Usagi Drop

// major spoilers


Well, the manga IS REALLY great, main characters are well developed. But the last part got me and after that my interest in it was really low, it made me completely uncomfortable. But the art is amazing, such beaultiful trace. But for the story I would give a 7 overall, some characters aren't developed and shown as they should and the writer could give an good final, not one that is literallly she saying that would like to have a baby with the guy who took care of her and is REALLY older.

Bem, o mangé é realmente bom, os 2 principais são bem desenvolvidos, a arte é linda. Mas para a história eu daria 7, alguns personagens não são desenvolvidos e mostrados como oq eu esperava . O final me deixou COMPLETAMENTE desconfortável a autora poderia ter dado um final melhor, deixando ela com o menino (no qual esqueci o nome) invés de colocar ela falando que queria ter filhos com o homem que é BEM mais velho que ela e que cuidou dela durante a vida toda.

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS

Wow, it may be a bit late for me to voice my opinions on this manga, but who cares haha.

Usagi Drop is about a 30 year old man named Daikichi finding out that his grandfather, who just passed away, had an illegitimate daughter named Rin. And since Rin was an illegitimate daughter to his grandfather, no one is willing to take her in and at first, resents her. Daikichi overcomes this fact, and decides he will take her in himself. The rest of the story follows their relationship developing and Daikichi learning the hardships faced by taking care of a child.

Right off the bat, you can tell how heartwarming and how nice this manga is going to be. I personally loved the story, the way you can see Daikichi developing into the father figure as he sees Rin wetting the bed, graduating nursery school, and even losing her tooth. The realistic situations that this manga portrayed of a single parent, and the hardships and obstacles that any single parent has to go through while raising a child were perfectly shown. The characters were all oh so realistic (Which both the Anime and Manga were praised for.) And like I said, it truly was so sweet seeing Daikichi's viewpoint on life change as he is raising a child like she was his own. I truly cannot praise the first arc(?) of the manga enough, it is just completely amazing and melancholic.

.....And then came the second arc(?)... Wow um, Ill try to explain this 2nd arc(?) as with my opinions on it as simply as possible....

First off, you are suddenly, out of the blue may I include, introduced to a 10 year time skip in the manga. This is a ridiculously big problem because wasn't this manga supposed to show the development of Daikichi as he is raising Rin? Wouldnt having a 10 year skip completely contradict the meaning of the plot and story? I mean, what good thing can come out from having such a huge time skip if you are supposed to be reading about a single parent raising a child?

Secondly, no longer is the story conveyed from Daikichi's point of view. Nope, now you have Rin's point of view to read more about the story. Hey, no problem, there is change, but the change can't POSSIBLY be so bad right? Wrong, completely wrong. Now the story isn't necessarily about Daikichi's struggles of juggling between raising Rin and working. Now the story is about the regular daily high school life of Rin. Daikichi is now a supporting character, and now you see Rin just growing up each day struggling to recognize what feelings she has for Kouki (A childhood friend of Rin's, who is also raised by a single mother and loves Rin. He is an amazing supporting character I might add.) and struggling to pick what she wants to do after she is done graduating from high school. Yep, so the author, for whatever reason, completely changes the amazing vibe this manga was giving off for no reason. Yeah you heard me, no reason. None, nada, absolutely no good reason why.

And finally, the author for whatever reason once again, puts in a huge plot twist in this manga and makes Rin realize that she loves Daikichi. Yes, the man that has raised her for her whole life like a father. Rin suddenly has the electra complex and is in love with her own father figure. Yeah, I can see why Rin, or any other daughter in fact, would at some point in their lives want to marry her dad! Its completely understandable! The man who is always there for you no matter what in life, the man that puts you before anything in his life, the man who will beat the shit out of any other boy that is pissing you off. Yeah, its relatable I guess. However, Daikichi soon is exposed to this fact and he says to Rin that this is the cruelest thing that she can do to him and rejects her telling her to give him 2 years (When Rin graduates.) to really talk about this. YAY DAIKICHI! YOU THE MAN! I KNEW FROM THE MINUTE I'VE SEEN YOU THAT YOUD MAKE THE RIGHT CHOICE! BUT! BUT! BUT! Before we know it, we are once again introduced to yet again ANOTHER timeskip, this time 2 years, when Rin graduates. As soon as we are introduced to this timeskip, Daikichi asks Rin to marry him.

