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EP. REVIEW: Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai


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Safhier



Joined: 07 Nov 2018
Posts: 3
PostPosted: Fri Dec 14, 2018 7:27 pm Reply with quote
Kaede is too pure for this cruel world... such an angel... Also good to see the animation quality fixed in this episode after some hiccup on previous episode, hope it's fixed on BD
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Fred Lougee



Joined: 01 Oct 2018
Posts: 127
PostPosted: Sat Dec 15, 2018 2:55 am Reply with quote
Sakagami Tomoyo wrote:
Quote:
The story also wisely does not suggest that Kaede is “fixed,” only that she's made major progress.

On that note, it seems like in recent years (going back at least as far as 2013's Sasami-san Ganbaranai) there's been a shift in how mental illness is portrayed in anime. There's less playing it strictly for laughs and more working to sort out issues, even in comedic works. And sorting it out is portrayed (correctly) as being a process that takes time and effort, rather than the old-fashioned trope of "okay we've worked out what the cause is and said something inspirational, problem solved".
Quote:
Also worked in is further setup for the post-season arc about Shoko, with the implication being that there are either two of her at different ages or else two girls a couple of years apart with uncannily similar appearances and identical names.

We've already had two of the one person with Futaba, and uncannily similar appearance and identical names is too mundane. My money's on time travel.

Shame this board software does not allow for a "Like" feature. I'd click it twice for you.

To your points...Hen-Zemi is a laugh-fest at the expense of the Abnormal Psych courses taught in college curriculum to people whose Majors are not in the fields of Psychiatric Medicine. So maybe this is low-hanging fruit. I could not watch much of it, but the feeling I got from what I did get through was that the general statement they were making is "All we need to do is engage in 4th-grade level You-show-me-yours-and-I'll-show-you-mine exhibitionism with our foibles" and everything will work out. There may be some pop-psych guru saying that, but the real world isn't that neat.

On the other side of the coin in Anime there is Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai with it's two leads, Yuuta and Rikka. Yuuta realized upon graduating from middle school that his acting out was detrimental to his social standing, moved to a high school where nobody knew him, and thus tried to reinvent himself as normal, unquote. Rikka, however, was dealing with displacement issues which she was ill-equipped to face so she clung tightly to her fantasy personna, even going so far as to identify Yuuta as the source of that personna and seek a relationship with him. In the course of the show Yuuta helps her to come to terms with the deep displacement issues, but even as she does so and moves forward she still clings to the alternate personna, partly because she feels that it is what bonds her to Yuuta.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As for Shoko...You are thinking time travel. Nice guess. I am personally thinking that the girl actually has a split-personality that body-shifts back to her younger self. We'll see.
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jaldaen



Joined: 15 Dec 2018
Posts: 5
PostPosted: Sat Dec 15, 2018 1:56 pm Reply with quote
I've been loving Bunny Girl Senpai all season and decided to sign up just to post. Loved this episode!

Quote:
We've already had two of the one person with Futaba, and uncannily similar appearance and identical names is too mundane. My money's on time travel.


I've got a theory that it's actually reverse aging (with possible memory loss?) because all the syndromes so far have been physical/mental effects.

Time travel could also work, but that feels too much like the simulation idea and I feel like Bunny Girl Senpai has done a good job of throwing in unique twists to the storylines... which is why reverse ageing is my pick.

Best Wishes,
jaldaen
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Nom De Plume De Fanboy
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Joined: 14 Jan 2011
Posts: 606
Location: inland US west, pretty rural
PostPosted: Sat Dec 15, 2018 4:19 pm Reply with quote
For Shoko, I think she's the local Shinto deity for troubled teenagers.
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TexZero



Joined: 25 Oct 2017
Posts: 582
PostPosted: Sat Dec 22, 2018 10:37 am Reply with quote
I think Shoko is far simpler than that time travel or being a goddess.

It's Peter Pan Syndrome. She doesn't want to take on the burdens of being an adult so that's manifested in her younger self.
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j_plex





PostPosted: Sat Dec 22, 2018 3:13 pm Reply with quote
This whole show has been excellent at subverting otaku cliches. Based on the title, opening sequence and cover art, you think that it is a fanservice-laden show, yet there has been practically any (with most that does exist being Sakuta shirtless). If anything, the show has been anti-fan service, from the female characters' regarding Sakuta's professed fondness for looking at attractive females with revulsion to that the arcs of Tomoe, Mai and Futaba were related to their negative reactions to attempts to exploit their bodies.

