#karin buddy daddies

[buttercup-bi]

The fact that I was so worried Karin was gonna be like mad and blaming Kazuki for her sister’s death and then she was really sweet and just wanted to help him move on? I’m so sorry for doubting you Queen

[cptnghoulowl]

Welp, recap episode huh?

I suppose now that we've all gotten a little better since last episode (the ANGST UGH), poll time is BACK!!!!

SOOOO

Voting, COMMENCE!!!

[lilyginnyblackv2]

Buddy Daddies - Episode 7 - Thought Post - Side Kazuki

Not me literally just making a post before the episode aired wondering when Carol and Dorothy would appear and then:

They appeared! Looking cute af too. <3

Okay, so I think the way I’m going to approach this is that I’m going to talk about Kazuki first in this post, then do a post on Rei, and finally a post on more miscellaneous things in this episode.  

Today happens to be a rainy day by me, so the mood and atmosphere was just right for this episode. I think they did a good job of handling the more heavy emotional stuff without losing the humor or charm, since it was still there, just a bit more muted. This is similar in a way to how they approached Episode 3, so it works well and still feels like the series, which is good. Buddy Daddies has handled tonal shifts well.

Between previous episodes and this episode doing a good job not only highlighting how Kazuki has been doing all the heavy lifting in regards to household chores and Miri, by having the anniversary of his wife (and child’s, I would assume) death, and then the presence of Karin in the city - all of it comes together to overwhelm him. 

So we see him going back to old habits that he used to cope with his past trauma. What appreciate here though, is that the series doesn’t present Carol, Dorothy, or the other sex workers, nor the adult entertainment business itself, in a bad light. They don’t look down on them. The reasons why Kazuki going back to these habits is shown to be bad and ultimately lead to him getting thrown in the garbage is because he is using them for the wrong reasons. He is using them to keep his real feelings at arms lengths, locked away, so he can “forget” about them and run. 

All of things he does in this episode such as drink and engage in adult entertainment, are all fine when someone does them for a bit of fun every now and again. But when they are used for a coping method, that’s when they get bad. I appreciate how they handled that.

I’m going to get into the more heavy-hitting spoiler stuff now, so I’m going to put the rest under a Read More.

I also LOVED how they had Karin talk to Kazuki. There were some cliché things here and there, like the rain stopping and the sun coming out, but the way Karin talked to Kazuki about her sister and his way of dealing with her death was really beautiful and something we don’t see enough of in fiction.

She tells him, “So the thought that you only remember her looking sad...It doesn’t seem right.” She does go on to say some more conventional things like, “She would want you to be happy and live a happy life,” essentially. But I really like the line above.

To me, that’s like a gentle call out on how the death of women are often used to fuel the pain of men in fiction. Buddy Daddies is doing that here too, but they are kind of calling Kazuki out on it. Kyutaro tries to call him out too, but he approaches from a “you - Kazuki” perspective ( “YOU” need to move on already), while Karin approaches it from Yuzuko’s perspective. She is saying, “By only remembering my sister in this one way that allows you to keep running away and not face your emotions and move on, you are dishonoring her and erasing a part of her and who she was. It, in a way, gives some agency back to her dead sister.

Now, like I mentioned, Karin does make say something more conventional to him as well: 

She says, “Why not live your own life, too? That’d make her way more happy than anything else you could do.” This is something that is said often, but I do think it is something that needs repeating, because we still have people getting bent out of shape at the thought of a fictional character going on a date again after he lost his wife (this is specifically about Pixar’s UP and the new animated short that is going to be coming out about him going on a date again...a lot of people on Twitter got angry at the thought of him moving on).

Of course, even here Buddy Daddies does something a bit different from the usual. Usually the “moving on” after losing a spouse results in the MC getting a new love interest. But here, Kazuki didn’t just lose his wife, but also the child she was carrying. He lost his family, so when we Karin says the above or when Dorothy asks this:

“You didn’t get a proper sweetheart, did you?” The answer is, of course, yes. He did. In the form of Miri and Rei. He got a family. And in the paperbag you can see he has lots of fruit and snacks that are more common for kids to like. Lots of “sweet” things in his bag. Indicating, in Dorothy’s eyes, a significant other (likely a woman), since there’s a lack of foods that are more “manly.” Of course, this is all coming from rather stereotypical perspective, but that is how it is appearing to an outsider.