What kind of conclusion is this??? What happened to the ethical Daikichi we knew with his amazing sense of morality? Surely you think I am lying right now. Nope. I am not. And there you go. That is how the manga ends. Just like that. And the author even had the balls to say thank you to her fans with a note that read something along the lines of "I only meant this to be a 1 volume thing but it somehow grew and grew." Or something like that. Hey I have a great idea! How about you ended the series where it should've ended! AT THE END OF THE FIRST ARC!

Yeah, I know this is manga, where the art of writing about "forbidden love" is at its climax. But it still amazes me how hard a mangaka can completely fuck up her own work. Yes, overall I put an 8 because I averaged the first arc(?) and second arc(?) together. If I was a reader, I would stop reading as soon as I see the time skip. Thanks for taking the time out of your day to read this review!

FIRST OF ALL: SPOILER WARNING (maybe. i dont know. i guess you will read it anyway)

ok this will be a short review.
in my opinion Usagi Drop should ended with the 4th volume (chapter 1-24) like the anime does.
After the "timeskip" (chapter 25-56) the manga has gone in a complete other way... im not sure how i could explain it with the right words, but yeah i guess most of you guys should know what i mean... it just destroyed the whole heartwarming, beautiful and lovely atmosphere of the "part 1"-story i fell in love with.

Summary:
Part 1: Volume 1-4 (chapter 1-24)
Story 10/10, Art 10/10, Character 10/10, Enjoyment 10/10, Overall 10/10
Comment: i was totally in love with everything. fuckin heartwarming, tears of joy and some normal tears too :D love love love it was so beautiful

Part 2: Volume 5-9 (chapter 25-56)
Story 5/10, Art 10/10, Character 7/10, Enjoyment 6/10, Overall 6/10

i did not count the 10th volume because there are just some shortstories :)

Over-overall 7/10, the way how it changed (timeskip, 24 to 25) i didnt like how the mange goes... it destroyed the atmosphere of the beautiful first part.

Anyway would still recommend it... well part 1.
part 2 is optional, i wouldnt recommend it but if you have no life and enough spare time... just read it xD

I just finished this manga recently and probably unlike a lot of the readers here I knew the ending before the series began. It actually deterred me from reading it for a long time, after reading the series I think this series has been treated quite unfairly. This series simply put is a masterpiece if you understand what the author is portraying and who the audience is. Adapting this series into anime set unrealistic ideas of what the author is trying to portray.

Usagi drop is one of the rare josei series to receive anime adaptions. Josei manga targeted towards older women, and usually the smallest segment of the manga/light novel market. It is rare that josei works achieve popularity to gain an Anime adaption. Furthermore, it is rare for Josei manga to receive official English releases, so we are less conscious of differences between Josei and works written for other audiences.
What sets josei series apart from other genres is their focus often on the complexities of real world relationships. Characters in josei series can be flawed, grey and interpersonal relationships are complicated. In shoujo or shone slice of life romances often focus on an average/flawed main character entering into a romance with a perfect or idolized partner. The story is told by enumerating the main characters good qualities and introducing the idol partner’s flaws to make them social equals. This makes for good entertainment, but it doesn’t reflect common real world relationships. The head cheerleader rarely hooks up with the nerdiest guy in school. Josei series in contrast might instead deal with why a women chooses to remain with a flawed partner. Why a women remains with an abusive husband. This type of stylistic difference is important understand when reading a josei titles. You are entering stormy waters where ships are not meant to sail. If you sail ships in these waters they will often sink or veer off course. Sometimes ship will evaporate as if they were never there. In the rare event a ship is on course, it may be the only ship that is sailing.
Usagi drop is not a romance. It is a slice of life/drama. The story is about the complexities of familial relationships. The main character Daikichi is a 30 year old man, at his grandfather’s funeral adopts his supposedly illegitimate daughter. The story is told from his point of view and deals with the struggles of suddenly becoming a single parent. The story is told largely from his point of view, and the cast introduced are other young parents. The second half of the story is told ten years later and from the point of view of now almost adult children. It deals with typical struggles of teens transitioning to adults. Love, angst, what do I do with my life and increasingly complex relationships with families.
SPOILERS BEGIN HERE
The author’s storytelling is excellent if not masterful. I think many people will notice that the supporting cast is given the ‘right’ amount of character development. The level of character development a character receives is used to make the reader feel that Daikichi’s and Rin’s household is normal, when it is anything but.


