毒教授含量过高的Boom Boom Boom Boom
(with excessive PV content🥺❤️
*Includes some colour absorbing and tracing of the original animation
Social Issues that Help with Understanding Buddy Daddies
Here are some political, social, and cultural aspects of Japanese culture that I think is important to keep in mind when watching Buddy Daddies. Please note: this is a super long post, with lots of pictures.
1. Human Trafficking - Slave Labor
In Episode One, we learn that Miri’s birth father was involved in labor based human trafficking involving Southeast Asian individuals. This is currently a very big issue in Japan, since Southeast Asian immigrants (among others) are viewed as a cheap labor option and usually experience slave labor like conditions.
From The United States Department of State website:
Men, women, and children from Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, Latin America, and Africa travel to Japan for employment or fraudulent marriage and are subjected to sex trafficking. Traffickers use fraudulent marriages between foreign women and Japanese men to facilitate the entry of women into Japan for sex trafficking in bars, clubs, brothels, and massage parlors. Traffickers keep victims in forced labor or commercial sex using debt-based coercion, threats of violence or deportation, blackmail, confiscation of passports and other documents, and other psychologically coercive methods.
2. Drugs in Japan
When I was living and working as an ALT in Japan, two ALTs (in a different district, but within the same company of my own), got caught with drugs. It was a big deal and ended up in the newspapers. The company I worked for had to do a lot of PR work with the elementary and junior high schools that they had contracts with, to ensure that the contracts would remain. As for me and the other ALTs? We had to sit through like five separate meetings within like two months about drugs and drug laws in Japan.
The barebones takeaway is that, in Japan, weed is viewed as being on the same level as hardcore drugs. Charges can be steep and strict. Even just knowing that someone has drugs, and you don’t say anything to law enforcement about it, can get you in trouble. There is a grey area with drugs, which is stuff like bath salts and the like. Since the selling of things like that cannot be prohibited, so they are easily accessible to the public.
Japan still has a very “90′s D.A.R.E.” approach to drugs. It’s catchphrase is 「ダメ。ゼッタイ。」or “No! Never.”
(Image from a Web Magazine called Nagasaki Press.)
When celebrities are caught with (what’s usually) weed, it can basically be the end of their careers, since recreational drug use of any kind (excluding alcohol, of course), is still negatively looked down upon in Japanese society. This is why it is still heavily left in the hands of the yakuza and drug kingpins, etc. Though there has been a recent increase in protests and ideology surrounding the idea of legalizing weed. Still, not much acceptance for recreational use is likely to come yet. However…
There may soon be some revision to the laws, which will allow for medical use:
Legislation changes scheduled for 2023
In 2021, the MHLW established an expert committee to review the Cannabis Control Act, and it is expected revisions will be proposed in a bill to be submitted in 2023. This will most likely allow for the use of medical cannabis. 2022/12/02
From: Euromonitor
So, something to keep in mind when Kazuki talks about a drug kingpin here is that this drug kingpin is likely not just dealing with super, hardcore drugs, but also softer ones too, like weed.
3. Child Protection Squad
There is this misconception in Japan that really young kids, like Miri’s age, can just roam free all around Japan and no one will find it odd. In Episode 1, we do see Miri roaming around the city without anyone really taking notice, but she also wasn’t in an area where there would be people that are trained to take notice.
In the above image she is at a park, which is likely close to a school somewhere. The man that approaches her here has a band around his jacket sleeve that says こども見守り隊 (kodomo mimamori-tai), which gets translated to “Child Protection Squad.” Basically, these are like crossing guards, in a way, because they do play a similar role to that, but they also do more than that as well:
(Image from the Japanese website: Nice Senior).
This people basically ensure that kids stay on the right paths on their way to school. Most of the time, when elementary school children head off to school, they will go in groups (with the 5th or 6th graders being the leaders) and there will often be older people outside their houses on their way in, keeping an eye on the children to make sure they get to school okay.
And that’s talking about elementary school aged kids. For ones that are around Miri’s age, usually the parents (mostly mothers) will bring them by bike:
Or they will get picked up by a bus:
This one looks pretty boring in comparison to some others you might see though, like these:
(Image from the Hiyoshidai School Website)
Sometimes the daycare workers will also take them on little excursions outside using big strollers for the kids to travel around in:
(The image is obviously from a stock photo site called fotostock, but yeah, I’ve seen these before when I lived in Japan).
