#Mairi Unasaka

[lilyginnyblackv2]

Buddy Daddies - Kazuki & Trust Issues

I was just watching the Episode 5 dub of Buddy Daddies, and it made me realize that they did a great job of building up Kazuki not trusting Miri and how that tends to lead to him getting himself worked up. 

In Episode 5 it was with Miri being able to keep their secret. While Rei is also doubting that Miri will be able to do it well, this issue with trust results in Kazuki working himself up while they are scouting their target. 

“She’s gonna be spilling everything!” 

But she doesn’t. She works really hard at trying to use “Rei-kun” and “Kazuki-kun” when talking about them, instead of “papa,” and while she mentions Kazuki’s cooking, Rei playing games with her, and such, she doesn’t flat out spill everything like she did during the first daycare interview or something. She tries very hard to keep to the promise she made to Kazuki.

In Episode 5, we also see Kazuki not trusting Kyutaro. First, when Kyutaro offers to look after Miri, Kazuki’s first thought was that Kyutaro was going to harm her/kill her, instead of look after her.

With Kazuki’s mind already being made up, so he jumps straight to “Not even you’d be cold-blooded enough to---” before fully processing the clarification that Kyutaro made that he meant “look after/babysit her.”

Later in the episode, when Rei mentions that Kyutaro is a bit popular with the ladies, Kazuki’s mind instantly goes here:

To Kyutaro marrying a four year old Miri with Miri saying, “I’m gonna marry Kyutaro-san!” it’s a ridiculous conclusion and fantasy situation that Kazuki allows himself to get worked up over, but also definitely indicates a lack of trust.

Of course, in Episode 6, the lesson Kazuki learns is that he needs to trust his own child more. 

(Kazuki, in the car, saying, “But maybe I oughta trust my kid more.”). This lack of trust is something we with Kyutaro, even Taiga (the boy from Episode 6). 

Kazuki instantly jumps to the worst case scenario and is already cursing out this four year old child in his wild imagination, because he doesn’t trust the kid and his intentions around Miri (there are extra layers of sexism and heteronormativity that could be unpacked here, but I’ll refrain so this post doesn’t derail, lol).

(Kazuki stating: “You’re gonna regret making a move on my little girl!” when talking about a boy who is like four years old).

Of course, this all stems back to his issues with abandonment. 

(Kazuki, from the beginning of Episode 6: “Parental abandonment is the reason I turned out this way!”)

Being abandoned by your parents can easily lead to trust issues and could easily make a person jump to the worst case situation on default. That’s what Kazuki does. At the end of Episode 6, we know that Kazuki understands that he needs to get better with this in regards to Miri.

We haven’t seen the results of that resolution and character growth moment quite yet, and we don’t know how that will extend to others such as Kyutaro or Rei. Though, in Episode 8, we see Kazuki wondering if they [he and Miri] have been abandoned by Rei, and he does seem to worry about this.

However, Kazuki doesn’t allow himself to get caught up in any wild fantasies and ideas going through his head. He looks upset and concerned at the idea. But with Rei, he does seem to stay more level-headed. Kazuki reaches out to Rei (driving to him in the car) and brings him back.

Then they get caught up in their past, but Kazuki doesn’t get lost in any wild imagination. To me, this shows that Kazuki actually has a lot of trust in Rei. 

And now, after seeing the way Rei was so shocked at the party they threw for him, smiling at his Miri, their daughter, and writing a “thank you” memo to Kazuki (via the transmedia marketing aspect), I think Kazuki won’t be as worried about Rei leaving them or choosing his old blood bound family over their found family. 

Rei is still going to have to make that choice, though I think Kazuki will trust him on that. After the contents of Episodes 8 and 8.5, it has become very clear that trust is going to be a very important thing.

I feel Kazuki has learned to trust Rei and Miri, but let’s see if his trust will fully extend to Kyutaro too and if Kyutaro will live up to being trusted (I hope he will!).