#kyutaro kugi

[theunfairmaiden]

The Development of Papa Rei

“Not” Papa Rei: Rejecting the idea entirely.

“Sure, I guess I’m” Papa Rei: Saving her from being dragged away. First nudge at acceptance. Papa Rei? c:

“Hell yeah I’m” Papa Rei: Smug that Miri is raving about Papa Rei over Papa Kazuki to her friends. Enjoying being Papa Rei? uwu

“Content” Papa Rei: Happy to hear his daughter call his name in her sleep. The teeniest hint of a smile ;~; Creeping towards full papa.

“Protective/Worried” Papa Rei: Staying by her side while she sleeps when she’s sick to make sure she’s okay. Transitioning to PAPA REI.

“Happy” Papa Rei: Full of love coming home seeing his daughter and partner work so hard to give him a good birthday. PAPA REI ^~^

“Supportive” Papa Rei: Finally cheering on his little girl :’) He really is Papa.

“Selfless” Papa Rei: “Miri comes first.” WHAT. A. PAPA. MOVE.

FULL FLEDGED PAPA REI. “I am her papa, I want to be her father.” FIGHTING FOR HIS DAUGHTER.

God I love this man so much I will never stop raving about him.

[dizzybizz]

ok, look... i blame @dirtd0g for bringing up their asses with the dumpy tournament last week.....

literally all i could think was this:

[soniadamasco]

Kazuki is totally the dad to run after Miri's first boyfriend with a shotgun

[shitpostingkats]

Why did it take me until todays episode to realize how hysterical this entire show is from Kyutaro’s point of view

[lilyginnyblackv2]

Buddy Daddies - Episode 7 - Thought Post - Side Rei

Oh, Rei...OTL

This episode was an eye opener for him. But, I also think it did a good job of highlighting how this isn’t just Rei “being lazy” and not contributing enough, but also about Rei just not knowing how to do these things. 

When he opens the fridge, he doesn’t even know which stuff in there is the food. And this is because of his upbringing, not necessarily because he was rich, but because he was brought up to kill and that was it. Skills pertaining to his ability to kill were the only thing his father and family focused on, so that was all he learned. 

If you don’t teach a child how to do something (whether physically or emotionally), how can we expect them to know how to do it as an adult? That’s the issue facing Rei here. That’s not to say that he is completely blameless here or that he hasn’t put in any effort. He has, but a lot of the things he does right tend to be more accidental and where he is largely putting in some effort (like playing games with her) is a bit misguided. Making sure she stays protected from people who can harm her is an area he has gotten extremely good at though.

But, let’s look at some of the things that I think Rei accidentally gets right with Miri. By being, on a life skills and emotional development level, in a similar place as Miri, he ends up accidentally being really good at allowing Miri to guide him at times. For example, in this week’s episode we have this moment:

Rei is in front of her closet, looks at her, and askes, “What do you need to take?” He’s asking about her things for daycare. Miri is then able to point to the sheet of paper that tells him everything he needs (a little checklist). This is a good thing to do with children around Miri’s age from time to time, since it can not only work as a good confidence booster for them, but also let the parent or teacher know that the child understands aspects of their daily routine.

Of course, it isn’t good for a parent or teacher to rely on this. Why? Because the child is still a child and still learning and will sometimes make mistakes, like Miri does when she says to Rei, “Don’t I have daycare today?” And then this mistake is what ultimately leads to Miri developing a cold and fever later on in the episode, because she wasn’t wearing proper clothes and Rei was riding too fast, thus making it even colder and wetter.

But, we’ll get back to that in a bit.

The rest of this I will put under a Read More due to length.

We also see that Rei views Miri on pretty equal footing in many ways. Here are two examples of this: 

The first is when Miri asks to play Morio Kart with Rei and he tells her “no,” because she gets upset when she loses. This indicates that he doesn’t go easy on her, which is a good thing. Allowing children to lose at games is a good thing. The not so good thing though, is that she gets upset when she loses and Rei doesn’t help her through that (because he, himself, doesn’t know how to handle emotions like that). So, instead, he basically just parent-locks the game away from her. That doesn’t help her learn, that just ends up punishing her, in a way, for not being able to understand how to express her upset. Of course, that isn’t Rei’s intentions.

The second example of this is the scene when Miri and Rei are eating the dinner Kazuki made:

He doesn’t force her to eat the food (and neither does Kazuki in the end, actually), but he also goes down to her level in not showing proper acknowledgement of the hard work Kazuki put into making the meal. We saw this earlier in the episode too:

After a meal they have earlier in the episode, Miri says a proper “Thanks for the food,” in Japanese ごちそうさまでした (gouchisousamadeshita). The subs have Rei say, “Same.” And that is an excellent translation (really, kudos to the sub and dub translators for Buddy Daddies, because the translations have been so good in general!). Basically, Rei just ends up parroting off of Miri in this scene by saying the tail end of the full, proper saying. He just says でした (deshita). 

