Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai - Season 1 Review

I want to start of by saying that the last three episodes of this anime is why it has five stars. They are, in my opinion, some of the best episodes of anime I have watched, and I found them really touching.

Anyway, if you want to read the more in-depth review for episode 1, you can do so here.

An introduction to the anime can be read below:

Puberty Syndrome - a rumored, mysterious syndrome that only affects those in their puberty. For example, a bunny girl suddenly appeared in front of Sakuta Azusagawa. The bunny girl’s real identity is Mai Sakurajima, a teenage celebrity who is currently an inactive high school senior. For some reason, her charming figure does not reflect in the eyes of others. In the course of revealing the mystery behind this phenomenon, Sakuta begins to explore his feelings towards Mai. Set in a city where the skies and seas shine, Sakuta unfolds the meaning behind his bizarre encounters on women with the said syndrome.

The storyline is split into multiple arcs, each focusing on different people that Sukuta encounters during his adventures in the anime.

The outro, “Fukashigi no Carte”, is sung by the voice actors of Mai, Futaba, Kaede, Tomoe Koga, Nodoka Toyohama and Shouko Makinohara at the end of each of their arcs. It gives an eerie and whimsical feeling equal to the story they’re telling.

The first arc was decent, concentrating on Mai, a character I wasn’t the biggest fan of. I found that this arc was a little slow, something I also found with all arcs apart from the last one. I also found it odd that Sakuta was affected in every single one of these cases, and no where else in the world was affected them. Maybe this will be covered in the movie, or if any more seasons come out. One thing the anime did really well was build up the characters personality. Each one seemed different and had depth to them, and I found that this really improved an anime that was build around its characters.

I want to go straight to the final arc, the reason I gave this anime five stars. Sakutas sister, Kaede, was bullied via the Internet when she was younger, and because of adolescent syndrome, was no longer able to leave the house.

However, in the final arc of the season, Kaede decides that she wants to leave the house, and writes out a set of goals, Over the episodes, she slowly completes these, with it ending with her in a zoo after looking at pandas. After this, she is cured of her disease, and returns to normal, forgetting everything that had happened in the around two years that she had been affected. The anime really portrayed the loss of memory really well, making it seem like the old Kaede had died, to be replaced by the new one. In addition to this, the diary of the old Kaede was read out in the final episode, making it even more touching.

The final episode really touched me, and I found that it really ended the series well. I look forward to seeing Kaede develops more, and cannot wait for the movie that is coming out later this year.

I really recommend this anime. Despite its stupid name, the anime is enjoyable to watch, particularly the final arc, which is amazing. The characters are well built, and the emotions the anime portrays come across really well. I am not particularly emotional, however this is one of the first animes that made me tear up at the end.