Jehowi

Usagi Drop

Storyline

7. At the moment I’m writing this, Usagi Drop is being rated number 15 on the list of Anime Planet’s best Animes, surpassing the likes of Death Note, Sword Art Online and Mirai Nikki in the process. It may therefore seem self-evident that my expectations were astronomical, especially when I noticed the lowest review score this Anime received was a 7/10. Unfortunately, Usagi Drop never fulfilled these high expectations. Slice of life Anime might’ve already been a genre which held few positive experiences to me, I still cannot understand that I am the only one who seemingly had to drag himself to the final episode. The story is simple: Daikichi becomes the guardian of a child who was born out of an affair between his grandfather and a maid. Since Daikichi himself is a bachelor and never had kids, this all comes as a big challenge to him. However, it immediately becomes clear that Daikichi is a very responsible and autonomous person that will never get into real trouble while trying to raise Rin. From my point of view, the story is way too serious and started to resemble an everyday television soap, except for the lack of tension and cliffhangers. Absolutely not my cup of tea.

Plot and pace

6. Usagi Drop consists of 11 episodes in which all kinds of ordinary things happen. All of these things are the result of raising a kid: from job changes to subscribing for school, visiting the parents, going shopping, taking the train,…. The story develops at a reasonable pace, whereas the characters, especially Rin, show a lot of development. Rin herself changes from a sad and quiet girl to a small lady who gets attached to Daikichi and takes care of her friends. Something I really loathe in Anime, however, is when you get to experience that you could skip like five episodes without ever losing track of the story. Guess what? That’s exactly what happens in Usagi Drop. Added value towards the story: zero.

Cliffhangers

4. The story is anything but exciting, and there is a huge lack of tension, excitement and cliffhangers, taking into account that each episode’s about a completely different subject. Unfortunately enough I can only add to say that the story is terribly boring. Therefore, it is incomprehensible to me that so many people are raving about this Anime. I can only guess that Usagi Drop has been that appealing to the large majority of viewers because it excels in realism, but that’s not what I’m looking for in an Anime. I’d rather watch the news if I ever feel the need for realism and getting bored.

Satisfying ending

5. I was planning to give it a four on this part, but during the last minutes of the series they suddenly decided to actually take the time to conclude the whole thing with a couple of flashbacks about the show and the addition of an overwhelming ending quote (sarcasm). The open ending was to be expected and added nothing towards my negative opinion about the show.

Rewatchability

5. You might think I’m crazy, but i’d still recommend this Anime if you like Slice of life Anime. It’s not all doom and gloom, actually, which you’ll notice if you decide to read any further in this review. But people who prefer to occupy themselves with Animes that have a real surplus value, contain tension and have a decent amusement rate, shouldn’t bother watching Usagi Drop.

Characters

9. I cannot complain about the characters in the story, and perhaps this is also what keeps the show somewhat enjoyable, apart from the unique font style which I will explain later in this review.  Daikichi, Rin, Kouki and the mother whose name the main characters apparently never bothered to ask all possess loveable personalities with whom we can certainly identify ourselves. There’s certainly some positive character development.

Conversations

7. The conversations range from ‘excellent’ at the start of the series (Rin telling Daikichi that she’s actually his aunt cracked me up so hard) to ‘okay’ throughout the rest of the Anime. They could’ve improved it with a romantic ending note, but the creators of Usagi Drop found this unnecessary. Shame.

Art Style

9. The Art Style might perhaps be the most exciting part of the entire Anime, or at the least it’s the most unique part. The Anime is drawn like a living painting. I’ve never seen anything like this before, so that was a large surplus. The font style has a childish look(but in a positive way that fits the Anime well) and kept surprising me until the end of the show.

Setting

6. The story takes place at various locations: Daikichi’s home, Rin’s school, the house of Daikichi’s parents, random places around the town where they’re living,… Every place looks pretty boring and therefore goes along well with the overall amusement value of the series.

Music and sounds

7. The voice acting is okay and the intro song fits the story well.

Overall score

65/100