I’m interested in the idea of escapism, and the way anime and related media seem tailor-made to allow fans to exit their ho-hum lives for a short time and live vicariously through fictional characters in the best possible situations. All entertainment offers an escape from the drudgery of the real world, of course, from the Avengers to Star Wars to Jane Eyre, but something about the way anime goes about escapism is extra special, whether it’s a perfectly balanced harem or an isekai story about becoming a hero in another world. Or in the case of The Helpful Fox Senko-san, aka Sewayaki Kitsune no Senko-san, a cute fox girl who’s here to cook us dinner.
There are plenty of ways anime offers escapism for fans, including…
- Harems in which a male character we identify with is surrounded by potential love partners, who fight to win his love, like Saekano.
- Reverse harems in which a girl is surrounded by fantastically gorgeous guys, like Uta no Prince-sama or Idolish7.
- Cute girls doing cute things, apparently in worlds where men do not exist.
- Undefeatable main characters fans can self-insert into, from Kirito to Naofumi from Shield Hero.
- In series like Gundam, a young Japanese boy who finds himself surrounded by an international cast, who all depend on him to pilot the mecha and save them all.
- Anime that help us be healed through the journey of fictional characters like My Roommate is a Cat.
- Stories that are 100% free of stress or conflict, allowing us to relax completely which we watch, like Non Non Biyori.
- Worlds where gusts of wind will always come along at just the right moment.
Then there is the new anime The Helpful Fox Senko-san, which really dials the escapism to 11. It’s the story of Kuroto Nakano, a Japanese salaryman working for a “black company” (one that abuses its employees), enduring great amounts of stress. He returns home one day to find…a cute fox girl in his kitchen, making dinner for him. She explains that she’s an 800-year-old fox deity who’s been sent from the spirit world to take of him, because he’s had it so rough. And that’s what she does, promising to pamper Nakano every moment, from cooking his food to cleaning his apartment to letting him lay his tired head in her lap. She even lets him touch her big fluffy tail.
Is escapism a bad thing? Like everything in life, it can be taken too far, but in reasonable amounts it’s not a problem. You are the boss of you, and it’s up to you to manage your daily problems, to move forward in life day by day. But life can really be stressful, and having a place to escape to in the form of anime is certainly not the worst thing in the world.
Will you be watching The Helpful Fox Senko-san? Tell us on Twitter!
Easter is upon us, and J-List thought we’d do a final giant sale on all our awesome Japanese snacks and drinks, giving everyone 5x J-List Points through Monday, April 22. Since chocolate like Pocky and Japanese Kit Kat will only be available for another few weeks, before it’s removed in time for Japan’s hot summer, so you should buy what you want now. Also, great news! We’ve got limited amounts of both flavors of limited Easter Kit Kat from Nestle Japan in stock!
