Usagi Drop - the anime

Usagi Drop is the slice of life anime retelling of the manga by the same name.  The series aired 11 episodes in during the Summer-off season in Japan in 2011.

   Daikichi Kawachi is a 30 years old single company worker in Tokyo.  He lives a solitary Spartan existence in which the majority of his time is spent working his high stakes sales accounts.  Upon returning to his home town to attend his grandfather’s wake he discovers that his grandfather, a widower, had fathered and was raising an illegitimate child.  The quiet six year old girl named Rin is causing a rift with the family.  None of the relatives are happy about her existence and want to see her disappear now that the family patriarch is deceased.  As they all agree to let the child’s care be taken up by the governments orphan system, Daikichi, disgusted with his families lack of compassion, announces that he will foster the child.  Now Daikichi must figure out how to care for he’s illegitimate aunt and adjust his life to being responsible for more than just himself.  Rin, must deal with being uprooted from the peace and attention provided by her octogenarian father and being under the care of this relative stranger.

    This touching slice of life series is steeped in reality and plays on the idea that blood is thicker than water.  The episodes deal with such mundane and everyday issues as finding the right nursery school for Rin and how to deal with a baby tooth coming out.  Things that every parent and every child deals with and offer nothing of the fantastical sort.  This is incredibly refreshing, especially among the typical anime titles that delve varyingly in the realm of fantasy and pseudo-fantasy.  The animation is simple, sometimes a bit odd and captures the style of the manga well. 

    There is not much more I can say about this excellent series.  It is well worth the watch if you are a fan of slice of life titles.  While some of the subject matter can be serious the overall feel is light hearted.  I was happy to see that this series saw the light of day as I greatly enjoyed what I was able to read of the manga right before it was licensed in North America.  Unfortunately I only got a little past where the anime ends.  The anime ends at about the half way point in the manga, which works well, but I would have loved to have seen the second half told as well.  The first half deals with Rin at 6 and 7 years old.  The second half deals with her 10 years later.  Perhaps the second half of the story will be told at a future time.  But, don’t worry the manga is available to read as well!  There was also a live action movie made in 2011.  This series will work well in you’re collection if you are a fan of titles such as Ichigo Mashimaro.

To read my initial review of the manga go here ---->  Usagi Drop manga