Daikichi is a man who has never married and chooses to adopt his grandfather’s (adopted) daughter. Child rearing is a difficult activity and most single person rarely enters into parenthood voluntarily. Many of Daikichi’s coworkers have families of their own, but represent the typical nuclear household where two parents raise biological children. Their families are mentioned, but rarely introduced as they are far removed from Daikichi’s world. Instead the characters who play central roles in the story are the Nitani familyare typical single parent household born from a failed marriage. The one nuclear families we catch a glimpse of is Reina’s family which is a nuclear family, with a troubled marriage.

I also like that how time skip shifted the point of view of the story. The beginning of the story is told from the point of view of parents and their struggles as young parents. The second half of the story is told by children who are now young adults. Both Kouki’s and Rin’s decisions and outlooks are conscious of their single parent and in contrast their classmate’s desires seem more trivial. Decisions like whether or not they should attend university are influenced by their family relationships. Kouki and Rin both show a greater disposition towards choosing a path that is not necessarily based on desires, what will be best for the people who raised them.
I feel that Kouki’s character is misunderstood as many people express disappointment with how he grew up. His character is portrayed beautifully and represents who he is at the age of 16. A wayward teenager with no father figure. He is in a rebellious phase where he frequently disappoints those who are around him through a lack of discipline and by lashing out. The worst of these streaks are often resolved by Daikichi, illustrating his need for father figure. Despite his flaws, he is honest, kind hearted and cares deeply about his loved ones. He is essentially a lost teenage boy.
Rin at age 16 also seeks a mother figure and forms a bond with her mother, by her own choosing. We are shown from the beginning that Rin’s mother is a flawed character, but not necessarily a ‘bad’ person. As Rin enters adulthood she is aware of the sacrifices Daikichi has made by raising her. Sacrifices that most people would not make. He essentially sacrificed his youth, career and social prospects by adopting her a child he never had societal obligation towards. Rin’s mother illustrates this clearly.

Many people are disappointed in the ending, to the point of they describe the ending as ruining the series. However, this is simply because the ending violates a taboo. Daikichi is not a biological father, but a surrogate father. Given her circumstances Rin’s desires are not hard to understand. Her desire is fundamentally to remain in a single household with the person that sacrificed everything to raise her. The romantic relationship is for the most part one sided, even though Daikichi comes to accept it. In the end this manga is simply a story about the complexity of family relationships and what makes a family. This story begins and ends with as unlikely a family as any.

Usagi Drop is for the most part a tale of two stories. The first is a extremely heartwarming look at a young male that takes in an abandoned child. This part of the story contains some of the most tear bringing moments I have ever read. The second part of this tale though really leaves a bad taste in some people's mouth as we descend onto a very strange path.

Story: 7/10

I am going to throw this out here first; if you want to see the heartwarming stuff then read up to the end of volume four then STOP. After this point the story jumps ten years to when Rin is in high school. This is also the case for the anime based off of this manga; it stops right before the time skip.

So the start of the manga was something extraordinary; it had everything you needed to be a tear jerker. We start out with a meeting in order to decide who would look over the recently abandoned Rin. After much debate, Daikichi decides to take it upon himself to look after Rin through childhood. The first 4 volumes of this manga depicts Rin growing up through grade school and how Daikichi deals with being a single male raising a little girl by himself. How everything flowed together was actually quite surprising since this was apparently the authors longest running manga. Everything was great about the first arc plain and simple.

Now a lot of people will tell you that the manga takes a nosedive after the time skip into the high school years. I will agree that the plot does seem to fall off considerably in quality moments but the real reasoning behind everyone's distaste is actually extremely superficial and lame. It's hard to talk about without ruining the ending but just remember that social customs of one nation will not be the same as your own so something that seems weird to you may not seem weird to most Japanese citizens. The main focus of the second arc is the relationships between Rin's friends, Daikichi, and Kouki's mother. Unlike the first arc, the second did seem like a complete 180 degree turn in terms of how the story was being told. It was not as appealing as the first bit that is for sure.

