(L) Usagi Drop

[Decagon]

Originally Posted by TinyRedLeaf

Also, for those who keep saying that anime-Rin is implausibly mature for her age, take a look at this clip of child-actress Ashida Mana, who plays the live-action Rin. Mana-chan was just six years old at the time of the interview, but watch how she behaves and, more importantly, how she learns to act. Quite precocious, is she not?

That kid's amazing. Only 6 years old and she can naturally plug a movie she's voice acting for. She was incredibly well-spoken throughout the whole segment until the cucumber farm brought out that side we might normally associate with kids her age. I can't help but wonder what her parents are like.

[Theowne]

I have to say I was reminded quite a bit of some of Honey and Clover's poignant monologues during the scene where Haruko chats with Daikichi about her problems. Particularly when she was wishing she could be a child again - which seems more or less like an expression of immense regret for the decisions she's made as an adult and the knowledge that changing them won't be easy (particularly with a child)...hence, the escapist desire to go back to a time before you had to consider such things. Quite moving.

[Vexx]

Originally Posted by TinyRedLeaf

Incidentally, the road shows for the live-action film version of Usagi Drop opened today (Aug 20). Anyone monitoring the Japanese forums to see what people are saying about the movie?

Incredibly, Yukari, Kouki's mother, is even more of a milf in the movie.

Also, for those who keep saying that anime-Rin is implausibly mature for her age, take a look at this clip of child-actress Ashida Mana, who plays the live-action Rin. Mana-chan was just six years old at the time of the interview, but watch how she behaves and, more importantly, how she learns to act. Quite precocious, is she not?

O... my... gods... she's so CUTE!! (dies)

Hmmm, the trailer has me quite interested in the live action portrayal. I've only seen live-action conversions of comedy (e.g. Love-complex), this looks like they're taking the material more seriously.

[TinyRedLeaf]

The Economist magazine has just published a comprehensive study on Asian demographics that highlights several points that had also surfaced in Usagi Drop. The main points are familiar, but it's the figures that offer food for thought:

Asian demography: The flight from marriage

Spoiler for intimidating wall of text:

Marriage continues to be the almost universal setting for child-bearing in Asia: only about 2 per cent of births took place outside wedlock in Japan in 2007. Most East and South-east Asian countries report little or no cohabitation. The exception is Japan where, among women born in the 1970s, about 20 per cent say they have cohabited with a sexual partner. For Japan, that is a big change. In surveys between 1987 and 2002, just 1 to 7 per cent of single women said they had lived with a partner.

But Asia is changing. Although attitudes to sex and marriage are different from those in the West, the pressures of wealth and modernisation upon family life have been just as relentless. They have simply manifested themselves in different ways. In the West, the upshot has been divorce and illegitimacy. In Asia, the results include later marriage, less marriage and (to some extent) more divorce.

Fewer marriages, fewer babies
The Asian avoidance of marriage is new, and striking. Only 30 years ago, just 2 per cent of women were single in most Asian countries. The share of unmarried women in their 30s in Japan, Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong has risen 20 (percentage) points or more.

(Still), both East and West are seeing big changes in the role of women and traditional family life. The first change is that people are getting married later, often much later. In the richest parts — Japan, Taiwan, South Korea and Hong Kong — the mean age of wedlock is now 29-30 for women, 31-33 for men.

Among certain groups, people are not merely marrying later — they are not getting married at all. In 2010, a third of Japanese women entering their 30s were single. Perhaps half or more of those will never marry.

Marriages are breaking down, too. In Hong Kong and Japan, the general divorce rate — the number of divorces per 1,000 people aged 15 or more — was about 2.5 in the mid-2000s. In Asia as a whole, the rate is about two per 1,000. That compares with 3.7 in America, 3.4 in Britain, 3.1 in France and 2.8 in Germany.

The number of children the average East Asian woman can expect to have during her lifetime — the fertility rate — has fallen from 5.3 in the late 1960s to below 1.6 now, an enormous drop. But old-fashioned attitudes persist, and these require couples to start having children soon after marriage. In these circumstances, women choose to reduce child-bearing by delaying it — and that means delaying marriage, too.

Women want out
Two forces are giving women more autonomy: education and jobs. More education leaves the best-educated women with fewer potential partners. In most Asian countries, women have always been permitted — even encouraged — to "marry up", that is, marry a man of higher income or education.

Now that many women are doing as well or better than men at school, those at the top find the marriage market unwelcoming. In Singapore, non-marriage rates among female university graduates are stratospheric: a third of 30-34-year-old university graduates are single.

Having a job increases a woman's autonomy. She has more options, and these options include not having a husband. What is unusual about Asia is that women seem to bear an unusually large share of the burden of marriage, reducing the attractiveness of family life compared with work. Certainly, this is what Asian women themselves think.

