Forum - View topicREVIEW: Bunny Drop GN 9
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rinmackie
 Posts: 1040 Location: in a van! down by the river! |
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I'm wasn't that interested in this manga, but the controversy intrigues me. Personally, I don't find it that shocking at all, these kinds of stories seem to be popular in Japan.( And yes, I know incest in NOT socially acceptable in Japan.) As someone else already posted, the ending may have raised a few eyebrows in Japan, but I doubt there was the same amount of outrage as there was over here.
As for the whole bait and switch charge, I'm fairly certain that was the ending the author intended all along. The fact that you didn't see it coming is not her fault. As someone who's been an anime/manga fan for a long time, I'm familiar with what seems to be the medium's love affair with this sort of taboo topic. So this sort of ending would come as no suprise to me. |
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Mohawk52
 Posts: 8202 Location: England, UK |
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insert name here
Posts: 84 |
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Maybe it should be, but it isn't. And I suspect that an analysis of gender roles may be useful to interpreting the work here. |
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whiskeyii
 Posts: 2245 |
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Personally, it's not the age difference that bothers me (though I often wonder if there isn't a large maturity gap between the two). And in your case, your dad basically married his cousin's daughter. That's a much farther gap in relation than marrying your aunt. But that's not my biggest problem; it's that this man raised this girl from childhood. And that is sooo much more different than the childhood friendship your parents seem to have shared. It's basically the equivalent of marrying your foster parent; it's just bizarre! |
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vashfanatic
 Posts: 3489 Location: Back stateside |
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"Women make choices, ergo feminist" is the same argument that Stephanie Meyer used to defend Twilight. What you're missing by calling this series' critics patriarchal is that the conflation of husbands and fathers that this series engages in is deeply patriarchal. Both are seen as authority/guardian figures; the father passes the daughter on to her husband, who becomes her new authority figure/guardian. Where no transition happens at all, where the authority figure/guardian literally is the husband, there is no way that the relationship could be equal. You can argue that this is a fantasy, but then whose fantasy is it? A man's fantasy of raising a girl to be your perfect wife? A woman's fantasy that the perfect man would be a protective father-figure? How are either of those fantasies feminist? Both deeply support patriarchal visions of how husband-wife relationships are supposed to function, with an unequal power distribution between them. I know that interpretation is subjective, but I think you are reading feminist meaning into this piece as a way to salvage it from the disturbing implication that a parent-child relationship is analogous to and interchangeable with that of a a husband and wife. |
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Mr. sickVisionz
 Posts: 2173 |
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I haven't been following this at all and have only seen the anime. Does it gradually Koi Kaze over multiple chapters or does he just start Woody Allening her out of the blue?
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whiskeyii
Posts: 2245 |
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More like Rin starts Woody-Allening *him* out of the blue after the time skip, and Koi Kaze's her way til Daikichi finds out. Though I think it bears repeating that while they (mostly Rin) talk about sex (in terms of childbirth), they're never shown engaging in it. Yay for small victories?
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Wrathful
 Posts: 372 |
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My problem with the complaints about the ending of Bunny Drop is as copout as it may be, that people start assuming that the manga is supposed to encourage this practice in the reality. It's a goddamn fiction and the author has the freedom to do whatever she wants to do with. It doesn't really seem like political statement, but merely a story with the positive gender viewpoint and the ending a lot of people aren't comfortable with.
