Buddy Daddies

Buddy Daddies is an original Japanese anime television series animated by P.A. Works[1] and produced by Aniplex and Nitroplus.[2] It is directed by Yoshiyuki Asai and written by Vio Shimokura of Nitroplus and Yūko Kakihara, with Katsutoshi Kitagawa of Round Table composing the music.[3] Katsumi Enami provided the original character designs, and Souichirou Sako is adapting the designs for animation while also serving as chief animation director along with Sanae Satō.[4] It premiered on January 7, 2023, on Tokyo MX and other networks.[5][6]

Buddy Daddies
Anime key visual
Created by
Anime television series
Directed byYoshiyuki Asai
Written by
  • Vio Shimokura
  • Yūko Kakihara
Music byKatsutoshi Kitagawa
StudioP.A. Works
Licensed byCrunchyroll
Original networkTokyo MX, GYT, GTV, BS11, ABC, Mētele
Original run January 7, 2023 – present
Episodes6

Plot

Buddy Daddies centers on a family of three who aren't related to each other: Kazuki Kurusu and Rei Suwa, assassins who live under one roof; and Miri, the daughter of Kazuki and Rei's assassination target who ended up being picked up by Kazuki, who she thinks is her biological father.

Characters
Kazuki Kurusu (来栖一騎, Kurusu Kazuki)
Voiced by: Toshiyuki Toyonaga[5] (Japanese); Landon McDonald[7] (English)
28 years old. Rei's assassin buddy who takes care of him. On duty, he focus on collecting information in advance, and executing the plan. He has good communication skills, and likes gambling. He is good at cooking and cleaning. He had a wife who was pregnant with his child, but lost both of them due to his job.
Rei Suwa (諏訪零, Suwa Rei)
Voiced by: Koki Uchiyama[5] (Japanese); David Matranga[7] (English)
25 years old. He specialises in combat on missions and tends to go over the top. He lets his hair down during off duty and lives a hikkikomori lifestyle, playing video games all night. He finds it hard to smile, due to his abusive upbringing by his father, another professional assassin. He slowly warms up to Miri and accepts his role as one of her parents alongside Kazuki.
Miri Unasaka (海坂ミリ, Unasaka Miri)
Voiced by: Hina Kino[5] (Japanese); Emi Lo[7] (English)
A 4-year-old girl who was sent away by her mother to be in the care of her long lost father when her mother could no longer parent her. It is revealed that her father was Kazuki and Rei's most recent target who they assassinated. Kazuki takes it upon himself to become her guardian with Rei warming up to the role later. She loves teasing and playing with Kazuki and Rei. She affectionately calls Kazuki and Rei her "Papas."
Kyūtarō Kugi (九棋久太郎, Kugi Kyūtarō)
Voiced by: Toshiyuki Morikawa[8] (Japanese); Austin Tindle[7] (English)
A cafe owner who supplies Rei and Kazuki with both jobs and information.

Episode list

The opening theme song is "Shock!" by Ayase, while the ending theme song is "My Plan" by DURDN.[9]

Crunchyroll has licensed the series outside of Asia, and will be streaming it along with an English dub.[10]

