Usagi Drop 04 — My Father is my Grandfather

The initial scene in the nursery school was just too cute. Rin saying that her father was her grandfather, and running away with the boy holding hands— *HNNNG*.

Now Daikichi has a love interest as well, and possibly a love triangle with Rin’s mother? But I can see why he is still single at age 30. Definitely not a ladies man. He’s old enough where he can use his daughter and single father status to pick up women.

The scene where Daikichi and the mother from the nursery walked home together would have been quite awkward if it weren’t for Rin’s presence. Rin makes everything about Usagi Drop shine. We had two events in this episode— the awkward walk home together and the drinking part— which would have been stereotypical and dull in any other show. But Rin’s presence makes these events much more interesting. She interrupts the conversation on the walk home, gets held by Daikichi’s coworkers, convinces the underling of the wisdom of Daikichi’s decision, and inspires Daikichi to resist the desires to get drunk and to lecture the gossips in the bathroom toilet. Most of the humor revolves around Rin as well— the childish things she will do (those pigtails- lol) and Daikichi’s desire to keep secrets from her.

Another thing I was reminded of from this episode is that the animation is superb. In particular, I can’t get enough of the colorful scenes, like the one with Rin playing at the nursery. Animation like in Stein’s; Gate is good too, particularly for that setting, but I just love things that are filled with color the most. Usagi Drop, Miyazaki movies, Hourou Musuko— hell, even Fractale— it’s simply such a pleasure to look at them.

I’d always thought Usagi Drop was great in terms of characters, but this episode has convinced me that it knows where it’s headed plot-wise as well. With Daikichi’s discovery of the will, his meeting at the daycare, and Rin’s pending enrollment in kindergarten, the wheels are starting to turn. I’m looking forward to see where things go— we may even get some good drama and / or romance.

7 thoughts on “Usagi Drop 04 — My Father is my Grandfather

  1. Oddly enough, your title and the point Rin made at the beginning of the epsiode makes for a real weird conversation starter, lol. Not much to say about this epsiode, but nice as always. Still wondering when Rin’s mother will be revealed, but guess in due time.

  2. How can anyone dislike this series?

    Just like Ano-Hana, the subtleties of this anime really make it shine production-wise. Did you notice how the Twinkle Twinkle Little Star song had Rin timing up the “how I wonder what you are” with images of the cell phone Daikichi used to contact Rin’s mother? Little things like that separate great series from the good ones – and I think Usagi Drop will turn out to be great.

    I never really noticed how visually appealing this series is until you mentioned it in your review. Those bright almost pastel colors are appropriate for a story about children.

    They kind of teased at this in the episode, but at some point we (as well as Rin) will need clarification as to the relationship between Daikichi and Rin. Will she call him her father? Will he legally adopt her? Will she *want* to be adopted? I think all of these would make excellent points of tension down the road (maybe sometime around ep. 8)

    The last point I want to make is something to really think about: if the situation stayed the same but Rin *wasn’t* as cute/adorable/kind/lovable as she were, would Usagi Drop still capture our interest? If we replaced Rin with a character like Reina, would this work?

    1. 1) Oops, the last sentence in the third para should read “episode 8”

      2) I’m not sure why I still can’t get this avatar thing going 🙁

      1. Did you sign up for one on gravatar.com? When you leave a comment you have to enter as your email the same address you signed up for gravatar with (you aren’t leaving one now). No one can see the email address except me. It’s a pretty strange process, it took me a month to figure out how to get an avatar and I’m the one who set up the blog…

    2. I actually didn’t notice how the song was in time. There are a lot of other things like that as well in Usagi Drop, little details which might completely pass you by.

      The clarification of the relationship between Daikichi and Rin should be an interesting point down the road. I kind of feel that it will just come naturally though and not be a point of much drama – neither of them seem too concerned about it at the moment.

      And that’s a very interesting question about Rin. If it was someone with Reina’s personality, I don’t think that Daikichi would be quite as willing to take care of her, and their “family” would fall apart quite quickly. If it were Reina’s not-as-cute appearance and Rin’s personality I think I would still love it, but the series would be less popular.

      1. Regarding their relationship, you make a good point. They don’t seem too concerned with it now, but the episode ended with Rin mentioning “Parent’s Day” so I bet the issue will come up again soon.

        If Rin were replaced with a lesser child, I don’t know if Daikichi would have reached out to her in the first place. We’re all human. It’d be much more difficult to sacrifice your lifestyle to raise a spoiled, ungrateful brat – especially when you have no compelling obligation to do so. It really makes you think about parent/child relationships – especially those that come by way of orphanage or second marriages.

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