English Dub Review: Miss Caretaker Sunohara-sou “Ghosts, Homework, Massage”

Synopsis (Spoilers Below)

This beginning of this episode is deceptive, almost as if the viewer had accidentally clicked on the wrong anime. But no, what starts off as a scene straight from every horror movie ever quickly fades as we realize that Aki and Yuzu are simply enjoying a lazy night binge-watching horror movies. Which was probably a poor decision since both of them are absolutely rattled by the end of the night. Somehow, this eventually leads to an athletic competition between Yuzu and Nana where the loser will have to store Nana’s treadmill. Later, Aki begins to feel empathy for Ayaka due to all of the physical labor she endures while up-keeping the house. To remedy this, Yuri teaches Aki how to give a proper massage as a way to say thank you to their caretaker. The final segment of the episode focuses on Aki as he unwillingly becomes a pawn in Nana’s scheme.

Our Take

At this point, I’m just done with this show. It scarcely feels like the writers are trying to even write a heartfelt series and instead are focusing their energy in writing softcore hentai. This series held more potential and could’ve easily become a balance between mildly suggestive scenes and genuine humor. Instead, virtually all of the plots somehow tie back to sexual innuendo and the extreme discomfort Aki feels as a result. From a western perspective, this can be unnerving, especially since most of the characters are underage. Still, maybe some viewers won’t have an issue with this, but I completely understand if some of them do.

While there is some good comedic timing in the dub, it’s not enough to save it from the rest of its shortcomings. Most of the characters sound average at best, but Aki was absolutely grating to listen to. Almost like a discount Ash Ketchum. All in all, it seems like even those involved in the production of this anime are taking it seriously anymore.