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「ダイキチはダイキチでいい」 (Daikichi wa Daikichi de Ii)
“Daikichi Should Stay Daikichi”
I remember when I had nightmares as a little kid, and the space between Mom and Dad was the safest place. That made it pretty damn funny when Rin took comfort in her stuffed bunny instead of Daikichi. Regardless, Daikichi and Rin have developed a close bond, though Rin doesn’t see him as her father and so he doesn’t officially adopt her. Nothing wrong with that decision, though he is for all practical reasons the father figure in Rin’s life.
Daikichi finally talks with Masako and arranges a meeting at a family restaurant, leaving Rin with his parents. From their initial conversation on the phone, I got the impression Masako was a bit of an airhead, and indeed she turns out to be quite young, nervous, and clueless. Masako explains how her unplanned pregnancy interfered with her work as a manga artist, and she had trouble taking care of Rin. It seems she has complicated feelings about Rin, but is still too immature to deal with being a parent and so she’s just trying to wash her hands of the issue. I’m not sure how central Masako will be in the future since she pretty much doesn’t consider herself to be Rin’s mother at the moment. The last scene with her boyfriend does show that she’s somewhat guilty about it though, so she could have a change of heart later on.
Already Daikichi understands Rin quite well, and that’s simply because he’s putting more effort into it. Their interactions are still very touching to watch; Daikichi and Rin have become an integral part of each other lives, and Daikichi’s words “Am I raising Rin, or is she raising me?” really resonated with me. I’ve mentioned it before, but Usagi Drop has such a peaceful BGM too, which greatly helps set the mood. The plot’s not very exciting, there aren’t any outlandish characters or crazy things happening, but the warmth and realism stand out a lot, and this feel-good show is quickly becoming my favorite this season. A happy family is the best kind of family.
Thanks Prooof. Been waiting for this post.
Daikichi’s words in the end of the episode definitely sums up this episode for me. I remember a dialogue between Daikichi’s & his new co-workers about “can’t join you for drinks, got a family to take care” in a previous episodes, & the question “Am I raising (enter people to take care), or is he/she raising me?” could be ask to anybody who in the same situation or a similar one. For what it is worth, in my opinion, these situation make them a better person. Daikichi will be rewarded for his sacrifice, & these rewards will be awesome, I think.
It’s good this episode showed Rin’s mother & her point of view, & definitely we will know more once the season’s progress.
actually, that was his former subordinate…but the “not drinking because I have a kid to take care of” stance was shared by his new co-workers.
Thanks for the correction.
Jeez, Masako looks really, really young now and she got pregnant with Rin years ago. What was she doing with a grandpa at that age? Also, near the end where she was calling herself completely useless or something like that makes me wonder if she’s still really hung up about having to leave Rin and perhaps a tad suicidal.
LOL … Masako is just as braindead, aloof and unlikable as she was in the manga XDD
@Bass.EXE
It’s all explained at the end of the manga, though I won’t spoil. All I will say is it’s the one and only time Masako comes good.
Okay, I have two questions that came with this episode. First off is if Daikichi’s grandfather is really Rin’s father. It seemed to me that they were trying to say that Masako was pregnant while working for the grandfather and that he urged her to have the baby. There wasn’t really a confirmation that the gramps was the father was there? And now second is that if he really is the father, then how did Rin get her blonde hair? The characters on this anime seem to all have real hair colors and not blue or green so well… how does Rin get blonde hair because her mother has black and I’m guessing the gramps had black as well.
really? You think that hair are that important to know who is your father/mother?
C’mon…
She’s not blonde; she has light brown hair. I’d say it’s pretty common for children to have lighter hair when they are young that darkens as they age.
The color is closer to blonde, bro/sis.
It’s true that kids have lighter colored hair than adults. But then why do all of the other kids have hair colors in the normal range?
Aside from C being correct about children often having lighter hair that darkens with age, I’d suggest you look at more of the secondary and background characters. Many people have light-colored hair making it not unusual enough to grab on to.
If you want to talk family, Daikichi’s mother’s hair is a medium brown and she’s currently assumed to be Rin’s half-sister. It’s very common for adult brunettes to have had a light/blonde stage. IIRC, Daikichi’s sister (assumed Rin’s half-niece) has lighter colored hair. I’m just trying to point out it’s not impossible no matter who Rin’s genetic family is.
Rin’s hair is light (it’s not necessary to see it as blonde) and it serves to distinguish her as the main child who is also a bit different from the others and it happens to still be in line with other people’s hair colors. Thankfully it’s not like one of those series where her hair is pink among everyone else’s natural colors, lol.
Given the age of Daikichi’s mother, perhaps there is some hair colouring that’s responsible for its uniform colour.
Show Spoiler ▼
Sorry, the spoiler thing didn’t work since my browser crushed in the middle of arrangement of that and when I came back, the comment was already submitted somehow :/ sorry about it.
Its not really a major spoiler but someone should fix it lol
fixed
Next episode. Timeskip. Five years later. She turns into an horrible teenager and tells him you’re not my father. You should just die.
