Forum - View topic"Oh man, I'm glad the anime changed that."
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Errinundra
Moderator
 Posts: 6572 Location: Melbourne, Oz |
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Whenever I respond to this interpretation of Usagi Drop I fear that the thread will end up being derailed, especially given that a fellow antipodean will gleefully leap into the fray. Nevertheless, I think the view displayed above is misconceived. Usagi Drop is NOT a tract on how to be a good father. This scene from episode 5 makes it clear that Rin doesn't consider Daikichi as father. Daikichi: Mm… You know… I’m not your father… Rin: Mmm Daikichi: But I’m not your big brother either, right? Rin: (Laughs.) Nobody thinks that! Daikichi: I’m just giving a for instance! The question is, what am I then? Rin: Daikichi! Daikichi: That’s my name… Listen, and this is only if you aren’t against it… What I’m trying to say… How can I put it…? Uh… What do you… Rin… Rin, what would you think… about me becoming your real father? Rin: Daikichi, you… become my father? Daikichi: So, say we did that, your name would become Kawachi Rin… Rin: Kawachi… Rin. (Pause.) No. Daikichi: No…? Don’t you think it’d be better if you had a father? Rin: My father is Grandpa. My name is Kaga Rin and I like it. It’s the same name as Grandpa. That’s important. Daikichi: I see… Rin: Daikichi should just stay Daikichi. The mild-mannered Daikichi fully accepts the relationship Rin wants. The anime subtly reinforces the point thereafter while the manga is quite specific about it, especially in the unadapted second half. Usagi Drop first appeared in Feel Young, a josei magazine published by Shodensha. It was written by a woman - Yumi Unita - and read by women. One of the quirks of the anime is that it has been hailed by men and generally interpreted through Daikichi's eyes. In the manga it is clear that it is Rin's story, particularly the second half which is written almost entirely through her point of view. To me the manga has a strong social / political undercurrent. It is about the life choices facing women in modern Japan and argues that successful relationships don't come about because of traditional family structures or legal niceties but, rather, through the attitudes and behaviours of the participants. The obvious example is in the first episode where the conservative extended family is quite unable to deal with the now homeless Rin. Other examples of this dilemma are Rin's mother choosing a career over her daughter, Haruko's disfunctional family, Kouki's mum's life as a single mother, an effeminate man (the ex-model) and the daggy man (the butcher) making successful fathers, and the meaningful relationship enjoyed by Daikichi and Kouki's mum that doesn't go the normal route of sex and marriage. The irony of Usagi Drop is that it forces a man to live the choices normally faced only by women. Going further, I'd lay London to a brick that Yumi Unita would support gay marriage and gay parenting. The theme of the manga is women's choices. To say that Rin shouldn't spoiler[marry Daikichi] is to deny Rin her choice and to impose your own. That is precisely the sort of attitude the manga is challenging. To me the unadapted second half isn't as good because the events are less interesting and concentrates too much on Rin's school life at the expense of the relationship between her and Daikichi. The end, while perfectly in keeping with the themes of the manga, as I've argued above, seems tacked on and the revelation that spoiler[Daikichi and Rin aren't actually related] is a cop-out. It would have been much more challenging if they were and, as I understand, wouldn't have been illegal. I strongly recommend people read this review: http://japaneseliterature.wordpress.com/2011/12/20/bunny-drop/ |
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publicenemy333
 Posts: 563 Location: Los Angeles, CA |
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Thats all fine and dandy and you make good points. It is intriguing, really. But its still creepy no matter how you put it. Yes Im aware the author is a woman and Im aware its a Josei manga. That doesnt change my views. Even if Rin didn't really view him as a father, he still more or less is her father figure, he knew this girl since she was really young and the fact spoiler[he would return her feelings] is still really disturbing. I mean, its not like anyone took Woody Allen's "The heart wants what it wants" seriously when he got with Soon-Yi Previn, that was just creepy too
While an intriguing case on women's choice, its still disturbing and spoiler[comes off as pedophilia] no matter how you put it, regardless of whether or not the author is a woman. And Im for gay marriage and gay parenting, Im not close minded. Seeing a father-figure and daughter-figure, spoiler[even if they arent related by blood, hook up like that], considering their history together, and seeing the significant age difference is just wrong no matter how you look at it. Yeah, maybe we're imposing our own choice over Rin's, and hell, Im not even saying that spoiler[Rin developing feelings for Daikichi] isnt an interesting development. To go with your saying that it is Rin's choice as a woman, fine then. HOWEVER, Daikichi, as an ADULT MAN shoulda just have known better than to spoiler[return her feelings]. Therein lies most of our problems with the ending. Sorry man, thats just how I see it, and that isnt gonna change. You could call me close minded if you want. Sorry, I don't mean to derail this thread anymore. |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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spoiler[It's not that I want to deny Rin her choice myself, it's that I want Daikichi to deny Rin her choice. After all, he has a choice too, if we're talking about choices then we can't forget that men have just as much say in a relationship as woman do. Daikichi didn't have to provisionally accept - he had every right to say no - but he still chose to.] spoiler[So basically, I don't hate the Manga for Rin's choice, I hate it for Daikichi's choice. Rin was a teenager, and teenagers make stupid decisions all the time. Can't really blame her. But Daikichi was an adult, not only did he have the right he had to the responsibility to say no. He should have gently but firmly told her that it wasn't going to be, blood relationship or not. That he didn't say it at all (let alone straight away) is what repulses the Western mindset.] |
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DuskyPredator
 Posts: 15557 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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Y'all whiting about Usagi Drop manga, gets annoying after a while. I was put off at first by hearing spoiler[what happens, but I think that is a cultural issue, and that we had only seen Rin as a child. Even though people are better now days, we are still limited by what we see as normal relationships, if it was both of their decision, Daikichi did not push anything onto her, people say that love is what is most in trouble. So it is their issue, not random other people who think that their relationship is strange. After all, Romeo and Juliet were an unlikely pair.]
