Buddy Daddies: When A Girl Matters Most
Buddy Daddies first aired in January 2023 and was produced by Studio P.A Works. The show is an anime original directed by Asai, Yoshiyuki. The story follows Kazuki Kurusu and his partner Rei Suwa, both being assassins for hire taking jobs here and there. Their life turns upside down when they end up taking in the daughter of one of their targets. Little Miri Unasaka becomes a constant trouble for the two trying to do their work while Miri tends to mess things up for them. A story of a found family and the troubles of raising a kid.
This show frustrated me. Not in the sense you think, mostly because the servers kept crashing so I had massive issues watching this show. And yet I found myself really enjoying it. It plays off a very similar theme as SpyXFamily. The idea of young impressionable children in dangerous situations because of their parental figures. And yet it’s a rather light form of that motif we keep seeing.
Buddy Daddies throws that out the window and shows you the nitty-gritty of the situation. People are dying at the hands of the main protagonists. You see the blood you see the bodies. It’s a bit shocking honestly and I think that’s what P.A Works was going for.
I enjoy SpyXFamily. But it always fell flat at some points. Maybe it was Anya’s awareness of what was happening and the need to play it off. Sure, it gives some complexity but didn’t add any depth. Buddy Daddies however has Miri oblivious to what is happening around her as any four-year-old should be. She’s not privy to the exact danger she is in when she joins them on these missions. It feels more real.
In SpyXFamily I never feared for Anya when she was kidnapped and maybe that’s because I knew she wasn’t in any real danger. But with Buddy Daddies I’m constantly anxious when Miri is running around IN THE BAD GUY’S COMPLEX! It terrifies me because P.A Works developed the characters so well and realistically that you can’t help but get attached.
Seeing Kazuki having flashbacks of when he first met Miri his wife and their child hit way harder than I thought it would. That hit me like a bat to the gut realizing either she is dead and so is their child, or he had to leave them both behind in order to protect them. Cinema, absolutely cinema. And I think why this works better than in other shows is that we didn’t see him leave her or see her die. We simply know that it happened, and we see the aftermath.
To not know something is a pain that eats away at you. As humans, we are curious and desperate for answers. This show has mysteries all over it and helps you very quickly understand the stakes and drive of the characters’ personalities. Other than Rei I still can’t get a read on him.
Regardless I will keep watching this show and maybe dive in with a comparative review between Buddy Daddies and SpyXFamily. Who knows, anyway I wish you all a great day!