June 9th, 2014 
AstroNerdBoy Bunny Drop Manga Volume 09 Review
Usagi Drop/うさぎドロップ Manga Volume 09
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***SPOILERS***
And so we come to the final volume of Bunny Drop‘s main story (the final volume is just omake side stories). *heavy sigh*
Unita-sensei, having pushed the incestuous angle for Rin being attracted to the man who raised her from childhood (Daikichi), and whom was also the daughter of Daikichi’s grandfather, chickens out at the last moment and pulls a rabbit out of her hat, saying, “Oh, Rin wasn’t actually the daughter of Daikichi’s grandfather.” Not only that, but apparently Daikichi knew it all along. Yeah, right.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad that in the end, there’s not a true incestuous element here (within the bounds of a work of fiction). That being said, coming out at the last moment and saying, “You know all that stuff you believed all along because everyone allowed you to believe a lie? Well, here’s the REAL truth” is terrible fiction writing in my opinion. It comes off as cheap and in this case, a way to avoid the icky incest angle.
So, Rin’s mom spills the beans on the truth after poor Kouki spills the beans to Daikichi to clue him in on Rin’s feelings. Under normal conditions, seeing two awkward people working out their feelings would be fine, but here, the whole nature of everything is just wrong. I just can’t imagine adopting a six year old girl (give or take a few weeks), then ten years later, entertain a serious discussion on her feelings for me. Not only that, I can’t imagine that two years afterward, you go ahead and decide that its OK to marry her. I just cannot fathom this to save my life.
Anyway, it really is difficult for me to write about this volume. I just keep thinking back to how much I enjoyed the first four volumes of the manga when it was about a single man in his 30s deciding to adopt a little girl who was cruelly shunned and unwanted by the man’s family. It was so much fun back then, making it so much more depressing to see where everything went.
On the Yen Press side of things, the standard Japanese honorifics are included in the adaptation. There’s a color page at the start, some translator notes, and a note from Unita-sensei. There are some Yen Press ads, including a two page deal for the awesomeness that is Yotsuba&!
So, to the folks who warned me, “Don’t read the second half of Bunny Drop,” I appreciate the warning. This was one of those things that I had to experience myself. This volume fails as a happy romance ending due to the incestuous overtones, even though Daikichi and Rin end up not being blood related. I will go ahead and read the final volume, just to complete the series.
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and there we go. I too have nothing to say from this series. its in the past now and away from my thoughts. however for what the anime was and the first few volumes of the manga, it was a very good story. Thankfully (for me at least) I can easily put my own ending to the anime, as what i did at the time was skip right to the very ending of the manga without reading the story. I wanted to know what the fuss was about. After the initial shock and disgust I decided that after the anime, Rin ends up with the boy (forgotten his name), and the bloke ends up with the boys mum. a simple yet satisfying ending to the anime, may version of it at least.
*My. where did that ‘a’ come from?
Yeah, I hear ya. That’s kinda how I’m going to go with it. ^_^
I second – or rather, ‘third’ that!
But this really isn’t an ‘I told you so’ situation because back when I started to read it I enjoyed it so much myself I didn’t have the choice to not read till the end. And then there I was, just like all of us.
So what this is, I guess, is all of us commiserating over a shared disappointment and our very similar thoughts of what could have been!
If only…………………………………………………………………………..I don’t know – I got nothing.
Good night, fellas!
There’s still one more volume, sir. ^_~
My sympathies… and thank you for posting a review.
I guess for me, incest titles fall into the same category as movies that show protagonists wantonly killing people as being something to cheer for… entertaining if they excel in other areas (humor, interactions, etc), but only if you don’t think too hard about the implications. And at some point, you have to do such mental gymnastics to accept it that it stops being worth trying. (Sadly, Bunny Drop is far from the worst in this regard. It’s getting so bad that the word “sister” in a title is now almost an automatic turn-off.)
I decided a while back that it must be nothing more than an ambiguous word choice that could be taken badly, but I’m curious about the very end of this volume – when Rin talks about having Daikichi’s baby, how does Yen Press translate it? The version I read had it as
I hear ya. ^_^;;;
Anytime I see a reference to a brother or sister in the title, I’m pretty sure that an incestuous element is being pushed, even without having looked at the title. That seems to be a big fetish in Japan, along with traps. *_*
Here’s the Yen Press translated the passage in question.
I know what you mean. It feels good, though, to finally be able to talk about it with someone else. I’m surprised an editor approved this final arc. Usagi Drop was not published in a seinen magazine. It was a josei. I can’t imagine he pulled this as a crowd pleaser for almost incest fans (who I’ve always associated as males kind of like the moe fans).
I can only conclude this was wish fulfillment on the authors part, and he lost track of what his fans loved about his series. Either that or maybe he was just trying to do the biggest ass-pull he could at the end in a desperate attempt to avoid being canceled.
To the best of my knowledge, Usagi Drop’s author, one Yumi Unita, is a woman.
I’m pretty sure that’s correct.
Unita-sensei is a woman. ^_^;;;
One of the things I learned watching (and then reading) Cardcaptor Sakura (a shoujo manga) is that when it comes to romance, as long as there’s “love,” anything goes. Granted, that manga implied most of its pairings, whether yuri, incestuous, yaoi, pedophile, etc. Heck, an adult teacher becomes engaged to his 4th grade (female) student, for crying out loud. I know this is a big thing for CLAMP, as they had a similar romance theme in Chobits.
That being said, I’ve since noticed that when it comes to josei or shoujo manga, if incest is an element of the story (or an adult with an underage student), as long as it is true love, it should be OK.
Taking care of a little girl, accepting her feelings years later and then marrying her ?
Even though they are not related by blood, it still feels… wrong to me: he was her guardian and he saw her growing!
It’s a pity because I also liked this manga, it was touching and refreshing, but I stopped reading it when I learned THAT.
As far as I’m concerned, it is wrong. However, it won’t be long before anyone who thinks this way will be branded with a scarlet letter for not being tolerant or whatever.
Anyway, there is a 10th volume, which I am going to read since there are stories of Rin as a child.