Title: Usagi Drop
Alternate Title: Bunny Drop
Encompasses: The Complete Series
Published by: Siren Visual
Based on: The Usagi Drop manga series by Yumi Unita
Genre: Slide-of-Life, Drama
Audio: Japanese Dub
Subtitles: English
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Full Frame, Original Ratio
Runtime: 320 Minutes
Cost: $49.95
Special Thanks: Siren Visual for kindly providing me with a copy of this title for review
Now I am half wondering why I actually need to openly state my score for this title given its manga has so far been highly recieved over three reviews and the anime series itself was titled my #1 Japanese Anime release of 2011 in the Anibloggers Choice Anime Awards. That being said, I was more than happy to sit down with this Australian “English subtitled” exclusive release of Usagi Drop and getting a better chance to look at the series in-depth over the normal browser window. For those who might dismiss this series as one of those usual guy looks after child(ren) plots that have been done many times before… read this review to find out exactly what Usagi Drop is about and why it clearly took the prize of Anime of the Year 2011.
At his grandfather’s funeral, 30-year-old bachelor businessman Kawachi Daikichi encounters 6 year old Rin, who is shunned by his immediate family. As he presses his relatives for information, he discovers Rin is the child of his grandfather’s mistress, a secret which brought shame on their conservative family. Daikichi doesn’t like children, but the cold attitude of his relatives towards her causes Daikichi to reconsider his stance and adopt Rin and raise her as if she were his own daughter. After all, she is blood…. and endangeringly cute!
What kind of clothes to buy her? What to feed her? What to do about nursery school? Daikichi’s new life raising a 6-year-old girl is an uninterrupted stream of bewilderment.
For those familar with the manga series by Yumi Unita, you may be aware that the story is split into two sets of chapters – the first half focusing on Rin as a child and the second half focusing on Rin as a teenager. At least for me, I was more than satisfied to find out that given the 11 episodes they gave themselves that they limited the series to the childhood portion of the series, which I felt was more heartwarming and enjoyable to read than the second half. Usagi Drop works because it is a pure-hearted and simple concepted series that does not go out of its way to appeal to the mass demographic – ditching any attempt at fanservice for clever character development, a well thought out plot that focuses on key elements of growing up and even threw it light hearted humor and a subtle relationship between two sets of characters. Oh… and while I havent cried at an anime release for many years – there were many moments where I had that little twinge like I was going to ball up in tears due to how heartwarming some scenes are.
This is a story surrounding Rin… almost every plot device from the search for Daikichi’s search for his Grandfathers Mistress to making new life decisions all spawn from ensuring that Rin has a fulfilling and happy childhood. However, this is not a story that is about Rin…. it is about Daikichi as he develops that parental closeness with Rin and goes out of his way to ensure her happiness and welfare even if it means sacrificing his relatively successful lifestyle to do so. That is not to say Rin has no role, as she develops relationships with her family and friends – also leading to the introduction of another single-mother and her son half way through the series that adds a new perspective to the mix as they become close with Daikichi and Rin respectively. The story covers about a year between the two of them meeting and during that time you can see the bond between the two grow.
The actual plot is a mixed bag and focuses on the normal milestones you may expect from early childhood – finding and enrolling in a nursery school with short notice, making new friends, entering elementary school while also focusing on the general aspects of life – Rin discovering a more colourful and conflicting life once coming into more contact with other children, the day-to-day life of the aunt and her much older nephew and Daikichi becoming flustered over every hurdle that comes his way. The storyline moves slowly and does so with great effect while providing perhaps a more realistic approach to parenthood than most other series I have seen where they try to appeal to a wider audience than keeping it simple and to the point.
You could say that this series as three main purposes: 1) To deliver a look at the life of Daikichi as he adapts his lifestyle in order to keep Rin happy while learning from his own mistakes. 2) To focus on how Rin comes out of her initial shell and warms to friends and family while learning to enjoy life without worry. 3) The search to discover the whereabouts of Rin’s mother – who ends up being distant and neutral towards Rin however becomes an interesting character during the later episodes. The series deals many warm fuzzy moments with some serious topics about abandonment and divorce to the mix and when it all comes down to it, it was a series I really did enjoy watching from star to finish.
The main issue I had was that the series just ends, leaving so much potential to go to waste. I usually like my series short and to the point without dragging along the concept to the point where it is unenjoyable – but Usagi Drop is one of those cases that they followed the manga a bit too much and they had the perfect opportunity to get Yumi Unita on board to think up of even a couple more episodes to continue the relationship between the characters. Even so, there is still the potential of a sequel, either building on this with the teen Rin component of the series or alternatively, building the development with the tried, tested and successful childhood Rin with unique plots as they have left a number of plots open. With the exception of that however – I would say this is one of the most heartwarming anime series I have watched and have no hesitation in applauding the series and not losing that charm when adapting it from the manga version.
