Seishun Buta Yarou wa Bunny Girl Senpai no Yume wo Minai Archives | Page 2 of 2

Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai Episode 4: Time Loops and Laplace’s Demon – Not Sure About That

Posted on October 26, 2018December 27, 2018 by Karandi

I was kind of intrigued by the idea that Bunny Girl Senpai was going to move onto a story using Laplace’s Demon. It seemed like the thought experiment could yield a fairly interesting premise. Which mean that it was kind of a disappointment to see them turn what should be an incredibly interesting look at the idea of predestination or at least pre-determinism into an essential ground-hog day type scenario. That isn’t to say what episode 4 delivers isn’t good in its own way, it just seems like they were reaching for that Laplace’s Demon reference (though I guess we could still get back to it later in the arc).

Outside of poking holes at their reference, this episode continues to be a fairly solid showing from an anime that has so far been pretty great (okay, its my favourite this season). However, it did suffer a little in the second half of this episode, primarily because the Sakuta and Mai dynamic that has been one of the big draws for this anime was largely split up and Tomoe is no substitute on screen as her chemistry with Sakuta is questionable at best.

Fortunately, they do seem to be pursuing an ongoing relationship between Sakuta and Mai, it is just a shame that in order to introduce a new girl with problems (I mean we already met her but only kind of superficially) that they need to side-line Mai. And doing so by having her walk in on Sakuta and Tomoe in a compromising situation to walk out without any kind of comment (where did their sassy dialogue go) was just kind of depressing because it is exactly the standard trope we’re all used to and I’m just kind of glad they didn’t also throw a face slap in there for good measure. The Mai and Sakuta moments in the first half of the episode are fantastic as the two share lunch and quippy dialogue. It is just fun listening to them and watching them interact. It was always going to be a near impossible task to make me as interested in anything else in this show and Mai showing up at the end seemingly aware of what actually happened just makes me wonder why she stormed off in the first place.

It doesn’t help that Tomoe’s issues stem from a desire to fit in with her group of friends and not rock the boat. I find this kind of character a little cringey and the lengths she seems willing to go to in order to maintain a farce seems all the more absurd. While I can certainly see this fitting in with the idea of adolescent syndrome, it isn’t exactly a compelling drama to solve and part of me kind of wishes Sakuta had continued to decline her ‘solution’.

As this new arc begins, I’m still really enjoying this anime, however the shine has come off it a little for me which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Hopefully they have an interesting outcome to this particular story.

Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai Episode 3: Snuggle Bunnies

Posted on October 19, 2018December 27, 2018 by Karandi

Sakuta and Mai may very well have become my favourite couple this year during this episode. It isn’t that they are actually overly sweet on each other, though there are definitely those cute moments and I particularly loved Mai helping Sakuta catch some sleep and letting him know he’d done enough (okay, technically she drugged him so there might be some sort of issue there). No, it is just the atmosphere around the two of them and the way their dialogue flows back and forth with an ease and comfort that just makes them a pleasure to see together and to listen to. The give and take in the dialogue and in their actions just creates a beautiful chemistry that makes this episode a fairly solid third episode despite a few minor niggles along the way (please stop letting the characters run, they aren’t good at making it look like they are actually moving forward).

Outside of just how great spending time with this pair of characters is, this episode gave a very satisfying, if slightly cringe-worthy, conclusion to the mystery of Mai’s disappearance. There’s enough emotional tension built up and while you could get quite critical of Sakuta’s solution if you wanted to be really jaded about the whole thing, or if it just didn’t emotionally work for you, I really loved the moment finding it the perfect cap to three episodes I’ve thoroughly enjoyed.

But, that leaves us with the problem of the rest of the season. None of us really knew what we were getting with this show and the whole bunny-girl thing put me off looking for information about the title so I’ve really been flying blind. While I thought they would stretch this mystery out longer, I’m really glad they didn’t and there’s still plenty to wonder about as it is quite clear Mai’s isn’t the only case of weird things happening. And, the anime does point a direction for the rest of the season.

