~~Don't read the manga.~~

This review will go over the strengths and weaknesses within Usagi Drop and maybe with a little luck, convince you to watch it too. Before getting into it, as the title suggests, if you love Welcome to the NHK and Clannad After Story, stop reading this review and just watch it. You have my personal guarantee that it will be great. Now, onto the review.

I'll start off with the strengths. For an anime original, with absolutely no source material at all, Usagi Drop does a phenomenal job at portraying mundane life as it is, at face value. Yet it manages to do so in a way that makes you appreciate the mediocrity of everyday life. It also does a great job depicting what single parents experience, if not through Daikichi, then through the many other parents Daikichi meets and bonds with. The animation is well above average too, even surpassing modern day slice-of-life animation. The soundtracks are all-encompassing, and serve each scene to great effect. The anime also has striking similarities to the titles I mentioned previously. The gripping main character writing from Welcome to the NHK, and the melancholic story writing from Clannad After Story. It draws from the best, and incorporates it's own new themes to add to the mix.

~~Do not read the manga.~~

Next off are the weaknesses. Usagi Drop's side characters are woefully underdeveloped. The other parents that Daikichi meets feel less like actual characters, and more like tools used to show the many different situations that single parents can be in. This is further exacerbated with the fact that Daikichi and Rin are the only characters that get a satisfactory character conclusion. All others are forgotten. The ending itself felt somewhat "cut-off" too. I believe they could have done more with the elements at hand. Seeing Rin grow up would have been great, but even just seeing the other supporting characters have their own conclusions would have been enough. The ending simply underperformed with how rich it's foundation was.

Don't let all that dissuade you though. It's still overall a fantastic piece, even if the ending fails to tie up a few loose ends. Fans of either Welcome to the NHK or Clannad After Story will still find something to enjoy despite all of that. Even if you haven't watched either of those, Usagi Drop could still very well have something to offer you. Give the first couple of episodes a chance, and if you don't like it, then drop it. But odds are, if you've enjoyed slice-of-life anime in the past, and are looking for more high quality titles, this is definitely worth a watch.

~~Do NOT read the manga.~~