Regardless of the anime or manga that we like, we rarely seem to find ourselves, as viewers and readers, face to face with serious social issues. For the most part, a lot of the anime and manga out there are as far from dealing with the real world as possible, and that's fine. Many, if not most of us, watch shows or read books to escape our world and live vicariously through others. Usagi ...
Regardless of the anime or manga that we like, we rarely seem to find ourselves, as viewers and readers, face to face with serious social issues. For the most part, a lot of the anime and manga out there are as far from dealing with the real world as possible, and that's fine. Many, if not most of us, watch shows or read books to escape our world and live vicariously through others. Usagi Drop takes a classic theme of suddenly single parent, that is usually reserved for comedy, and instead makes it as real as possible. Usagi Drop takes the classic social issue of illegitimate children born out of wedlock and reminds us that it is still an issue we need to pay attention to. Usagi Drop does all of this while being entertaining, beautiful and earth shattering, and yet somehow, one can't help but feel that they are on more solid ground than they were before they watched it.
The issue of children born out of wedlock seems to have slowly become a non-issue over the course of the 20th and into the 21st century for Western audiences. Because of this, Westerners might watch this show and think it's no big deal and not understand how and why the family is being so wretched towards Rin and why it is such a huge deal with Daikichi takes her in after becoming frustrated with the families cold and heartless reaction. To a Western audience, this is simply the right thing to do, but in some cases in Japanese culture, what happens in Usagi Drop is revolutionary, and it calls its intended viewers out on the carpet and declares that it is time to let go of this taboo and time to stop punishing the children for the mistakes and social missteps of their parents. It does this without irony, without slapstick, without any attempt at comic relief, and because of this, the audience is now forced to confront the issue as real rather than brush it off as something they saw in an anime.
Another refreshing thing about Usagi Drop, like many of the titles that have aired on the noitaminA block, this comes from a josei manga, meaning that the target audience is adult women. So few animes are made from this demographic that whenever one does come about, it is almost instantly a breath of fresh air, and Usagi Drop is no exception. The art and the coloring of the series are unlike what most people are used to seeing out of shounen and shoujo fair, and mercifully, nothing like the seinen moe that seems to be everywhere. As much as possible, mangaka Unita Yumi seems to go for realism in her style, and that is translated well into the series though the art and the animation. A more mature demographic also means we get more mature characters and more well rounded characters, so expect to be able to find pieces of yourself scattered throughout the cast as the series progresses.
The one slight flaw of the show is the music, and while it is not bad, it is not memorable. It works as a part of the series, but the opening, ending and all the music in between do not stay with you long. That is probably just as well because what should stay with you after watching Usagi Drop is the show, and perhaps the music is an intentional after-thought.
Usagi Drop's manga has finished, and many people who are fans know where this series is headed. I urge you, do not spoil this by going and looking up what happens. Instead, enjoy the episodes as they come out. I feel safe to say that when the ending comes, many people may be unhappy with it. I think that this is just another feature of good storytelling: sometimes, things don't work out.
At eleven episodes, you really don't have an excuse to not watch this series. Usagi Drop will make you cry, it will make you laugh, and it will make you believe that there are beautiful things in this world and help you hope for a better tomorrow for all those who are shoved to the margins by society. I can't give this series a high enough recommendation, but it should suffice to say that you need to watch this show and hope that more studios are willing to break the mold in the future.
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