-the end-
waaah that’s horrible… it’d break my heart!
Daikichi is probably the best guy I’ve ever seen in an anime/mange.
Well I’m sure there is better but thoose characters aren’t really “human” if you know what I mean.
Someone needs to tell him to quit taking a bath with Rin, she isn’t a baby any more and at the age where kids get VERY inquisitive and ask alot of questions about stuff like “whats that between your legs and how come it don’t look like mine”?
cultural difference, this is Japan, people bath in family.
Plus, she doesn’t look like upset about being in the bath with him but she’s concerned when he hug her.
Not a big deal in Japanese culture at all. Nudity is nowhere near as big a taboo generally and communal bathing is a staple of life.
Why? So she can be dumb, ignorant, and fearful of men’s bodies when she gets old enough to be interested in them? Maintaining that casual attitude while she’s still so young doesn’t seem to be a bad thing. I realize it’s considered dirty in the US, but that doesn’t mean it’s the best/right way to be.
I don’t get why it’s a bad thing for children to understand human anatomy. The mystification of it doesn’t seem to help any!
My sister’s 7 and still watch her take her bath. She’ll take an hour to finish if i don’t watch over her. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s not like it’s gonna kill her (morally).
There’s nothing wrong with that. Chill.
pedobear aproves^
@Enzo
Is it just me or is your comment not blue lighted
only the author of the post has the blue highlight
The one thing I have a hard time with in this series is Masako. I just can’t comprehend any woman giving up her child so easily and completely (even if she is strange) unless the woman has serious mental health issues and can’t function in society. Not to mention how adorable Rin is.
As far as Grandpa being the dad I don’t believe that either. Subtract 6 years from Masako’s age and she is probably a teenager. What teenager is gonna boink an old man? She probably got knocked up by someone her own age and Grandpa took her in or something like that.
Wasn’t it with that guy near the end cos his hair colour is different.
If her current boyfriend is Rin’s father, he’s being awfully casual about it, isn’t it? He doesn’t have an interest or a stake in seeing her?
Masako as the same age as Daikichi.
Maybe the expectation was that, instead of adoption/abortion,
the grandfather would raise Rin until she was ready to take her
back. But he passed before that could happen. I haven’t read
the Manga, so it’s a theory. Maybe the grandfather saw more in
the mother than she did in herself…
Here in the US, some states have laws created to permit a woman to drop off an unwanted baby at a designated safe location, such as a hospital.
This is to try to reduce the number of babies who are abandoned in dangerous places, such as dumpsters, or even worse, murdered.
The reasons why women might bear and then not keep a child are many and complex but it definitely happens in the real world!
Sometimes women panic when they realize they cannot care for it, sometimes post-birth depression leaves them unable to connect emotionally to the child. Sometimes they are unable to recognize the baby’s lack of responsibility for anything and they blame him or her for bad things. Sometimes a woman is in a situation where it would be a very bad thing for someone else to discover she had a baby, or she simply has a personal motivation to get rid of it (doesn’t want to lose a job or a BF) and a mental disorder which prevents her from seeing it as a bad thing to do or a better way out. Some of these are permanent mental or emotional problems, sometimes they’re temporary emotional overloads.
You might be right. Guess Misako isn’t Casey Anthony.
Something you need to have in mind while theorycrafting about this anime:
They are using real hair types, not animu hairs, so the adults you see with weird hair colors are dyed.
So Rin is supposed to be a Japanese kid with naturally blonde hair? O_o
You’d be surprised how many mothers in this world are detached from their children. And this is partly due to overpopulation. It’s mother nature’s check on our population growth. If the mother has less emotional detachment, the children’s rate of survival would dramatically decrease, meaning a balanced and sustainable growth. Homosexuality is another way of containing the growth. There are actually children too who purposely reject maternal warmth as well. This is also part of nature’s process. Japan, as we know, has a huge overpopulation issue. But it’s getting better as less couples get married and have children. Obviously, this is bad for economics – but economics is man-made and irrelevant to the balance of nature.
It may seem cruel and not natural, but that’s because you’ve been brainwashed by (Western) society’s and media’s morals.
On the bright side, 99% of the mothers out there are caring, warm, and would sacrifice anything to keep their little ones safe and happy. (^_^)
Interesting theory, I must say.
I also heard once about Suicide, as nature’s process of protecting other humans from possible harm.
The interesting part is, it didn’t only happen on humans. There were reports of other animals such as dogs commit suicide.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35798594/ns/technology_and_science-science/t/animal-suicide-sheds-light-human-behavior/
Wonder what was it that Daikichi said on the phone to Masako in the end? Just to inform her that Rin would rather keep her name?
I sort of giggled at Daikichi commenting whether it’s Rin raising him instead of the other way round, as technically, Rin IS his auntie, after all. lol
Concerning the animation, I’ve only just noticed that the distinctive water-painted background adopted by Production IG is only very visible in the pre-OP scene. The rest of the episode doesn’t have that water-paint feel, though it’s still there.
