#Shigeki Suwa

[theunfairmaiden]

The Development of Papa Rei

“Not” Papa Rei: Rejecting the idea entirely.

“Sure, I guess I’m” Papa Rei: Saving her from being dragged away. First nudge at acceptance. Papa Rei? c:

“Hell yeah I’m” Papa Rei: Smug that Miri is raving about Papa Rei over Papa Kazuki to her friends. Enjoying being Papa Rei? uwu

“Content” Papa Rei: Happy to hear his daughter call his name in her sleep. The teeniest hint of a smile ;~; Creeping towards full papa.

“Protective/Worried” Papa Rei: Staying by her side while she sleeps when she’s sick to make sure she’s okay. Transitioning to PAPA REI.

“Happy” Papa Rei: Full of love coming home seeing his daughter and partner work so hard to give him a good birthday. PAPA REI ^~^

“Supportive” Papa Rei: Finally cheering on his little girl :’) He really is Papa.

“Selfless” Papa Rei: “Miri comes first.” WHAT. A. PAPA. MOVE.

FULL FLEDGED PAPA REI. “I am her papa, I want to be her father.” FIGHTING FOR HIS DAUGHTER.

God I love this man so much I will never stop raving about him.

[neo--queen--serenity]

What do you mean this isn’t what happened

[logicalbookthief]

It’s so funny to me that the boss demeans Kazuki at every opportunity, calls him a peasant, poorly skilled, a bad influence. And yet it’s Kazuki who has gained in three years (probably less) what this man never could — the absolute loyalty and devotion of his son.

Like, the boss has tried to get Rei to take over the organization and accept his role in the family legacy, twice, and each time he’s dragged his feet reluctantly.

Meanwhile, all Kazuki has to say is, "Rei, we’re keeping this kid and raising her as our own" or "Rei, we're sneaking into the zoo to spy on our daughter because she’s mad at me and forgot her lunch" and Rei will sigh and groan but immediately go along with it like: “Ok, babe, whatever you want.”

[kayime]

family can be two retired hitman an underworld lord a handler and a sunshine child

[hubbydaddies]

Rei’s Boss’s “bloodline” speech feels very targeted and homophobic. Like dude keeps bringing it up, and he chooses to show the exact pic with Kazuki and Rei sharing their indirect kiss.

He knows his son is gay, and instead of conversion therapy or the normal disgusting pray the gay away shit homophobic parents use, Shigeki just says “nah, ima do a murder.”

[lilyginnyblackv2]

I think something that we need to keep in mind is that Buddy Daddies is taking place in Japan. Not a fantasy setting or idealized depiction of Japan, but just real ol’ Japan. 

So a lot of shitty things happening to the female characters and the female characters in the series being placed in positions where they don’t have agency and power is likely being done on purpose. Why? Because the power that women hold in Japan isn’t much. They are still fighting for that, immensely.

Like, Japan’s gender equality ranking keeps getting higher (aka it keeps getting worse). It’s better than some previous generations for sure (and better than some other countries), but Japan went from ranking #74th in 2020, #80 in 2021, #103 in 2022, and now #104 in 2023, this is out of 190 countries. 

Kazuki and Rei are involved with an Organization that is male dominated. There isn’t a single female assassin in sight, Rei’s mother is non-existent, and wives, girlfriends, and girls (like Miri) are targeted because of their mere existence and bonds to these male assassins being viewed as a threat. Miri being non-blood related is also another reason why she is targeted, but her being a girl (and likely viewed as useless by Shigeki since, like I noted, we haven’t seen a single female assassin) is another. 

Men who don’t fit in or try to deflect from this Organization and the things it stands for, also become targets. Because they, too, are viewed as threats. They are viewed as traitors. Japan is still in a place, in regards to women’s equality, where men are the ones that have to support and speak up for women, in order to make the room and space for female voices to be heard loudly and for women in general to gain more power and control and agency over themselves.

