Rascal Does Not Dream of a Dreaming Girl

Sakuta Azusagawa and Mai Sakurajima have braved many strange experiences together.  But when Sakuta’s first love, Shoko Makinohara, appears before them in two different forms, their love will be tested like never before.  The deeper the pair get into this latest case of Puberty Syndrome, the more clear it becomes that lives are at stake.  For Sakuta, in the end, it doesn’t just come down to choosing who his heart belongs, but who’s happiness matters more: Shoko’s, Mai’s or his own?  What is the Rascal who Dreams of a Bunny Girl Senpai willing to give up in order to ensure those he loves the most have a future together?

Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai was my favorite Anime I reviewed in 2022.  For a show that baits you with the promise of sexy antics with a sexy clad bunny girl, it caught me off guard with how well it blended the troubles of growing up at a teenager with crazy but intriguing scifi concepts.  Factor in a cast that didn’t really have a weak link in the bunch and brilliant character writing and you have one of the most thought provoking and beautiful Anime since the new millenia kicked off.  For all of its greatness, the one thing that held it back from a perfect 10/10 score was the one case left unresolved specifically so it could be told in this movie.  In hindsight, this was a very smart more.  As this is pretty much the true finale of Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai, Rascal Does Not Dream of a Dreaming Girl has saved the best and surprisingly most important mystery to be solved, and that’s saying a lot given what Sakuta had to experience in the TV Series finale.  Forwarning to all, even if you aren’t familiar with the story so far and are going in blind, be ready with a ton of tissues, this ones a tearjerker.
 
The big X factor going into this movie is Shoko herself.  She showed up a couple of times in the TV Series but her story was left purposefully vague so it could be told here in full.  While I would normally dock a film continuation points for not bringing viewers up to speed on past events, Dreaming Girl keeps most of the central focus on Shoko and the impact she has on Sakuta and Mai.  It would’ve been easy just to have her take the role of romantic rival for Mai…and honestly there are a couple of very funny scenes playing on that trope.  But Dreaming Girl never poorly uses Shoko, in fact she presents the story with its most challenging dilemma.  There is no right or wrong answer to Shoko’s mystery and it only strengthens the emotional core of the film as you want Sakuta and Mai to find a way to help her only to realize it might not be possible.  All the while Shoko remains and kind, optimistic and totally lovable character, worthy of joining Mai and the other girls of Bunny Girl Senpai as one of the best collection of female protagonists in any Anime Series.
 
While the story keeps itself orbited around Shoko, our titular Bunny Girl Senpai isn’t sitting on the sidelines on this one.  Mai and Sakuta’s romance blossoms even greater than before in this movie.  This is helped thanks to the improved emotional range Sakuta shows.  Yes he can still be his dead pan delivery self but much of the movie shows him at arguably his most personally vulnerable.  He cant just lock how he really feels behind snark and monotone delivery, not when the stakes become as high as they do.  Mai backs him up perfectly, letting her own protective barriers fall so she can profess some truly amazing confessions to the young man she’s fallen in love with.  Don’t worry, their dry and witty banter is still intact but Dreaming Girl’s best scenes are when Mai and Sakuta’s relationship is out in the open and one scene in particular will make you gasp and lose your breath…to say anymore would spoil but damn what an impact.
 
From a presentation standpoint, Dreaming Girls animation doesn’t look much different from it’s TV counterpart.  This is both a little disappointing but also not really.  Bunny Girl Senpai is a gorgeous series from beginning to end and that same animation is still here so its hard to complain even without the touch ups needed to give it that true movie level quality.  On the other hand though, thankfully that doesn’t leave you believing this movie is just an extended TV Series Finale.  The pacing and build up of Shoko, Sakuta and Mai’s story is amazing and you feel like this entire tale is way bigger than anything that’s come before it.  Even the supporting cast all gets something meaty to do throughout the film from my personal MVP Kaede (still delivering quantum physics lectures in ways I do and don’t understand but don’t care cause she’s beautiful and awesome and I could listen to her talk all day about it) to Mai and Sakuta’s scene stealing younger siblings, Nodoka and Kaede.  It may still look like the show you know and love but make no mistake, this is a movie level event.
 
Rascal Does Not Dream of a Dreaming Girl is a perfect cap off for one of the best Anime tales I’ve seen in recent years.  The story feels big and the questions posed throughout have no easy answers to them.  It pushes our characters to their mental and emotional limits as well as the audiences as they see just how much they have to endure.  It might be heavy on the drama but this is still the same Bunny Girl Senpai world with the same characters who have been through the ringer even before they got to this final exam of a movie.  Thankfully, everything passes pretty much with flying colors, offering a pretty and perfect finale to an Anime romance for the ages that you never stop rooting for as much as you never stop rooting for a happy ending for the new (ish) character at the center of it all.  I liked this movie a lot and watching it alongside the TV Series, it’s almost enough to make me want to go back and bump up Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai to a perfect 10/10…so the least I can do is award this photo finish of an ending…
 
10/10
 
Next Monday, we close out the month of Love and Romance with a special visit from our favorite Magical Girl Heroine, Usagi Tsukino, as we take a look at the first Sailor Moon feature film, Sailor Moon R: The Movie, right here at the Gundam Anime Corner.