Close Menu
  • Login
  • Support Us
  • Newsletter
  • News
  • Features
  • Interviews
  • Reviews
    • Video Games
      • Previews
      • PC
      • PS5
      • Xbox Series X/S
      • Nintendo Switch
      • Xbox One
      • PS4
      • Tabletop
    • Film
    • TV
    • Anime
    • Comics
      • BOOM! Studios
      • Dark Horse Comics
      • DC Comics
      • IDW Publishing
      • Image Comics
      • Indie Comics
      • Marvel Comics
      • Oni-Lion Forge
      • Valiant Comics
      • Vault Comics
  • Podcast
  • More
    • Event Coverage
    • BWT Recommends
    • RSS Feeds
Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
Support Us
But Why Tho?
RSS Facebook X (Twitter) YouTube
Trending:
  • Features
    Cosmic Spider-Man card details

    [EXCLUSIVE PREVIEW] The Spider-Man Set Gets A 5-Color Legendary Spider

    09/02/2025
    Lee Corso from College Football GameDay in EA Sports games

    EA Sports Always Understood Lee Corso’s Legacy

    09/01/2025
    Peacemaker Season 2 Episode 2 But Why Tho 10

    Spider-Man Is Coming To Magic And It’s Just Like The Comics

    08/29/2025
    Star Wars Visions Volume 3 Black

    ‘Black’ Sets The Tone For A Bold New Mixtape In ‘Star Wars Visions: Volume 3’

    08/28/2025
    Olivia Colman in The Roses

    ‘The Roses’ Is A Reimagining, Not A Remake, And That’s Why It Works So Well

    08/27/2025
  • Indie Games
  • K-Dramas
  • Netflix
  • Apple TV+
But Why Tho?
Home » Anime » REVIEW: ‘Buddy Daddies’ is the Best of the Winter 2023 Seasons

REVIEW: ‘Buddy Daddies’ is the Best of the Winter 2023 Seasons

Kate SánchezBy Kate Sánchez04/02/20236 Mins ReadUpdated:08/04/2023
Buddy Daddies - But Why Tho (1)
Share
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Reddit WhatsApp Email

Buddy Daddies - But Why Tho (1)

When Buddy Daddies was first announced by P.A. Works, anime fans were quick to draw comparison’s to last season’s excellent take on found-family Spy x Family. But instead of living in the shadow of the hit of the past season, Buddy Daddies Season 1 erupted from it and proved that it was something new entirely. If you’re unfamiliar, Buddy Daddies is a take on two hitmen and a baby. This original anime is animated by P.A. Works, distributed by Aniplex, and is directed by Yoshiyuki Asai, the series’ daddies are assassins Kazuki Kurusu (Toshiyuki Toyonaga) and Rei Suwa (Kôki Uchiyama), two rough around the edges hitmen who grow and change when they decide to become fathers to Miri Unasaka.

Get BWT in your inbox!

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter and get the latest and greated in entertainment coverage.
Click Here

Get BWT in your inbox!

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter and get the latest and greated in entertainment coverage.
Click Here

Kazuki is a criminal contractor/coordinator who loves gambling and being an all-around “ladies’ man” (we know it’s just for show PA Works) who lives with his best friend, Rei, a professional assassin raised from childhood to be a contract killer who loves video games in his off time. On Christmas Day, their assignment puts them directly into Miri’s life when they execute her dad and essentially adopt her in the aftermath. Miri is the four-year-old girl daughter of a mafia boss and is completely unbothered by it all, latching onto Rei Papa and Kazu Papa immediately. These buddies are on their way to becoming a family.

What makes Buddy Daddies so special is the attention to balancing wholesome family life with violence. While the series does a fantastic job of showing our trio builds a life together, and more specifically, Kazuki and Rei stumble through it all. We get to see them learn how to parent, and we get to see Miri learn how to be patient with them too. At the same time, we also get episodes dedicated to being a hitman duo, and equal parts of the story work to make a truly stunning anime.

Buddy Daddies Episode 11 — But Why Tho

A pivotal episode in the series, Episode 3, takes the time to show audiences the importance of choosing your family. When Kazuki attempts to reunite Miri with her mother, the reality of Miri’s childhood comes into focus. She’s not a happy child because she had a good mother. She is happy despite having someone who hates her for a mother. It’s a poignant moment that shows true child-raising as a choice. Miri’s mom wanted to hit the small child every time she laughed. She blamed Miri for her life going wrong and said that she was in love with leaving her. She saw her motherhood as something forced on her. Alternatively, Kazuki and Rei are actively choosing to raise her, at least now. While Kazuki has this moment without a lot of circumstances, for Rei, allowing Miri to call him papa is a step towards healing from his past and a father who harmed him.

Instead of having Kazuki and Rei go down the same path to their fatherhood goal, Buddy Daddies manages to showcase two dynamic men with their own traumas and ideas of family. As much as these partners have chosen to raise Miri together, getting to the point of being able to do it effectively isn’t the same. For Kazuki, it was allowing himself to be loved again and to love someone, knowing he may lose them. And for Rei, it was learning the concept of a loving family from the ground up, unlearning the abuse he suffered as a child, and allowing himself to feel the kindness and joy that can come from fatherhood.

Buddy Daddies doesn’t only use Miri’s mom in Episode 3, but also brings her back as a changed woman in the latter half of the season. Used to show just how far the family has grown together, Miri’s mom is also an obstacle where both Kazuki and Rei need to answer if they are the best people to raise Miri. Sure, they love her, but can they give her the life she needs? There isn’t a single episode where Buddy Daddies doesn’t investigate the small details and choices in parenting, and in this, P.A. Works has showcased the complexity underneath a loving family. Instead of just showing our trio and their hijinks, P.A. Works chose to show the little ways each man chooses to be a father and how Miri receives it as their daughter.

