Warning: Massive ending spoilers ahead. I'm very sorry but that 6 up there can't be properly explained without delving deep into spoiler territory.
I wish Usagi Drop had 2 separate entries, one being the start and one everything after the time-skip, starting in chapter 26. It's for one very simple reason. Usagi Drop is a prime example of how a great concept can still run off the rails badly. It's a masterclass in turning what starts as a warm, cute and fuzzy story into a catastrophic failure of a 'romantic' drama.
The gist of the premise is that Daikichi (a man who couldn't more obviously be unhappy
...
and feeling unfulfilled unless he stuck a neon sign on his face) takes a 6 year old girl, Rin, into his house for the sole reason that everyone else either hates her or straight up doesn't care for her. And it's not hard to see where this goes. A man with no experience with children now has to take care of one with the comedic hijinks that ensue. During that time, we see Daikichi and Rin grow as characters as we learn more about them, who they are and their relationship. I'll be honest, the first part of Usagi Drop is one of the best and most enjoyable things I've ever read. It's just sweet enough to tug your heart strings and make you feel great but also sincere enough to show the problems Rin and Daikichi cope with. I was ready to give this a good solid 9, maybe even a 10!
Now, those of you who have seen the anime or the live-action movie might notice there's a considerable amount of material that wasn't adapted. There's a reason for that.
The great part about having one person both writing and illustrating a manga is that you have synergy. Who else can better convey their thoughts, mental images and general ideas to paper than the writer themselves? The problem that comes from it is that there's no second person to openly doubt your decisions and no manga is a better example than this. I'm not sure what Yumi Unita was thinking but I hope she realizes how poorly it worked out.
In chapter 26, we leap forward about 10 years. Rin is in high school and Daikichi is 40, having to deal with the appropriate issues. Already this brings up some headscratchers, such as how both of our protagonists still hang out with the exact same people they did 10 years ago with no new additions. One of two bigger problems is a shift in tone that is about as smooth and fluid as trying to walk while both your legs are asleep. Gone is the happy heartwarming slice of life, in comes an unnecessarily angsty and gloomy 'romantic' drama. Everything is a lot darker for no adequately explained reason other than some cardinal rule that anything involving teenage characters must be existential, dark or depressing.
No, the biggest problem of all is that the second part builds up to an almost gutpunchingly disturbing conclusion.
Part of the second part involves Rin dealing with her relationship with Daikichi getting more....complicated. Her feelings for him get out of the comfy wholesome foster parent/daughter zone and instead the considerably ickier kind. It's just as disturbing and just as well-executed as you'd expect. After an ass-pull 'but they're not really blood-related' card (on the level of SAO episode 14), Rin decides she wants to marry Daikichi and he goes along with it. Oh boy, where do we begin?
Let's start with the fact that at its very core, this is still creepily close to parental incest. For all intents and purposes, these 2 had a father/daughter relationship for the last 10 years and now she's genuinely in love with him. There's also a distinct lack of consequence shown. There's one character who's ever made aware of her attraction and, no joke, she encourages Rin to go along with it. But there's another layer of disturbing that you might not pick up on the first time. Hell, you might not pick up on it until a good while later. Namely, Daikichi just rolls with it. There's no real shock, no real contemplation to speak of, he listens to her and accepts it. On the surface, it's bad writing. Underneath, it's worse. Disregarding for a moment that this is quite clearly an action of impulse, since his feelings for Rin have always been parental and it was never really hinted that it was more. What we have is a man who's more concerned with the age difference than with the fact that he raised her as his daughter. A man who has no qualms doing so. A man who, I swear I wish I was making this up, is okay with her carrying his child and raising it. A man who's just plain given up on a proper relationship.
A man who by all rights shouldn't be in one because he isn't fit for one.
The first part of Usagi Drop is a 9 or a 10 for me without a doubt. It's well-crafted and heartwarming to see these 2 misfits grow on each other. The second part is disgusting in every way. The change of tone, the ending, how it plays out, the implications it carries, it's nothing short of insulting your readers.
If you want to read this, by all means do so. Sounding like a broken record but the first part is excellent. I highly suggest you finish chapter 24 and stop there. Because unless you're into poorly written, poorly executed semi-incest, there's just nothing for you there.
 Alternative TitlesSynonyms: Usagi Drop: Bangaihen Japanese: うさぎドロップ More titlesInformationType: Manga
Volumes: 10
Chapters: 62
Status: Finished
Published: Oct 8, 2005 to Dec 8, 2011
Theme:
Childcare
Demographic:
Josei
Serialization:
Feel Young Authors:
Unita, Yumi (Story & Art) Statistics Ranked: #91412 2 based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded. Popularity: #361
Members: 48,720
Favorites: 924 Available AtResources | Reviews
Filtered Results: 35 / 52
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May 16, 2014
Warning: Massive ending spoilers ahead. I'm very sorry but that 6 up there can't be properly explained without delving deep into spoiler territory.
