A Heartfelt Fluff: Gakuen Babysitters

Synopsis

Two young males, an older teenage brother and a younger toddler brother have both lost their parents to a plane crash. Their names are Ryuuchi and Kotarou and due to the aid of a chairman of a school, they are taken under her wing and are placed in a home and good school. There is a condition to their new life however; and that is for Ryuuchi and Kotarou to be part of the school’s daycare with Ryuuchi as a caretaker.

The Good

From the first chapter alone, there is a sweetness that draws the reader in and heartfelt moments that will make the reader want to continue with the story. The art while not the greatest brought a soft touch to the young children which brought out the cute factor of the series in all the chapters. The plot is simple yet the writer was able to develop much on it on each character of the manga. The characters are all loveable in their own way and the reader has a chance to see the perspective of each child and how they perceive things.

The Bad

As stated, the art isn’t the greatest when compared with the quality of work done now in shoujo series. While the characters are good and the development is mainly focused on the kids, whom are the stars of the series, it would have been nice to see more development done onto the main protagonist of the series. As a mainly light-hearted and generally happy manga series, there isn’t much that one can critique about it.

Conclusion

This is a series that will leave you smiling for the rest of the day even after reading one chapter. If you’re looking for a series with cute characters and heartfelt moments without heavy drama then this is it. From a personal opinion, this is by far one of the best family-oriented shoujo works that I have encountered and I would read it all again if I could. The plot is simple but interesting, the characters loveable and the art is a soft touch that brings everything together. True it is not necessarily perfect in some areas of character development for the older ones, but still it is a small matter in the face of the positive factors.

Rating: 9/10