No.Title [11]Directed by [11]Written by [11]Storyboarded by [11]Original air date [12]
1"Piece of Cake"Tomoaki ŌtaYūko KakiharaYoshiyuki AsaiJanuary 7, 2023 (2023-01-07)
Two professional assassins, immature Kazuki and stoic Rei, assassinate a smuggler but are abruptly called away to care for their daughter Miri. Several months previously on Christmas Eve Kazuki and Rei share an apartment while operating as assassins with support from their handler Kyutaro. Kazuki is haunted by memories of abandoning his pregnant lover to protect her from his assassin career, but sends her money regularly. Their next target is a human trafficker hosting a party at a hotel. Kazuki infiltrates the party delivering a cake with Rei inside the food trolley. Meanwhile, a young girl named Miri arrives in the city alone, heads to the hotel and enters the elevator with them, ruining their plan. Miri reveals she is looking for her father, who she has never met, as her mother had told her he would definitely be at the hotel on Christmas Eve. Miri unknowingly blows their cover and she is taken hostage by the target. Kazuki frantically claims he is Miri's father, so Miri jumps into Kazuki’s arms allowing Rei to shoot the target. Returning to their apartment with Miri they find photographs in her bag revealing the target they killed was Miri's biological father.
2"The Kiss of Death"Noriyoshi SasakiYūko KakiharaYoshiyuki AsaiJanuary 14, 2023 (2023-01-14)
As they killed her biological father they consider returning Miri to her mother, but Miri is too young to know where her mother lives. Desperate, they leave Miri in their apartment and convince Kyutaro to research their victims’ girlfriends, hoping to locate Miri’s mother without revealing Miri’s existence to Kyutaro, who is already angry at how badly they carried out the assassination. They also receive their next mission. Kyutaro is visited by another mysterious assassin named Ogino. Returning home they are dismayed Miri has trashed the apartment in their absence. Their next target is a drug kingpin but they are forced to take Miri with them on mission. Kazuki infiltrates the house but Miri exposes him and they are both almost killed. Rei saves them and they are forced to escape without killing their target. Kyutaro fires them from the mission but informs them he has located a woman likely to be Miri’s mother. The two are relieved they will soon be rid of Miri and can get back to work. Meanwhile Ogino succeeds in killing the kingpin and his guards.
3"Spice of Life"Shin'ya KawatsuraYūko KakiharaJong Heo, Yoshiyuki AsaiJanuary 21, 2023 (2023-01-21)
Seeing Kazuki interact happily with Miri, Rei questions whether Kazuki really wants to return her. Kazuki confirms assassins don’t make good parents. After much apologising Kazuki receives the address of Miri’s mother from the still angry Kyutaro. Rei, who had a particularly harsh childhood, does his best not to interact with Miri. Visiting the address Kazuki discovers it is a cheap bar and that Miri’s mother is a singer/prostitute with an abusive boyfriend/pimp. Rei looks after Miri in a nearby park but while reliving memories of his father raising him to fight and kill Rei loses Miri. Miri’s mother, mentally broken by her terrible life, resents Miri for being born and refuses to take responsibility so Kazuki leaves, disgusted that a parent could hate their own child. Rei finds two policemen trying to take Miri as a lost child and considers abandoning her, but when she cries he decides to be better than his own father and retrieves her, claiming he is her Papa. The two take Miri home with them a second time, as her fathers.
4"What Will Be, Will Be"Masakazu TakahashiYūko KakiharaJong HeoJanuary 28, 2023 (2023-01-28)
With Miri preventing them working Kazuki and Rei decide to enrol Miri in day-care but discover parents must provide the government with employment and tax records, which as assassins Kazuki and Rei do not have. Instead Kazuki spends all night forging the necessary records. With permission to enrol Miri in government day-care they interview and manage to enrol her in a day-care nearby, despite Miro blurting out details of their criminal acts. Hoping to make a good impression they buy Miri all the best clothes and supplies and pose as wealthy parents, earning admiration from a group of mothers. Miri finds other children won’t play with her. Kazuki and Rei beg Kyutaro for another mission and he agrees to give them the next available job. Over the next week Kazuki finds Miri becoming depressed and learns from day-care manager Anna that Miri’s expensive clothes make her stand out, so other children are scared to play with her. Seeing their mistake they take Miri on a much cheaper shopping trip to buy more normal clothing and Miri makes several friends. As a surprise Kazuki and Rei redecorate a spare room to be Miri’s bedroom.
5"Crunch Time"Tetsuo IchimuraYūko KakiharaTetsuo IchimuraFebruary 4, 2023 (2023-02-04)
Having run out of money Kazuki and Rei must beg Kyutaro for work. Not trusting them with assassinations Kyutaro gives them several intelligence gathering missions. Unfortunately, the day-care suffers a flu outbreak and closes for a week. Miri is given homework to learn about her parents careers, so they must care for Miri at home, lie to her about their jobs, then gather intelligence while Miri sleeps. Rei falls asleep while watching Miri so she decides to sneak out and follow Kazuki to learn about his job and ends up at Kyutaro’s bar. Kazuki claims to have been babysitting her to make extra money. Kyutaro is suspicious and offers to babysit Miri so they can finish intelligence gathering. Afraid Miri might blurt the truth if left too long Kazuki and Rei rush to finish their work. Responding to Miri’s questioning Kyutaro claims Kazuki is a comedian and Rei an oil baron. Kyutaro quickly realises Miri is being raised by them but luckily doesn’t mind as long as it doesn’t affect their work. Miri presents her report to her day-care class, causing a stir among the mothers group that Miri’s papa’s are secret oil billionaires.
6"Love Is Blind"Tatsuya SasakiYūko KakiharaToshiya ShinoharaFebruary 11, 2023 (2023-02-11)
Kazuki begins to worry having assassin parents might influence Miri to develop antisocial behaviour. His first opportunity to prevent this comes when Anna reports Miri hit her friend Taiga. Miri insists it was Taiga’s fault and argues with Kazuki for the first time. The next morning Miri asks Rei to take her to day-care instead. Due to his guilt Kazuki forgets Miri’s lunch and decides they must take it to her even though the day-care is on a zoo trip. Taiga, a loud troublemaker, sneaks away from Anna and becomes lost with Miri. Meanwhile, an armed robber hides from police in the zoo. Kazuki notices Miri sensibly looking after Taiga despite their fight. Miri realises she has no lunch so Taiga shares his own, revealing he caused their original fight for which he apologises. The robber steals Miri’s lunch and threatens her with a gun. Disguised as zoo mascots Kazuki and Rei apprehend him. Miri and Taiga return to Anna safely. Kazuki realises Miri is growing up perfectly normally, though he refuses to ever let Taiga become her boyfriend. Miri returns home, forgives Kazuki, and they share her missing lunch. Meanwhile, a woman named Karin visits Kyutaro’s bar.

