Gakuen Babysitters Series Review

Adorable cute babies, high school and some occasional drama. Gakuen Babysitters (School Babysitters) is a mixture of all these elements and the outcome is just delightful. Easy going, chill, funny and enjoyable to watch, it is definitely an anime that puts you in a great mood (except for some weepy moments that hit you right in the feels).

Synopsis

After losing their parents in a plane accident, Ryuchi and his 2-year-old brother Kotaro are adopted by the chairwoman of Morinomiya Academy. She offers them a place to call home and a free tuition in her academy on the condition that Ryuchi, along with his studies, helps out the ‘Babysitters club’ which was made from the academy for the staff’s children.

Plot & Story

So the story follows the Kashima brothers in their everyday adventures within and outside of the babysitters club and the Academy. They meet new people, make new friends, and share important moments with their new social circle. Every episode is made up of small individual stories where we learn more about the kids’ families, Ryu’s friends, classmates, and sometimes things about their past. The plot overall is pleasant and easy to follow, it will make you laugh, cry and be all like ‘THIS IS SO CUTE I JUST CAN’T’. The characters have unique and interesting personalities and it’s always fun to see what they will get up to.

Art & Music

Great animation throughout the whole series with a lot of attention to detail. It was so nice to see every character’s name (which usually had the meaning of some animal) represented in their clothes and in their personal items. The animation style and design are very similar to Natsume Yuujinchou and Durarara!! since they are made from the same animation studio, Brain’s Base. Oh boy, where should I start with the music and the voice acting? Everything was so well made. Yhe opening song is performed by Daisuke Ono, who was also voicing the character of Saikawa and the ending is performed by Kotaro Nishiyama and Yuichiro Umehara’s unit Hyorotto Danshi who are the seiyuus for Ryu and Hayato. They all gave great performances and I found their voice acting style surprisingly refreshing.

Themes & Trivia

Childcare in Japan: I don’t think that this anime had any intention of addressing a subject like this but nevertheless it is worth mentioning the struggle of taking your children to daycare. In Japan, sending your kids to daycare is quite challenging and not really affordable for young parents. It is extremely expensive and hard to get accepted to. Up until 2015, Japanese government only authorized nurseries that had more than 20 children enrolled, and it was not easy to secure the space needed to accommodate such large groups, especially in large cities, which ended up increasing the fees from parents in order to cover operational costs and staff salaries. After 2015, Japan passed new laws that made it easier for small daycares to operate and with the help of Florence (a Japanese social enterprise focused on childcare issues) they started converting vacant apartment rooms into small-scale nurseries which helped tremendously decrease the prices and make daycare more affordable for everyone.

Comments

Gakuen Babysitters is just lovely. It’s an approach that we don’t get to see often in anime since shows that are about childcare and slice-of-life are not that common. Loved the messages that the anime tried to get across, like trying to move on after traumatizing events, learning how to deal with babies and how to have a healthy lifestyle even if you need to take care of someone. I really like the variety of the characters as well. Kamitani the tough one, Ryu the kind loving and caring one that seems to be super popular with the ladies, Usaida that is a lazy-ass and has clearly chosen the wrong profession, tsundere Chairwoman who is not that tsundere after all, Saikawa who is the best at everything and the funniest character in the anime, Maria who doesn’t know how to deal with her feelings, and of course the babies! Each one of them has such an interesting personality and it’s always fun to think how they will be when they are older. Another thing that was really nice to see in Gakuen Babysitters was the value of a good family environment relationship along with how important good parenting is, in order to raise responsible and kind kids.

Gakuen Rakuen Baby Dance

Plus:

Interesting characters
Nice humor
Lovely animation with good voice acting
Cute babies

Minus:

Babies would go around the Academy and everyone would think it’s okay
Usaida is the worst babysitter in the world but he has good intentions
Ryu’s ignorance towards anything socially related

Great! Just great! Seriously I have nothing else to add for Gakuen Babysitters. Of course, it’s not something mind-blowing with plot twists and deep scenarios but it’s so enjoyable to watch. If you are in the mood for something light and you feel like you want to take a break from the worries and the intensity in your life, I highly recommend for you to watch it. You will not be disappointed! For those who have already seen Gakuen Babysitters, what are your thoughts on it? Loved it or REALLY loved it? Let me know in the comments!