Up until this week’s episode, Rei was able to skate by on not having these skills, because Kazuki would just do all this stuff for him, and there were no real consequences or level of accountability for his actions. The closest was Episode 5, but that ended up working out okay.

In this week’s episode, Miri does end up being all right, but she isn’t completely safe from harm. Because of Rei’s lack of life skills, Miri ends up getting very sick. This ends up scaring Rei shitless.

The scene of him going around, opening all the draws and seeing absolutely nothing he could use to help Miri. The closest thing being medicine that are for adults only (another great detail that highlight how both Kazuki and Rei are still learning how to make their household accommodating for a child). Is a great way to show just how panicked and worried he was, since I’m sure everyone has had a similar experience to this one, when looking for something very important you need - and just not finding it.

Eventually, Rei realizes he needs to take her to a doctor and that he needs to seek outside help right away to make sure she gets better. And that is a great thing about this week’s episode. Kazuki and Rei’s storylines are kept separate for the most part, because the episode highlights how getting help outside of your partner is necessary sometimes (and is far healthier). Before, they were being co-dependent and that was taking a toll on them (Rei with a lack of skills, and Kazuki with being able to keep locking away his emotions and not allowing himsef to move on because he could focus all his time and energy on caring for Miri and Rei). 

In the end, they both find the right person in their extended family and community to help them in just the right way that they need. Kyutaro for Rei (not Kazuki he wasn’t the right fit), and Karin for Kazuki.

Before Rei brings Miri to Kyutaro though, he has the realization of:

“I can’t do anything.”

And that is very, very important. This was his wake-up call that he if he wants to make sure no harm comes to Miri, then he needs to step up his game and put effort into learning these skills. Because yes, he is an adult who wasn’t taught these things, but he is also an adult who is responsible for a child - a whole other life. And I think that finally sunk in for Rei this episode.

When Kazuki gets home he sees that the apartment is a mess and at first thinks that it is just because Rei and Miri are both not good at household chores, so that is just the expected outcome. But then he sees this in Miri’s room:

Miri sleeping in her bed with Rei sleeping right beside her, his hand covering hers. She has a wet washcloth on her forehead, a glass of water on the bedside table, an opened medicine packet from the pharmacist, and a thermometer is sitting in arms reach. Everything that should be there, is, and Rei made sure Miri took the medicine and got the sleep that she needed. 

In the end, he was able to make sure Miri got everything she needed in this situation. He took care of her. 

Finally, the episode ends with Rei (with what seemed to be implied the help of Miri) making Kazuki French toast.

It isn’t the best. It’s burnt and seems like it may have been oversaturated as well, so it likely doesn’t taste the best either. But Rei and Miri tried. They put love and effort into that. And Rei looks very nervous and eager at the same time. He wants to know how he did:

His shoulders are tense, his eyebrows furrowed, and he leans forward. This is a great step in the right direction and reminds me of how people often say that children want to be helpful. Rei’s never really been given the chance to be helpful before now, but not that he has that experience, it seems like he wants to try and actually be helpful. 

So let’s hope that we see him doing just that! I want future episodes to carry this character growth over, just like they’ve carried plot points over before (such as their issue with going over their budget in Episode 4 leading to money issues in Episode 5). I have trust in the writers and directors that they will though. Otherwise, it would make this episode a moot one. Here’s to Rei Papa continuing to learn and grow and do his best! <3

[lun0vanyx]

Late to the party but I decided to draw the meme

[fandomsandkittens]

All of Tumblr owes Kyu an apology for doubting him the past few weeks. This man went from being called cold-blooded at the beginning of the season to being a true ride or die for these idiots. I love him so much.

[icarus-mp3]

[anikkoblog]

Kazuki: Now I totally get how my other mom friends feel...

Kyutaro: ...mom friends?

Kazuki: Yeah! They're always complaining how their husbands never do anything.

Kyutaro:

[randombook4idk]

I cant explain it, but kyutaro's face at that moment gave me homophobic dog vibes

[kayime]

family can be two retired hitman an underworld lord a handler and a sunshine child

[soniadamasco]

Can we all appreciate how Kyutaro chose our papas' fake jobs based on how he sees them?

Rei: a rich kid

Kazuki: a fucking clown apparently

[highkeyweeb]

Episode 8 takes place on August 10th, Rei’s birthday. At the end of that episode we see Kyu get confronted with a new assignment from the boss: to gain information on Kazuki and Miri.

Episode 9 takes place on October 15th, Miri’s sports day. At the end of that episode we see Kyu get confronted once again with photographs, this time of Rei, Kazuki, and Miri at the latter’s daycare, and is reminded of the job that he has to complete.

This happens over two months later, and yet Ogino and the boss have clearly not been given what they asked for.

There’s a good chance this means that Kyu has been dragging his feet about dealing with this whole situation, and deciding between disobeying the organization - which will surely end in his death - or betraying those who he has a soft spot in his heart for, and who are finally starting to heal from the trauma that the organization has already put them through.

The organization has already failed Kazuki, Rei, and Miri, and they’ve taken that hurt and used it to start over. However, we’ve yet to see the organization fail Kyu, and that might be what gets served to us through the end of the season. And of course, the other three are likely to get dragged into it.

