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Friday, March 31, saw the finale for the Buddy Daddies series premiere on Crunchyroll, bringing the beloved original anime to an end. While fans didn’t expect much when it first premiered as part of Crunchyroll’s Winter 2023 lineup, these opinions have quite obviously and apparently changed in the finale’s wake.
Now, fans are on Twitter shedding tears of joy for the Buddy Daddies finale, which gave viewers one of the happiest, most feel-good endings ever seen on an anime series in recent memory. Clearly, the underdog show of Winter 2023 overperformed and exceeded expectations by the time viewers were forced to say goodbye.
"HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO COPE": Buddy Daddies finale sees titular parents run a diner with adult daughter, breaking fans’ hearts in best way possible
Buddy Daddies is an original anime series animated by P.A. Works Studios and licensed by Crunchyroll, which centers on a family of three who actually aren’t related to each other. The central protagonists are Kazuki Kurusu and Rei Suwa, two assassins who live together under one roof.
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After assassinating a target, they find their daughter Miri all alone. Once Kazuki picks up Miri, she thinks he is her biological father. This eventually leads to the trio becoming a full-fledged family, with Kazuki and Rei trying to balance their professional lives as assassins with the new, exciting challenge of being a parent.
The series premiered on January 7, 2023, and ran for 12 episodes as complete work. At the very least, season 1's finale seemingly put a wrap on the series as it was in its original form. While a continuation is still possible, it will likely be a very different show given the lifestyles the trio were shown to be living in the finale’s final moments.
While the series didn’t initially garner significant attention and acclaim from neither critics nor fans, it slowly became a massive sleeper hit. This culminated in the Buddy Daddies season 1 finale seemingly breaking the internet, causing all viewers of the show to shed collective, happy tears at the series’ presumed conclusion.
Predominant fan reactions are, understandably, a mix of bittersweet reactions and those of pure joy and happiness at the series’ conclusion. While some are lamenting the series seemingly being over with the release of this latest episode, others are instead purely focused on the blissful, happy ending the series rewards its viewers with.
The finale saw the trio abandon their lives of constant threat and danger, as well as excitement, for a much more mundane existence. The final moments of the concluding episode established that, following a significant time-skip, the family opened a diner together, which they happily run.
While the Buddy Daddies finale doesn’t necessarily close the door on a continuation, any sequel season would see the series become a much different show than it originally was. This seems to be where most fans’ disappointment in the finale is based. While this may seem like a negative criticism of the series, it instead serves to highlight just how exciting, significant, and enjoyable a series this Winter 2023 underdog became.
Be sure to keep up with all anime, manga, film, and live-action news as 2023 progresses.
