Source is from episode 3.

There is a lot that can be said about this series in general, but to start with, I just want to talk about the anime. I went into this series blind and absolutely loved it. It is a great depiction of how a single dad that is forced to suddenly figure out how to care for a young child will struggle. I especially liked that it showed the compromises that must be made in the dad’s career in order to care for the child. Japan’s infamous work culture does not mesh well with parenthood, especially as a single parent.

Overall, the anime is a tremendously wholesome experience full of overcoming parental challenges, making new friends, and father-daughter bonding. If you want to keep your image of this series wholesome, then stop reading here.

I warned you, now I will be discussing the story in the manga that goes beyond the anime.

Usagi Drop Manga

I loved the anime so much that I instantly looked up the manga after I finished it. However, when searching for it, I found tons of discussion threads about how the story takes a sharp turn after the events of the anime. I decided not to read the manga, but thought it worth some discussion as it really paints a lot of events in the anime with a different light.

The following is a brief story synopsis I have put together from reading other summaries. The manga time skips to when the daughter, Rin, is now in high school. She has developed feelings for her childhood friend, Kouki, that she met all the way back during the events of the anime at her nursery. However, she learns that she isn’t related to her adoptive father, Daikichi, by blood, so she instead develops feelings for him and the series ends with her expressing her desire to have a child with Daikichi. I don’t know exactly what the age gap is here, but Daikichi was a working adult when Rin was still in a nursery, so, suffice to say, it is a problematic one. Never mind the parent-child relationship as well.

I still think that the anime, as a standalone piece of media, is an incredibly wholesome work and I don’t think that the manga’s future story developments should change that. I understand those that can’t separate the two from one another though. I struggle with similar issues for other media that I have liked over the years (Kenshin, Harry Potter, Ender’s Game, etc.).