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3.9 AVERAGE
3.9 AVERAGE
Friends! Romans! Countrymen! Lend me your ears so I may tell you of the joy of reading a manga that is all about parenthood. Our setting? Yumi Unita's Bunny Drop Volume 1. -cue mysterious screen warping scene change-
When his grandfather dies thirty year old bachelor Daikichi takes time off work to attend his funeral. He and his family are shocked to discover their grandpa had a six year old daughter out of wedlock with an unknown lover. When no one in his family seems willing to take her on Daikichi volunteers for the task.
Where is the joy in this you ask? Well aside from sudden onset parenthood being one of my most favourite tropes there is the following.
+ The art style. It's plain in a way that's very visually pleasing, pages never look cluttered even when a lot is going on. I think the closest style to compare it to would be the work of Natsume Ono or the way CLAMP draws xxxHolic. Lots of clean lines and flat screentones with limited detailing.
+ The tone. Unita eschews cheap men-can't-handle-children humor in favour of an honest look at the challenges of parenting. Daikichi struggles with things like finding a day care centre that works with his work hours. He has rethink some of his life style choices now that he's accommodating a child. It's honest and earnest in a way I deeply appreciate.
+ The characters! I think it's a given that Daikichi is quite likeable but I like that Unita refuses to villainize the members of his family less willing to take Rin in. The last chapter of the volume has Daikichi and Rin visiting them and it results in some good relationship (re-)building all around. I especially like how taking care of Rin prompts Daikichi to think so much more about his own mother and what raising children entailed for her. 4 stars
When his grandfather dies thirty year old bachelor Daikichi takes time off work to attend his funeral. He and his family are shocked to discover their grandpa had a six year old daughter out of wedlock with an unknown lover. When no one in his family seems willing to take her on Daikichi volunteers for the task.
Where is the joy in this you ask? Well aside from sudden onset parenthood being one of my most favourite tropes there is the following.
+ The art style. It's plain in a way that's very visually pleasing, pages never look cluttered even when a lot is going on. I think the closest style to compare it to would be the work of Natsume Ono or the way CLAMP draws xxxHolic. Lots of clean lines and flat screentones with limited detailing.
+ The tone. Unita eschews cheap men-can't-handle-children humor in favour of an honest look at the challenges of parenting. Daikichi struggles with things like finding a day care centre that works with his work hours. He has rethink some of his life style choices now that he's accommodating a child. It's honest and earnest in a way I deeply appreciate.
+ The characters! I think it's a given that Daikichi is quite likeable but I like that Unita refuses to villainize the members of his family less willing to take Rin in. The last chapter of the volume has Daikichi and Rin visiting them and it results in some good relationship (re-)building all around. I especially like how taking care of Rin prompts Daikichi to think so much more about his own mother and what raising children entailed for her. 4 stars
*3.5 stars*
An adorable yet meaningful first volume that was really enjoyable. (: I will definitely be reading more of these if just for the comedic intents and great characters, especially that of Rin and Daikichi.
An adorable yet meaningful first volume that was really enjoyable. (: I will definitely be reading more of these if just for the comedic intents and great characters, especially that of Rin and Daikichi.
I highly recommend this one-it was very cute & very sweet!
This was sweet- not funny like Yotsuba, but had the same 'single young guy raising a little girl' storyline. And there were funny moments, but they'd probably be funnier if I had children.
Oof this is the most wholesome and pure thing I’ve read/watched in a while…but hearing what happens in vol. 4…
Gosh, this was really cute and sweet... I loved the simple art style, with the more grounded-to-reality character designs. Daikichi is a genuinely good person, Rin acts like a realistic child, it's interesting learning the daily grind of a single parent in Japan, and even Daikichi's family turns out pretty decent (at first I thought they'd be cartoonishly villainous).
emotional
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
It was cute, but I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought. Not sure I'll continue with this series. I like Ron, but it focuses so much on the dad figure and it's a bit boring. Would like Rin to have more personality also, kinda bland, but understandable.
I first started reading Bunny Drop back in 2012 and thought it was really cute, so I bought all the volumes up to 7 (which were all that had been published in English at the time). The story and characters go a bit downhill once Rin reaches her teen years, so I actually only ever read through volume 6, but always kind of meant to go back and continue the series eventually. Cut to years later and I learned about the problematic turn the story takes by the end:
Despite that, I've had fond memories of the first few volumes and still owned volumes 1-7 for almost a decade. I needed to decide whether to keep or unhaul the manga, so I finally re-read and completed the unread portions of the manga, since there's only ten volumes. And yeah, it for sure goes downhill after volume 4, and the uncomfortable topic begins in volume 8. I am sort of glad to finally have finished the series and seen for myself how the story devolves. While I do genuinely still like the beginning of this series, I won't be rating any of them because I don't want to encourage anyone to begin reading without knowing the trajectory the story takes, and I don't really want to further support an author who would write this kind of storyline (I read the last three volumes I didn't already own through online scans).
For new readers, I would definitely suggest stopping either after volume 4 or volume 7. Both of those volumes have decent ending points without any of the weirdness of the final volumes. But also this is one of those cases where you should definitely know spoilers before deciding to start reading.
Spoiler
after being taken in and raised by Daikichi since the age of 6 Rin suddenly discovers that she loves him, and despite his misgivings he agrees to marry her after she graduates high school. While not ~technically~ incest, it's still pretty disturbing since Daikichi was essentially Rin's father for 10+ years, and there's a 25 year age difference between them.Despite that, I've had fond memories of the first few volumes and still owned volumes 1-7 for almost a decade. I needed to decide whether to keep or unhaul the manga, so I finally re-read and completed the unread portions of the manga, since there's only ten volumes. And yeah, it for sure goes downhill after volume 4, and the uncomfortable topic begins in volume 8. I am sort of glad to finally have finished the series and seen for myself how the story devolves. While I do genuinely still like the beginning of this series, I won't be rating any of them because I don't want to encourage anyone to begin reading without knowing the trajectory the story takes, and I don't really want to further support an author who would write this kind of storyline (I read the last three volumes I didn't already own through online scans).
For new readers, I would definitely suggest stopping either after volume 4 or volume 7. Both of those volumes have decent ending points without any of the weirdness of the final volumes. But also this is one of those cases where you should definitely know spoilers before deciding to start reading.