But a little toddler just sitting on her own at a mostly empty park with just a guy sitting at a park bench nearby watching her? That would raise attention and an eyebrow from someone who is essentially a crossing guard and whose job is to ensure the safety of kids as they travel to and from school.
The rest is under a Read More.
I cannot believe this guy managed to destroy in one episode:
1. Gender roles
2. The whole field of biology
The red-coded is now pink, and the blue-coded is now baby blue
Kazuki and Rei are now the softer version of themselves
The subtle visual representation of change
I wanted to do some buddy daddies fanart (and something festival related cause I've been listening to Matsuri by Fujii Kaze a lot)
I doubt Rei went to a festival when he was a kid so I imagined he goes to one with Kazuki and Miri for the first time
then buys all the candy he could get coz he has never eaten them before
Some More Potential Storylines for Future BD Sequels:
- Kazuki and Rei having to deal with the conflict of feeling “content” and “happy” with where things are vs. falling into the trap of not wanting to change because of that. We see a bit of this potentially in the 10 year time skip, with Rei questioning why he would need to expand his cooking repertoire.
- Kazuki and Rei dealing with “re-connecting” as partners. I think this is a common thing that happens with parents. Especially once they regain back some of their freedom as their kids get older and more independent. A lot of parents will devote so much of themselves to their kids that other aspects of themselves or other bonds made get less attention. If there was a S2, this is definitely something they could explore with Kazuki and Rei, since the 10 years later time skip can be read and interpreted with a bit of a distant feeling to Kazuki and Rei as well.
- The teen years are the years where Kazuki will struggle a lot and have to grow more as a person and parent, as opposed to the toddler years, which was where Rei struggled. Something I noticed with a lot of parents, especially older ones who have experienced all the different stages of a child’s growth, is that they tend to have preferences for certain ages and years. Usually parents that prefer the younger years (infant, toddler,child) and parents that prefer the older years (pre-teen, teen, adult). I feel Kazuki and Rei would be similar, with Rei probably striving and adapting better to Miri’s later years. So seeing a sort of journey of growth that Rei got in Buddy Daddies for Kazuki in a S2 would be wonderful!
- Kazuki’s family actually showing up. All we know from Kazuki is that he was abandoned. Couples having a child young or when they are in a position where they cannot financially support them, but then going on to have children later in life that they keep is something that is common enough and does happen. As does one of the later children finding out about the earlier adoption or abandonment. and wanting to seek out that missing family member.
- If something like that were to happen, then Kazuki would be confronted with blood family for the first time. It would be a way to introduce new characters, conflicts, and moral questions. It could also work as a way for Kazuki to confront his emotional trauma from being abandoned in a similar way Buddy Daddies allowed Rei to confront his emotional trauma from his father’s emotional abuse and neglect.
- Another 10 year time skip, where Miri is around 24 - 25 years old and is starting a family of her own (Kazuki and Rei would be around their mid-to-late 40s, nearly 50 in Kazuki’s case). The episode would be called Grandpa Daddies.
- Kazuki, Rei, Miri, and her significant other would all have to struggle with raising a baby, because Kazuki and Rei have zero experience with that age range. But Kazuki taking to it quite well while Rei struggles more with it again. Potential for highjinks.
- Kazuki and Rei struggling with being both parents and grandparents at the same time and what that entails. What advice is overstepping boundaries? How much support should you provide? What’s too much? Respecting the rules that your child puts in place for raising their own child. etc.
- Kazuki and Rei (more so Kazuki, let’s be honest) spoiling their grandkid(s).
- Dealing with in-laws, Miri’s significant other, overprotectiveness. Keeping their past as assassins as secret from the in-laws as well. Could lean either into the dramatic or comedic or both.
- Potential health issues, needing to change lifestyle habits, etc. Health scare of some kind. This could cause conflict and issues and bring back the struggles that can come with changing old habits. It could also be used to restrengthen their bond as partners.