As in most traditional societies, women in Asia have long been the sole caregivers for children, elderly parents or parents-in-law. People generally assume they will continue to be so, even though many women have paid jobs outside the home. The result is that expectations placed on wives have become unusually onerous. Surveys in Japan have suggested that women who work full-time then go home and spend another 30 hours a week doing the housework. Their husbands contribute an unprincely three hours of effort.

On top of this, many Asian couples face enormous pressure to ensure their children succeed in schools with cut-throat competition for places — pressure that falls mostly on the mother.

Private child care is exorbitantly expensive. There are few state-subsidised creches (324,000 children are on waiting lists in Seoul alone). And setting up a home is expensive because of high house prices. All this means it is harder to strike a satisfying balance between job and family in Asia than in the West.

Predictably, most of the emphasis is on the pressures that women face. It would have been interesting if the article explored the pressures that Asian men face as well — it's not just personal preferences that keep me single at 36, after all.

========

Originally Posted by scineram

What an infuriating episode! The stupidity of the characters in (episode) this was astounding.

SnEptUne has already offered pretty good objections to some of your rants. That aside, though, I'd say that your anger towards Haruko and her unhappy family situation is actually valid, even if it's a bit mean-spirited.

Haruko deserves sympathy, but there are hints that many of her problems are self-inflicted. She describes her in-laws as "enemies", yet there is little to suggest that they have been ill treating her. Recall in Ep2, for example, when her mother-in-law helped to answer the phone while Haruko was busy in the kitchen. Her mother-in-law even helped to turn off the stove, and never once raised her voice against her. She didn't seem at all like an in-law from hell.

The real problem, I suspect, is that Haruko has always been a passive individual who is used to having others take care of her, as suggested by her "crybaby" youth. And she probably went into marriage thinking naively that her husband will baby her for the rest of her life.

When that fantasy failed to materialise, she rapidly crumbled under the pressure of living with a new, unfamiliar family. Instead of being pampered, she now has to play the role of a dutiful wife, and is only now beginning to discover how difficult it actually is.

And having a child further worsened things for her, forcing her to be strong for the sake of her child. It was in this context that she broke down and wished she were a little girl again — she simply hadn't been mentally prepared for how hard married life would be.

So, all told, it's fair to be frustrated with Haruko, especially since she appears to be giving up on her own happiness for Reina's sake. Compare her attitude with that of Gotou-san in Ep3, who said that even if marriage and child-rearing seemed like a sacrifice, she wouldn't want to put it into words, because words have power (kotodama).

By giving voice to her bitterness, Haruko has turned it into a real burden. She now has to learn to carry that weight.

That said, she's at least a little better than Masako, a grown-up "baby" who hasn't quite grasped the gravity of her decision to abandon Rin.


And, now, put all of the above in contrast with all the real issues that Asian women are facing today. Hopefully, you'll get a better idea of why I love the way Usagi Drop is addressing real-life social issues — it shows them for what they are, exploring the impact they have on different women while refusing to sugar-coat or over-dramatise the problems.

Because these problems are unfolding in Asia everyday even as we speak and there are no clear-cut solutions, even now. The adults, in real life as in Usagi Drop, will just have to muddle through as best as they can.

Haruko is not perfect, but at least she's trying her best. And that is what counts in the end.

[User68604]

the last line of the episode was epic. quite possibly my favorite episode, as it really scales alongside the "slice of life" portion of the series.

[Chanthien]

I have to say it. The title of that video of Ashida Mana is Chinese for "(I) suddenly understood the feelings of lolicon"... She is freaking cute...

[Flower]

Originally Posted by recover

the last line of the episode was epic. quite possibly my favorite episode, as it really scales alongside the "slice of life" portion of the series.

Agreed ... I loved the shopping scene! Talk about speaking volumes in so few words!

[bakAnki]

Is there any summary or review for the live action?
I'm curious how they end the story there and if there's any alteration

[Shiroth]

Originally Posted by bakAnki

Is there any summary or review for the live action?
I'm curious how they end the story there and if there's any alteration

If there are, they won't be posted in this anime thread. They're classed as future spoilers.

[ars89]

So Maybe Masako isn't that bad. Nice of her to visit the grave, she even had the bellflowers. Nice of Daikichi to let her at least see Rin. At least we know where Rin gets her hair from. Lol Daikichi thinking about Kouki's mom in a yukata. Rin was so adorable in hers. Really like the birthday cake.

[EroKing]

the end when Kouki says "Daikichi, watch out for cars"

[Sol Falling]

lol, dang dude. If you're that smitten by the thought of Mrs. Kouki in a kimono then make a move already. My respect for a man of inaction won't hold for long. However, Daikichi's interactions with Kouki together with Rin do remain one of this show's most enjoyable elements. The post-credits segment was very fun.