Overall it is unfair to rate the story in halves but if I were going to rate each arc, the first deserves a perfect score while the second is barely passable.

Art: 6/10

The art style was actually quite good but the character models were not. There were proportion issues throughout the entire manga and the author really doesn't know how to draw hands that well (lol). One thing to point out however is that the visual quality of the anime is astounding.

Characters: 10/10

I do not care what you think about the second arc but the moments between Daikichi and Rin in the first arc will continue to be some of the most heartwarming stuff I have experienced so far. While I didn't talk about Kouki and his mother hardly at all, they were also very important to the story. This 10/10 rating though really goes to Daikichi. He entered a situation blind of what the outcome would be but he adjusted his life in order to properly raise Rin. He is the most important male character to date in manga.

Overall: 7.7/10

For the entire manga this score might be a little too high but I wholeheartedly recommend you either read the first four volumes of this manga or go watch the complete anime. If you feel invested in the characters then move on to the second arc if you have an open mind. It is not horrible but just does not have the same emotional impact as the first.

Enjoyment: 8/10

Thanks for reading my review! If you liked my writing style, would like to see some other reviews, or just want to talk, please stop by my page!

Sincerely,
Awesome Drummer

Okay so I am going to spoil here but I feel it is necessary to spoil here because otherwise you may make the same mistake I did and fall in love with the story only to be crushed with disappointment. If you can't stand stories with incest themes or large age gap couples then DO NOT READ THIS. There is technically no blood relation but I still found it appalling. If you don't mind this then go ahead and read it and don't read this review any further because it has severe spoilers
I started reading this after I watched the anime and thought that cute 7 year old Rin was adorable and awkward Daisuke was a good main character. The first section of it takes place when Daisuke is 24 and he adopts Rin: an adorable 6 year old girl. This is the part that is shown in the anime and contains the two of them becoming a a family and Daisuke learning about parenting and becoming responsible. I loved this section. It was sweet with great characters and had an implied romance between Daisuke and a single mother of the troublemaker boy Kouki in addition to the adorable interactions between Daisuke and Rin and the great character development of Daisuke.
Then the second section skips to when Rin in high school and has some romance between her and Kouki along with the romance between Daisuke and Kouki's mom, Nitani-san. I was concerned with this double romance because if both couples ended up together, that would mean incest, but I kept reading anyway and was relieved to see it didn't end that way (little did I know that the real ending was far worse). Circumstances didn't allow Daisuke and Nitani--san to become a couple and after many years, Nitani-san decided to marry another. They remained friends which made me happy. Rin rejected Kouki despite having liked him at one point, deciding that dating him would cause to much trouble and strife. While I liked their pairing I was also happy with this because it showed how well Rin thought things through and didn't follow a typical romance sequence. I grew to like Rin as a responsible high school girl who acted like a granny and was smart and knew how to avoid trouble and her relations with the other characters were still cute and fun.
The third section is when things break down: Rin gets a crush on Daisuke. I only kept reading at this point because I had like the rest of the story so much and trusted the author to bring it back on track. Daisuke thought of Rin as a daughter and had no romantic feelings towards her at all. Another potential love interest was introduced too so there was hope of bringing the story in a different direction. But the love interest ended up just being a tool to reveal Rin's feeling to Daisuke and in the end I don't even remember his name. As the relationship between Daisuke and Rin becomes strained Daisuke comes to the pretty logical decision that he will put this problem on hold until Rin is an graduates high school and becomes an adult. He tells Rin he will think about their relationship over the next two years and in that time she should think about moving on and finding a boyfriend around her age. I agree with his actions at this point wholeheartedly as well. But then they do a time skip to when she graduates. And he basically says "You know I can never say no to you, my Rin" and they decide to become a couple. They discuss getting married right away and she says she wants to have his child and is looking forward to seeing him raise it wonderfully as he had raised her. I find all of this ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING AND WEIRD. I lost all respect for the characters and my point of view of the beautiful story so far is ruined. Just because he wants to stay close to Rin no matter what does not mean that it is okay for them to become a couple. Not to be crude or anything but romance, especially marriage with children involves not only kissing but SEX. The fact that Daisuke could HAVE SEX WITH HIS DAUGHTER is beyond disturbing. Not to mention the 24 year age difference is already kinda... I don't care if there is no blood relation, he was still her father and its appalling to think that they end up together. The entire manga was ruined and its only more devastating because I loved the rest of it so much. If it weren't for the ending I would have given this story a 9 or even a 10 but as things are I can only rate it a 1.