Also, Kaede never really exhibited bro-con stuff. She would try to crawl into bed with him and made going on a date with him an item on her list but it was all platonic ... she never did anything designed to arouse romantic or sexual interest (meaning no attempts to expose herself to him, to try to get him to kiss or her take baths with her) that the bro-con tropes rely on. Instead, it was as if her personality had regressed to that of an elementary school student and was very innocent - note her wearing the panda pajamas all day and watching kids TV shows - and were merely attempts to get his attention. Most important - and this is a core brocon/siscon trope - Kaede never exhibited a hint of jealousy towards or competition with Sakuta's harem (for lack of a better term) of beautiful girls. The closest thing to it was her freaking out when he brought Mai home for the first time. But even then, she reassured herself by trying to convince herself that Mai was a "professional woman" and that it was OK because such a person could provide a role for Sakuta that she - as his sister - could not. So even that was a bro-con subversion as she feared losing Sakuta's attention and emotions to another girl but was fine with another girl merely making use of his body.

But later, Sakuta is fine with Mai because she sees that even though it means less attention from her brother, Mai makes him happier than he was before. She also makes friends with Nodoka and Futaba. Not only that, she makes her decision to drop her stunted development and fear of going outside to A) be more like her brother's girlfriend who by then she had begun to regard as a personal role model - making her akin to Nodoka and B) her coming to the conclusion that her remaining in her childlike state would prevent Sakuta from getting married (whether to Mai or ultimately someone else). Note: not prevent him from going to college, getting a high-paying job or enlarge his circle of friends. Specifically from getting married. That is ultimate anti-brocon behaviour.

Also, Kaede's desperation to finish her list at the end was clearly due to her knowing that her old memories were coming back. Anime - possibly due to Japanese cultural/religious beliefs I guess? - depict that as akin to a soul dying because their personality, memories, dreams etc. disappear. Golden Time and the Haruhi Suzumiya alternate universe story The Disappearance of Yuki Nagato make that explicit: both equate the lead character's memory loss as the "death" of the prior person. In Yuki Nagato, the main character's "true" personality appeared to the temporary one that manifested as a result of a near-death experience (truck-kun!) to tell that alternate personality to confess her feelings to her love interest before it died as the result of the true personality returning. So "Kaede-San" wanted to see pandas, go on an outing with her brother, visit the school etc. before Kaede return was actually a bucket list. And Sakuta reacted with the shock and grief of Kaede-san's death that you would expect, whereas in a context that lacks this mindset he would have been merely overjoyed that his sister getting her memory back - overcoming her medical condition - with the prospects for family reunification, as they began living apart because the mother could not accept Kaede-san, and of Kaede's ability to resume school and her social life with her friends. It was similar to - again - how Linda swore to befriend and watch over the new Banri (regarding the Banri that she knew before was dead) in Golden Time, and Kyon's pledge to fall in love with the "real" Yuki as he had with the alternate one.

In this instance, it looks like Sakuta had gotten quite attached to Kaede-san, perhaps even preferring her due to her more innocent childlike nature and her having to totally rely on him for everything making him her hero and the center of her life, and it may well be that his having to let Kaede-san go and accept the return of Kaede will be the main conflict in the final episode and in the movie spoiler[where it will be revealed that Shoko actually is the one that he met and fell in love with, but is a middle schooler in looks and behavior due to a serious disease that stunted her development (that common anime trope)].

It would have been fascinating had the show chosen to make Sakuta's emotions over losing Kaede-San experience adolescene syndrome but it looks like that isn't the direction that is going to be taken. Then again, it will be a feature-length film and it should only take Sakuta the equivalent of one arc (half the film) to resolve his conflicted feelings for Shoko and Mai.
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pip25



Joined: 22 Sep 2017
Posts: 145
PostPosted: Wed Dec 26, 2018 9:08 pm Reply with quote
j_plex wrote:
Anime - possibly due to Japanese cultural/religious beliefs I guess? - depict that as akin to a soul dying because their personality, memories, dreams etc. disappear.


