Bunny Drop – Complete Series Premium Edition
Studio: Production I.G.
Publisher: NIS America
Genre: Drama/Slice of Life
Runtime: 251 Minutes (2 Blu-ray discs, 2 DVDs)
Release Date: 08/07/2012
From one slice of life anime to the next, this one is based off an ongoing manga, but it’s a complete story in and of itself. The manga actually continues on, jumping ahead ten years after the end of the show following the leads when they’re older. The show is well done and a bit more intimate than the last show I reviewed, as it focuses more on two characters than an ensemble cast. There are still some sniffly moments, as my wife likes to call them, but the show is a bit more upbeat and is more about learning, adapting to what life throws at you and family relationships.
The first episode starts off with the death of Daikichi’s grandfather and the family getting together to get things sorted out, including a 6 year-old girl named Rin, who is apparently his grandfather’s daughter. No one wants anything to do with poor Rin, who’s dealing with the death of a loved one quietly, not really speaking to anyone. No one seems to know who the mother is, only that she had been a maid for the grandfather and that she had disappeared, leaving the grandfather to raise the child. It’s considered “Ëœshameful’ and so no one wants to take on the responsibility, but Rin has already wormed her way in a little bit with Daikichi, and he decides he’ll take care of her until they can find the mother. Daikichi thinks he can handle the responsibility, but quickly learns if he’s going to do this long-term, he needs to make some changes.
Taking place over their first year together, the show focuses on Rin and Daikichi trying to figure each other out. Daikichi lives alone, and one of his first challenges is trying to balance out his work schedule with how he spends time with Rin. His family isn’t much help in his search for Rin’s mother, and when he does finally track her down, she’s a little bit less than what he expected, and he realizes very quickly he and Rin are pretty much on their own as far as that goes.
With changes at work and at home, Daikichi meets another single parent trying to raise her own child, and while there are hints that the two may be involved more in the future, they are both squarely involved in raising their children, who come to be good friends. The show is an interesting look into the world of being a single parent in Japan, and while I don’t think it’s exactly like this, I’m sure bits of it, just like anything else we watch in the media, ring very true. Rin is an adorable character, and you really feel for her from the first episode, due to what she’s struggling with and having to come to terms with living with Daikichi, who she latches onto whole-heartedly. Unlike most shows I’ve watched, the ending didn’t leave me bawling, but left me with more of something like a satisfied feeling. So if you’re looking for something touching that won’t leave you in a ball of goo on the floor bawling, this might just be up your alley.
Much like Anohana and their other premium series, NIS has bundled the full series in an artwork-covered hard slip case that contains both disc cases as well as an art book that contains some character synopsis and breakdowns of their looks and what they wear. It also has interviews with writers, directors, artists, and where appropriate, little blurbs detailing different points in production, like which characters the artists on the show liked to draw, how many different looks they went through and so on. For people who like designing character homes for The Sims or games like it, there’s also a drawn out layout of Daikichi’s home, which I’m sure they used in production to figure out which rooms were visible from what angle. I liked Anohana‘s art book a little better, but there’s a lot of good stuff in this one and it fits with the show it goes to which is important.
There are a few extras on the discs including clean openings and closings for the episodes, trailers, and four bonus mini-episodes that take place within the show but don’t necessarily fit within the episodes themselves. Video quality on both the DVD and Blu-Ray is top-notch. The audio is pretty decent as well, coming through my sound system crystal clear. It lists for $69.99 retail, but much like Anohana you can find it lower, even directly from NIS America’s website, where they have a limited picture magnet frame you can get if you order through them. The pricing is more than reasonable for the content alone on the discs, but the hardcover slipcase and artbook is just gravy. This was another really well done drama series to get into and easily recommendable to anyone who’s into slice-of-life and wants something a little less depressing than most.
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