Buddy Daddies Episode 12 — Date But Why Tho (1)

While each man gets the opportunity to have their growth displayed on screen, their love for each other and for Miri is stellar. While P.A. Works goes to great lengths to show Kazuki with women, fans have shipped the two dads together romantically since the beginning, myself included. And while the studio did give audiences some BL-adjacent moments, like an indirect kiss and sleeping in the same bed, the ambiguity of their relationship leaves a lot open. That said, whether Kazuki and Rei love each other platonically or romantically, their choice to love Miri together is the most important part. That isn’t to say that Kazuki and Rei don’t love each other; they do, and deeply. But the ambiguity of how they love each other doesn’t take away from the vital support they give each other or the family they’ve created with Miri.

As much as the series has managed to create wonderful slice-of-life episodes, it has also been able to showcase fantastic action sequences with a rousing jazz score. We’ve seen shootouts, car chases, and even a knife through the throat (which was deserved), and none of it was toned down to fit the cute family we saw scenes prior. The stark differences in the scenes are a strength of the series that works, especially when you watch each episode back to back.

Buddy Daddies has the best-found family in anime. By investing time to build emotional depth and dynamic characters while using every family trope imaginable to pull on your heartstrings and delivering intense action simultaneously, Buddy Daddies is the best anime of the Winter 2023 Season. While the season manages to end iin a way that feels complete, ten years later, with Miri as a teen and our hitman daddies running a restaurant, I still want to see more of them, and who wouldn’t want a season two with Kazuki actually having to deal with dating instead of just imagining it?

Buddy Daddies Season 1 is available now on Crunchyroll. 

Buddy Daddies Season 1
  • 10/10
    Rating - 10/10
10/10

TL;DR

Buddy Daddies has the best-found family in anime. By investing time to build emotional depth and dynamic characters while using every family trope imaginable to pull on your heartstrings and delivering intense action simultaneously, Buddy Daddies is the best anime of the Winter 2023 Season.

Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn WhatsApp Reddit Email
Previous ArticleREVIEW: ‘Buddy Daddies’ Episode 12 — “Daughter Daddies”
Next Article REVIEW: ‘The Tale Of Outcasts’ Tells A Story Of Friendship And Conflict
Kate Sánchez
  • Website
  • X (Twitter)
  • Instagram

Kate Sánchez is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of But Why Tho? A Geek Community. There, she coordinates film, television, anime, and manga coverage. Kate is also a freelance journalist writing features on video games, anime, and film. Her focus as a critic is championing animation and international films and television series for inclusion in awards cycles. Find her on Bluesky @ohmymithrandir.bsky.social

Related Posts

Marin in My Dress-Up Darling Season 2 Episode 9
8.5

REVIEW: ‘My Dress-Up Darling’ Season 2 Episode 9 — “Because I Don’t Intend to Sleep Tonight”

08/30/2025
Shiki in Tougen Anki Episode 8
5.0

REVIEW: ‘Tougen Anki’ Episode 8 — “The Unreliable Hero”

08/30/2025
DanDaDan Season 2 Episode 9
8.0

REVIEW: ‘DanDaDan’ Season 2 Episode 9 – “I Want to Rebuild the House”

08/28/2025
Sakamoto Days Episode 18
7.0

REVIEW: ‘Sakamoto Days’ Episode 18 – “Kanaguri”

08/27/2025
Captivated By You Episode 1
6.0

REVIEW: ‘Captivated By You’ Episode 1 — “Someone Adorable”

08/25/2025
Marin in My Dress-Up Darling Season 2 Episode 8
7.0

REVIEW: ‘My Dress-Up Darling’ Season 2 Episode 8 — “The Only Way I Can Think to Express That Gratitude Is With Money”

08/23/2025

Get BWT in your inbox!

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter and get the latest and greated in entertainment coverage.
Click Here
TRENDING POSTS
Cosmic Spider-Man card details Features

[EXCLUSIVE PREVIEW] The Spider-Man Set Gets A 5-Color Legendary Spider

By Kate Sánchez09/02/2025Updated:09/02/2025

An exclusive look at a new 5-Color Spider entering Magic: The Gathering’s Spider-Man set, and Cosmic Spider-Man is going to be a tough one to take on.

Hololive EN at Radio City Music Hall Events

Hololive EN At Radio City Music Hall Was A Pure Expression Of Fandom

By Adrian Ruiz08/31/2025Updated:09/03/2025

Hololive EN turned Radio City in New York City into the pure expression of fandom: chants, penlights, and community in perfect sync.

Karl Anthony Towns in NBA 2k26 But Why Tho
8.5
PS5

REVIEW: ‘NBA 2K26’ Brings Basketball To Life

By Kyle Foley09/03/2025

NBA 2K26 combines improved visuals with some important tweaks to keep the series feeling fresh in the latest yearly release.

Cronos: The New Dawn Nest
8.0
PC

REVIEW: ‘Cronos: The New Dawn’ Does Post-Apocalyptic Psychological Horror Right

By Mick Abrahamson09/03/2025Updated:09/03/2025

While not particularly sacry, Cronos: The New Dawn is a lot of fun as a survival horror that puts you in the futuristic armor of the Traveler.

But Why Tho?
Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram Pinterest RSS YouTube Twitch
  • CONTACT US
  • ABOUT US
  • PRIVACY POLICY
  • SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER
  • Review Score Guide
Sometimes we include links to online retail stores. If you click on one and make a purchase we may receive a small contribution.
Written Content is Copyright © 2025 But Why Tho? A Geek Community

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.

But Why Tho Logo

Support Us!

We're able to keep making content thanks to readers like YOU!
Support independent media today with
Click Here