Later in Kazuki’s conversation with Karin he admits this that he is scared of changing, of forgetting what happened to her, and this:

“Of being fulfilled by something else.” That sentiment may seem out-of-character at first. After all, Kazuki is the one that kind of dived headfirst into taking in and caring for Miri, but he is still shown keeping Miri and Rei at a distance. He’ll do what he needs to do for Miri, but you could see that a mask was still up. Rei has a wall around his feelings, while Kazuki has a mask (like a clown, or comedian, you know, sorry - I just needed to add that there).

Of course, after this conversation, like I mentioned before, the sun comes out and Kazuki is ready to go back home. When he gets home he sees a mess, but that bit of the episode I’m going to leave for Rei’s post. Instead, I want to talk about this line that Kazuki says after Rei hands him the French toast he made:

“I’m gonna teach you suckers what good French toast is!” I think this is important probably even more so than him moving the photo of himself and his late wife out from the draw and out onto the desk, because it shows that Kazuki is:

1. Is no longer going to be keeping his distance from Rei and Miri by being the caregiver. I feel he likely took up that role (and wanted to care for Rei when he saw the awful state he lived in) because it was another coping method for dealing with the loss of his family. 

2. He is no longer going to make so that Rei and Miri can be so dependent on them. If you don’t provide someone with the understanding and skills on how to do something, then they won’t. If he teaches them, then they can learn, get better and more comfortable, and then be able to do these things on their own.

Both Kazuki and Rei are at fault here in a way. They don’t have either character say an apology, but rather show how they won’t let this kind of situation happen again. And I hope the writers stick with this and that we will actually see Rei continuing to help out more around the house (Miri too)!

[spacevixenmusic]

“Memories aren’t a prison” is such an incredibly succinct way of saying it, holy shit. The number of times I wish I could have trotted this line out to my dad, trying to remain stuck in a past that doesn’t and can’t exist anymore, unable to move forward. What a great line. What a damn fuckin great line.

[dayninth]

[hubbydaddies]

Accidental Date

Imagine Kazuki, Rei, and Miri go to Paris to visit Karin. During their trip, Karin takes Miri for a girl's day, allowing Kazuki and Rei to explore Paris for themselves.

Kazuki is surprised to find out that Rei has a list of things he wants to see/do. There’s just one tiny problem… it’s all the couple's activities.

Kazuki follows Rei’s lead and is super conflicted throughout the day. Rei mimics those around him, which leads to him holding Kazuki’s hand and being more affectionate. Kazuki’s mind is spinning. He has so many questions:

Is this a date?

Did Rei plan this as a way to confess his feelings?

Are we already in a relationship?

How long have we been together?!?!

Meanwhile, Rei doesn’t understand why Kazuki is acting so weird about everything. Rei thought Kazuki liked doing tourist stuff. It isn’t until they’re at the Eiffel Tower and see all the other couples around them kissing.

[lady-charinette]

Rei and Kazuki started training together once Rei recovered enough to be able to safely do physical activities.

Rei had to adjust to life with one functioning arm, he had to make his left arm his dominant one now.

They practiced hand to hand combat, weapons training, trying out all the moves to gain the quick reflexes Rei used to have.

Then, the real training began.

Kazuki rubbed his forehead in distress. "Who peels tomatoes like that?!"

"I saw it on TV."

Kazuki grumbled. "I guess we have to throw the TV out."

Rei gave him a panicked look. The TV seemed to have replaced his video game obsession hobby, even though Kazuki was secretly working on trying to buy a controller Rei could use with one hand. He wasn't about to tell him that though.

Yet.

"Alright, time to move onto more practical things. Drop your pants."

Rei turned around mechanically, with the fluidity of a robot malfunctioning. "...What?"

Kazuki crossed his arms. "I said drop your pants."

Rei's eye twitched. "...What?"

With an exaggerated eyeroll, Kazuki suddenly grabbed Rei's hips and hooked his fingers around the loops on his pants.

Rei jumped. "O-Oi!" with his one arm, Rei tried to grip onto both of Kazuki's hands to deter him from pulling down his pants. Kazuki was persistent and tried swatting away at Rei's arm.

During their scuffle, they had somehow ended up falling on the floor, now wrestling each-other awkwardly. "Oi, Rei! Stop being stubborn, I can't keep following you to the bathroom forever! What if you have to go number 2? I won't call the nurse for you anymore!"

Rei growled and tried locking his legs around Kazuki's waist to trap his arms at his sides. "I told you I can do that on my own! You just follow me to the bathroom whenever I go there!"

