2023 EDIT: Part of my 2023 clear-up, of books I no longer like, or am no longer interested in, or remember well as standing out, or find as special anymore, or I otherwise will not miss.
Final Score: 3.5/5
Original Review:
A manga with a more realistic touch than what I'm used to. But it certainly isn't the same-old slice-of-life drama seen before either (how many manga can you think of in which the thirty-year-old bachelor protag adopts his late grandfather's illegitimate little child?)
'Bunny Drop' (or 'Usagi Drop' in Japanese) is a story about the responsibilities adults must face up to, but too often they forget the most basic lessons in maturity because they are too wrapped up in their own lives and problems. This becomes even more obvious whenever a child is involved. Daikichi decides to take in Rin, his six-year-old aunt, after his grandfather dies and she has no one else who is willing to look after her. Rin is an inquisitive but shy and deeply insecure kid who cannot help the circumstances surrounding her birth - her very existence - and so Daikichi makes it his responsibility to raise her. She fears people leaving her, and it is up to our adult protagonist to grow to love her and become the parental figure she needs.
He quits smoking, considers getting life insurance, helps Rin when he finds out she hides evidence whenever she wets the bed, and enrols her at a school that is not far from both his house and his workplace. Parenting is no easy task and not to be taken on a whim, as Daikichi quickly realises. Then there's his family and friends chastising him, his love life, wondering whether to get involved when Rin starts making friends at school, and solving the mystery of who her mother is and where she's got to...
'Bunny Drop 1' is a sweet and adorable manga, with a simplistic art style that compliments it tenderly. As a first volume it could have had more to it, but it works fine on its own nonetheless. 'Bunny Drop' is about family and sticking together when in need.
Sadly, however, I won't be reading future volumes; because yes, I've unfortunately heard about what's to come and how the story completely butchers the parent-and-child theme it had going for it. We don't get many of those kinds of stories and I'd thought 'Bunny Drop' would be a breath of fresh air. But it ends up just like the majority of manga/anime out there, which seem to think that there can be only one form of love and one way for people to be together. No more spoilers from here, but darn how... disappointing.
Oh well, never mind. It's only fiction, no matter how realistic.
Final Score: 4/5
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