Here’s why I think each Buddy Daddies episode has the title it does!
Fun Fact: Did you know that the color of the title card gives you an indication who the episode will be about?
Of 13, there were 5 Kazuki episodes, 3 Rei episodes, 3 Miri episodes, and 2 neutral episodes!
Episode 1: Piece of Cake (red) ❤️
Embarrassingly self explanatory, it’s the cake that Kazuki baked that drew Miri’s attention to him when he was entering the elevator.
But I also think it’s used ironically, since the plan that Kazuki had for the assassination goes completely haywire. Especially considering it was supposed to be an easy mission.
Episode 2: The Kiss of Death (blue) 💙
The ‘kiss of death’ is a mafia term that signifies a member of a crime group or organization is soon to die. Kazuki and Rei’s job this episode was to assassinate a man who was a part of some type of gang.
This one is a ‘Rei’ episode because he’s typically the one to take out their targets and would be doing the killing, so the mark on the targets head falls on Rei to deal with.
Episode 3: The Spice of Life (red) ❤️
This one probably has to do with the fact that when Kazuki confronts Miri’s mother he tells her that children are a gift despite being a lot of work. That they make your life exciting, worthwhile, and worth living; they make it ‘spicy.’ In this episode Miri officially becomes the spice to his and Rei’s life when he definitively decided they’ll be taking her in!
Episode 4: What Will Be, Will Be (pink) 💖
The phrase itself means that you can’t stray away from your predetermined fate and that everything that’s supposed to happen will happen. With that in mind, I think it has to do with Miri making friends at daycare.
Even getting her into the daycare was a hassle, but then once she got in she was an outcast. However, when letting things take their natural course (her and her dads being themselves), she was able to get into the right daycare for her (with a loving teacher like Miss Anna) and make friends in the end.
Everything played out the way it was supposed to from the beginning, because Miri only deserves to be in a loving environment (and not at that first daycare with the grumpy old lady) surrounded be people who appreciate her and want her company.
Episode 5: Crunch Time (red) ❤️
Also fairly self explanatory, it’s crunch time for Rei and Kazuki because they’re running low on funds. On top of that Miri’s daycare is closed so they’re literally on a time crunch in order to get some of Kyu’s work done.
A more implicit meaning could be that it’s time for them to confess to Kyu that they’ve been hiding Miri, and deciding whether it’s still possible or efficient to keep her a secret any longer.
A ‘Kazuki’ episode because he’s clearly very stressed throughout the entire ordeal, but I also think it becomes clear for the first time that he’s afraid of having another family be taken from him. He’s doing his all to make their arrangement work out, even to his own detriment.
Episode 6: Love is Blind (pink) 💖
Another easy one! Miri loves everyone despite their faults, and is even seen showing kindness to someone she got into a “fight” with, as well as a literal criminal. She isn’t upset at Taiga for getting them lost, and genuinely believes she’s helping the thief by telling them they had to pay for the food.
She has a kind and loving heart no matter the person or the situation!
Episode 7: After Rain Comes Fair Weather (red) ❤️
This one is actually a Japanese proverb, but it has a pretty simple interpretation: after bad things come good things.
A Kazuki-centric episode where he reflects on his tragic past while it rains, and then the sun comes out once he’s confronted with the realization that there are good things in front of him and ahead of him.
Episode 8: Nothing Seek, Nothing Find (blue) 💙
A saying that means that you won’t get results if you don’t search for them yourself.
Rei has lived his life up until this point just going through the motions and the requirements that the organization has given him. For the first time in his life (and the show) he finally stops and thinks about his life and what he wants.
He hadn’t sought out a purpose for living before, so he never had one. But then Miri fell into his lap and as he slowly started to try for her, he found his purpose.
Episode 8.5: Cherry-Pick (white) 🤍
Included it cause why not? A cherry-picking of the most important and plot influential moments from the past 8 months.
I don’t think the color of the title card has any meaning for this episode, but I do think it has meaning for episode 12~
(To be fair I only really included it in the graphic because I initially planned for there to be 13 episodes and I didn’t want to rearrange it).
Episode 9: No Sweet Without Sweat (pink) 💖
A phrase that means achieving good things takes a lot of hard work, which is why we see Miri working hard to train for the race in the beginning of the episode.
It’s also used to motivate people to preserve, so even though Miri didn’t win the race like initially intended, she kept her head up, kept trying, and her hard work resulted in her family winning in the end.
Interesting that this phrase has such a similar meaning to episode 8’s title, showing that both Rei and Miri had episodes where they achieved some type of result after a setback (less literal for Rei, since he was being ‘set back’ to step 1 in life) further increasing the number of parallels between Miri and Rei that we see throughout the show!
Episode 10: Lost at Sea (red) ❤️
A bit of a confusing one to decipher initially. I’m inclined to say they were “lost” about what to do with Miri but they come to their decision pretty quickly as most of the episode is about their day out with her.
Instead, it seems more like this episode is named this way because even though the choice in their heads about what is best for Miri is clear, their hearts are confused, and they feel lost about who they even are without her in their life as shown in the very beginning of the next episode.