~~S P O I L E R S~~

This manga was honestly a HUGE disappointment. The anime, however, was exactly the opposite. First of all, I am acknowledging the fact that I may be being unreasonable here, but I would have liked to have seen Nitani and Daikitchi together. Also, call me creepy but I wanted to see a little more interaction with Kouki and Rin. The fact that Rin develops feelings for Daikitchi makes me want to throw up and cry. This never should have happened. His response is to wait until she gets out of high school so that MAYBE she will eventually forget that she even brought up such a ridiculous thing. If I'm being honest here, I didn't read the whole manga. I wanted to start it because the anime ended on a very open note. So I googled somewhere where I could get copies and YOU WILL NOT BELIEVE THE NUMBER OF WARNINGS THERE ARE NOT TO READ IT. So, naturally, be being the curious piece of garbage that I am, I clicked on it, ignored the spoiler warning, and ruined my life. This anime/manga had the potential to end on a WONDERFUL note, but noooooo, let Rin fall in love with Daikitchi, let Nitani end up with some stupid ex, let everything slowly but surely go down the frickin drain.

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS

I had to write my own so people can give it a fair chance. I'm not a review writer but I'll do my best.

By now most people know how Usagi Drop begins. Daikichi is a 30 year old bachelor with no childcare experience and no prospects as far as women go either. When his grandfather dies the family discovers the old man had a love child. 6 year old Rin... Rin's mother disappeared, overwhelmed at the thought of being a single parent and no one can find her. When no one in the family will man up to care for the little girl, Daikichi, appalled at his family's behavior, volunteers to take her in. Despite his family's reservations and his own worries, he sticks it out and awkwardly learns how to be a parent.

What no one knows is that Daikichi discovers that Rin isn't actually related to him at all. He doesn't care tho and raises her as if she were, not wanting her to be taken away and passed around to strangers.

I'm sure most people, like myself, were hoping that Rin's friend's mother Yukari would get together with Daikichi. There was a real potential for a romance between the two of them. However Daikichi is too laid back to ever make a move and Yukari is too insecure and caught up with her life as a single mom to ever have something happen. Skip ten years into the future, they're still not together and it's clear they will never be.

The second arc starts out with Rin an Kouki at odds. Although they grew ups friends and like each other as teens, Kouki messes up and looses Rin's respect. This part was a little useless I thought. It never felt like it was going anywhere and Kouki comes off as a rash you can't get rid of. Kouki's stupidity aside, Rin also compares everything he does to Daikichi. Many girls do this, comparing guys to the men they look up to in their lives. But then the idea is entered that maybe Rin's feelings extend further than this.

People think it's gross that because he raised her they shouldn't be together, but I will be honest and admit the idea had occurred to me all the way back in the first arc and I was not disappointed that it happened. Rin has always been mature beyond her years. Of course boys her age wouldn't interest her. Daikichi has always been immature for his age... their personalities meet up quite well in the middle. It is not unheard of in real life for a man, who has had a large part of raising a young girl into womanhood, to end up marrying her. Yes their age gap is a steep one but if the first part of the story had been them never knowing her, people wouldn't have had such a problem with her falling in love with him.

As for the art style, I enjoyed it's whimsical simplicity. The characters are all original and pull you in from the beginning. There were very few flaws with this story and over all I enjoyed it immensely so I gave it a 10. Hope this helps cut down some of the negativity about the ending of the story and that people will enjoy it for what it is. I definitely recommend it to anyone looking for something out of the norm.

This was really good but the ending is messed up in my opinion. It's not technically wrong or illegal but it certainly feels that way. The main reason for this is that I read the whole thing and imagined the characters in a father-daughter relationship. But when they started moving towards the romance, I felt uneasy and just plain wrong. I at least thought that Daikichi will be the sensible one and not do this but he failed to meet my expectations. It is a really good read until the high school arc. I suggest stopping there if you are uncomfortable with what happens next.

