Bunny Drop

Volume 4
by Yumi Unita

I'm really liking this series so far. It continues to be pretty interesting, full of realistic characters who struggle with everyday problems- and some not-so. Daikichi has a sudden problem arrive on his very doorstep when his cousin takes her kid and leaves her husband. Daikichi can't comprehend her reasons, and there's some very awkward moments between him and Kouki's mother when Kouki assumes the cousin is in a relationship with Daikichi. The kids all get along fine, the adults sometimes have issues. For the first time Dakichi has to deal with Rin getting sick. He continues to have moments of confusion seeing how other parents around him deal with things- coming to it so late in the game, as it were. Some really amusing episodes in this book were the jump-roping competition among the schoolchildren- and the parents all got involved, too, on pretext of helping their kids practice. Also the part where Rin looses her first tooth was pretty funny- another contrast between cultures. Daikichi tells Rin of an older tradition where baby teeth are thrown on the roof, but is taken aback when a fellow parent tells him nowadays kids get cute little boxes made especially for saving baby teeth in as keepsakes. He wants to go with the current trend so scrambles to find where those tooth cases are sold before Rin looses another. Then one of her school friends pipes up with the information that when she looses a tooth the "money fairy" leaves fifty yen under her pillow (about forty-five cents)! The other parents are all hoping this American custom will not become the new fad. Haha.

I have to say, Daikichi's character is really growing on me. Even though he's a typical guy through and through he's also really kind-hearted and compassionate, cares a lot about doing what's right for Rin. It comes across in spurts of anger at how other people treat or perceive her sometimes. He's not terribly attractive (judging by the drawings- another dad he meets used to be a model for clothing catalogs) and a bit awkward, but such a decent person, someone you'd really want as a friend.

Rating: 3/5       224 pages, 2008