As to the main episode itself, I'm feeling some ambiguity as to whether that young assistant is actually Masako's lover. At the least, Masako's perception of Daikichi's resemblance to Souichirou has me wondering what she actually felt for that man. In any case, this episode marks the return of me being bothered by unattractive faces/character designs and felt somewhat dragging overall (although character development for Masako is indeed obviously important). Not as compelling material overall (perhaps compared to the previous one), thanks in part to Daikichi's interactions in this episode being largely dominated by awkwardness.

[Kopi]

The last part was funny. "Watch out for cars, Daikichi. I Know!", "I will Carry You. Forget it" and "Carry Me, Forget it"

[Shiroth]

Spoiler for Episode 8:

Pretty heavy episode. Yet again i found that the attention of voice acting and music made this episode much more stronger then the manga. Especially the music placement during Daikichi's scene with Masako, and the funeral scene which followed.

Three episodes left. Will be interesting to see how this adaptation will end, and if it'll be with manga material.

[calorie]

Another beautiful concert of slice-of-life, good-natured comedy and more profound topics than you usually see in anime nowadays. Rin being as adorable as she always is, it's Daikichi who's slowly getting the spotlight in my eyes - he's a cool, but also a responsible guy who quickly got used to the tremendous task of raising a child that he set upon himself, and immediately got to like it. And at the same time he continues to be a man. I mean it's just nice that it isn't because he is some sort of depressed hikkomori or something that he chose to take care of Rin (having nothing better to do/in order to feel better about himself). Makes his effort seem all the more commendable.

I wonder what type of manga Masako works on.

[FlareKnight]

Another nice episode for sure. The ending was pretty fun with Daikichi suddenly getting in a hurry when thinking about Kouki's mother in a yukata . Do agree he might as well make a move or at least make some attempts to get a feel for the situation so he can then make a move .

Tough to see what happened to the flowers, but that's change for you. While we can only assume the intentions of Daikichi's uncle, the result is clear. Probably just didn't want to have to bother with gardening at a house he doesn't actually live in.

It's always going to be a mix with Masako. Like Daikichi don't particularly care for her, but there are positives that creep up every now and then. Can understand the thinking of burying herself in maybe more work than she can handle just so her decision meant something. Don't think that guy is technically her boyfriend though certainly seems to want that. Think he's too young for her tastes .

While a good kid, Kouki is a bit odd.

[ThereminVox]

There something so true to life about the way that Daikichi stand ready to pick up the pieces of Rin's broken heart, only to find that she's become mature enough to handle reality on her own. First by the grave, and then in the yard where the flowers used to be, Usagi Drop toys with my expectations, and Daikachi's alike. He finds himself feeling proactively devastated on her behalf, while she herself processes the changes quite reasonably.

[Guardian Enzo]

It might be just a bit unrealistic that Rin dealt with that situation so maturely. She's one in a million, to say the least.

However, I was very impressed with Daikichi's reaction to seeing Masako had visited the grave. He's just too decent not to let her know Rin was there, but he knew it might be disastrous if they met. The solution he derived was perfect.

It couldn't be more obvious that he's smitten with Yukari, but I have to think there's not enough time to see any real development there in the anime.

[Pocari_Sweat]

Originally Posted by DemiSoda

/yawn

I'm getting tired of praising Usagi Drop at this point, so I'm just going to say I'll give the latest episode (ep 7) 10/10 .

Version 2.0 (For episode 8)

[Triple_R]

An excellent Episode Eight.

Very good flow in this episode between the Daikichi/Rin bits and the Masako bits. They complimented each other nicely, and it was good to watch the episode bring the two subplots together.

The episode did a good job of drawing sharp contrasts between the Daikichi/Rin bits and the Masako bits. The realistic intensity of the Masako bits complimented the heartwarming and relatively lighthearted Daikichi/Rin scenes.

I'll also say that I downright liked Kouki in this episode, which is quite an improvement on my take on him from only two episodes ago. He struck me as amusing here. I think that Kouki and Reina both add a lot when used in small doses, as they were in this episode (just Kouki) and the last (Kouki and Reina).


All-in-all, I have no complaints here. Usagi Drop is astoundingly consistent on a week-to-week basis. It's probably the closest thing to a flawless TV series anime I've seen.

Daikichi and Rin are slightly idealized, but I don't think Usagi Drop has gone too far with that yet. Making Rin too good (and/or Daikichi too patient) is the only potential hurdle that this anime needs to be careful about going forward, in my view.

With this in mind, I also would like to see Daikichi act on his affection for Mrs. Kouki. Come on, dude, don't be like an overly shy teenage male harem lead, you're better than that, you really are.