That is one possible interpretation, but I don't think it is necessary to assume this to understand Sakuta's reaction to the return of Kaede's memories. When the whole mess started, he had to get to know a seemingly completely different person his sister has become, and now he has to do the same thing again. This alone takes its toll on a person.
Anyway, if the reviewer is correct and Kaede's condition is more akin to dissociative identity disorder instead of "normal" amnesia (and the symptoms definitely feel closer to the former), the next step would be for the "two Kaedes" to integrate into a single personality, which I believe is a long, gradual process. Not sure if that is the direction in which the books eventually go (I try to steer clear of spoilers), but based on how the anime ended, it definitely looks like a possibility.
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Treecko Tempo



Joined: 25 Sep 2016
Posts: 155
PostPosted: Fri Dec 28, 2018 9:20 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
However, the movie, which will adapt the last two novels
The novels are ongoing. The movie is just adapting volumes 6 and 7.
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John Thacker



Joined: 28 Oct 2013
Posts: 1006
PostPosted: Fri Dec 28, 2018 9:51 pm Reply with quote
j_plex wrote:
This whole show has been excellent at subverting otaku cliches. If anything, the show has been anti-fan service, from the female characters' regarding Sakuta's professed fondness for looking at attractive females with revulsion.


Eh, it's clear that Mai isn't really revolted, that's all part of very standard flirting / hard to get. Both are performing pretty standard gender roles albeit with both Sakuta and Mai doing it with some ironic detachment. It's more realistic than the full on otaku cliche tsundere, but I have a hard time calling it a subversion. She wants him to make those comments, he would be at a loss if she didn't turn down his more outlandish suggestions, etc.
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John Thacker



Joined: 28 Oct 2013
Posts: 1006
PostPosted: Fri Dec 28, 2018 9:57 pm Reply with quote
I thought that Yurika Kubo did an excellent job voicing the two Kaede's with distinctively different vocal quirks. Foreign accent syndrome is not unknown in cases of dissociative disorders.
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Morry



Joined: 26 Jun 2016
Posts: 756
PostPosted: Fri Dec 28, 2018 11:28 pm Reply with quote
"Early in the season, Sakuta took a lot of heat for being rather flat in character," Idk what bubble of the community you have to be in for this to be true.

Overall, second half was a bit weak, but great series overall. I honestly would've preferred a cliffhanger leading up to the film, but at least we ended on a strong final arc.
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Joshua Zarate



Joined: 12 Jan 2017
Posts: 2061
PostPosted: Sat Dec 29, 2018 3:29 am Reply with quote
Man, Episode 13 was a great way to end this season off. I really felt for Sakuta here and seeing Shoko come back to cheer him up has me very curious to know what exactly is her story. I really hope that the upcoming movie can get a stateside release before too long. This show was one of my favorites of the season as well as the whole year and Sakuta x Mai is the best anime couple of the year. Razz
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11306
PostPosted: Sat Dec 29, 2018 5:15 am Reply with quote
Morry wrote:
"Early in the season, Sakuta took a lot of heat for being rather flat in character," Idk what bubble of the community you have to be in for this to be true.

Well, he's aware that this was a criticism from some people and you apparently are not, so who's in a bubble here? oO
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Panino Manino



Joined: 28 Jan 2018
Posts: 734
PostPosted: Sat Dec 29, 2018 8:31 am Reply with quote
At the end I failed to see what's so great about this anime.
I can recognize and understand all it's good intention, sure the author had the best intentions writing this, but did he really succeeded?
For me it ended being a very standard anime.
The Kaede's arc was disappointing also, suddenly it's another problem and it's hard to understand how she had those traumas (fear of phones and going out) if she didn't remembered anything. Wasn't splitting her mind to protect herself from those traumas?
Then it ended in this "bad" episode, why once again japanese animator failing to portraying emotion ("buaaaaaaa"), a long and questionable flashback/exposition, Mai proving that she in fact isn't Senjougahara (it would be better if she was more of a copy of her) and the classic final dash for the girl that, as you should expect from anime, end it NO kiss.

Don't get me wrong, I not saying this is a bad anime, it isn't.
It's just average. Surely not a standout for this season.
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Key
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Joined: 03 Nov 2003
Posts: 18135
Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley)
PostPosted: Sat Dec 29, 2018 9:40 am Reply with quote
Treecko Tempo wrote:
Quote:
However, the movie, which will adapt the last two novels
The novels are ongoing. The movie is just adapting volumes 6 and 7.

Slip on my part. It's been fixed in the review.
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