A special note also goes to the translation team that also included translation notes for concepts that might not be common knowledge to viewers of the series!
I feel that the animation studio Production I.G did a brilliant job with almost every aspect of the design and animation, capturing the many design choices of the manga and replicating them in the anime which works well. While some might find it annoying, they do like to change design styles intermittently… switching between the more realistic and detailed designs such as the ones I have included in every screenshot pictured above (Also most frequently used) and one that gives a more pastel or water-coloured effect which I actually enjoyed and thought were used in the right moments to give the scenes an extra little kick. The character designs themselves are not overly detailed but unlike the manga, they pulled off a more cute charm at the expense of some of Unita’s more unique facial expression designs.
At the same time, animations and facial expressions themselves remain simplistic, and either realistic most of the time or comical which generated both laughs from the direction of Rin’s primary friend in the series Kouki and several Awww’s in the direction of Rin. Not taking into account the aforementioned changes in design styles, the environments were also nicely detailed and made good use of nature and the town aesthetic to really give the viewer the impression of the environment Rin is growing up in – along with adding to certain plot elements.
The music comes from Suguru Matsutani and while I don’t recall having heard their work in any previous anime releases, the kept with the theme of the series and kept it simple but enjoyable. No action-oriented tracks but a mixture of violins, other string instruments and piano mostly made up the music set and while I wouldn’t really listen to them without everything else added to them (Personal tastes, nothing else), I think they complemented everything else nicely. While it was the plot that could build up you to that lump in your throat, it could quite possibly be the music to tip you over the edge.
In terms of voice acting I think they hit the nail on the head with this series, capturing a realistic cast of voice talent that played their roles well. The star of the Japanese dub has to be Ayu Matsuura who despite not having much experience in voice acting and being a child herself – did a brilliant job at pulling off the role of Rin. I didn’t warm to Hiroshi Tsuchida as Daikichi at first, thinking he was a bit too deep voiced at first – but he also grew on me and I thought he did a solid job of his character in the end. Other cast of special note include Atsuko Mine as Daikichi’s Mother, Noa Sakai as Kouki and Sayaka Ohara as Kouki’s Mother. The entire cast might not have brought that over the top epicness that other shows might have had, but for what they were aiming for I was more than satisfied. Of course, as this is currently an Australian Exclusive anime DVD release, there is no English dub but I think the Japanese dub is more than enjoyable to listen to.
The series only had one opening sequence and one ending sequence, but an impressive total of 4 opening animations and eleven ending animations (Most of which are the same with slight design changes). The opening song is entitled Sweet Drops and is performed by Puffy. The song itself is upbeat and enjoyable with lyrics that really suited the theme of the anime. The animation attached to it is also cheerfully but not simplistically animated with two bunny’s hopping around a child design inspired landscape. The ending theme High High High by Kasarinchu didn’t capture my attention in the same way, but the animation attached it it changed slightly with each episode and still proved enjoyable.
While I may occasionally be left disappointed by Siren Visual’s anime releases when it comes to extra on-disc content…. they do sometimes pull through with some of the best on-disc content, especially when it comes to their own exclusives such as Dennou Coil (A whole disc of bonus extras). The bonus content on the second disc includes the four bonus episodes that came with original Japanese DVD/Blu-ray releases “Leaf Aquarium”, “Dear Santa”, “Full Blossom in the Skies” and “The Road Home”. These bonus episodes are short 5 minute episodes that contain short plots exclusive to the anime series – from Rin eagerly anticipating the arrival of Santa at Christmas time to Rin and Daikichi collecting leaves to make an aquarium scrapbook out of them. Also included in the mix were three anime promo trailers (Translated), all four clean opening sequences and all eleven clean ending sequences. To top it all off, it came with a very nice (now obligatory) Siren Visual slipcase! While I would have perhaps liked maybe a translated interview with the team behind the production of this anime – I was more than happy with the bonus inclusions in this already good value collection (Don’t forget this was only recently released in Japan and you could almost say fast-tracked to the Australian market).
I already mentioned at the beginning of this review that I enjoyed this series, and I hope that if you decide to pick it up that you do as well. While it may not appeal to all demographics of anime fans, if this sounds up your alley, there is a considerable chance you would enjoy it…. and personally I give it two thumbs up. While I wouldn’t have minded them making it longer and straying a bit from the plot of the manga, it was a simple concepted and very well implemented series that does justice to the original manga and one that I will no doubt be coming back to watch again and again.
Final Score
Storyline / Character Development: A-
Design: A
Music/Voice Acting: A-
Personal Preference: A
Extra Content: A
Overall Score: S
