I Wasn’t Ready For UchiMusume Plot Twist
Hello everyone, and welcome to our shelter 🙂 Today I’m going to talk about the cute, slice of life Anime coming out during the Summer Season 2019, UchiMusume. However, contrary to the other first impressions, I will have a space dedicated to spoilers since it completely changes my point of view of this Anime. Nevertheless, until that last part – and I’ll make sure you know when I’m getting into spoiling territory – I’ll just give my honest opinion of the first three episodes.
By the way, the original name of the show is “Uchi no Ko no Tame naraba, Ore wa Moshikashitara Maou mo Taoseru kamo Shirenai.” and in English, you can find it by the name of “If It’s for My Daughter, I’d Even Defeat a Demon Lord.” I think I don’t need to explain why I’m going for the alternative name UchiMusume.
Latina – The Soul Of The Show
UchiMusume starts with Dale, a strong and popular adventurer finishing a quest inside of a forest. There, he finds a lost demon girl with a broken horn who he decides to adopt. From there, the Anime takes a slice of life route which basically tells the daily life of this cute girl living in the city’s tavern together with Dale.
To be honest, there is not much about the Anime that really surprised me. The animation is pretty bland and, although I know a slice of life does not usually have much action, the story really went for a slow pace. Truth to be told, there was not much happening during these three episodes. Basically, the show is just about how cute, hardworking, and smart Latina is.
However, I have to say Latina is the star of the show and she is the cutest you could get. Being her trying to speak Japanese instead of the Demon language, or trying to help out in the tavern, she is always able to melt my heart. Clearly, that’s the point of the Anime since she also gets a better animation and drawing compared to the rest.
Nevertheless, I found myself zoning out here and there and closing my eyes for a second during the second and third episode. Of course, I’m not the hugest fan of Animes which only sell cuteness without much more to add to the show. Therefore, I know that some of you may love this kind of concept, and for those, I advise you to read the spoiler part because it will change sooner or later.
From Feared Adventurer To Loving and Annoying Father
I can bypass the below-average animation and the slow pace of UchiMusume since it’s not really a big deal if you like the genre. However, I just can’t bypass Dale. To be honest, he is a contender for the most annoying character I’ve ever met so far, yeah even taking into account Excalibur from Soul Eater.
I understand Dale is the character used for the running gags of the show and makes laugh here and there. Still, the guy just ends up being over the top and way too annoying. First, he is always screaming. Second, his way towards Latina is way too much. Honestly, he screams her name so much that I feel annoyed every time I hear Latina. But, I do think that the voice actor is doing an excellent job since I believe that was the objective from the beginning.
Nevertheless, it’s interesting to see how much his personality changes between his father role and adventurer. As a father, he is just a helicopter dad that melts every time his daughter gives a step. As an adventurer, though, he is one of the most feared guys out there and, with reason. Not only he has a sinister aura around him, but he also has the power to kill a group of demons by himself.
UchiMusume Spoilers
It’s time for spoilers now! So, if you don’t want to know what is going to happen, stop reading 😛
Although I was able to get enough information to give my first impressions on UchiMusume, I felt I didn’t have enough information about the story. Moreover, since I don’t care enough about this Anime to continue watching it, I decided to go read some spoilers in the good, old Reddit. Well, I was completely shocked!
Basically, it seems that, further into the story, when Latina has around 15, they both have sex. Yeah, you read that right! Moreover, it seems that they even get married later in the story.
The romance between huge age gaps is not something new in the Anime industry, so I’m not even going there. What I’m entirely shocked is how a character like Dale, which assumes the role of Latina’s father, ends up going to bed with her. It’s not like they met each other and had different ages. No, we are talking about someone who has seen a girl growing from a child to adulthood, take the role as her father and then having sex with her and marrying her.
I’m not sure what is going to happen. Moreover, I’m also not sure if there is any possible plot twist that would make any of this make sense. I’m an active apologist that fantastical worlds should follow their own rules even if it includes stuff that real-life society does not accept. However, this is way too much for me. I mean, only with three episodes I found myself liking Latina a lot. So, I can’t even imagine what must have felt to fans which followed her growth just to see the writer making her wed with, basically, her father.
Awwww to eugghhhh real quick
Yap >.<
I was so excited when I started the light novel & manga. Then I heard spoilers and my interest just tanked to 0. I think I found out just when the anime adaptation was announced, so luckily I hadn’t gotten too invested in it. But yeah, with a title like this, I had no idea it was going the Usagi Drop path. It’s one thing if it was set up that way from the beginning, then at least you’d know.
Completely agree with you! Although I wouldn’t like if that was the case, it’s way better to be that way than building a father-daughter relationship and spoil that
Well if that’s going to be the case for the anime as well, which honestly I’m enjoying very much, that really might be enough for me to drop it. Because really as Lumi aptly just said: awww to eugghhhhh ?
Well, during this season at least, the Anime will go until the second-third book of the light novel, so we are good for now. These things happen only around book 7 and 8 from what I’ve read. However, it may happen that the Anime decides to censor that part. It would not be the first time and I’m sure it will not be the last! I just saw the move IT (finally) and they also decided to change the end, so hopefully this Anime will go for the same route
Eww I suspected something like this though. It’s like, you can’t have a cute anime about a cute little girl without it turning grossly sexual or super violent.