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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Romeo and Juliet were also the same age and didn't have a current caregiver-minor relationship.
Just saying. |
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DuskyPredator
Posts: 15557 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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 Juliet was 13, I can't find Romeo's age though, but chances are that he was older.
The point I wanted to make was that one of the most celebrated loves could be shocking to its own culture. |
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publicenemy333
Posts: 563 Location: Los Angeles, CA |
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Am I whining? I like to think Im having a discussion hahaha
Romeo was like 17 I think. A bit of an age gap, but not as extreme Romeo and Juliet was also written in the 1500s, so we're talking about a different time period altogether. Also, as far a love stories go, Im not a fan of Romeo and Juliet either. I dont see it as a story of two star-crossed lovers, I see it as two stupid kids that got themselves killed for no reason. But I suppose that's really neither here nor there. Im not this difficult in real life, BTW. Really 
I suppose it is just a cultural thing. Does anyone know what the reaction to the ending was like in Japan? And I mean the fanbase as a whole, not just maybe one critic that liked or disliked it. |
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kyokun703
 Posts: 2505 Location: Orgrimmar |
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The amazon reviews on Japan's amazon site for the last volume were not favorable.
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VORTIA
 SubscriberPosts: 943 |
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http://www.amazon.co.jp/うさぎドロップ-10-番外編-Feelコミックス-宇仁田/dp/439676541X/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1342979628&sr=1-3 4&1/2 Stars is a not favorable rating? 
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RGaspar
 Posts: 244 |
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That was more a consequence of the anime getting ahead of the manga's release than anything else (The manga was roughly halfway when they started animating it). Yet, it's the only strong case of this thread's title I know of. Seriously, Elfen Lied just becomes batshit insane (in a bad way) in the latter half, there are a lot of pointless stories and characters... I'm glad they didn't animate it, it would have been flashy but very, very nonsensical. And that's about it for me, most of the times I'm the other way around, wanting for the anime to fully adapt or take the way of the manga. |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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Yes it is. But notice he didn't say "rating", he said "reviews". |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11555 |
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I'm kind of feeling like the whole Usagi discussion (except for the initial mention) should be moved to the Usagi discussion thread (or its own thread and topped with spoiler labels). I'm not usually one to cry Spoiler!, especially when people have made the effort, but there's been such a sparing use of tags, it's not exactly hard to figure out what you're talking about, so yeah, I think people are spoiled now even without reading the hidden text.
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VORTIA
Subscriber Posts: 943 |
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Sure, but anyone can write a whiny review. If the overall rating is positive, then it's positive, and you've just got a handful of people being hacked off for some reason. I'm sure you can find some nasty reviews of One Piece out there, but that doesn't mean people in Japan don't love it and buy it like crazy. |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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Very true. I was just trying to clear up the misunderstanding about review versus rating, not trying to take kyokun703's side. I know that - by and large - the Japanese like the ending, that's one of my gripes about this whole mess. It just shows how socially backwards they are*.
Anyway, yay for the Anime not having the time to adapt the second half of the Manga. * And before anyone jumps on me, please note that I think spoiler[Koi Kaze was really, really good. I'm not against fictional incestuous relationships per se, I'm against Usagi Drop's handling of its central relationship. Doesn't matter that it ended up as being 'only' pseudo-incestuous, that's missing the point.] |
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Chiibi
 Posts: 4829 |
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Haha....well, we already knew that. 
"If a man gets attacked by a younger girl who tries to get intimate with him, it's the man's fault because the girl is innocent." ..........I'm sorry. WHAT!? Though, it is a possibility that the Japanese like Usagi Drop as just a story. They might feel differently if it was taking place in real life. I definitely this way about Kodomo No Jikan. |
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