There are, of course, many Japanese women fighting for all of this right now. They aren’t helpless, but the society they are navigating and fighting their way through, was not built for them to have the level of power as men. They really need the support of men, in the same way that any minority group ultimately needs the support of a majority group in order for their own voices to be properly heard. With Buddy Daddies, the Organization and Shigeki represent tradition. They represent “blood purity” and things remaining unchanged - in this case, men being in positions of power and traditional blood bound families that can produce blood-bound heirs. 

That is the world that keeps harming the women in this series, and that is the world that Kazuki and Rei are leaving. That’s the world that is viewed as being incorrect, wrong, and villainous. 

Meanwhile, the world that showed Kazuki and Rei that they could change is the one that is dominated by women - childcare. But, unlike the Organization, the world of Miri’s daycare is open to others - the head of the daycare is an older man, there was one male daycare worker at field day, Kazuki and Rei were accepted at the daycare, during field day you can see old, young, and Taiga’s parents who are “delinquents”. Women’s voices are heard. Miss Anna is depicted as strong. Miri is shown having agency, making decisions, being in a leadership role (both in Episode 6 when she leads her friends around the zoo to find Miss Anna and again in Episode 9 when she makes the field day speech). The mom’s shout and are loud (field day), we see them expressing themselves in various interesting ways in the mom chats. 

And it is only after Kazuki and Rei start stepping into this world, where learning, changing, growing, and accepting the non-traditional and unconventional are openly accepted that we start to really see them both grow and change too. 

Buddy Daddies writing isn’t perfect. I personally don’t like the whole “overprotective dad” stuff and I do feel that we should have gotten another episode between E10 and E11. Some of the events in E11 do feel rushed in their execution. Though I have seen far worse.

But the series is making some points. Kazuki and Rei are two men that are shown to be fully capable of caring for a child. There are some learning bumps along the way, but they are able to do it in the end. Many of the men who are part of Buddy Daddies, like the VAs, talk about how this is a series that men should watch, because more men need to be like Kazuki or learn to grow and put in the effort like Rei. 

Men in Japan (and like in many other parts of the world too) don’t put in the same amount of time, effort, and care when it comes to childcare and childrearing as women do. Our protagonists are showing that they can and should though.

And they have chosen to continue existing and pursuing the world of fatherhood, a space where women have more of a voice and unconventional family dynamics are welcomed, rather than stay in the world of assassination where men dominate and blood is what matters. 

If the series does go in the direction that many think it will, then Kazuki and Rei (likely along with the help of Kyutaro) are going to be directly targeting and potentially killing the character that represents tradition, male domination, and a world where women and children are killed because they are viewed as both useless and a threat at the same time.

Does it suck that most of the women in the series have been fridged or exist to further the plot of the men (Kazuki and Rei)? Yes, it does. But I think we are meant to feel frustrated about that. We can see the cruelty and pointlessness, and feel the frustration at the powerlessness that they have. 

The series hasn’t wrapped up yet. Episode 12 could do something that totally destroys this reading. But, for now, this is what I’m getting from the series. One of the script writers, likely the main one at that, since she is a veteran and has a lot of series to her name, is a woman. So I would like to think that these things aren’t just happening because the plot calls for it (getting Misaki out of the way for Kazuki and Rei), but for more complex issues instead.

[ryolightswan]

The true ending of buddy daddies!! Ft. Miss Anna and a gun!!

[bloodpen-to-paper]

You wanna know something real fuckin ironic?

Rei was already letting Miri go. He and Kazuki agreed to have her go with Misaki, and for the two of them to cut all contact. Rei was on the path to becoming the Suwa heir, free of distractions. He was becoming detached again, thinking he could never change. Shigeki already had what he wanted.

And yet, that wasn't enough. Shigeki got greedy, and that greed made him nervous. It made him fumble.

Because by having a distant source that Rei would no longer be distracted by, but was still attached to, not only did Shigeki have Rei where he wanted him, he even had leverage. Rei said point blank he'd do anything Shigeki wanted, kill anyone he ordered Rei kill, as long as Miri be left alone. Shigeki had everything he needed to keep his ace card under his thumb. Unfortunately, he's not as good at gambling as he thought, because his winning move was to threaten the one thing that would make Rei desert.