In the heat of their wrestling, the two highly trained assassin's failed to register another presence in the room with them.

It was Miri.

Standing in the doorway, the 13 year old stared blankly at her papa's frozen on the floor at the sight of her, Kazuki on top of Rei, one hand fastened on his belt. Rei's legs were locked around Kazuki's waist, trapping one arm at his side.

Miri coughed. "...Karin-san warned me something like this might happen when I'm older..."

With a flaming hot face, Miri quickly dashed down the stairs. Laughter could be heard from a certain young woman.

Kazuki's eyes widened. "KARIN! WHAT ARE YOU TEACHING OUR DAUGHTER!?"

[icarus-mp3]

I'm out of time~

[cptnghoulowl]

IM LATE BUT I WAS CRYING OVER HOW CUTE EP 9 WAS AHAHAHAHAHA

AND BEFORE YOU ASK yes I left Rei out of the running. I know he'll win if he's in this. He ALWAYS wins. Poor Kazuki ok.

I want all of them to have a fighting chance so like if you wanna vote for Rei, maybe reblog the post or smthn. And like, as an aroace raccoon who wants to marry Anna Sensei and Kyuu chan, plz tell me in an sfw way WHY or HOW you find Rei hot. Like, I'm not judging y'all, I'm genuinely curious, because all I see is a wet cat in a cardboard box. I love him, don't get me wrong, but he's also just. Broke, ded college student vibes.

VOTE VOTE VOTE FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT

[lilyginnyblackv2]

Hmm, this is interesting to think about:

In Episode 7, we see how Yuzuko and Kazuki first met. 

She found him in a field of hydrangeas during the rainy season, holding an umbrella. He was at a low point here, in the sense of being very badly wounded and in need of physical help, which I am going to assume Yuzuko provided for him.

 We also get the full picture of her death in this week’s episode as well.

It is, once again, the rainy season and she is holding the same umbrella. So Kazuki met her and lost her around the same time of year. This adds even more depth and emotion to Karin’s words to Kazuki:

“So the thought that you only remember her looking sad...”

Since it is highlighting her later sentiment that “memories aren’t prisons.” Kazuki was locking himself in the memory of her death during this time of the year, rather than the memory of his meeting her. 

Now, when it comes to Rei, we don’t know when exactly it was that the two of them met. But it was likely a good bit before the events of Episode 1, since there was a familiarity between the two of them already. The interesting thing here though is that Rei didn’t find Kazuki like Yuzuko did, it seems more like Kazuki found him. This is based off of the February Animedia interview where the producer, Toba says:

Kazuki is very family-oriented; he's the so-called maternal type. The reason why he started living together with Rei is that he saw the complete shambles of Rei's lifestyle, went, 'This won't do!' and started fussing over him.

And we know from Rei’s general personality and the dynamic they have going on that Rei follows Kazuki, not the other way around. So, at his lowest he sought out someone to care for. But when it was just him and Rei, they were still at their lowest, diving deep into their bad habits and styles of living. 

They were both just in survival mode. They weren’t really living though. 

The one who finds Kazuki this time though is Miri. 

She finds him when he is at his lowest, and her existence in his life gives him the motivation to start changing and to start actually living again. This was in the middle of the winter, when everything is dead. And then this little ball of energy and sunshine entered his life. She provided him the same chance at a family that Yuzuko did, though obviously in a very different way than her (through being a daughter as opposed to a romantic partner and wife like Yuzuko).

And he jumped at the chance. We see him accepting her into his life slowly, bit by bit and through various different aspects and areas. But he still has boundaries set up, he still has a part of himself that is holding back, and he still sees Miri as something that was given to him in a way, then something he actively sought out.  At the end of Episode 7, though we see him “find” Miri. 

He chooses to go back to her. 

He also chooses to go back to Rei too. When he looks softly at the end of Episode 7, it is a look directed at both Miri and Rei. He’s proud and happy to see that Rei actually stepped up and took care of Miri. His warm smile is at the thought of him having a true second chance at a family again, without past memories blocking emotional bonds and connections.

And the thing is, this all happens, again, during the rainy season. Kazuki was, imo, seriously contemplating not returning at various points in this episode. But, he decided to go back to this unexpected family instead of losing the chance again, during the rainy season.

