Usagi Drop

Daikichi Kawachi is a 30-year-old bachelor working a respectable job but otherwise wandering aimlessly through life. When his grandfather suddenly passes away, he returns to the family home to pay his respects. Upon arriving at the house, he meets a mysterious young girl named Rin who, to Daikichi’s astonishment, is his grandfather's illegitimate daughter!

The shy and unapproachable girl is deemed an embarrassment to the family, and finds herself ostracized by her father's relatives, all of them refusing to take care of her in the wake of his death. Daikichi, angered by their coldness toward Rin, announces that he will take her in—despite the fact that he is a young, single man with no prior childcare experience.

Usagi Drop is the story of Daikichi's journey through fatherhood as he raises Rin with his gentle and affectionate nature, as well as an exploration of the warmth and interdependence that are at the heart of a happy, close-knit family.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Kaga, Rin Main

Matsuura, Ayu Japanese

Kawachi, Daikichi Main

Tsuchida, Hiroshi Japanese

Nitani, Yukari Supporting

Ohara, Sayaka Japanese

Nitani, Kouki Supporting

Sakai, Noa Japanese

Yoshii, Masako Supporting

Sakamoto, Maaya Japanese

Kawachi, Kazumi Supporting

Uchiyama, Yumi Japanese

Gotou Supporting

Kano, Yui Japanese

Mi-chan Supporting

Hirakawa, Daisuke Japanese

Kawachi, Kenji Supporting

Itou, Masakazu Japanese

Maeda, Haruko Supporting

Ueda, Kana Japanese

Nakatake, Tetsuya Producer

Matsushita, Keiko Producer

Ozaki, Noriko Producer

Konaka, Daisuke Producer

Reviews

Jan 19, 2025

Longnines

Recommended

A 30-year-old salaryman and bachelor, Daikichi, attends the wake of his grandfather, only to find out (alongside the rest of his relatives) that grandpa had been keeping a little secret from the rest of the family: a 6-year-old daughter, Rin. The family, not readily acceptant of this as being an authentic bloodline connection, is apprehensive about who should raise her. Daikichi, on the other hand, does not understand his family's hesitation and instead takes the initiative to raise this little girl—his aunt by nature of association—on his own.

Usagi Drop is a bona fide slice-of-life story: it is a day-by-day journey of a man making changes ... to his life to shoulder the weight of the responsibilities associated with raising a child on his own. It is also about this girl, Rin, growing up under these circumstances, and with this man who bears a fair resemblance to grandpa. There is humor, there are mirthful moments, there are difficult conversations to be had, new relationships to be made, new ways to fill a schedule, and there is a redefining of goals and what matters most.

The quality of animation throughout the show is good, as is the quality of the writing. The characters resemble real people, with their own schedules, goals, problems, and lives. The anime excels at showing, in simple ways, how complicated being an adult can be and how demanding parenthood actually is.

I strongly recommend Usagi Drop to anyone seeking a good slice-of-life story. It is easy to watch and a satisfying, wholesome experience at-large.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Dec 8, 2024

Destron

Recommended

I can't remember the last time I've watched an anime that was as wholesome as Usagi Drop. I found this anime last night randomly browsing MAL and I am so glad I did. In just 11 episodes they managed to convey a really heart felt story about a single Dad trying to raise this orphaned girl as her actual Dad has just passed away and her mother doesn't want anything to do with her due to being too obsessed with her work (more on her in a moment). After watching episode 1, I could tell this was going to be a show I was going ... to enjoy and that I did.

Episode 1 starts out with Rin's Dads funeral. I did have a problem with this episode however as everyone with the exception of Daikichi treated this girl like she was some sort of demon. Something to be feared. Her only family has just died and not one of them wanted to comfort her and they were all fighting over who was going to be "stuck with her" which I can't lie, did leave a pretty bad taste in my mouth. I'm so glad Daikichi actually realised how much she was going to need a father figure in her life and actually stepped up.

Usagi Drop is classed as a Child Care anime which is true, but it's also a discovery and learning experience show as Daikichi now has to with very little help from his actual family figure out what he has to do in order to raise Rin. He needs to figure out transportation, day care, living with her and the various challenges that may arise and I think the way the developers handled it was absolutely spot on. They didn't portray him as someone arrogant that thinks he knows everything, but they also didn't portray him as some sort of idiot who doesn't know anything. He tries his best with the little knowledge he has and the friends around him helping him out which I think was really good.