I wish Usagi Drop had 2 separate entries, one being the start and one everything after the time-skip, starting in chapter 26. It's for one very simple reason. Usagi Drop is a prime example of how a great concept can still run off the rails badly. It's a masterclass in turning what starts as a warm, cute and fuzzy story into a catastrophic failure of a 'romantic' drama. The gist of the premise is that Daikichi (a man who couldn't more obviously be unhappy ... 
Mar 26, 2016
This story should have been a 9 or 10 overall. However its time skip destroyed everything that made this manga so enduring.
WARNING!! Spoilers ahead. It isn't possible to discuss why this gets such a bad score without delving into spoilers. The first 25 chapters were brilliant they were heartwarming and enduring. They brought out all of the good feelings you could possibly want from it and they were golden. A solid 9 even 10. They were all focused on Rin and Daikichii becoming a family and the struggle of raising a child as a single "parent" and the finding the joy that a child could bring to your ... 
May 4, 2009
Usagi Drop is one of those manga I just randomly stumbled upon, read the description and put it on my read-it-later list. Months later when I remembered I actually had a list, I went back to read it. I regret putting it off for so long.
Usagi Drop follows Daikichi on his journey from being a bachelor to being a guardian for a little girl who is actually his half-aunt. When everyone else in the family makes excuses to not keep her or disapproves of little Rin, Daikichi takes custody, slightly disturbed by the shallowness of his relatives. The two start to grow accustomed to each ... 
May 6, 2016
(Review Contains Spoilers,you have been warned)
I love the first half,easily a 10/10 for me when it comes to slice of life...Then the second happened and suddenly,this enjoyable series became painful to read. Everything turns depressing,relationships are messed up and honestly what kind of audience was author going for? Pedobears? Those are the only type of people I can imagine who would read the first half hoping for the ending that happened at the end. The reason i give it a 6 is because despite the messed up second half, I still enjoyed the first half and giving it anything less than 5 would be a ... 
Feb 10, 2018
So I got into this anime not knowing what to expect.
It was a very warm and bright story about a not so ordinary family that started when daikitchi decided to adopt an orphan relative and raise her as his like his own child. It was a beautiful story about the struggles of parenthood and how being a single parent is! Naturally when the anime ended you'd want to see more of it so I went and read the manga. (I wish I didn't) (The score is not 1 just Cz the first half was amazing) It was ok at first even after the timelapse! But at some point ...
Jan 23, 2014
Usagi Drop is a example of how quickly things can go wrong. For the first 24 chapters - which the anime covers - it is as good as slice of life dramas get. For once the premature ending of an anime is actually a good thing. In the manga version, every relationship built in the first 24 chapters is systematically demolished. As the end approached, I found myself hoping against hope that the decline would stop. That Usagi Drop would return to its senses. However, the last chapter serves only to crush the cherished sentiments of what was a promising beginning.
Aside from the ... 
Mar 16, 2023
Yup, the other reviews were right. This shit was weird.
the first half of this manga is a very touching and heartfelt display of an unwilling father coming to terms with the new responsibilities that come with raising a small child. There were some parts of the story that had me smiling from ear to ear. It was very cute. There are lots of people that complain about endings ruining a good piece of media. But normally that is because the ending falls flat, or the ending does not give them the satisfaction that they desire. This, though, is one of the rare circumstances where the ending ...
Jul 10, 2016
I just finished this manga recently and probably unlike a lot of the readers here I knew the ending before the series began. It actually deterred me from reading it for a long time, after reading the series I think this series has been treated quite unfairly. This series simply put is a masterpiece if you understand what the author is portraying and who the audience is. Adapting this series into anime set unrealistic ideas of what the author is trying to portray.
Usagi drop is one of the rare josei series to receive anime adaptions. Josei manga targeted towards older women, and usually ... 
Nov 7, 2021
**Attention**
If you want a 10/10 manga, then read till chapter 24 and pretend the manga ended there. If you happen to be Woody Allen, or in want of a pathetic attempt of justifying grooming, then by all means go ahead. I for one cannot accept that under any circumstances, it doesn't matter whether they are related by blood or not. The pre time-skip manga was so wholesome, the characters were so well drawn out and nuanced, the relationships were so layered, that's it's almost impossible to believe that the post time-skip was written by the same author. It's as if he had an agenda to destroy everything he ... 
Jan 24, 2011
Yumi Unita's "Bunny Drop" follows the main characters Daikichi (30) and Rin (6) as they settle in and face the everyday challenges of a single parent. Basically the story is a grown-up version of "Aishiteruze Baby**", and although Yumi Unita's style isn't as cutesy as Yoko Maki's, the characters aren't any less adorable. The story is equally good, or even better, as it deals with more down-to-earth problems.
What makes the manga really stand out in my opinion, though, is the interaction of the main characters with their environment. Daikichi is struggling with the issues of bachelor-suddenly-turned-single-parent, while Rin is trying to overcome her shyness, which ... 
