Usagi Drop - Episode 6

It's time for Rin to begin elementary school as we move into Usagi Drop's second half - not, as you might expect, a time for tears and tantrums, but simply one of taking photographs to remember the moment.

As Rin and Daikichi go about their new-found everyday life, with the former discovering the confusing wonders of breakfast cereals, Daikichi brings up the prospect of planting a tree to commemorate Rin starting school properly, harking back to his own childhood where a tree was planted when he was born.  Of course, Rin loves this idea, and so said tree is planted much to her delight and excitement.

Accompanying Rin on her early forays into elementary school is Kouki, who proves to be your typical young boy as he somehow manages to end up looking scruffy no matter what he does while leading Rin astray on his own flights of fancy, belying a deeper instinct to look after his classmate when really required to, even if mistakenly.  Of course, Daikichi knows exactly how Kouki's mind works having been a young boy himself, meaning that he works rather well as a father figure to him, even if Rin is more like a mother to both of them at times.  Ultimately, this episode finds some time for poignancy when Rin catches herself pondering whether there was a tree planted for her when she was born - a slightly depressing question given her family situation which leaves Daikichi kicking himself for ever mentioning the whole tree thing before managing to find out about the existence of a tree for Rin thanks to her mother.

So, another week goes by, and Usagi Drop is as charming as ever - there really isn't much more I can say about it than that as it goes about its business.  Rin and Daikichi's characters are both as fun, heart-warming and occasionally touching as always, while Kouki's prominence this episode adds an extra dimension to proceedings.  Certainly, it seems that nothing is going to know this series from its perch as one of the summer's best for the foreseeable future.