A ‘Kazuki’ episode because it’s obvious that he was the one overly invested in their little family from the very beginning. He’s also the one who makes the decision to let her live with her mother.
Episode 11: Everyone Will be Hypocrites (blue) 💙
The episode where every character in the show exhibits hypocritical tendencies: Misaki for saying she will do better for Miri and take care of her from then on, and then dying.
Kazuki for believing that they could change and be a family together, and then saying that they had to send Miri away because that was what was best for her.
Kyu for calling Misaki to take Miri away because he believed that would be the only way to keep her safe, then noting that she was safest with Kazuki and Rei because they knew the threat of the organization and could actually protect her.
However, despite everyone contributing to the title in some way, this is a ‘Rei’ episode because the organization is the sole reason for all of this episodes developments. He’s faced with the reality that returning isn’t good enough, and learns about the lengths the Boss will go to.
Episode 12: Daughter Daddies (white) 🤍
There’s a line in episode 11 where Kazuki and Rei say “it won’t be fake this time” because they’re not going to be taking care of Miri out of obligation from killing her parents and having no where else to take her they’re going to be doing it because they love her and want to be a family with her, that’s why it’s going to be ‘real.’
That’s the point of this episode and this episodes title, everything they do from here on out they do for Miri. Since they left the organization, being ‘buddies’ isn’t the gimmick anymore, it’s just two daddies raising a daughter together.
Plus, the color white often symbolizes completion, so there’s no better color for the final title card of the show.
Misaki has been saying how she wanted to do better for Miri, be better for her. Goes so far as to try her hand at cooking Hamburg steak from scratch because she wants to be able to give her everything she deserves. Then, she dies.
Post episode 7 Kazuki believing that they could change, that they could really be a family. That him and Rei and Miri, despite having not-so-good pasts could have a bright future together. Then, he argues that they’re bad for her, that they need to put her in an orphanage far away. That they could never achieve happiness as a family.
Rei not wanting to care for a child, being wholly unfit and partially unwilling to care for her. Continuing the charade while knowing that he had an obligation to the Suwa family and his fake happiness couldn’t last. Then, advocating to be Miri’s papa, to be with her forever and care for her and love her because him and Kazuki are all she has left in this world.
Thinking about the beginning of episode 6 how Kazuki says he's gonna be a proper parent to Miri or something like that, and then Rei says "well good luck" and Kazuki is like "hey you too!!". Then when Kazuki tries to talk to Miri about the "fight", Rei keeps playing games and doesn't get involved, just offering the occasional quip lol
Then episode 7 is the boiling point of Rei not doing enough and Kazuki becoming overwhelmed, and when Miri gets sick Rei realizes "I can't do anything" and is frustrated with himself. And then of course episode 8 is a big turning point for Rei in how he sees Miri and Kazuki as a family he wants to protect.
AND THEN HERE COMES EPISODE 9 where for the entire episode we see how Rei wants to do the "proper parent things" but is unsure how but is genuinely trying. His cheering slowly getting louder and then how bad he feels afterwards, the deformed onigiri he was insecure about showing, his crazy parent side being awakened, ALL THE SMILES.... FAMILY.....😭😭😭
Anyways all this to say that Rei's character arc has been so well written and soo rewarding to watch over the last eps. Love how the episodes have been subtle but consistent in showing this little family's growth, the continuity has been really good. And now I can't wait for the emotional rollercoaster this last stretch of the show will surely be :')
Kazuki might be the above and beyond dad, but Rei knows exactly what his daughter likes, to the point where he filled her lunch with all her favorite foods!
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.
i need a sk8 + bd crossover where langa and rei are sitting happily and watching their bubbly partners bonding over taking care of little kids; kazu talks about miri and reki talks about his sisters and they’re both thinking “I love him so much”
It’s so funny to me that the boss demeans Kazuki at every opportunity, calls him a peasant, poorly skilled, a bad influence. And yet it’s Kazuki who has gained in three years (probably less) what this man never could — the absolute loyalty and devotion of his son.
Like, the boss has tried to get Rei to take over the organization and accept his role in the family legacy, twice, and each time he’s dragged his feet reluctantly.
Meanwhile, all Kazuki has to say is, "Rei, we’re keeping this kid and raising her as our own" or "Rei, we're sneaking into the zoo to spy on our daughter because she’s mad at me and forgot her lunch" and Rei will sigh and groan but immediately go along with it like: “Ok, babe, whatever you want.”
I know you’ve said you aren’t into Eden’s Zero (but I really think you should check it out cause it’s actually epic when you get into it) but could you draw Homura? Maybe a chibi or with Erza or something? She’s my favorite character and I think she would look so awesome in your art style. (Plus I would totally buy a sticker of her), but you don’t have to if you don’t want to.
If you do though, it would be awesome! Keep up your amazing work! Your Levy picture/gif was so awesome!❤️ Your work is amazing as always! I hope your taking care!
I finally watched the first 13 episodes on Netflix and it's still... eh. Don't get me wrong, it's a decent show, it just doesn't captivate me the way Fairy Tail once did ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I'll probably keep watching the show, but it'll never beat FT in my eyes, haha then again FT gave me my favorite anime character and ship, so that'd be tough to beat
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