Yeah… Well I think Demon Lord does not to that… At least from what I could understand from the episodes I’ve watched 😛 I didn’t watch the all thing though xD
…huh? …what? …ugh! Oh, come on! I’ve only seen the first episode, and even then I was going, “Dude, let the girl WALK a bit!” So the helicopter dad thing isn’t too surprising, or out of the ordinary, really, but… seriously? I mean SERIOUSLY?! *THAT* is how they end it?! They couldn’t come up with anything better than the single grossest, most disturbing thing out there?! What the heck is *with* Japan’s fascination with all these borderline or flat-out incestual relationships?!
I don’t really know xD Normally I don’t even care, but with this one was actually pretty disappointing since the show overall was not that bad… Oh well, hopefully the Winter Season brings us better Anime to watch
Time for some logic. In other words, a little Neural Synapse activation in the NON-emotional (more-rational) portion of the brain.
1 – 17-19 yr. old male finds a traumatized 7-8 yr. old female in the wild/woods. Age difference equals roughly 10 yrs.
2 – Above male decides to “adopt” traumatized female. Female shows tendencies far beyond others in her age range.
3 – Story time skip….10 years. The male is now in his late 20s, the female in her late teens. Story changes…
4 – For those historically ignorant, Middle Age females commonly married when around 14-16 yrs. old….to much older men.
4a – Earth’s human population was roughly 200-300 million from 500 AD – 1550 AD. It was important to have children…
4b – Connecting the dots….most “Fantasy/Adventure” stories are, by definition, set in the Dark Ages/Middle Ages.
5 – RHETORICAL – At what point does a 10 yr. age gap become meaningless? 25 – 15? 35 – 25? 45 – 35? 55 – 45…?
6 – Another rhetorical – Ever hear the term context matters? In other words, judging a situation in/by modern, narrow, & indoctrinated thinking is meaningless and often counter productive.
Thus, those spewing “Aaahhhh to Eeewwww” are showing their extreme lack of knowledge & experience. Prove otherwise…
Let’s see if I can explain my point a little better 🙂
I’m with you that when it comes to context. Stories are written at a certain time with a certain society. Therefore, things that happen that can be seen as bad in the real world doesn’t mean it’s a big deal in the Anime – that’s why I defended the slave trading in The Rising of the Shield Hero.
It’s also true that in the middle ages young girls (even younger than 14) would marry guys with 30-40 years olds. However, that doesn’t make it right. However, I’m talking about the real world, not a fiction story.
Nonetheless, that’s not why I’m saying it goes from “aaaaah to ewww”. The Anime clearly shows that the MC sees the girl as his daughter. Later, he will then have sex with her and marry her. I know that they are not blood-related, but the emotional father-daughter link is still there. You may be way more open-minded than I am, that’s ok. However, for me, that crosses the line of what I think it’s right – of course. this is about my morals and each one of us have their own.
So, yeah, I was being rational while I wrote my opinion 🙂 It’s not really about the age difference, as you said 10 years is not that much. It’s about the relationship they have at the beginning of the Anime at least.
However, let’s face it, we are all emotional and have strong beliefs in what is right and what is wrong. What for you can be completely ok, for others can be a big no, and that’s alright 🙂 We all (mostly) live in free countries and have the right to have our own opinions! Thanks for sharing yours 😉
@Arthifis, Great opinion. It’s well reasoned, clearly and concisely written. Consider yourself to be in the rarefied realm of truly intelligent opinion writers. A “like” would have been placed on your comment; however, it requires a log-in / registration. For various reasons registering is not desired. Thus, consider this reply as an “alternative like.” 🙂
As to specifics where we disagree, my opinions or morals may not necessarily be more open minded. They are simply based on the unwritten common law principle of not causing, empirically provable, malicious / negligent ‘harm’ to your fellow Man. In addition, there is much not specifically stated in my posts; the facts and principles tend to be of a general nature.
Where you mentioned the Father-Daughter relationship and not “crossing the line” is a good example. However, in this instance, the implied Father-Daughter tie is more one-sided than it appears. A few websites mention the title is rather misleading and somewhat ‘troublesome’ to the author (“daughter” should’ve been more precisely transliterated as “girl”). Further more, the story more accurately reflects the natural changes in people’s feelings with the passage of time. In other words, this Father-Daughter affair seems to be a special exception to the general rule. Their having sex is highly subjective and questionable, at least until after they’re married. Is this story another “Usagi Drop?”….Definitely not. – Is their relationship weird?….Possibly…
For those wishing more insight to Japanese culture, a good book to read is “Shogun” by James Clavell. The book has also been adapted to a T.V. mini-series, starring Richard Chamberlain, Toshiro Mifune, Yoko Shimada, and John Rhys-Davies (Rhys-Davies later appeared in “Raiders of the Lost Ark”).
Additional reply:
Upon further review, solely relying on Reddit for your information is a mistake (same goes for Wikipedia).
It’s equivalent to relying on information from https://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/ [Save the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus].
In more blunt terms, an opinion from other opinion(s), without referring to original sources, is flat out WRONG.
Everyone is free to make up their own mind. The flip side is responsibly facing the consequences of your actions.
Let’s not forget that Latina never thought of Dale as a Dad either. It’s very clear she doesn’t think that way once you move on with the story. Only Dale had the father-daughter impression.