Seriously, I wasn’t expecting that THIS is gonna be the best show of the season, but so far it is, hands down. Who would have thought? I certainly did not anticipate the fact the Usagi Drop is going to be the show I’m gonna look most forward to watching every week
Ikoku Meiro is the other new anime thats considered as an exceptional show and the picks of the season. Pretty much everyone agrees these 2 are the best of the new shows (Natsume is up there as well but is a sequel).
I didn’t even notice this anime during the preview albeit being mentioned so many times in comments, and this somehow becomes my favorite of the season. Seriously. The scene where daikichi shed a tear somehow really touched me.
Although yes, he needs to stop taking bath with rin. I’m afraid she will start asking weird questions or something like that. At the age of 6, even father and daughter shouldn’t take bath together anymore. Maybe I’m just being too conservative here…
And somehow this episode makes me 80% sure the grandpa is not rin’s father. Masako just put it so weirdly, it just doesn’t fit
I have personally seen people like Masako. Masako is doing much better than most of those I know.
As hard to believe as it is for some, I’ve known teenagers who “bonk” old men. They have their reasons. Though Masako is probably not being honest about Rin’s paternity. The bath thing is cultural. Some may find bathing together conservative too, depending on where you are from and what culture you subscribe to.
Is strange listening Maaya Sakamoto doing such a meager character. In all honesty, Masako just didn’t want any responsabilities as a mother. Up to no she’s just a selfish, self-centered (censored) that prefers her pity life rather than learn how to be a real human being.
Having taken that out of my system, Daikichi is easily winning the “Man of the Year” award as accepting the challenge of raising Rin (and learning a little bit from her by the way). Here you got the 2 sides of the coin: The honorable Daikichi who could’ve forgotten about Rin but took her as the compassionate relative he is even at the point of changing his way of life, and the despicable Masako who doesn’t even know what to do with her own life and didn’t want to make a single effort to change.
Rin is way better with Daikichi anyways…
I think judging her too quickly is unfair, and her situation is more complex than what is seen at face-value.
About the bathing thing: it’s not a big deal in Japan. I have read the manga and am not spoiling anything but I’ll say there is a point later when the fact they are still bathing together comes up with someone else and it’s not regarded as anything but acceptable and practical.
Besides, there’s no woman around who could help Rin bathe and she’s still too young to bathe by herself.
If Rin asks questions, so what? Kids only think something is worth their attention if it’s forbidden for them to know about it. If Daikichi answers her with basic answers and no unusual emotion, it will just become a fact of life that anatomy there is just different in boys and girls. Does she ask why he wears short hair while her’s grows long? Or why men don’t have breasts?
The US is extremely prudish about nudity and sex, by the way. Much more so than most of the world.
I dont remember much but, I think in the manga masako and daikichi fought a lot more than just daikichi talking to himself in his head.
i’m always waiting for the new episode to come out every week. though Ikoku Meirou also ranks as one of my top watch this season, i’m won over by Rin over Yune. she’s just too cute! and Daikichi is one of the best guys in anime~
There’s something about this show that always moves me every week…
Is it the admiration for Daikichi’s sacrifices and his determination? Is it the touching relationship between psuedo-father-daughter?
Hnnnnnnnnnnggggg. This ep had me in tears. I was freaking crying for Sakamoto Maaya as she was reading Rin’s Mother’s lines. As logically justifiable as Rin’s Mother’s position was, I. was. in tears. Heartbreaking.
Then at the end where Rin apologizes for not holding Daikichi when he was crying earlier. *dies* I can’t take much more of this. So Innocent, so wonderful. nnng gah. I’ll be ok. just bring me next week’s quickly~~
Yup this season all 5 of my shows that I constantly wait for are: This one, Natsume, and ikoku meiro no croisee which are slice of life and supernatural. And the other ones are Dantalion no shoka and blade which are for action.
This season is just awesome for slice of life series.
As for bathing, I remember I still bathe with my mom til I was 6. My father really didn’t care much for our (girls) hygiene so I don’t remember him bathing me even as a baby. But when my brothers came along he took care of them and they bathe with him until the were like 6 or 7. well, that’s just my family (asian of course) and I am bathing with my toddler now. There is nothing embarrassing about it until they start asking what is what and about sex. . .then it becomes embarrassing. LOL
I love Rin and I love Daikichi, and I’m deeply in love with this series *_* It’s sooo cute and REAL, but it’s really a pity that it’s only 11 episodes…
I would like to share some of my anime “theories” with all of you. first why do all anime characters have weird hair and eye colors, well 1 think mamga and anime creators do this for two reasons (1 because it’s unique and stylish 2) because it helps distigiush characters apart fron each other. I mean if all characters hade regular hair colors like brown, black, blonde, and red we wouldn’t be able to tell who’s who. for example what if all the characters in shuffle had the exact same hair and eye color as Rin. We fans would think that they were all related to each other.
Then how about this?
Definitely one of the best slice of life anime ever. Hands down. My only question is, why fewer screencaps???