The introduction of a new mystery to solve. After the Schrodinger’s Cat theory this time they have suggested we’re moving on to Laplace’s Demon which could be interesting but at the same time makes me wonder if we’re going to connect these stories together in a meaningful way or whether they are going to turn this into a series of cases the main cast just kind of deal with for a few episodes. Either option is fine, but to be honest I’m kind of going to want more Mai and Sakuta.

Here’s hoping the rest of the season can be as solid as the first three episodes have been.

Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai Episode 2: When Life Makes You Disappear

Posted on October 13, 2018December 27, 2018 by Karandi

The weirdly compelling first episode of Bunny Girl Senpai turned out not to just be a fluke as episode 2 delves further into the weird mystery of Adolescent Syndrome and the growing relationship (not quite sure what relationship) between Sakuta and Mai. It’s a pretty fascinating journey so far even as it remain strictly low key. Characters don’t get hysterical even when they seem to be fading out of existence and even Sakuta only raised his voice once and that was to Mai’s mother, who probably had it coming even if not for the reason she got yelled at.

That isn’t to say this episode is flawlessly executed. There’s the annoying girl from school, Tomoe who shows up mostly just to accuse Sakuta of being a paedophile just because he is trying to help a lost girl. It is a particularly unfunny moment and not assisted by the following sequence where she demands Sakuta kick her in return and they both get taken in by the police. It is one of those cases of the light novel source material shining loud and clear through the anime adaptation and you have to wonder if any of that sequence will ultimately mean anything in the long run.

Meanwhile, Mai’s situation is getting worse and it is interesting how the anime quietly deals with this. She becomes progressively more clingy to the protagonist and yet unlike so many other stories where the formerly strong girl suddenly clings to the random male protagonist, here it feels warranted given he is literally her life-line to the rest of the world, the one who believes her and reassures her that he will not forget her. I don’t actually feel that their relationship is romantic though they definitely seem to have some mutual respect for one another after their earlier fight is finally resolved.

I have to admit, I want to know why this is happening. I want to know how they might start fixing it. I want to see where these two characters go. I want to know what happened to the girl who helped Sakuta. I’m hooked on this show and while I might end up disappointed if the answers never come or end up being really incoherent, right now this is a show that I’m really excited for.

Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai Episode 1: Ignoring The Title, This One Seems Actually Interesting

Posted on October 5, 2018December 27, 2018 by Karandi

Bunny Girl Senpai - Episode 1 - Mai Sakurajima and Sakuta Azusagawa

Okay, I know better than to judge an anime by its title given the nonsensical nature of most anime titles, or the ridiculously explicit plot summaries that pass as titles for some, and yet I will admit I had no real desire to try a show with Bunny Girl Senpai in its title. It just seemed, well, silly. That said, in the interest of actually deciding on a watch list I did give this one a spin and I’m actually kind of glad because this is the first definite add to my watch list for the season. While other shows I’m kind of thinking might work out and I’ll give them a few more episodes, this one has hooked me from the start and while it might end up disappointing, I’m already looking forward to more of it.

I have zero familiarity with the source on this one and no idea where it is going, but I kind of got a more subdued Haruhi Suzamiya tone from it, or a slightly more interesting Sagrada Reset. And that probably explains the basis of the show’s appeal to me. I kind of like this sort of story even though it isn’t done well very often.

Its an intriguing beginning with our dead-pan protagonist noticing a bunny girl wandering around a library and he knows she is his senpai from school and a child-actor who is on hiatus. We get some other bits of information about the protagonist such as the fact that he has a clingy little sister and that he doesn’t have many friends because of some sort of incident and then he gets into intruding in the senpai’s life to try to figure out what is going on.

Turns out there’s some rumoured Adolescent Syndrome which is only very vaguely explained here but most people don’t believe exists. Azusagawa, our protagonist, only believes in it because his sister and himself have some very visible scars from their own encounter with the condition. This makes him far more open to believing Sakurajima Mai might actually be disappearing from the sight of other people.

Not going to lie, there’s a lot of wandering around and talking in this first episode so if you are wanting action or a fast pace you should probably pass. Still, I really enjoyed this first episode and it seems to be the kind of story I really get into so I’m adding this one to my watch list for the season.