Usagi Drop – 05
“Am I raising Rin or is she raising me?”~
~Total cliche quote I took from the last bit of the episode but, it fits. Anyways, I’ve been hearing a lot of people have spoiled Usagi Drop for themselves because of that bastard Wikipedia, who has spoiled other series for me as well. I came close myself when I got curious and decided to look up the manga. What perplexed me to look through the comments I do not know, but thank goodness I resisted the urge to click that ‘Spoiler’ tag. BUT IT’S SO TEMPTING…
*cough* So, back to Usagi Drop, the day starts off like normal with some riceball-making for breakfast, but then the two head on the train as Daikichi flashbacks to his conversation with Rin’s mother, Masako, on the phone. He tells her that he and Rin are living together, and that he would like to meet her to talk about something. Back to the present, Daikichi drops Rin off at his parent’s house while he goes to a diner. He waits until he gets a call from Masako, who says she’s already here. Hearing the echo, he turns around and realizes she had been sitting behind him.
Daikichi gets right to the point after their awkward first meeting and brings out a picture of Rin. While she looks at the photo, he sees two manga books near her, recalling that someone earlier had called her sensei. Masako panics and puts her things away as Daikichi asks if that was the reason why she left Rin. She tells him yes, and explains she had landed a major assignment just as she found out she was pregnant. Despite trying to tell herself that Rin wasn’t her daughter, she tried to work and raise her, but found it physically impossible. Daikichi questions her on other things, like if she had any problem with him continuing to live with Rin or if she felt anything for Rin at all, to which she has answers and no answers at times.
As the two end the meeting and leave the diner, Masako stops him to ask for one favor: to let Rin use his family name when she goes to school. Daikichi, confused as to why, tells her he can’t really promise her and that he will talk to Rin about it. When she asks why he’s letting her decide, he says that he’s thinking of what’s best for Rin, that he’ll ask her what she feels and then two will decide together and that he’ll let her know what the answer is afterwards. Back at his parent’s home, he tells what happened, and his mother agrees to the name change, saying it’d be best so she won’t have kids making fun of her different name. Daikichi suggests that he should just adopt Rin so she’d really have their surname.
After a night of curry, bath time, and finally tooth-brushing time, Daikichi asks Rin if she’d want him to become her real father and that her name would change to Kawachi Rin instead. In a few seconds, she says no, saying her father is Grandpa, that she likes her name, and that Daikichi…should just stay Daikichi. The words shock him, and he bows his head lower, tear seemingly falling. When Rin asks if he’s crying, he quickly says that it’s just sweat, even though it’s only March…
It’s time for graduation as Rin and Kouki graduate from their Kindergarten, both of their single parents present to watch the occasion. Later in the evening, Daikichi calls Masako again, presumably telling her about what happened. She gives out a solemn, “I understand”, digging right into some pudding cups~
End thoughts: I-I CAN’T TAKE THIS ANYMORE. THIS IS TOO SWEET FOR MY FRAGILE FANGIRL HEART. I can’t even lie and say I didn’t cry at all. I mean, I completely lost it once when Rin said “Daikichi should just stay Daikichi”. I ended up crying through the rest of the episode, seriously. They just had to put the cute Kindergarten graduation scene and the part with Rin holding onto Daikichi afterwards didn’t they…-SOB-
Anyways, as for my thoughts on Rin’s mother, Masako, I…have very mixed feelings about her. I don’t hate her with this fiery passion, but I do find her a bit irritating. Her reason for leaving Rin is understandable, especially if she’s working on manga, but when compared to Daikichi, who actually transferred departments at his work just for Rin, it seems quite selfish. It’s her reasoning about not thinking of Rin as her daughter and her seemingly not thinking of Rin’s emotional needs all that much was what urk-ed me. Despite that, I feel myself siding with her a bit, in the way that Souichi sounded in his will when he wrote about the two. She was young and she made some selfish choices, probably because she didn’t really understand just how much attention and care you have to give to a child. I’ve been frequently told by my mother that having a child means you can’t be selfish, that you do have to give up things for your child because they should be your first priority now (and since I’ve been told that many times, seeing mothers who think of themselves first really gets me mad hence why I also find Masako just that bit irritating). She just wasn’t mature or ready enough to take care of her, and coupled with work, it was just a recipe for disaster. And in the end, maybe it was the best thing since Rin is now being raised by people who care a lot for her.