While Japanese culture is quite behind in terms of adapting to modern society, as if they are suddenly going to change their mind and adapt the western view. The more and more I read any articles, it reeks of endless whinings and the moral speech in the soapbox. It's good to have opinions but once in a while give it a damn break. Don't get me wrong, I think all the complaints are reasonable and legitimate. It feels too tedious when all these people do is just barking up in the air. I'm sorry I'm starting to see these sensitive people in the same light as PETA, the organisation that completely ignores the real problem and goes for the fictional animals. Actually when I think about the ending, it also grosses me out. What are you gonna do? It's an author's decision. I feel I'm getting impression that because of this ending, the people are questioning the author's artistic integrity which I hate to see in any mediums. |
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Mohawk52
Posts: 8202 Location: England, UK |
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insert name here
Posts: 84 |
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Maybe not, but I don't see how that invalidates my analysis. I'd like to think that my lack of experience aboard whaling vessels doesn't disqualify my ability to interpret Moby Dick. Gender, like capital or other socio-symbolic constructs, operates at different levels of abstraction. The division of labor in the raising of children has been historically gendered, and I think this is going to effect how it is represented in culture. |
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whiskeyii
Posts: 2245 |
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There's one more thing I wanted to add. Remember how Daikichi was all "Wait for 2 years; if you find someone else, then this is just puppy love"? Rin then out-and-out says that over those two years, she intentionally avoided getting a boyfriend just to prove her point to Daikichi.
To me, that's even worse. It implies (to me) that Rin was so unsure of her feelings for Daikichi that she went out of her way to NOT date people so her perceived feelings of "true love" could be proven correct. And if those aren't unsettling indications of codependency (as opposed to, say, dating other people and then realizing you still prefer the other guy), I don't know what is. And I imagine that any adopted children with foster families would be mildly insulted by the implication of "Daikichi is Daikichi" translating to that horrible Hollywood cliche of "foster parents aren't 'real' parents". Ugh! Also,
Because of this manga, I *will* question any purchases of future works put out by this author. Simply put, I can't in good faith read them without wondering if some out-of-left-field, poorly-conceived ending is going to be thrown at me again. And personally, like Zac, a bad ending can ruin an entire series for me. I simply can't divorce my enjoyment of the series from my concerns about the ending. |
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TarsTarkas
 Posts: 5823 Location: Virginia, United States |
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Rin is an adult female. As such, she has the full power to do what she chooses to do, and damn the opinion of anyone else.
She would laugh at Daikichi, if he told her to seek a mental health doctor. Also, any grown man, knows you don't tell a woman who they can love or not. You'll be on the losing end of that argument. Perhaps, because they are manga characters, we pretend they don't have emotions and will, like normal human beings. If Rin loves Daikichi, then nothing is going to stop her, and she is not going to listen to anyone who tells her otherwise. You can judge her and belittle her feelings as you like, but I doubt she cares what we think. |
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snickersnack
Posts: 34 |
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Sorry I'm late to this thread, but I wanted to say thank you to Rebecca to sticking it through and reviewing this title to the end! It can't have been easy what with all the rampant spoilers out there.
I'm afraid that I'm rather disinclined to read Bunny Drop after the time skip! I'll probably stick with volumes 1-4 and pretend that the rest don't exist. On a side note, Slithey Toves is an awesome name for a boat! |
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whiskeyii
Posts: 2245 |
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Actually, I have less of an issue with Rin's feelings than Daikichi's actions. Rin I can chalk up to immaturity, plus the fact that she never seems to have reached out to other potential lovers aside from Kouki and Daikichi. Honestly, I wouldn't have minded if neither of them ended up with anybody; romance isn't a requisite for me. However, Daikichi is also an adult male, one with far more life experience and the one who is most adamant about his position as Rin's father, whether Rin recognizes it or not. And as such, he should have done the parental thing just said no to Rin, period. Moreover, I see a parent's job as being to raise their children to be well adapted, independent adults capable of handling the world--on their own. That's not to say parents can't support their children; they should, but not the extent where they are as fully involved in their lives as adults as they were when they were children. To me, despite how much I like/liked Daikichi as a person, these last chapters are a testament to how badly Daikichi failed as a parent. Tl;dr: Rin can have whatever kind of feelings towards Daikichi; but he should NEVER have reciprocated them. |
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor
 Posts: 7912 Location: Anime News Network Technodrome |
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Here comes Captain Moral Relativity to let us all know that the best way to think about every gross thing that happens in anime is to be as accepting and super OK with it as is humanly possible! |
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