“Buddy Daddies” Episode 3: On Being a Parent

I debated whether I should discuss a specific scene taking place in Episode 3 in my previous article, but ultimately, I decided that it would be better if it were its own piece.

Spoilers: If you have not seen Episode 3 of Buddy Daddies, please watch it before coming back. Otherwise, proceed with caution.

After the disastrous events that had taken place in Episode 2, Kazuki and Rei decide that it’s best to send Miri back to her mother. Bringing Miri along on their missions clearly had been a bad idea but they also couldn’t leave her alone at the apartment either. With the help of their informant, Kyutaro, they were able to track down her mother, Misaki Unasaka.

Kazuki goes to speak with Misaki at the bar she was working at, under the guise that he wanted to ask her the recipe for the hamburger steaks that Miri loved so much over his own.

Surprise, surprise, Misaki didn’t care for Miri! She was trying to get rid of her while hoping to get some money from blackmailing her ex-boyfriend, the man who was Kazuki and Rei’s target from Episode 1. Then again, sending a four-year-old out on her own to look for her birth father, a dangerous criminal without any regard for her daughter’s safety should have been a clue that she wasn’t the loving mother Miri thought she was.

Those hamburger steaks that Miri loved so much? They were just some cheap store-bought brand from the supermarket, and she mocks Miri for loving something that she equates to a cheap date.

Kazuki tries to appeal to Misaki, after all she is Miri’s mother. Only for Misaki to scoff at Kazuki, coldly retorting that “it’s always the ones with the loftiest ideals that bring the most misfortune to their families”. This causes Kazuki to have a flashback that hints at what may have happened that resulted in his wife no longer being in the picture. Unable to respond, Kazuki leaves the bar. No longer wanting to send Miri back to her mother, he’s now determined to be the best father he can be to her.

If I was in high school when Buddy Daddies came out, I would have villainized Miri’s mother. I wouldn’t have cared about her awful circumstances. In my eyes, she was an awful mother and nothing could change my mind on that. And I would have lauded Kazuki for stepping up to being a parent to Miri.

But since I’m not a teenager, I don’t really hate Miri’s mother. In fact, I feel a small amount of sympathy for her.

Firstly, she never wanted to be a mother. No one should be forced into parenthood if they aren’t interested in being parents to begin with. But from Misaki’s conversation with Kazuki, her relationship with her ex wasn’t a healthy one, and he pretty much abandoned her without a thought, leaving her with nothing to be able to support herself or her child with. And by the sounds of it, she didn’t have the resources to help her with her situation.

Now, she’s had to give up whatever dreams she had in order to raise a kid she never wanted, and is stuck in a toxic relationship with an abusive boyfriend, whom she feels some level of devotion to considering she slaps Kazuki for hitting him. Even though Kazuki only did it to defend her because her boyfriend had struck her for an apparent slight.

While she said she wanted to hit Miri whenever she heard her laugh, there’s no indication that she ever followed through on that. And given how much Miri loves her mother and seemingly has no negative feelings towards her, it seems that she did initially try her best before her resentment got the better of her.

Obviously, it doesn’t excuse the way she treats Miri, or the fact that she blames a child for her current situation. But considering all the odds stacked against her, how are you supposed to laugh?

She’s a bad parent, yes, but nowhere close to being one of the worst parents in all of anime history.

That being said, you can’t help but also empathize with Kazuki’s perspective on the whole situation, either. Unlike Misaki, Kazuki did want to be a father and felt like he couldn’t because of his line of work. It’s why he argues with Misaki. Miri may have been a pain in the ass in the last episode, but he’s clearly grown fond of her. This is why he cannot understand why her own mother doesn’t feel the same way about her.

Unfortunately, while he meant well, I don’t agree with him lecturing her on how she’s supposed to have maternal instincts. Especially after she had just told him that she didn’t want to be a parent to begin with but was taken advantage of by her ex-boyfriend. If we didn’t already know who Kazuki is as a character, I think viewers would have been more angry with him for saying such a thing.

Granted, he was right to call her out on the horrible way she was treating her young daughter, but Misaki isn’t entirely wrong that Kazuki is a bit too idealistic when it comes to being a parent. As far as she knows, he didn’t have to carry a child to term, he hadn’t been a single parent to a child for at least four years, and he knew nothing about her life. What right did he have to lecture her on how she should have maternal instincts?

It’s a shame that Misaki is too blinded by her misery and resentment over her circumstances to see how unconditionally her daughter loves her. But as is, it’s best that Miri stays in Rei and Kazuki’s care. Because as much as they struggle with being parents on top of their own trauma to deal with, they both clearly love Miri and have her best interests at heart. Not to mention that they have the resources to give Miri a chance of having a semblance of a stable life, something that Miri’s mother cannot give her given her current situation.

There are no easy answers to this situation. Neither of them are wrong in feeling the way that they do, but they’re not on the same page when it comes to being parents. It happens.

Who knows if we’ll see Miri’s mother again as the season goes on. If she does, there’s a chance that we may sympathize with her more or grow to loathe her more depending on what direction her character will go.

Whatever the case, Miri’s very fortunate to now have two loving daddies who are eager to give her the best life that she deserves.

What did you guys think about the article? Let me know your thoughts!