[tazernatic]

we were all thinking it

[lilyginnyblackv2]

Let’s Talk About the Ferris Wheel

This scene in the Ferris Wheel is incredibly intimate. We have Kazuki and Rei actually communicating with each other and discussing seriously about the current situation they are in. But, before that, let’s take a moment to talk about this sequence of events with Rei and Miri.

Miri asks Rei:

“Are Ferris wheels scary?” And Rei tells her no, that they aren’t.

Once they’re on the Ferris wheel, Rei asks Miri:

“It’s not scary?” And Miri replies that it’s not.

This is interesting dialogue, because for Kazuki and Rei, this Ferris wheel ride probably is quite scary, right. An adult fear: losing a child they’ve come to care for and have become attached to. 

But, the narrative is telling us that: The Ferris wheel is NOT scary.

Hopefully, this means that we don’t have to be scared about the future plotlines, maybe shocked and surprised, but not scared.

Of course, we can also look at the projection of the Ferris wheel and the conversations and dialogue as being related to the plot structure of the series so far, and the mindset of the characters at those junctures.

Right, before they got on this ride of caring for Miri, the thought was rather scary, because they were both out of their depths. Then, we get a shot of the carriage they are in, and it rising up the Ferris wheel:

It’s after this that we have Miri responding to Rei that it isn’t scary. This is around the time the two decided to be her papas and started getting comfortable within their roles as being Miri’s papas. Around Episodes 3 - 6. Seeing them become more and more like a family with each passing episode was beautiful (still is).

As they’re getting closer to the very top of the Ferris Wheel, Kazuki brings up the cat. A difficult conversation, one that deals with attachment. In Episodes 7 - 8, that’s when we really see Kazuki and Rei’s decision to devote themselves to Miri and their family come into full force. 

Their attachment with Miri really kicks in around Episodes 7 - 9, this is when they start thinking about placing Miri first, like Kazuki mentions here:

He talks about wanting her to eat Hamburg steak and smile forever. He’s placing her happiness first. That’s an extremely parental view. Kazuki is expressing the practical side of parenthood, while Rei’s expression here, the sound of upset he makes:

Highlights the emotional and painful side of making such a decision. Rei’s never felt emotional attachment like this before, never had to lose it either. Kazuki has, though it was unintentional and not the same as this situation. 

The Ferris wheel is now shown to be at the top. The climax, episodes 9 and 10. Episode 9 was the climax of them becoming a family unit - Kazuki and Rei had worked through their individual demons and both picked returning home to their family. And in Episode 9, we see Miri acknowledging Kazuki and Rei as her family. That was the climax to the “family” side of the series. 

Kazuki tells Miri, when they reach the “tippity-top” that: “That’s the best part!” And, it was! Episode 9 was so, so heartwarming. 

But, this week’s episode, Episode 10, is in the falling action. The part where shit gets tough again. Just like it got tough for Kazuki and Rei in the rising action of Episodes 7 & 8, it’ll get tough for them again in Episodes 10 & 11, possibly 12, too. The difference being that this time they are facing it together, instead of separately.

Kazuki acknowledges that he’s gotten more than he thought he ever would thanks to Miri:

And Rei’s grown a lot emotionally because of Miri, experienced things he never thought he would. He’s become a much more functioning person since she’s come into his life:

For them, this seems and feels like the end of the ride. But, it’s not. The Ferris wheel is still in the falling action stage:

They haven’t gotten off the ride yet. And we don’t see them get off the ride (we just see them after it’s done). Kazuki says, “Time to wake up from the dream,” as they are going down. But waking up from a dream is different from a dream ending. 

In the previous acts of the series, Kazuki and Rei were aware of the dangers their job and situation with Miri could place Miri in, but they weren’t facing the realities of their situation either.

Now the story is in the falling action, the characters are facing some harsh realities: 

About their job.

About society.

About Miri’s birth mother.

Buddy Daddies is a series that wants to explore the themes of “a bloodless family” and “two people of the same sex raising a child,” and they are doing it in modern day Japan. Not in a fantasy world, not through metaphors, and with a foundation based in some level of reality.

This series is exploring tough themes that aren’t always easily accepted or easy to navigate in real life. These ideas can be challenging, and right now, our main characters are experiencing that. 

Pushback.

Kyutaro with his hard truths about the messiness of Miri’s parental situation, of them killing her birth father, and the fact that these issues are going to eventually catch up to them.

Misaki reiterating that danger, and having the lawful advantage of being Miri’s blood, while Kazuki really takes in the reality that society, especially Japanese society, still centers motherhood when it comes to childcare.

But, like I stated, this is still just the falling action. It’s not the conclusion. There are three more episodes left.

There is still time for them and things to change. But, like Kyutaro stated back in Episode 5, it still remains to be seen if these changes that will come will be for the better or worst.

[sakusbo]

thank you buddy daddies episode 9 for the emotional roller coaster of a lifetime