Sudden Single Fathers

**pseudorandom** · 07-28-2008, 01:17 PM

I've mentioned before my interest in different demographic takes on the same concept, such as 7 Seeds (shoujo) and King of Thorns (shounen). Here's another: A young single man becomes the caretaker of a five-year-old girl.

Write it shounen and for laughs, and you might get Yotsuba&!. Write it shoujo and for teh oh noes melodramas (aging down the caretaker into high school), and you get something close to Aishiteruze Baby. Write it seinen and focus on relationship angst over the girl's dead mother, and there's Mizu Sahara's My Girl. Write it josei and focus on the daily difficulties of sudden single parenthood: Usagi Drop.

That's one for each of the four best-known demographics. Not only does the premise get used for completely different purposes, the main relationship skews all over the place, with the man being adoptive father, cousin, father, and nephew, respectively, of the girl. (Yes, nephew -- she's the illegitimate daughter of his just-dead grandfather.)

Interestingly adaptable premise, no? And these aren't the only versions I've met -- just the better ones. And I want more. Any suggestions? Especially stories as good as these?

(Not that anything's as good as Yotsuba&! ... )

**_Vincent_** · 08-02-2008, 10:44 AM

well you could add Otaku no musume as well but story wise. I like it more for the fun factor not the actual story. =\

**pseudorandom** · 08-02-2008, 09:06 PM

I'll have to track that one down.

**_Vincent_** · 08-03-2008, 10:02 AM

heres a link:
Baka-Updates Manga - Otaku no Musume-san

there hasn't been any new release though =\

**boredgwntd** · 08-04-2008, 09:40 AM

Hotman I think this falls into the seinen, slice of life category. I think its better than Aishiteruze Baby and almost on par with Yotsubato&!

**pseudorandom** · 08-04-2008, 09:46 AM

Hmm. I wasn't thinking of Hotman as the same setup -- he's been taking care of the girl (and his siblings) for several years when the story starts -- but you've got a point about the similarity. It'd be even more similar without the rest of the family to help raise the girl (and distract the plot with their own soap-operatics).

I liked it a lot, up until the sudden-inheritance arc got stuck in my throat, and I never ate past that. Even with that, yeah, it's better than Aishiteruze Baby.

**pseudorandom** · 09-04-2008, 02:50 PM

Here's another seinen take on the premise: Nicoichi. The fillip on the premise is that the child, a boy, was two-and-half when his mother died and was inconsolable until his new father, his mother's boyfriend, cross-dressed at home as a substitute. Son is now 11, and still doesn't know Mom is really a man who changes personas as she/he travels back and forth to work. Because, of course, Dad's never figured out how to break it to the poor kid.

Um. Yeah.

Only two short chapters are scanned, so it's a bit hard to judge yet, but according to the MangaUpdates summary, there's a romance with a woman met on the train in the offing. I sense potential wackiness ensues ahead.