Moving on to the mother. Daikichi was so incredibly patient with this woman that it actually shocks me. It's revealed that the only real reason she abandoned her child was because she wanted to work more. I can tell Daikichi was getting more and more irritated with his interactions with her and props for not screaming at her or going off. I will say it would have been nice if they got some sort of conclusion with Rin and the mother as I kind of expected there to be some sort of end to their chapter whether it was a good or a bad one. Maybe the mother makes an effort to actually be a parent?

Overall this was a fantastic anime that I would definitely re watch. Originally I wanted a season 2. Unaware as I myself am not a manga reader. However another user informed me a season 2 would not be good. Upon looking up why this may be the case... I very quickly changed my mind. Thank you sslick for informing me. Great anime, just don't read the manga.

9/10

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Apr 8, 2022

squish

Mixed Feelings

(minor spoilers ahead)

It has been several days since I completed Usagi Drop, and I'm still thinking about this series.

Despite my relatively low score, I truly think Usagi Drop is a work of art. What makes something art, for me, is not whether it is enjoyable or "good" from an entertainment perspective, but how much it makes me feel and think about my own existence. Usagi Drop did a very good job at the latter two things.

I based my score on my overall enjoyment of the show, however. I do think that it probably deserves its relatively high rating (currently over 8.0 here on MAL), but ... I personally found a lot about the series unenjoyable. I want to say that I'm probably not part of its target audience. I don't have children, nor do I ever aspire to be a parent. I definitely identified more with the child Rin than father-figure Daikichi.

Usagi Drop is as its core a story about the mundanity of life. From brushing your teeth to cooking meals to catching a fever, we go through it all with Daikichi and Rin. Daikichi is an interesting character, because he clearly cares about Rin, and considers himself "somewhat" of a parental figure. The show is basically about how he navigates life as a new "father," and he spends a lot of time comparing himself to other parents in his life, learning from them, and contemplating the life he has signed up for.

For some strange reason, though, at one point Daikichi admits that he doesn't see himself as Rin's father. What is he, then? Interestingly, whenever something outside of his scope of parental capabilities crops up, he relies on the women in his life to help him parent Rin. In many scenes, these women are doing most of the work, while he kind of just sits there and acts like Rin's friend. This is part of my issue with the series - although Daikichi has put himself in a parental role, a lot of time he doesn't act like Rin's parent. Knowing about the end of the manga makes this fact even weirder (and, unfortunately, did sour my enjoyment of the anime as a whole).

Rin doesn't fully act like a child, either. She is markedly less childish than all of her peers, and has a level of maturity far beyond a normal 6-year-old. Some of this could be blamed on her trauma, but I think a great opportunity was missed here with regards character development. Much more could have been explored with her character and her pain around having lost her father, but instead we got a pretty one-dimensional Mary-sue.

In the first few episodes, this series seems like it is going to be a heartwarming, comfy story with not much conflict. And it really doesn't have a ton of conflict. Most of the time I was waiting for something interesting to happen. But it doesn't really have many heartwarming scenes, either, in my opinion. Aside from Daikichi, it seems as though every other adult in this show is miserable. One of the themes explored is the sacrifices parents make in order to be parents at all, and whether or not those sacrifices are worth it. I didn't think the way the show answered this question was very satisfying. Realitsic, maybe, but definitely depressing. For the 5% cute moments we get between the children and their parents, the other 95% of the show is, to put it bluntly, pretty boring and hard to watch. If anything, I found it to be a chillingly realistic portrayal of what parenthood is probably like for many.

Despite all this, Usagi Drop is not without its redeeming qualities. Episode 6 brought me to tears. There were plenty of heartwarming moments that, coupled with its deep themes about life and parental sacrifices, make the series worth having watched. But what started out in the first couple episodes as a seemingly comfy slice-of-life turned into something that dragged on, felt a little too realistic, and left me feeling extremely melancholy. As someone who values anime as a source of escapism, I didn't get much enjoyment out of this one. I do understand why many treasure this series, but it's probably not for everyone.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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