When a child is ill, it’s often the parents that take it even worse than the child.
What They Say:
Daikichi feels helpless when Rin is laid up with stomach flu, so Kouki’s mother steps in to give them both a hand.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
As Usagi Drop nudges up against the end of the series, we’re treated to more fun material that really shows the way that the writers here completely get what they needed to with it. Writing good parental characters is not an easy job since most tend to go to the easy stereotypes. With this series, because of the nature of the relationships, they can’t really do that since it requires something more complex and detailed. What makes it extra fun here though is that Daikichi isn’t the only parent in the mix as Yukari’s in there a lot, though not as a constant presence. She gives him something to work off of, but they both have their issues with how their lives are going when it comes to raising kids.
With this episode, the two of them get closer in a new way as after a school event, Rin ends up coming down with a stomach bug that really gets to her. And that’s on top of some baby teeth that are starting to feel a little wobbly as well. When a child gets sick, no matter the age they’re at, parents will feel for them even more than usual because of how it changes their personalities so drastically. For Daikichi, it’s a doubly worse situation since he didn’t grow into it and understand how it works when it comes to common things like this from birth. It makes him even more nervous and uncertain than usual and it also makes him easily flustered because of it all. What helps is when Yukari comes to check on Rin, since she could tell that her own child wasn’t exactly a hundred percent himself.
With the show pushing the four of them as an ideal family unit that could (and should) grow naturally, it’s really nice to see how easily Rin takes to some parenting and care from Yukari. The same can be said from Nita as the young boy does a somewhat decent job of listening to Daikichi at times, something that Daikichi feels rather natural about doing. The care and attention they all give to each other on different levels here helps to smooth things over well between them and enhances and deepens their relationships without some of them even realizing it. While we do have all of that here, we do get some very good time spent between just Rin and Daikichi which is critical to have. The closeness and bonding of the two is the main thrust of the series and seeing how they both work through this is simply beautiful to watch.
In Summary:
Usagi Drop hits up another great episode here as it works through the cast by showing how they deal with a difficult situation. It’s easy to imagine Rin going through this before, but they tend to not remember it. For Daikichi, it’s a real challenge the first time it happens and for many more times after that, and always in a way as well. When a child is as small as they get when they’re sick, it impacts you heavily. When they’re already this small it does it even more and that’s captured just right here, from Rin’s appearance to how Daikichi views here. And Yukari does a great job of bringing balance while not taking over, rather instructing and helping where appropriate. It’s a great episode when you get down to it and really is that rare body of work that almost never gets made in general. Very highly recommended.
Grade: A
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70″ LCoS 1080P HDTV, Dell 10.1 Netbook via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.