One of the most popular romance anime, Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai, has just announced its sequel, and the news of the squeal is spreading like wildfire in the anime community since who doesn’t like a girl wearing a bunny girl outfit? (just kidding)
Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai is a show that has absolutely nothing to do with bunny girls. It is one of my favorite ongoing romance anime right now. It’s only to be hit but one of the most touching, addicting, and well-written character dramas I’ve seen all year. Dealing with the social pressures and psychology surrounding our adolescence and growing up.
Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai is made by Studio Cloverworks, which is actually an offshoot of A-1 Pictures; if you didn’t know, it is the powerhouse studio that made super popular anime like Sword Art Online, Kaguya-Sama, Your Lie in April, etc.
Plot and Review
It details the stoic adventures of smart-ass prick Sakuta as he encounters different girls afflicted by this phenomenon known as Puberty Syndrome. What is this mysterious Puberty Syndrome?
Well, in the plot synopsis, it’s described as abnormal experiences rumored on the Internet to be caused by sensitivity and instability during adolescence. The show doesn’t adequately express what puberty syndrome actually is in its title or plot synopsis.
Though, even if you’ve watched the show, it isn’t that simple to describe either the syndrome is basically some kind of supernatural phenomenon that is essentially a manifestation of a problem someone is going through.
For example, you can have cuts suddenly appearing on a teenage girl who’s getting cyberbullied or a local celebrity literally disappearing from everyone’s perception due to her internal conflicts of wanting to be in the public eye.
And so, what the series is about is following our main lead as he helps various characters through their personal problems, and thus overcoming the Puberty Syndrome that has affected them.
Sakuta is more about purposely ignoring social norms. He reads the atmosphere and chooses to go against it. You have characters who, on the surface, are dealing with issues and insecurities a lot of us faced or may have faced during adolescence and puberty.
Characters you may start off having a distaste for eventually become likable when you find out what experiences in their lives made them this way because even if you can’t personally relate to them, you at least come to understand them. What the Adolescence Syndrome does is it ups the stakes.
It forces these characters to confront their deepest fears and flaws in a short period of time, and what this means for me is that I got invested incredibly fast. Every character gets developed through the course of their arc, which is quick but feels natural, thanks to the situation they’ve been put in.
Every character has something different to say, and their Adolescence Syndrome also manifests in some crazy but interesting ways. There’s even an arc where the main character has to live through a constant time loop of being woken up by his little sister.
Another thing that absolutely stands out is the chemistry between the characters and the dialogue. Aside from the format of the show solving supernatural phenomena in each arc, I feel this is where most people got the Monogatari vibes from, and I use that as a compliment.
The writing is incredibly witty and makes simple exchanges between characters incredibly engaging, especially between our main duo.
Anime Sequel Announcement
Bunny Girl Senpai anime is returning with its college and university arc. In this arc, we will get to see more stories about Sakuta and Mai. The story may take place after its recent movie release in 2023, as the latest movie covers the graduation arc.
／
🐷青春ブタ野郎シリーズ《大学生編》
アニメーション制作決定🎉
＼原作イラスト・溝口ケージ
描き下ろしビジュアル公開✨ランドセルガールのエンドロール後に
スペシャルPVを放映中！
ぜひ劇場でご覧ください🎦🎬ランドセルガール絶賛上映中https://t.co/3setWIg41m#青ブタ pic.twitter.com/0f6SBd9lNM
— アニメ「青春ブタ野郎」シリーズ公式 (@aobuta_anime) December 4, 2023
As for now, they have only announced that the anime is in production with a key visual featuring Mai. This is going to be adapted from its novel.