May 15, 2020
Okay so I am going to spoil here but I feel it is necessary to spoil here because otherwise you may make the same mistake I did and fall in love with the story only to be crushed with disappointment. If you can't stand stories with incest themes or large age gap couples then DO NOT READ THIS. There is technically no blood relation but I still found it appalling. If you don't mind this then go ahead and read it and don't read this review any further because it has severe spoilers
I started reading this after I watched the anime and thought that cute ... 
Oct 24, 2023
The first 24 chapters or so were simply a pleasure to read. The ideas and themes, though typical for this kind of narrative (certainly that Usagi Drop's influence can be felt in slice-of-life works today) were done in such a mature and thoughtful way, the pacing was just right, and the way the manga told and executed its story, through the eyes of our protagonist and budding parent, Daikichi was just great. Reading about the nuances of parenthood and the internal struggle of feeling lost despite being a central figure to look up to for a child was just an interesting read. So far, I've
...
Jan 4, 2017
Spoilers ahead, without them I cannot illustrate why I have the opinion I do regarding this manga, and why the manga went from great, to awful.
Usagi Drop did one thing great, and two things awful, and even the thing it did great didn't last for long. Usagi Drop did a fantastic job of making a light, fluffy and very enjoyable relationship about a clearly miserable man taking in a girl he's barely related to who just lost everything. What it did awful with was it's ending, and romantic relationships in general. Here's why. Usagi Drop starts off with very familial, Slice Of Life vibes, with zero ...
Jun 15, 2017
This was really good but the ending is messed up in my opinion. It's not technically wrong or illegal but it certainly feels that way. The main reason for this is that I read the whole thing and imagined the characters in a father-daughter relationship. But when they started moving towards the romance, I felt uneasy and just plain wrong. I at least thought that Daikichi will be the sensible one and not do this but he failed to meet my expectations. It is a really good read until the high school arc. I suggest stopping there if you are uncomfortable with what happens next.
Jun 30, 2017
I read it entirely in a couple of days, more like evenings, lying in bed after work. I would get bundled up into bed, crack open the pages and just bask in the feel-good nature of a unique family story.
Immediately you are flooded with an array of emotions. There is grief chief amongst them as you begin the tale with a gathering to mourn someone’s death. Very shortly afterwards you feel a strong tension within the family because there is a child born out of wedlock that needs to be cared for, yet it’s a burden that no one in the family wishes to bear. ... 
Mar 12, 2016
I recommend you stop reading at the end of chapter 24. Don't read beyond that. The anime stays true to the manga, so the anime is great, it stops right at the 24th chapter, the anime is right-on, they had the right idea using only the first part.
The first part is a truly heart warming, touching, well-developed story of the struggles of fatherhood. It's really nice, I loved it so much and recommend it to anyone. The second part, after 24, involves a timeskip, and sinking deeply into... A totally different series, really. The mangaka clearly ... 
Jul 2, 2016
The story of this particular manga is realistic yet odd. Without trying to give spoilers, anyone wanting to read the manga must be warned that the story might not go as they expect. Which is not by default a bad matter, except... I have yet to find anyone who read the ending and who wasn't terribly disappointing. As emotional, captivating and heart-warming the scenes and bonding between characters is, the ultimate relationship that is revealed at the ending is somewhat out of the box and not very rooted for by the majority of the public. Nevertheless, I recommend anyone who is a fan of family
...
Jul 1, 2016
Well, this is...weird.
As many people have mentioned before, we can divide this manga in two parts: the first one before the timeskip and the second one after the timeskip, starting this one after chapter 26. Many people can think: "but hey, a timeskip usually does that, look One Piece etc" Yes, but in this case there's no only difference in content but also in its vision of life, almost a complete throw. But why? As I previously said in my anime review of Usagi Drop (which adapt this first part of manga, excluding few scenes) these episodes are completely beautiful, with a magnificent slow pacing for ...
Mar 16, 2018
TO THE CRITISIZERS OF THE SO CALLED INCEST, (my storyline review below this message)
In a review, I think that the thing to be reviewed is how well the intended storyline is potrayed, character and/or world development, art etc. It is senseless to criticize the plot. If a manga/anime just has to have a stereotypical storyline with no uniqueness and if the unique path selected by the author is condemned for being in the so called wrong path (evil, incest, negative...), then just a single, ideal story is required, why bother to make new manga/anime? The unique storyline here of how an adopted daughter develops romantic love ... 
Feb 16, 2017
THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILER
Usagi Drop. I really love the first volume until fifth volume. I should score it 10 but the time skipping is just ruining such a cute story. The story after the time skipping is just wasting potential. Daikichi should have ended with Kouki's mother and not Rin because Daikichi and Rin have Father-Daughter bond but why should Rin marry with Daikichi? and this thing makes me sick. I would really happy if Rin call Daikichi as a ''Dad''. By the way, Rin really like Kouki's mother and she wanted to be a mother like her. I know Daikichi and Rin have no ... |
