romcom spectrum, this show is tilted more towards the ‘com’ side of things, so you can more or less throw logic out the window. For example, Itsuki is a 16-year-old son to a pair of complete and utter deadbeats. One day, he returns home from his construction job to find both his parents missing. His bank book is gone as well. Womp womp. But I mean, what a bond they share! Dysfunctional parents usually lie and and cheat on each other. Dad goes out for milkd and/or cigarettes, mom either works some shady job or brings home a new asshole boyfriend every week. You know how it goes. So the fact that his parents teamed up to fuck him over and run away together is the most romantic thing I’ve seen all day!

Crestfallen, Itsuki comes across Hinako on her way to school. This is when a van pulls up and kidnaps both of them. Again, this leans more on the ‘com’ side of the romcom divide, so… they’re all kinda idiots. And by “all,” I really do mean everyone. First, the kidnappers didn’t even have a clue whom they kidnapped. They simply grabbed the first random girl on the streets. Little do they know they snatched the heiress to a massive conglomerate. Meanwhile, Hinako is completely nonplussed by the whole situation. At the moment, she’s more concerned about peeing her herself. Here, we see her drooling as she takes a nap while using Itsuki as a pillow.

Hinako quickly takes a liking to Itsuki because he’s apparently not as uptight as all the caretakers she’s had in her young life. On the surface, this doesn’t inspire confidence in the romance. After all, there are plenty of chill, non-uptight guys out there. Itsuki is just (un)lucky enough to get kidnapped along with her. But I guess this is fine, because relationships are often born from nothing more than convenience. We like to think otherwise, but true love doesn’t really exist. The person you’re with is just the most compatible person in your vicinity. There is conceivably a better “soul mate” for you out there, but they’re probably in Timbuktu or whatever. Naturally, you’ll just have to settle for the “soul mate” within 20 miles of you. Where would we be if Itsuki had just taken a different route that morning? Or hell, if he had simply left the house five minutes earlier or later. In a way, however, I’d argue that this is more romantic, because it exemplifies my belief that love is a continuous action. After all, I could chase an idealized dream, or I could forever love you in the here and now.

Point is, Hinako likes Itsuki, so after they get rescued (by her super maid, of course), the guy is immediately press-ganged into servitude. Again, logic goes out the window, so all of his parents bills and existing debts have now fallen squarely onto Itsuki’s shoulders. Luckily, Hinako’s father is more than happy to fork over a 20000 yen a day for his services. Wait, that’s it? You have to remember that this isn’t your standard 9-to-5. He’s a caretaker, so he has to work around the clock. For example, after a long day of combat training to become an effective bodyguard, Itsuki returns to his room to find a classic romcom trope in his bed. So in reality, he’s working way more than eight hours per day. That 20000 yen mark is barely sufficiently, especially when Hinako’s daddy is the rich ass chairman of a conglomerate bearing their family name. But what choice does Itsuki have but to become a rich girl’s pet? The sad part is that Hinako’s old man offered to let Itsuki name his own price, but the kid settles for that paltry sum. A lot of people are poor because they’re obviously being exploited. It doesn’t help, however, when they also don’t even know their own value.

Just one last note: I quickly scanned the show’s Wikipedia page only to find two other male characters in the cast. Hinako’s father already accounts for one of them. Basically, this will have a harem-like setup. Welp, romcoms are gonna romcom.

I then watched half an episode of Grow Up Show: Sunflower Circus, an anime about young circus performers. What’s the gist? Well, Mizuka hates the circus, but her loser of a dad suddenly stops sending her money. He’s also too busy to ever see and thus raise her. I feel like this has to be illegal…? But for the sake of expediency, just suspend your disbelief. To make ends meet, Mizuka has to join a circus. Specifically, she has to join a troupe full of orphan girls (another indictment against her father). I stopped watching around the part where everyone chafes at the idea of Mizuka evaluating their talent. Hey, it was the ringleader’s brilliant idea. Anyway, I actually don’t have a bone to pick with this show. I simply realize I don’t… I don’t care at all. I’ve never been to a circus unless being dragged to Las Vegas and renting out a room at Circus Circus counts. This is a topic I give no shits about. So we’re moving on.

Alright, it’s time to check out The World’s Strongest Rearguard. Oh, it’s an isekai. Well, you know the drill: salaryman dies and reincarnates into a fantasy world. Salaryman is assigned a job that is incredibly broken. Salaryman slowly but surely accumulates only female party members (read: harem). One of those female party members has to be slave — she just has to! But yeah, it’s the same ol’ nonsense with these tired shows. They’re not even trying anymore, especially on the animation front. I can’t get over just how drab this anime looks. Alright, fine, you don’t have a big budget. Maybe you spent it all on Saori Hayami and Yui Ishikawa. You could at least make the show look dynamic even if you can’t be detailed about it. But here’s the guild hall:

Here’s a random street in town:

Here’s the walk up to the titular labyrinth:

And finally, we cross into the labyrinth itself:

It’s the same wide, flat angle shot with sparse details every single time. Inspiring. Utterly inspiring. I don’t even need to compare this show to something like Sparks of Tomorrow. Even the two shows up top are running circles around this anime.

The worst part is how they can’t even get the hot girls to look right. I mean, the fantasy element sucks, the world-building sucks, everything else sucks. But at least you’ve got the titillating fanservice down pat, right?

No, no they do not.

I also had to laugh when the MC saw his former team lead (she also died and reincarnated) walk off rather dejected, but couldn’t put two and two together. Hey, she’s not being herself! Ah well, she’ll be just fine! Gee, I wonder why he was stuck in a dead end job in his previous life. Ugh, I need a palate cleanser, but this post is long enough. I’ll check out the rest of the Sunday shows later.