Minor Spoilers
There are few works out there that have captured my heart like the Bunny Girl Senpai series. A tale of hilarious banter, a main that mirrors me a little too much, and quite literally one of the best waifus in history. So naturally, there would come a time where I would carry on with this series, watching the film that compliments the original 13 episode run. Under the same direction as the show Masui, Souichi a charming film looking into Sakuta’s past with his first love Shouko. Rascal Does Not Dream of a Dreaming Girl.
Picking up where the first season left off, the film starts as Mai and Sakuta are chilling at his place. All is fine and dandy until there is a ring at the door, enter stage left Sakuta’s first love, Makinohara, Shouko. Now with a pissed off Mai, a Kaede who peaced out, and an overly affectionate Shouko. Sakuta is thrown into another mystery where he has to look into his past and future, doing everything in his power to make sure both Mai and Shouko have the life they deserve.
What Rascal Does Not Dream of a Dreaming Girl paints is an interesting take on the relationships between and the two girls. Mai not being a fan of Shouko’s appearance but as always shows restraint as the tragic tale Shouko describes plays out. Intertwine and explaining both her and Sakuta’s adolescence syndrome and how from the very beginning the two of them were destined to be together.
Mai naturally, isn’t a fan.
Dreaming girl is a good but confusing wrap up to the series. I have no idea if there will be a season two of this series but personally, I have my doubts. Series like this usually strike like hot iron, making an impact that lasts on the community for months if not years before being cemented as a good thing that shouldn’t be ruined. The series is set up to easily ruin its self, becoming even more of a mess than it already is and I don’t mean that has a dig. How the series explains and plays out all these supernatural events I’m a fan of but it’s a perfect amount of webbing theories pieced together. Adding any more elements, or even characters with problems to the mix could be disastrous to the overall series. In short, a chunk of me doesn’t want to see a second season, the movie, for the most part, left me with a sense of completion, something that doesn’t need to be expanded on.
I know this series is completed in print at 10 volumes though since only 4 have been serialized in the US and those 4 supposedly cover season one and the movie I am unsure where the series goes from there. Though when it (hopefully) comes to the states I have every intention of purchasing all of them so I can enjoy it properly.
I went on a bit of a rant there, where was I? Oh yeah, so Dreaming Girl overall is a fine movie. It was a fitting follow up to the series and really shined when it came to Mai. The movie puts a light on her that doesn’t really get fleshed out in the show, the loving girlfriend of Sakuta who once stated she loves him more than he loves her, but in the movie that becomes apparent. Mai becomes damn near frantic at some points. Going against the usual calm and collected actress and it was nice to see this type of desperate emotion and how it affects Sakuta. I mean she has such a breakdown Sakuta claims that he will do anything in the world to make sure she never has to cry like that again and it was a rather touching moment.
Overall however my feelings for this movie at the end were just, meh. It was good, the animation was pretty and it was an emotional tug but it never really felt genuine. What I mean by that is the movie has an ending, but an ending that was unbearable to Sakuta it had a retake, oh still not the ending you want, let’s try again. This whole ‘if you fail, try again’ narrative is fine, it guarantees the end one would want but at the same time it makes the outcome feel cheap. None of the feelings, the events, the love, and sorrow, in the end, mattered. The movie is well worth the watch to any fan of the series and has its place overall but the high that I had post the first season was nowhere to be found as the credits rolled.
As always, thanks for the read!
Otaku Post 