Production

According to Mitsuhito Tsuji and Toba Yosuke, Buddy Daddies is inspired by some of the anime staff members who have children.[13]

References
  1. "Spy x Family May Have Competition Thanks to the New Anime Buddy Daddies".
  2. "Buddy Daddies Anime: Latest Promo Video, Plot, Release Date & More". 3 January 2023.
  3. "Buddy Daddies is the Latest Original Anime from PA Works Studio". 22 October 2022.
  4. Loo, Egan (November 19, 2022). "Assassin Anime Buddy Daddies' 1st Full Video Preview Voices, Unveils More Staff". Anime News Network. Retrieved November 19, 2022.
  5. Loo, Egan (October 22, 2022). "Nitroplus, P.A. Works Make January 2023 Assassin Anime Buddy Daddies". Anime News Network. Retrieved October 23, 2022.
  6. Mateo, Alex (December 9, 2022). "Assassin Anime Buddy Daddies' Reveals Character Promo Video, January 6 Premiere". Anime News Network. Retrieved December 9, 2022.
  7. Dempsey, Liam (January 19, 2023). "Buddy Daddies English Dub Reveals Cast & Crew, Release Date". Crunchyroll. Retrieved January 19, 2023.
  8. Loo, Egan (December 25, 2022). "Assassin Anime Buddy Daddies Casts Toshiyuki Morikawa". Anime News Network. Retrieved December 25, 2022.
  9. Hodgkins, Crystalyn (January 1, 2023). "Buddy Daddies Anime's 2nd Promo Video Reveals Theme Song Artists". Anime News Network. Retrieved January 1, 2023.
  10. Mateo, Alex (December 14, 2022). "Crunchyroll Announces Release Schedule for Winter 2023 Anime Season". Anime News Network. Retrieved December 15, 2022.
  11. "Sutōrī | Terebi Anime "Badi Dadizu" Kōshiki Saito" STORY | TVアニメ「Buddy Daddies」公式サイト [Story | TV Anime "Buddy Daddies" Official Website]. buddy-animeproject.com (in Japanese). Retrieved January 6, 2023.
  12. "On'ea | Terebi Anime "Badi Dadizu" Kōshiki Saito" ON AIR | TVアニメ「Buddy Daddies」公式サイト [On Air | TV Anime "Buddy Daddies" Official Website]. buddy-animeproject.com (in Japanese). Retrieved January 6, 2023.
  13. "Buddy Daddies Used Real Parenting Experience to Write the Anime". 7 January 2023.
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