Overall, this wasn’t my favorite episode, mainly because I expected something a little more juicer, drama-wise, concerning Rin’s mother (maybe we’ll get some later on?) but I did enjoy it. The cute scenes of Rin and Daikichi’s life together kept me heavily interested as you can tell as usual, and the meeting with Masako, while a bit uneventful, was pretty decent. I mainly was expecting it’d be some big deal, but this show is quite realistic so I can understand. I’m just really curious as to if Masako might be showing up more in the series. After finally seeing her, I sort of doubt that she will but, who knows. It’d be interesting though~. Until next week then~!!
About Hoshi
A tired, over-dramatic 20 year old college student who likes manga and cheesy Korean boy bands. Prone to succumb to laziness and refuse to work for hours on end.
POWUH: 1000-1099 and Pirate King with 1048 comments
“Daikichi should just stay Daikichi”… oh I must admit, that really hit me too Hoshi. ;_; It sucks when the love isn’t equal, but ya know, they haven’t been together too long. So don’t worry Daikichi! In time my man, she will love you!!
Though Masako came off as selfish a lot, I too didn’t find her to be just a flat-out horrible person. She’s just a career-woman that made a mistake. A bit of an airhead, really.
POWUH: Metanorn Regular with 79 comments
I was surprised that the confrontation with Masako came this early; I was expecting it to be the climax of the series, but this was interesting too. Masako herself seems like a decent person – certainly selfish and a poor mother, but she does seem to know this and her abandonment wasn’t from malice. I can see her having a recurring role in the series from here on, or at least meeting up with Rin in person.
I laughed when Daikichi said he was sweating! That was a really nice scene, and I liked the call back to earlier episodes.
POWUH: Lovely-pyon~ with 304 comments
I had to ending spoiled to me. I’m never, ever reading comments ever again. Stupid spoiler people… >.<
I really loved this episode. Especially the end when Rin told Daikichi that she would hold him next time he cried. D'awww, Rin, why are you so cute??!
I also have mixed feelings about Masako. I can't help but wonder if maybe her reasons for abandoning Rin go deeper than what she said.
The "Daikichi should just stay Daikichi" scene got me too. ;_;
POWUH: Beginner (20-35) with 31 comments
I really didn’t like Misako. I understood her reasons as selfish as they were, but her personality; urgh! She seemed so distracted and useless in the real world and that coffee house scene… at times it was like the gravity of what Daikichi was saying was completely beyond her grasp of understanding. I’d probably be more sympathetic if she was simply cold and disinterested. People half her age could have tried to deal with the situation better than she did. At any rate, it paints a worst picture of Daikichi’s grandfather, I don’t get how an adult of his age could be attracted to someone like her, save for the obvious and slightly creepy reasons. The need for companionship doesn’t necessary has to warrant a sexual relationship, at least in circumstances like this. Hmmm, perhaps I’m being a tad judgemental, maybe further revelations will come to light.
At least the rest of the episode was great. That graduation montage scene… it was like being beaten round the head with a rainbow, and I couldn’t have been happier. One of the few occasions I’ll permit myself a heartfelt dawwwww!!!!
POWUH: Novice (36-50) with 39 comments
D’aaaaw Rin’s too cute. I just hate Masako though. Let her get fat.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
This episode was way. too. adorable. My heart broke from happiness far too many times. How could Rin’s mom not want to take care of her? I know she wasn’t ready to give up things for a child, but, uh, maybe she should have thought about that before getting pregnant? <_< That woman needs to learn about responsibility, geez. Useless woman! Daikichi puts her to shame. OH MY GOD THE KIDS SINGING NEAR THE END AHHHHHHH KAWAIII DESSUUU YOOOOO~~~
POWUH: iLurker with 2 comments
I didn’t cry, but I did have some sweat on my face.
I too don’t hate Masako. There’s a disconnect there that real people in real life have towards important things sometimes! It’s hella-accuracy!
POWUH: Lovely-pyon~ with 305 comments
Rin’s mom irritated me so much. I get her position, but then she really should have used some birth control or something. Or put her foot down and gotten an abortion if she wasn’t ready to sacrifice her life for a kid instead of going along with grandpa anyway. It’s not fair to neglect her kid just because she’s stupid. >_> And Rin is precious. EVERYBODY IN THE WORLD SHOULD LOVE RIN.
The very least she could have done was find out where Rin was living. I thought demanding things of Daikichi once HE went to find HER was really nervy.
POWUH: iLurker with 1 comments
[…] “I-I CAN’T TAKE THIS ANYMORE. THIS IS TOO SWEET FOR MY FRAGILE FANGIRL HEART. I can’t even lie and say I didn’t cry at all. I mean, I completely lost it once when Rin said “Daikichi should just stay Daikichi”. I ended up crying through the rest of the episode, seriously. They just had to put the cute Kindergarten graduation scene and the part with Rin holding onto Daikichi afterwards didn’t they…-SOB-” – Metanorn […]