Buddy Daddies

I know, the first thing anyone brings up when talking about Buddy Daddies is that it’s like Spy X Family, and while I get that sentiment, there are quite a few fundamental differences between the two. If you value more slice of life, over the top comedy, Spy X Family will be more of the anime for you. If you value more of a focus on child-rearing, Buddy Daddies may the anime for you. Buddy Daddies does have its share of plot development, which was a common complaint for Spy X Family, but I can’t say that the plot development was particularly ground-breaking or well done overall, but it did nail some of the emotional moments nicely.

To provide a gist of the story, four year old Miri Unasaka wanders through modern day Japan one day looking for her father, and ends up smack dab in the middle of an assassination plot that goes wrong, and ends up being taken in by the two assassins, Kazuki Kurusu and Rei Suwa. This newfound task of balancing taking care of a child while continuing on their jobs as assassins is understandably difficult, but they make it work, and raise Miri well. Needless to say, they work in a dangerous environment, and the moral ambiguity of keeping Miri around even when she would be increased danger was an effective theme that was explored as well. The effort at a meaningful plot was there, but I think the season was too short get through all the conflict that was explored.

The main thing I did appreciate about this show was that it’s decently realistic, especially with Miri just being a normal little kid. Yes, she was a little annoying at the start, but many kids are loud and obnoxious when they’re little, and Miri portrays a semi-realistic little kid. Kazuki and Rei also slowly grow into their father roles, and I did enjoy the slower development for them in terms of taking care of a child. They started out lazy and not wanting to take care of Miri, but little by little they come around to love her, and likely would willingly lay down their life for her. The cast definitely grew on me as it went along, which made the increased stakes near the end of the show more effectively executed due to that. I genuinely felt worried for them at times.

There’s a good mixture of themes at play here, as there’s a balance between comedy, action, slice of life, and a bit of suspense as well. The strongest themes to me were probably the slice of life comedy aspect, as the moments where Kazuki, Rei, and Miri just hang out together were quite wholesome, but the underlying assassin plot did play its role as well, and while it got a little darker than I expected, the villains weren’t all that great, as their motives aren’t all that interesting.

Production for this show was alright, with some decent animation and direction overall. The sound direction was a little weird at times, as some of the action scenes, especially at the beginning, had very goofy music that didn’t really fit the tense atmosphere, but it got better with time. OP and ED are also quite good.

Overall, a relatively enjoyable series with its ups and downs story-wise, but I still had a good time with it. If you’re looking for a wholesome comedic series, you’ll get that, but if you’re also looking for some action and emotion mixed in, it’ll deliver as well. It’s not anything insanely special or ground-breaking, but it’s something I’d recommend for sure.