- Kazuki and Rei being faced with the same issue that Rei’s father was faced with: setting up a successor to the family business in the future. This is actually an issue for a lot of family run businesses in Japan right now.
- Conflict with Miri not wanting to be a diner owner at all in her future and having different career goals.
- Kazuki and Rei going to the adult adoption route as a means to resolve it. Maybe there could be a person in the community or one of Miri’s friends that really loves the business instead.
- The final episode ends with another 10 year time skip with Kazuki and Rei in their mid-to-late 50s and retiring early. They have handed down the business to someone else. They’re going to go a nice, long vacation and going to get to enjoy a “normal happiness” old age.
—
And then I won’t think any further than that, lol. But yeah, Buddy Daddies has so much potential for future stories and plotlines, my goodness!! Also, if anyone wants to use these ideas in any fanfics or anything, feel free! :D
Y'ALL I think, when Miri said "squeez in closer" she was referring exclusively to Rei and Kazuki to get closer to each other. Previously both of them were on either side of Miri in family photos. Kazuki said "It's fine like this, right?" He said it because they have been taking family pictures like that all the time. This time Miri wanted the two of them to get closer to each other. And that's why she reminded that they're a family. She meant it as in "We're all a family, so yout two shouldn't be hesitant about being close to each other."
And I think the "Family?" was Referring to Kazuki and Rei's relationship. Because Miri only looked satisfied when Kazuki held Rei. Then she took the picture. Oh my god How did I not realize this? She was being a wingman for her dads on the behalf of the fans!
I don’t think we all have collectively realized yet that Rei - a man who didn’t know what love even is - disabled himself in order to protect the two people who matter to him the most.
This man was raised without love. He wasn’t even a person - he was a killing machine, an empty husk. He couldn’t even take care of himself.
But then Kazuki came into his life and cared for him. He cleaned, he cooked, he bathed him, he gave him a haircut - he made the place Rei lived in resemble a home.
But Kazuki was empty too. In a different way from Rei but he too had given up. All there was for Kazuki was being a killer together with his buddy (and taking care of that buddy was at least something; something to not think of his grief)
They wouldn’t ask and they wouldn’t tell. They’d just exist together drowning but at least keeping each other afloat.
And then Miri entered their lives. Miri took both of them by their hands and pulled them out of the water. Learning not only to love again (Kazuki) but how to love at all (Rei).
Miri making them want to change for the first time. Because maybe there was more to their lives after all. Maybe without realizing they had actually found something..something worth dying and killing for yes but more important: something worth living for.
So Rei - knowing killing the boss would mean the organization coming after them - being faced with the person who wouldn’t let him go as long as he was useful to him…took this supposed usefulness away.
Because by now he knew what love is and he knew his real family didn’t love him for what can do but for who he is. Miri would hold his hand even if he couldn’t lift her up with it, Kazuki would tie up his hair for him. They would get him a controller he could use with only one hand.
Rei took the leap of faith that what the three of them had was real and 10 years later we see that he was right.
I introduced a friend to buddy daddies who is just a casual watcher, doesn't ship, doesn't invest or over-analyze.
His take on the ending: queer platonic partners. Not in those words, because he wasn't familiar with the term (and loved it, after I explained). But what amazed me is that unlike us who over analyze everything, this guy didn't even notice Rei's awkwardness in the family photo, did not even remember the line about the drinking with women until I brought it up. Because to a casual watcher, that is hardly relevant.
He had some gripes about other things, plot wise, but as far as Kazurei is concerned, it was a happy ending, but forgettable.
Forgettable.
And that is the wonderful thing about it. Because their ending IS forgettable. It is NORMAL. They are just a normal family now. All they wanted in life! To be a normal fucking family where they are not fearing for their lives and can go to the beach and take family photos to hang on the fridge.
A forgettable ending, fuck. I love this for them.
I find it so funny that Rei can take a shot to the shoulder without even crying or making a sound but his daughter jumps on his stomach and he's wincing over in pain defeated. how strong is Miri. is she stronger than bullets
we’re all aware of the fact that Kazuki ties Rei’s hair since he can’t use his dominant hand, imagine Kazuki getting into the habit of telling him random facts and whatever while Rei just closes his eyes and listens to him.
