Buddy Daddies: The Complete Season Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

Buddy Daddies: The Complete Season Blu-ray Movie Review

Buddy Daddies is an action-comedy for fans of over-the-top thrill rides. From an original story by Vio Shimokura, Buddy Daddies isn’t based on previous franchises or creations. It isn’t an adaption of a previous manga, light novel series, or video-game property. The series features original character designs by Katsumi Enami.

Buddy Daddies features animation production by P.A. Works (A Lull in the Sea, Ya Boy Kongming! Road to Summer Sonia). The series also features production by Aniplex (one of the leading Japanese anime production studios) and Nitroplus. The theme music is performed by Ayase (opening) and DURDN (ending). Originally broadcast on Japanese television on Tokyo MX, GTV, GYT, ABC, BS11, and Metele, Buddy Daddies aired between January 7^th, 2023 and April 1^st, 2023. Buddy Daddies features Japanese voice actors Toshiyuki Toyonaga, Kōki Uchiyama, and Hina Kino.

Kazuki Kurusu (Toshiyuki Toyonaga) and Rei Suwa (Kōki Uchiyama) are professional hitmen who taken out lives for a nice payday. As professional killers who take lives for the highest costs and contracts possible, these killers take one deadly job after another. Yet the two professional killers soon find themselves in surprising water when the duo find themselves taking over the care of a young four-year-old girl, Miri Unasaka (Hina Kino).

Can these high-cost hitmen with kill lists on their to-do list somehow fit in parenting to a four-year-old girl and be the best dads in the professional hitmen universe? Raising a young girl isn’t an easy task – even for professional killers. Kazuki and Rei have their work cut out for them – Miri’s much to handle!

The series has a fun cast of characters. The concept might make one feel it would be quite the opposite but the series achieves a goofy comedic tone that is entertaining and enjoyable and the characters do help with bringing out the sillier side of the series. Not only are the two hitmen characters goofy in attempting to take care of the four-year-old Miri but the young girl character has quite the fun adventure going all over the place, too. Hitmen series or not, the characters are over-the-top.

The character designs by Souichirou Sako (Sirius the Jaeger, Magi: Adventure of Sinbad) are well-done. The designs certainly create a vibe that is somewhat reminiscent of 90s anime series. This is a nice element of the production. Even though the art style doesn’t quite recreate that look, the style nonetheless reminds one of that era – including these designs.

The animation is impressive and one of the best qualities of the series. This might come as no surprise given the high pedigree of production studio Aniplex. Aniplex is well-regarded as one of the forefront studios for Japanese anime with good reason. The series art direction by Miho Sugiura (Princess Principal, Love Live! Sunshine!! The School Idol Movie Over the Rainbow) is stellar.

The chief animation direction by Sanae Satō (Mayonaka Punch, Pokémon Journeys: The Series) and Souichirou Sako (Magi: Adventure of Sinbad, Blast of Tempest) impresses, too. The animators do especially well in highlighting the on-screen antics of the characters and the fast-paced action scenes. The action unfolds rapidly and with such high-octane energy that it builds and crescendos (making the art style stand out more).

The score composed by Katsutoshi Kitagawa (Chobits, .hack//Legend of the Twilight) is solid and adds to the fun. The music provides a nice backdrop for the action scenes. The music is a good accompaniment for the comedic action and the unexpected difficulties Kazuki and Rei encounter while attempting to raise Miri.

The cinematography by Teruyuki Kawase (Shaman King, Tokyo Ghoul: Jack) is a nice highlight of the production aesthetic, too. Kawase is a talented cinematographer and someone capable of doing an impressive job highlighting the colorful animation on Buddy Daddies. The vibrant cinematography gives a cheerful energy to the production.

Written by Vio Shimokura (Tokyo 24th Ward) and Yūko Kakihara (Pokémon Journeys: The Series, Kids on the Slope), Buddy Daddies has fun exploring the characters and the high-octane energy of the action. An entertaining script with solid dialogue and characterizations. Much of the fun comes from the character exchanges and goofy antics from the hitmen with the young girl, Miri.

Buddy Daddies is well-directed by Yoshiyuki Asai (Blast of Tempest, Captain Earth). Buddy Daddies isn’t a typical action romp and fans of goofy action-comedies will appreciate the change of pace. Even despite the dark sounding concept the series has a fun sense of energy. Well-directed fun and worth a look.

Buddy Daddies: The Complete Season Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Released on Blu-ray by Crunchyroll, Buddy Daddies is presented in 1080p MPEG-4 AVC encoded high-definition in the original television broadcast aspect ratio of 1.78:1 widescreen. The high-definition presentation on Buddy Daddies is impressive and features excellent color reproduction. The series certainly does a solid job showcasing the background animation and line art. The colors pop and the vibrant cinematography makes an impression.

The Blu-ray format provides a superior option to streaming video services. Streaming video services tend to provide video with lower bit-rates compared to physical media counterparts. For home theater fans and videophiles, the presentation quality is superior on the physical media option. Fans will certainly appreciate these differences.

Buddy Daddies: The Complete Season Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The release includes a selection of lossless audio options: English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0 (with English subtitles). The release capably highlights the sound direction by Satoki Iida (Classroom of the Elite, Digimon Adventure: Last Evolution Kizuna). The English dub has a somewhat more expansive surround soundstage compared to the 2.0 audio track provided on the original Japanese language version.

Nonetheless, audio purists who prefer the original language audio option will find the lossless encoding on the Japanese audio track to be excellent with good clarity and detail for both the dialogue and original score. The soundstaging is excellent. The English subtitles are excellent and are free from egregious spelling or grammatical errors.

One of the best features of the Blu-ray disc format is lossless audio encoding. Lossless audio has always been an essential ingredient to the format. Audiophiles will especially appreciate these presentation differences. It makes a nice difference and helps to make the experience all the more rewarding.

Buddy Daddies: The Complete Season Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Buddy Daddies features a nice o-card slipcover. The slipcover features unique key art that is different from the artwork highlighted underneath the slipcover. For physical media fans, it's nice to see extra packaging 'goodies' like collectable slipcovers with additional artwork.

On disc extras include:

Episode 8.5 CHERRY-PICK (HD, 24:01)

Web Trailers (HD, 8:53)

Character Promo Videos (HD, 1:40)

Promo Videos (HD, 4:13)

Commercials (HD, 2:48)

Textless Opening Song (HD, 1:32)

Textless Closing Song (HD, 1:32)

The release has a somewhat better-than-expected supplemental package – even if it's still not quite as robust as desired. The set would have been even better with some audio commentaries, cast/crew interviews, featurettes, and art galleries. A more expansive extras set would have been nice to see.

Buddy Daddies: The Complete Season Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Buddy Daddies is an entertaining action-comedy for fans of over-the-top thrillers with "buddy" elements. The anime series follows the exploits of a duo of hitmen who get into shenanigans when they find themselves having to raise a four-year-old girl and take over parenting duties while simultaneously getting entangled into a bunch of mayhem. Who will win the battle – the hitmen attempting parenting or the four-year-old?

The Blu-ray release features a quality high-definition video presentation and lossless audio encoding. The set also features a selection of on-disc extras – although these supplements could have been a bit more robust overall. A nice Crunchyroll release of an Aniplex production and it's certainly nice to see a lower-priced option available from Crunchyroll compared to the Aniplex direct-releases (usually costing hundreds of dollars per season set). Recommended.