REVIEW: ‘Buddy Daddies,’ Episode 8 – “Nothing Seek, Nothing Find”

Buddy Daddies Episode 8 marks a stark change in tone for the series in a great way. Last episode put Rei in the spotlight after Kazuki chose to leave home to show his family how much he does for them. In this episode, we get to see more of who Rei is, where he comes from, and the trauma and expectations that come with his past. When Rei is called home by his father, his old life clashes with his current one. How does a man who was raised to be a hollow killing machine perform a hit now that he is connected to other people, now that he has emotion?

Now in the spotlight, Rei has added a level of detail to his choices to raise Miri that changes everything. Rei isn’t just taking on a family with Kazuki and Miri, he’s making the choice to turn away from the life that was built for him. While it may seem easy to choose happiness and love over the cold and hollow family home he’s asked to return to, it isn’t. It’s clear that Buddy Daddies, despite its comedy, is concerned with more than just the hijinks that come from two assassins and a baby. Instead, it’s a series that champions the choices made to be connected to other people while also ensuring the audiences understand why they’re being made and the complexities involved.

For Kazuki, choosing to embrace fatherhood was a chance to confront and come out of his grief. For Rei, it’s turning him back on the emotionless life he was raised to have and allow himself to feel something…to finally smile. Miri isn’t just a child that is there to make bad decisions and propel the story through her mistakes; she’s a vital character that unlocks the pieces of self that Kazuki and Rei have hidden. But the element that Buddy Daddies Episode 8 points out is that Rei didn’t start to change with Miri, it started when he met Kazuki. Kazuki changed the trajectory of Rei’s life simply by taking him in, and now with Miri, they’ve done the same.

PA Works has created an anime that delivers in terms of action, but also emotion. With a jazz score and expertly animated action sequences, audiences see these assassins doing their job. But in Buddy Daddies Episode 8, that violence is balanced against a loving home waiting for Rei to return. That captures what continues to make Buddy Daddies the best of the Winter 2023 anime season. There is constantly more at play than what’s on the surface, and that sums up each character, their situation, and of course, the choices they make in it all.

With the way that Buddy Daddies Episode 8 ends, Rei has something to protect. He wants a different life. Now, the series has taken a darker turn, and safety isn’t guaranteed. What was wholesome and bright has turned tense and anxious with one picture in an envelope. There isn’t an anime like Buddy Daddies out there. While the concept of a found family with hitman day jobs is something you can say you’ve seen; the way their connections to each other are developed and the depth in the way it’s executed is unmatched.

Buddy Daddies Episode 8 is available now on Crunchyroll with new episodes every Friday.