(Review Contains Spoilers,you have been warned)

I love the first half,easily a 10/10 for me when it comes to slice of life...Then the second happened and suddenly,this enjoyable series became painful to read. Everything turns depressing,relationships are messed up and honestly what kind of audience was author going for? Pedobears? Those are the only type of people I can imagine who would read the first half hoping for the ending that happened at the end.

The reason i give it a 6 is because despite the messed up second half, I still enjoyed the first half and giving it anything less than 5 would be a not being true to the first half of the series.

Ok, so... I feel very conflicted about this. The first arc is heartwarming. I even enjoyed a lot of the time skip.

SPOILERS

However, the ending is such a massive let-down and cop-out that, quite frankly, you are better off watching the anime, enjoying the wholesomeness of the show and the OVAs and letting it be.

seriously, the anime I loved, which I enjoyed first. I came to the manga in the hopes of seeing Daikihi and kouki's mother getting together and the 4 of them forming a little happy family of lovable misfits. that seemed to be the arcing game in the long run. The time skip jumps forward 10 years, leading to the story becoming an average, if slightly higher than mediocre Rom-Com. Kouki, the lovable ADHD wild child is in love with Rin while she insists that she sees him only as a brother. His mum can't bring herself to date Daikichi because their kids would tear the house arapt. This would have been the perfect time to have haracter growth, helping Kouki grow out of his childlike state, coming to see rin as the sister she thinks of him, the same way he already thinks of Daikichi as his father. This would have been a heartwarming tale of family, love, acceptance, growth and development.

alternatively, the story started with the death of a lonely old mand and a homeless child. It could have gone down the tragic route, where After Rin's big confession to her adoptive father comes out he utterly rejects them because he's her dad, and in his 40s, and she's 16 with some pretty f'd up relationships regarding parents She could have gone off to college and grown. She could have found a love, a true love, and started her own family, ending with Daikichi as an old grandpa with his grandkids, or even great grandkids surrounding him in his rocking chair in a scene reminiscient to those shown of hs own grandfather. There would have been a bittersweet justice to this scene, at least to me.

Instead, we have, in my opinion, a teenage girl who more or less coerces her surrogate father into a relationship with her and the final scene is her talking of how she wants to bare his child. To some this might be lovely. to me, not so much.


I left this feeling very disappointed in the author, in our culture as weebs (more than my already giant hatred for my own kind) and most notably in myself. I hoped for a sweet endng, like the finale for Yamada and the 7 witches. Happy families all round, no hurt characters, no hurt feelings. Sappy, yes. Happy? also yes. Instead I feel disgusted that I wasted several hours of my afternoon reading through this.

Do yourself a favour. Give the manga a miss.

Spoilers ahead, without them I cannot illustrate why I have the opinion I do regarding this manga, and why the manga went from great, to awful.

Usagi Drop did one thing great, and two things awful, and even the thing it did great didn't last for long. Usagi Drop did a fantastic job of making a light, fluffy and very enjoyable relationship about a clearly miserable man taking in a girl he's barely related to who just lost everything. What it did awful with was it's ending, and romantic relationships in general. Here's why.

Usagi Drop starts off with very familial, Slice Of Life vibes, with zero seeming intention of delving into more complex and simply different genres such as drama. That coupled with the fact that the first third of the manga sticks very close to that Slice Of Life and familial growing makes what comes after very difficult to achieve and what ended up ruining the series.

Usagi Drop attempted to turn those Slice Of Life and familial bonds into dramatic romance, and it failed, hard. It attempted to transform Rin and Daikichi's contrasting relationship into a romantic one, and here are the two reasons it failed. First, this manga spent one third of it's life span clearly setting their relationship as an awkward but cute father daughter relationship. And second, there were much better match ups, specifically for Daikichi. With Rin and Daikichi you couldn't feel much more there than a budding father daughter relationship, and it tried and failed to transform that into a romantic one, which wouldn't be nearly as bad if not for the fact that Daikichi has a much clearer, and much more compatible relationship. Nikitani Yukari, a single mom. She is the perfect foil to Daikichi and an even better romantic significant other, if this series inserted her as a mother figure, a wife as well as bringing a brother for Rin, I have no doubt this could have been a 10. It could have been a fantastic Slice Of Life with minor romance and drama about four individuals who each have their different scares when it comes to family and love. But no, it tried and failed to be a half cocked semi-incest manga.