You see, Shigeki thought that Rei was too changed by his time with Miri and Kazuki to ever truly be the way he envisioned, and that Rei would at some point get distracted by his little family, by that life. In the event that Rei reversed his decision to separate from Miri (and that's only if Rei actually went through with it), it most likely would have happened later, with enough build up over a prolonged period that Rei would eventually grow tired of his life as a Suwa and leave. In the meantime, Shigeki had a Rei who was still currently loyal to him, and dedicated to becoming the Suwa heir. You know what that means? Shigeki had time. Time to ensure that Rei would not go back on his decision. Time to wear Rei down and make him truly loyal, which over the years could allow Shigeki to remove Miri from the picture permanently without worrying about Rei defecting.

But Shigeki jumped the gun. He was too nervous about the idea of Rei having changed that he completely misjudged just how far Rei had done so. He thought Rei was loyal (afraid) enough towards him that he could still do whatever he wanted and Rei would just accept it, but as Mei from Avatar once said, "I love Zuko [Miri] more than I fear you", and that was Shigeki's mistake. He made the wrong assessment of thinking that the robotic shell he had made out of his son was still exactly the same as he had been before he moved out of the Suwa mansion, despite every sign pointing to the opposite, that Rei now had feelings and wants and a family he was willing to stick by. Change like this means means you also need to change up the formula, work around the new information to come up with a solution that fits the current situation. Yet Shigeki's fear made him forget his logic, because he used the same old methods and failed to realize that his way didn't work anymore. The wound from the separation was too fresh, Rei hadn't yet adjusted to life without Miri, and he hadn't even moved away from Kazuki at that point. If Shigeki had been patient, he'd of had the most ideal outcome given the change, and yet he still managed to shoot himself in the foot by overreacting and inadvertently causing Rei to desist.

In other words, Suwa Shigeki is an idiot.

In other words, Suwa Shigeki fucked up.

[sfaghetti]

one of my favorite things about buddy daddies is that there's no redemption for Shigeki. there's been so many stories with downright horrible abusive parents that get a redemption and a pat on the back and they're forgiven- but not for Shigeki. his son leaves, not without telling him first that he has made a new family that he truly loves and loves him back. it's so great

[tacobellabeanburrito]

Idk if someone has done this yet but…

[grelleswife]

Rei and Kazuki storming Shigeki Suwa’s headquarters to take out the organization and secure a peaceful existence for their family.

[theunfairmaiden]

KAZUKI IS SO HOT HERE IDC I KNOW HE’S GOIN THROUGH IT BUT GODDAMN

[neo--queen--serenity]

Honestly, Kazuki & Rei could absolutely just be platonic friends, roommates, besties, whatever, but Rei’s dad is 10000% treating Kazuki like he’s a romantic attachment for his son.

In Shigeki’s perspective, killing Miri would help keep his son detached, since Rei clearly loves the new fatherly role he has with her, and that truly does push him away from the tight control he wants over his son.

But deciding Kazuki was too much of a liability? Like…there’s no hetero explanation for Rei’s dad to be like “clearly your roommate’s gotta go, you like him too much” because that makes no sense, especially since Kazuki is an asset as a hitman. Shigeki is very loudly and unapologetically treating Kazuki like he’s Rei’s lover, as romantic relationships only cause distraction and potential betrayal of the organization. And why else would he keep repeating that Rei needs to carry on their bloodline, if not to say, “gay relationships don’t produce heirs, therefore this bond does nothing to benefit the Suwa family.”

Rei could really just be best friends with Kazuki but his dad is like “nah that’s some fruity shit right there, we gotta shut that down.”

[queenbananya]

Shigeki keeps Rei with him all day. Since very early in the morning to night. Waits until the last minute when he knows Ogino is on his way to tell Rei about Miri, when he knows (thinks) it will be too late.

And please don't tell me Rei is just standing there the whole time, to be at his beck and call. Because it surely looks that way. Standing in the middle of the room, watching the sun set behind his father in silence until he's allowed to do so much as move.

[janepflame]

Wondering if I should turn this au into a fic

[luci-on-the-moon]

Oops, hehe 🔪🩸

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