YMMV / Buddy Daddies

• Alternative Character Interpretation: Was Shigeki choosing not to shoot Rei while he had his back turned in the finale a simple case of Pragmatic Villainy (since Rei had shattered his plans for him to inherit the Suwa Clan’s assassination business by crippling his shooting arm), meaning that Shigeki had nothing to gain by killing Rei and his family? Or was it that deep down, even someone as cruel as Shigeki can’t bring themselves to murder their their own child in cold blood?
• Catharsis Factor: After all the suffering he had brought to the found family, Ogino's death is truly satisfying. Not only was he incapable of saying his own last words, but when he tried to grab his book, it also gets burned to a crisp when a lighter is tossed into the kitchen ensuring that he was definitively dead.
• Complete Monster: Ryo Ogino is a sociopathic Professional Killer obsessed with recording the final words of his targets. Introduced massacring a kingpin and his bodyguards, Ogino is responsible for several tragedies in the series, having indirectly killed Kazuki Kurusu's pregnant wife in an explosion, and torturing the girlfriend of Rei Suwa's mentor to death. When Shigeki Suwa assigns him with eliminating Kazuki and the young Miri Unakasa, Ogino murders Miri's birth mother while gloating to Kazuki that he would write down the last words of him and his adopted daughter before killing them both.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Anna, Miri's teacher, is surprisingly popular due to her gentle, motherly demeanor and unconventionally attractive design, with many viewers pointing out how her round face and slightly chubby figure give her a child-like appearance, which adds to the character's Moe factor.
• Esoteric Happy Ending: Episode 12 ends with a flash forward showing a teenage Miri cheerfully starting her first day of high school before going downstairs to greet Rei and Kazuki, who have opened a diner they all live in. Apparently, Rei's father accepted his son's departure without sending anyone else to kill them for at least a decade (despite his self proclaimed hatred of traitors), to say nothing of the various enemies both him and Kazuki must have made during their time as contract killers. Then there's Miri who seems no worse for wear despite clearly knowing by now that her mother is dead. It's left in the air as to whether her papas ever told her the truth, or if they came up with a believable lie to spare her the trauma and give their family a proper clean slate.
• Fan Nickname:
  • It is very popular to call this show "Gay x Family," due to being similar to Spy X Family but the child protagonist has two dads.
  • Miri in the promotional teaser poster was also nicknamed "Osakabehime Lily" due to similarities to her outfit and Osakabehime's summer outfit in First Ascension.
• Fanon Discontinuity: Kazuki/Rei shippers tend to brush off the mention on the finale that Kazuki is still a womanizer going out on dates in the Distant Finale, often to portray the two as an already married couple by then.
• Friendly Fandoms: Quite a few from the Spy X Family fandom have also supported Buddy Daddies run, finding it a sufficient substitute in-between Season 2 and the upcoming movie while appreciating it for its own take on the comedic action “found family” premise. Unsurprisingly, crossover fanart of Miri becoming friends with Anya is quite common.
• Ho Yay:
  • Kazuki and Rei act very much Like an Old Married Couple, with Kazuki sometimes having to parent Rei. Kazuki has even associated with the mom group at Miri's daycare.
  • Kazuki smiles warmly at the sight of Rei sleeping.
  • In episode 10, they share an Indirect Kiss when Miri feeds them an ice cream crepe with the same spoon.
  • Volume one of the drama CD tells the story of how they met. Kazuki thinks to himself that Rei has nice legs. The transcript to the story is available here.
• Jerkass Woobie: Miri's mother, Misaki, is established as being a negligent mother who despised her daughter and abandoned her, but she rightfully points out that she was forced into circumstances she did not want and was left with little money while pregnant with her daughter. Upon getting diagnosed with cancer, Misaki has a change of heart and tries to become a mother worthy of Miri, only to get unceremoniously murdered for her trouble.
• LGBT Fanbase: Most of the viewers of the anime belong to the LGBT community, in part because of the premise revolving around a same-sex duo raising a girl resembling a gay couple with their child. In addition to this, the way no one questions the fact that Miri has two fathers in the daycare and she doesn't face discrimination for this makes the story more appealing to both LGBT parents and their children, many of whom can respectively relate to being and having same-sex parents.
• Moe: It is no surprise that most fans consider Miri to be absolutely precious.
• Moral Event Horizon:
  • Ryo has many contenders: for starters, he was the one who indirectly killed Kazuki's wife when he blew out the target's tires. He also was the one who kidnapped and killed the girlfriend of Rei's mentor just because he tried to leave the organization. But his biggest one is when he is ordered to kill Kakuzi and Miri, the latter a child, delighting in recording the last words of them both.
  • Rei's abusive father was already hovering on the horizon from giving his son absolute Training from Hell, but he truly reaches the point of no return when he orders Ryo to eliminate Misaki, Kazuki, and Miri so that Rei would never falter to his emotions again.
• Narm: The tragedy of the death of Kazuki’s wife is somewhat undermined by the circumstances in which it happened. Early episodes made it seem like she was targeted due to his work, but it turns out that it was actually a complete accident brought about by a series of very unlikely events. She just randomly appears next to a highly combustible fuel truck in the middle of the night that Kazuki also happens to pass through during a job by complete coincidence. There is no buildup or explanation on why or how this was even possible, and left some viewers feeling more confused than saddened.
• Portmanteau Couple Name: Kazuki/Rei is ship name is Kazurei.
• Spiritual Successor:
  • To the 80s hit comedy Three Men and a Baby, except it's two assassins trying to be parents to a little girl.
  • Jackie Chan fans will be quick to note the similarities in the plot between this anime and the 2006 film, Rob-B-Hood, in which two robber friends ended up taking care of a child they kidnapped.
• Uncertain Audience: While the overall product is warmly accepted, some fans believed that the balance between the child-raising antics and the violence-based hitmen backdrop was awkwardly handled. Those who came for the action would have to sit through multiple episodes of the comedic parenting plotline, and those who expected a lighthearted romp would be offput by the gruesome onscreen deaths of both civilian and antagonist alike.
• Values Dissonance:
  • North American viewers are often concerned over four-year-old Miri running around the city by herself in the first episode, since it's uncommon to see a child that young being unattended in public in the United States or Canada ("stranger danger" is very much a concern there, among other mishaps children could get into by themselves). However, in Japan, children around Miri's age are sometimes sent out on their own to learn how to get groceries by themselves. That, or most of the adults around her assumed her parents weren't too far away.
  • Miri initially has trouble making friends at daycare because the fancy outfits Kazuki bought her intimidate the other children. Rather than try to help her integrate, Anna instead suggests that Kazuki buy her more "normal" clothing so she doesn't stand out so much. While there's a point to be made about how the expensive clothes Kazuki bought Miri weren't very practical for a daycare setting, it still shows how Japanese values tend to prioritize conforming to a group over standing out.

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