The next problem is the time skip, I am not a fan of time skips because the rarely ever work out well, and skip a lot of potential character growth. The can be pragmatic time savers if executed well, but this one did nothing good and A LOT bad. We simply discarded the warm Slice Of Life vibes this manga had for edgy poorly written romantic drama. We got absolutely no warning, and ended up with severe literary whiplash from this violent genre change. This is also the point at which Yukari's and Daikichi's relationship took a slight incline, then violent turn for the worse. The point at which a lovely father daughter relationship was pointlessly perverted into a romantic housekeeper. That's the kicker. We never even got a clear answer as to their relationship. All we know was Rin and Daikichi stay together. We don't get a clear answer as to what their relationship turns into after this manga cuts off the much better relationship of Yukari and Daikichi.

The first third (24 chapters) of Usagi Drop is fantastic, well written, heartwarming Slice Of Life where we see two contrasting but equally messed up human beings grow and comfort each other in the most familial and PLATONIC of senses. The latter 38 chapters are just a perverted poor attempt at romantic father daughter incest, with sloppy writing and poor transitions, unanswered questions and better options.

Overall scoring

Story: (Until Chapter 24) 8 (After Chapter 24) 4 (Overall) 6
It simply goes from something well written the author clearly is good at writing, to something poorly written the author has no skill in writing.

Art: 6
Nothing special, nothing bad. Though the author is good at matching emotions with faces.

Character: (Until Chapter 24) 8 (After Chapter 24) 6 (Overall) 7
Same issues as the story, it starts out doing very well at what it's trying to do, and then takes a violent turn for the worse because the author improperly set the tones and emotions of the characters.

Enjoyment: (Until Chapter 24) 9 (After Chapter 24) 5 (Overall) 6
It was a lovely Slice Of Life but an abysmal Romantic Drama.

Overall: (Until Chapter 24) 8 (After Chapter 24) 3 (Overall) 6
The rankings speak for themselves. If you don't understand my reasons for ranking this manga as such, please do read it for yourself and perhaps you will gain the same opinion as me.

If you want to read this manga, by all means go ahead, but I think the ratings speak for themselves. The manga as of this writing is significantly lower ranked than the anime, and that's because the anime stops at chapter 24. It stops before this story takes it's steep downhill turn for the worse. So if you want to read this manga, let me offer two pieces of advice. One, stop at chapter 24, or two completely disregard the manga in favor of it's well animated, well voiced and smarter anime which knows when to end a good thing.

Yumi Unita's "Bunny Drop" follows the main characters Daikichi (30) and Rin (6) as they settle in and face the everyday challenges of a single parent. Basically the story is a grown-up version of "Aishiteruze Baby**", and although Yumi Unita's style isn't as cutesy as Yoko Maki's, the characters aren't any less adorable. The story is equally good, or even better, as it deals with more down-to-earth problems.

What makes the manga really stand out in my opinion, though, is the interaction of the main characters with their environment. Daikichi is struggling with the issues of bachelor-suddenly-turned-single-parent, while Rin is trying to overcome her shyness, which is a result of her secluded upbringing.

Warning: Massive ending spoilers ahead. I'm very sorry but that 6 up there can't be properly explained without delving deep into spoiler territory.

I wish Usagi Drop had 2 separate entries, one being the start and one everything after the time-skip, starting in chapter 26. It's for one very simple reason. Usagi Drop is a prime example of how a great concept can still run off the rails badly. It's a masterclass in turning what starts as a warm, cute and fuzzy story into a catastrophic failure of a 'romantic' drama.

The gist of the premise is that Daikichi (a man who couldn't more obviously be unhappy and feeling unfulfilled unless he stuck a neon sign on his face) takes a 6 year old girl, Rin, into his house for the sole reason that everyone else either hates her or straight up doesn't care for her. And it's not hard to see where this goes. A man with no experience with children now has to take care of one with the comedic hijinks that ensue. During that time, we see Daikichi and Rin grow as characters as we learn more about them, who they are and their relationship. I'll be honest, the first part of Usagi Drop is one of the best and most enjoyable things I've ever read. It's just sweet enough to tug your heart strings and make you feel great but also sincere enough to show the problems Rin and Daikichi cope with. I was ready to give this a good solid 9, maybe even a 10!

