Rascal Does Not Dream of Santa Claus

Episode 6

One of the best things about the Rascal Does Not Dream series is how it lays out its mysteries. Almost always, you can figure out what's going on by the tight dialogue, explored themes, and visual storytelling even before the big reveal. Trying to do so is half the fun, and while nothing's been explicitly stated, with this episode, we have a lot of hints about what's going on with Ikumi. So let's see if we can't take a stab at the truth of Ikumi's case.

Last week, we looked into what made Ikumi tick on a personal level—how her choice not to help Sakuta during his original brush with Puberty Syndrome left her with such guilt that she developed a messiah complex. Now she is ludicrously self-sacrificing—actively looking for people to save and ways to help at the cost of her well-being. However, that looks like only one layer of what is going on.

This episode is centered around a bet between Ikumi and Sakuta—either she manages to forget him or he has to remember “what happened on that day.” And according to Ikumi, either outcome will end her Puberty Syndrome. Unfortunately, Sakuta spends a lot of time this episode barking up the wrong tree. He sees what's happening with Ikumi and her “poltergeist” and can't help but think it's something similar to what happened with Kaede.

However, the messages on Ikumi's arm during the poltergeist attack hint at the truth with phrases like “Are you okay over there?” and “Sorry about the sprain.” Then there is the fact that Sakuta's yearbook message is far different from what Ikumi told him it was. And finally, we have the scene from two episodes ago where Sakuta once again sees Young Mai from Rascal Dreams of a Knapsack Kid. All of these point to one likely conclusion: This Ikumi isn't the Ikumi Sakuta went to school with at all. This is Ikumi from the Perfect World seen in the previous film.

In that film, Perfect World Ikumi and Sakuta only share a few scenes. In them, he questions her as to why she followed him to his high school in the Perfect World timeline—causing her to get upset and run off. What seems to have happened here is a situation where the Perfect World Ikumi watched Sakuta overcome Kaede's Puberty Syndrome all on his own (or helped him do it). Then she fell in love with him and followed him to the high school of his choice—only for him to eventually fall in love with Mai instead. Meanwhile, Sakuta's Ikumi was racked with guilt for years over Sakuta's situation, but never had any real relationship with him past Middle School. Then, when the two Ikumi's develop Puberty Syndrome, they switched timelines (much as Sakuta did with his Perfect World self in the film).

This leaves Sakuta's Ikumi in the Perfect World and free from her guilt as Perfect World Sakuta overcame Kaede's Puberty Syndrome. On the other side of things, Perfect World Ikumi no longer has any real relationship with Sakuta and is given the chance to escape her unrequited love and move on—well, if not for the fact that Sakuta is driven to interfere in any Puberty Syndrome case he comes across.

Unfortunately, there also seems to be one major side effect of their swap. Occasionally, their bodies re-sync, resulting in the poltergeist phenomenon. This means that, should Perfect World Ikumi get hurt in the main timeline—like spraining her arm, for example—then it will eventually transfer to her original body that Sakuta's Ikumi is currently inhabiting. However, this does at least allow the two to send messages to one another by writing on their bodies before a swap.

Of course, while all the pieces seem to fit in what I've written above, the fact of the matter is that my interpretation could be miles off. Still, it's great to have an anime that encourages you to engage with it in this kind of way—to dissect what you see and hear, even going back to past episodes or films with new eyes, hunting for clues. I simply love an anime that forces me to think—to strive for that “eureka moment”—and this one certainly does.

Rating:

Random Thoughts:

• Jeez, this anime expects you to have an encyclopedic memory when it comes to every character. I'm frankly shocked that I was able to remember who Kano was after only seeing her once before in a film I watched over two years ago.

• So, did Sakuta manage to memorize Kirishima's phone number?

• The jump cuts in this anime can be jarring as all hell. One moment we're mid-conversation, the next it's a few days later.

• Does Sakuta still work at Benny's part-time, or does he just randomly walk into the staff room whenever he feels like it?

Rascal Does Not Dream of Santa Claus is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

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Disclosure: Kadokawa World Entertainment (KWE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, is the majority owner of Anime News Network, LLC. One or more of the companies mentioned in this article are part of the Kadokawa Group of Companies.