Buddy Daddies
a review by Jamiebreeze
a review by Jamiebreeze
-This review will contain plenty of spoilers, so either go to the last part for the TLDR, or if you just want a quick opinion, then mine is that this show is worth a watch. Agree to disagree but for me, this show is better than Spy x Family. Hell, if you did enjoy Spy x Family, you more than likely will enjoy this one.
-I shit on Spy x Family so much that you may even think this is a review for it. I can't apologize , so just a heads up. I am going to be comparing them a lot.
-When watching this show you may have to apply suspension of disbelief towards some of the stuff that happens like: avoiding bullets with a tray, or dodging a shit ton of bullets coming from both front and back, all while running and carrying both a toddler and a grown ass man.
The sole reason I wanted to watch this, is because I knew I hated Spy x Family, but I liked the concept it had. I wanted two not so good people, to for some reason have to raise a kid on their own, and to watch them struggle while doing so. Why? because it is fun to watch people try to do things they've never done before and Buddy Daddies felt like a second chance to have that, after having my fantasies ruined by the boring sitcom that was Spy Family (the X is a pain, I'm gonna remove it from here on out). Before the show even aired, there were a lot of people everywhere saying it was just the gay version of Spy Family, a cheap copy, just another way to make money after something that was successful. Boy, were people wrong. I cannot deny Spy Family being an inspiration to this show, I am not in the production commitee after all, but it is very obvious when a show has been given love. If this was simply a copy made in hopes to rake in the money by following the footsteps of the Forgers, you would be able to tell. There was a good amount of love put into this. I can tell they tried to tell their story the best they could with the resources they had. It is a story about two men, who either lost love or didn't know it, who got a second chance to start over after meeting a tiny girl.
The main reasons I enjoyed Buddy Daddies, is because the characters feel like real people, things actually happen, the comedy is pretty good, and because the amount of BS was minimum. Spy Family issues for me were many, among them: NOTHING ever happening, no repercussions for people's actions, hollow and cheap war speeches whilst never showing me how the war was affecting their world (the only reason I can think of it sucking is cuz they are in like the late 50's or early 60's mind you, not because of the show particularly showing anything for its claims. Want an actual good speech about war and to see how war affects a whole country? Gintama, a fucking gag manga written by a Gorilla did it better.) It is boring, dull, and majority of characters are just walking tropes. Not even good ones mind you. That grey haired woman was an even worse Mikasa. How the fuck can you be worse than the worst? and Anya is just a fanservice character (fanservice isn't always titties and nipple-less sculpted male torsos. I know, amazing.) All of this added up for a very dissapointing watch after episode 1. Feels good anime doesn't have to equal mediocrity. You can't just slap three people smiling on screen and call it a day. In contrast to this, in Buddy Daddies a lot of what I hated in Spy Family was unexistent. Things happened, characters were for the most part fleshed out, people faced repercussions for their actions and we got to see the consequences of Kazuki and Rei's job, being hitmen. There are no speeches about war, just two dudes trying to take care of a little girl, and facing ordinary real life struggles, like having your partner not help with chores, and dealing with annoying paperwork. I was very happy to get to watch an episode of this every Friday, and even looked forward to it. I would love for this show to have more episodes. It feels like they needed either more time, or better direction to make the story flow a bit better.
I very much enjoyed from episodes 1 to 10 , but in episode 11 I think it is when I felt things were being rushed, hence my reasoning for why I think more episodes would have helped. Miri's mom, Misaki, is one of the key parts of this story. She is very important. Unlike many people, I cannot dislike her. To me, she always felt like an abused woman, and even after her speech on why she hated Miri, I just couldn't hate her, I pitied her. She was neither right nor wrong. Did she want to have Miri? Was she assaulted and Miri was the result? did she have her at a time in her life when she was not in a good mindset to raise a child? I don't think it is ever really confirmed, but that information would have helped so much to see where she was coming from. Misaki was a character that the staff could have done a lot with, and it feels like they honest to god gave up on her. Her coming back for her daughter in episode 10 didn't feel odd, what did was her crying about not being a good mom for her and cooking and caring for Miri in episode 11. I don't think a show has to spoon feed you on a character's growth, but this is a woman who when we last saw her, was dating a jackass and who looked very miserable and heartbroken over being a mother, even saying that her "dreams were ruined". It would have made more sense if we had seen her at least make a change while on screen way earlier, not to just say she had cancer, and then kill her off two episodes before the finale. There was so much wasted potential for her character, truly a pity. As a result, when she passed away I didn't feel much for her. What I did feel was a sort of sadness for Kazuki, who once again was seeing a woman dying in front of him, and because of him, in a way.
The cast of characters is not very big, which is fine to me, but I wish we had more time with side characters like Miri's teacher Anna or Kyutaro. They seemed likeable and interesting enough. This is not to say that our main people are bad, because honestly the main joy for me in this show were both the dads, Kazuki and Rei. On the poster, I thought Kazuki would be that good guy with the doormat personality who was a complete airhead, and that Rei would be the dominant personality who would solve everything. I didn't completely guess. Kazuki does have some clumsiness but he also seems to be the one in charge, while simultaneously being a total drama king and very naughty, like when he was flirting with the casino prostitutes early on. Rei surprised me by being a sweaty gamer who had no real life social skills, and being the actual airhead of the two. It is a very nice feeling, when the cliche you expect, turns out to be something completely different. Both of them were able to have character growth and it was done very subtly with each episode. It was fun watching them cry and yell at simple things like sewing or having to play with a baby, to then see them slowly but surely catch on to what they needed to do. Small actions like Rei wanting to cook for Miri, or finally helping Kazuki out with both Miri or the house brought a smile to my face. Seeing the character change while on screen feels rewarding, but so is seeing two people, Rei and Kazuki, who have probably never known what a family is, to be experiencing it for the very first time. Miri saved part of their soul. They did things after meeting her that they would never have done otherwise. Kazuki let go of his grieving to try to achieve normal happiness. He was afraid of change, of "being fullfilled by something else", in this case his newfound family consisting of both Rei and Miri, after the heartbreak that he went through of losing his girlfriend and unborn child. In regards to Rei, he as he says, was like a statue. Not truly living, never even trying. It was a very big win in my book to see him be, for the first time, the one to take charge and say, " I want to do this. I want to try, and we CAN do it." As the saying goes, "Being deeply loved by someone gives you strenght, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.", I think this can sum up Miri, Kazuki , and Rei's bond.
All I will say in regards to the animation is that the quality of the artwork is nothing to write home about, average I guess, but sometimes the characters looked a bit too wonky for my taste. The opening and ending theme are both very nice and the music throughout the show isn't bad, minus Misaki's song. As for Kazuki and Rei's past actions, AKA, being mostly responsible for the deaths of Miri's parents, I think that their repentance and atonement was raising her. Them dying would have been too easy and would have also left me with a bad taste. It is funny, but almost all of the P.A. Works shows I've tried, I've dropped at the first episode. They feel lacking. This is one of the few that I think I will remember and for good reasons. Despite only having 12 episodes it gave me 3 characters who I love, and whose happiness I very much wished for. It made me laugh, it made me sad, it made me cry, and above all it gave me what I wanted and never got from Spy Family. Three people who in many ways, saved and helped eachother. No games, no stupid bravado, no hollow morality choices, and no dumb character tropes. Spy x Family could never. You can't pay me to watch another season of the boring Forgers.
TLDR; Buddy Daddies is a story about two killers killing a girl's dad, and then raising her as their own daughter, and learning how hard parenthood is while also changing their ways, and it has a banger song as the opening theme. If you watch it I hope you have a fantastic time just like I did.
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