Now, those of you who have seen the anime or the live-action movie might notice there's a considerable amount of material that wasn't adapted. There's a reason for that.

The great part about having one person both writing and illustrating a manga is that you have synergy. Who else can better convey their thoughts, mental images and general ideas to paper than the writer themselves? The problem that comes from it is that there's no second person to openly doubt your decisions and no manga is a better example than this. I'm not sure what Yumi Unita was thinking but I hope she realizes how poorly it worked out.

In chapter 26, we leap forward about 10 years. Rin is in high school and Daikichi is 40, having to deal with the appropriate issues. Already this brings up some headscratchers, such as how both of our protagonists still hang out with the exact same people they did 10 years ago with no new additions. One of two bigger problems is a shift in tone that is about as smooth and fluid as trying to walk while both your legs are asleep. Gone is the happy heartwarming slice of life, in comes an unnecessarily angsty and gloomy 'romantic' drama. Everything is a lot darker for no adequately explained reason other than some cardinal rule that anything involving teenage characters must be existential, dark or depressing.

No, the biggest problem of all is that the second part builds up to an almost gutpunchingly disturbing conclusion.

Part of the second part involves Rin dealing with her relationship with Daikichi getting more....complicated. Her feelings for him get out of the comfy wholesome foster parent/daughter zone and instead the considerably ickier kind. It's just as disturbing and just as well-executed as you'd expect. After an ass-pull 'but they're not really blood-related' card (on the level of SAO episode 14), Rin decides she wants to marry Daikichi and he goes along with it. Oh boy, where do we begin?

Let's start with the fact that at its very core, this is still creepily close to parental incest. For all intents and purposes, these 2 had a father/daughter relationship for the last 10 years and now she's genuinely in love with him. There's also a distinct lack of consequence shown. There's one character who's ever made aware of her attraction and, no joke, she encourages Rin to go along with it. But there's another layer of disturbing that you might not pick up on the first time. Hell, you might not pick up on it until a good while later. Namely, Daikichi just rolls with it. There's no real shock, no real contemplation to speak of, he listens to her and accepts it. On the surface, it's bad writing. Underneath, it's worse. Disregarding for a moment that this is quite clearly an action of impulse, since his feelings for Rin have always been parental and it was never really hinted that it was more. What we have is a man who's more concerned with the age difference than with the fact that he raised her as his daughter. A man who has no qualms doing so. A man who, I swear I wish I was making this up, is okay with her carrying his child and raising it. A man who's just plain given up on a proper relationship.
A man who by all rights shouldn't be in one because he isn't fit for one.

The first part of Usagi Drop is a 9 or a 10 for me without a doubt. It's well-crafted and heartwarming to see these 2 misfits grow on each other. The second part is disgusting in every way. The change of tone, the ending, how it plays out, the implications it carries, it's nothing short of insulting your readers.

If you want to read this, by all means do so. Sounding like a broken record but the first part is excellent. I highly suggest you finish chapter 24 and stop there. Because unless you're into poorly written, poorly executed semi-incest, there's just nothing for you there.

Having watched the anime, my interest i finding out what happens with the characters was rater high. I was expecting the manga, which is the source material, to carry the same heartwarming, yet slightly melancholic spirit as it's animated adaptation.
Expectations aside, the first half does live up to the original premise with which the fans were hooked. The story of an adopted child and her inexperienced parent, who work hard together, laugh and make new friends. The plot felt deep, and since the early chapters, the seeds for new budding relationships were easy to spot.
Those hints and foreshadowing, proved to be utterly incorrect, for the second half proved to be a complete department from what the fans considered to be the core story. I don't know what the author was thinking, but turning this into a romance between parent and child was a bad decision. Why spend four volumes establishing their relationship and bond as a father and daughter, if you're gonna ruin it by the end?
I've seen good stories with incest themes, it's rare, but it does happen. The difference here is that it's inconsistent with what the audience is shown from the beginning, it feels like a betrayal. The anime and the first half of the manga gave me a feeling of warmth and comfort, and actually gave me a small bit of happiness while I was going through tough times. Seeing it get turned on it's head made me feel filthy, it made my skin crawl.
The ending is paramount, so when a good story leads up to a poor conclusion, my final score and my overall enjoyment will reflect that.