FIF#85-Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai

Ever since a traumatic “Hospitalization Incident”, Sakuta Azusagawa has been withdrawn and trying to keep a low profile.  That all changes one day when he spots a beautiful girl wandering the library dressed as a Bunny Girl…and no one seems to notice.  This girl is Mai Sakurajima, an upperclassman as Sakuta’s school and a famous child actress.  Mai finds herself drawn to Sakuta as he is one of the few who can see her when the world cannot.  And Sakuta figures Mai’s case relates to a much larger mystery going by the name “Adolescence Syndrome.”  How has this made Mai invisible and how is it connected to various other youths with their own curses?

Well this was…not quite what I expected.  Going into the first episode of this Anime, I wasn’t sure what I was getting into.  But then again it’s easy to get distracted when the central character that’s most advertised is one of the most beautiful girls ever created for recent Anime who also happens to be wearing an eye catching bunny outfit.  Not once did I think I was going to see another boring main male lead who might as well be cousins with Hakuno from Fate/Extra: Last Encore, nor a scifi-ish mystery about disappearing youths or scars attained from vicious internet chats.  In short: Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai is kind of bizarre.

And really, the mystery of the series and Mai Sakurajima herself were the only things holding my interest through the first episode.  Sure the show is pretty to look at.  But when your protagonist is more or less a block of wood with little reaction to the world around him, it’s hard to get attached, even if his behaviour is part of the overall plot (that did become more clear to me as things went on).  Sakuta definitley has a dark past and his sister has had some trauma too.  So it’s hard to look at this series as a romance when there’s some really darker elements maybe creeping around the corner.  Maybe im reading too much into this other than this is one huge and really deep metaphor for real life matters.  And what about Mai?  Well…she’s incredibly cute and feels instantly more likeable than Sakuta.  Even though she seems withdrawn despite the circumstances that have left her invisible, you’ve gotta give a girl cred points for testing a theory by running around in a bunny girl outfit, consequences be damned.  And even when Hakuno…er I mean Sakuta sees her, she takes it in stride.  For a second I thought Mai might hail from a fantasy realm of sorts.  But seeing as how this “Adolescence Syndrome” has popped up with Sakuta, his sister, and various others, the coincidences cant be ignored and Mai might be key to making a break in this mystery.

The questions is: do I want to see more to find that answer?  Welllll…the show might be worth another episode or two but im not certain ill prioritize it to be honest.  Sakuta did show signs that he had more personality to him later in the episode so that could be a sign that things improve for his character.  And Mai is…well Mai and I know for some that could be enough to keep oneself invested in a show with a really long name with a perculiar mystery at the center.  Like I said, this is not what I was expecting when I cued up a show called Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai.  I might dream of Mai Sakurajima but as for watching the rest of the series (and the movie that came out earlier this summer I believe), that we’ll just have to wait and see.