Episode 7 was a great leap in Kazuki’s character development. He’s finally starting to allow himself to properly heal, and like how Yuzuko found him when he was at a low point and in bad shape during the rainy season 5 years ago, Kazuki is here now, in the rainy season, actively returning to Rei when Rei is at his lowest point (in terms of caring for Miri). 

It almost feels like Kazuki is being to Rei what Yuzuko was for him, like taking on that same kind of role, though maybe not with the same kind of dynamic, more so just being the helping hand needed when in a bad place. 

That’s lovely in a way, but it does keep Kazuki in a sort of perpetual “giving” position in the relationship that he has with Rei. Since Rei grew up without love, we haven’t really seen him reaching out for it. Not in the same way it seems Yuzuko may have done with Kazuki or in the way that Kazuki seems to instinctually do with Miri or in the way Kazuki has done with Rei now. The gasp at realizing Miri was sick, then the confused stare for a moment, and finally the soft stare when he realized Rei stepped up and everything was fine.. That’s us seeing him making an emotional connection with the both of them at that moment, even if they were both asleep.

Something clicked there and we can see that a proper shift has happened, and that while Kazuki has always been more of an animated personality type than Rei, there is something much more true and genuine about this smile than the ones he has given in the past:

I think it’s because Kazuki has finally found himself and the obvious weight that he was carrying around has lifted. I feel like Kazuki maybe doesn’t feel like he needs to be found anymore and needs to reach out to Rei and Miri like he was doing in the past - to survive and deal with his trauma, but now he just wants to be with them and reach out to them and connect with them (we can see this through him saying he’ll teach them what good French toast actually is).

With Rei, we see that he has literally reached out to Miri in this episode:

And he is reaching out to Kazuki too. Usually Rei just goes with Kazuki’s flow, but he doesn’t actively seek anything out from Kazuki. At the end of this week’s episode though, he is actively seeking some kind of approval from Kazuki in regards to his French toast.

Kazuki may no longer need to be found or reached out to, but I hope we see Rei still try and do that, not so he can continue to take, but so that he can start to give back.

[jingerhead]

Kazuki returning to the apartment after coming to terms with moving on from his wife's death was just one step away from

[lotuspeacock]

yknow what scene made me cry in the living room of my flat?

when the sun comes out and kazuki realizes that he is more than misfortune and he can move on if he’s doing it for miri

(if you saw my post about flower language, i think this is basically kazuki’s apology being accepted. not by yuzuko, but by himself)

[giraffeclass]

I really like the idea of Kazuki and Karin growing closer and becoming more like siblings as Kazuki starts to heal and let go of his guilt, since after Yuzuko's death they are technically each other's last living family members

Anyways one day Karin comes back to Japan to visit Kazuki and meets Miri and Rei and immediately falls in love with Miri and decides to design all the cutest clothes for her cute niece, obviously

Meanwhile she realizes that Rei actually has a pretty nice figure and face and starts pestering him to model for her everytime she sees him, which he always adamantly refuses. Kazuki watches them interact and thinks it's hilarious

[alchemical-rhapsodaire]

Miri's new hairstyle is so cool!!

Miri definitely has a wolf cut now right?? Also, I just noticed that she kind of has the same hairstyle as Karin!! Awww!!!

This means she must've met her aunt at some point, thought she was an absolute girlboss, and decided to make her hair the same!!

[sfaghetti]

I want to talk a little bit about Yuzuko and Kazuki

first, something that stood out to me is that while Kazuki is grieving her and consumed by guilt only we never get to see her actual face. it's always the shadows covering it or her hair covering it in a specific way that we don't see her full face. and I think it's worth noting that by around this time, Kazuki was only remembering her through grief, not allowing himself to think about the good things between them but just remembering how she died and how it was his fault

however, once he has that conversation with Karin and she tells him to remember the good things about her too and not only grieve her but move on because it's what she would have wanted, and he allows himself to get rid of his guilt, and starts to think about her not only in a guilty way (as in, this was so good and I ruined it) but truly cherishing her for the time they had together (as in, this was good and I'm glad we had this and I'm able to move on) we finally get to see her full face

and I think it's about him remembering her fully. not only seeing her through his guilt-ridded lenses but as the person she was when she was alive, being happy about it and moving on. he's not only seeing a part of his story with her now (the guilt) but the full thing they had together and the full person she was and it helps him move on and I think it's a great detail !

[cheesecakemermaid1048]

I thought I was gonna hate Karin-chan,but now I can say she is one of the best characters.

Edit:

Just found out her full name is karin Izumi-