Review No : 1
TL;DR : a mediocre story that stem from a good problem/topic with good characters and a sprinkle of supernatural phenomenon that spice up and help with the pacing of the anime.
Seishun Buta Yarou wa Bunny Girl Senpai no Yume wo Minai or rascal does not dream of a bunny girl senpai might put you off after looking at its cover art and synopsis. At the start of the season there are two kind of people, some like me, who upon first reading about it in the seasonal anime chart chooses to avoid it because of its fan service nature and others that
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try to watch it expecting a very mediocre fan service anime. At the end of the season though only one type of people remain, those that realize that it is not a good fan service anime, in fact it is nowhere close of what one would consider a fan service anime. So if you who are reading this is trying to find an anime to watch, consider trying this anime because it is different than what you first will expect.
Upon finishing this anime I have come to realize that this anime might have one of the strongest opening episodes or the strongest opening arc. Usually most anime and some great anime have quite a weak opening episodes. But rascal does not dream of a bunny girl senpai have such a great opening episodes and pace it self very well at the start. This strong opening and pace is very rare in anime and it is one the plus of this anime, a great strong opening arc.
After a great opening arc though, some of the subsequent arcs have the same problem, the main problem of this anime, and it is the pacing, despite the good pace in the beginning, the pace seem to crumble because the anime try to adapt and fit in too many arcs or too many light novel books into 13 episodes. Most of the negatives in this anime stem from the decision to cramp in too many arcs into 13 episodes.
Now after the main culprit has been revealed lets talk about the other aspect of this anime.
The story of the anime tackles on problem that adolescences usually faces, such as the inability to read the mood, unrequited love, different sides of one self, and many other one. At first, it might seem there is nothing special about it, and certainly some other anime have also done it, but nonetheless this types of topics work perfectly with the characters and the other aspect of this anime. The story can certainly makes you reflect upon yourselves or make you remember about your past.
The stories also incorporated supernatural aspect known as the adolescences syndrome, the supernatural syndrome stem from the adolescences problems that the many characters faces and manifest itself physically. The syndrome at first might seem something to just spice up the problem but I believe that it is necessary because it heighten the stakes of the syndrome and fasten the pace of the story, without it there would probably only two or three arcs and the many arcs would not fit because the pacing would be really slow and would not fit into 13 episodes.
There is also some quantum physic terms thrown around in the explanation of the syndrome that might seem to be completely bullshit, even though it is largely bullshit, it actually helps in understanding and visualizing the syndrome for our characters and the viewer.
Onto the problem of the story, problems arises within the story because of the many arcs in 13 episodes. Some arcs receive three episodes while other receive two episodes, for me a three episodes arcs is a very fast paced arcs, considering the nature of the problem the characters faces which involve emotion, a very fast paced arcs would not work well with problems that involves emotions, the slow burn effect that are needed would not be present. That is why on some of the two and three episodes arcs I wasn't able to stay interested. And despite how beautiful and deep it could have been, one arc in particular feels shallow. This of course could have been avoided if they had decided just to adapt three fourth of what this anime adapted, or even better make a 23 episodes adaption of all the arcs that they had adapted.
All in all, the story is a decent story, and the supernatural physical manifestation is necessary to helps heighten the stake and fasten the story, but with all the pacing help that the supernatural provided it is still not enough because there is just too many story in a short amount of time.
The characters in bunny girl senpai overall is a well written characters. The two main protagonist have an interesting interaction with each other that keep the viewer stay invested and engaged. Their witty dialog, banter and actions keep the viewer interest in them. This reason alone for me make this anime worth the watch. The characters are also not shallow, they can be understanding when tackling a problem. Become compassionate and shows empathy for others. Have certain level of thrust and jealousy. Are not so pure and can be honestly blunt. Overall they are not a one dimensional characters.
Next is the side characters, keeping mind the length of this anime the side characters have a good balance between all of them in terms of their screen time. The sides characters it self are not shallow and you can definitely see some character development within them selves, whether it is moving on, finding new friends, becoming true to your self, being more mature and many other thing, the characters certainly changed and develop over the course of the anime.
Next is the actual usage of the characters, what good is a great characters if it is not properly use, and this improper use of characters usually what differentiate a good anime and a great anime. I always dislike one aspect that happen to most anime, pushing a side a well develop character after their main purpose is done.
Keeping mind this is a 13 episodes anime, and the many characters that it introduces. The use of the characters is decent because most characters are still there and does not disappear.
A very particular use of character that I see and very much like in this anime is that every action always have some connections and meaning, whether it is to introduce characters, for comedic or for romantic purpose there is always a fresh way to use the characters. This is something commendable about the anime and i would say it is the pluses of the anime. Such example are butt kicking that might seem irrelevant and will completely be forgotten but actually become a comedic tools of some sort.
That being said I still believe that it would have been a better usage of characters if there is not so many of them, the problem that stem from the decision of cramming too many arcs into a 13 episode anime, hamper the slow and steady development of a character in a show that involves emotions like this and also makes the viewer not able to stay invested on one character because another character is introduced to close to each other.
Now for the technical sides of the anime, the background sounds, the opening song, the ending song, and the art or the animation, it is decent and serviceable. Though the Japanese voice actor fits perfectly well with the characters. The voice of the characters helps build in the mood in the scenes. It also able to perfectly conveys the characters during romantic, comedic, sad, happy, or serious moments.
Overall this anime is very enjoyable especially during scenes between the two main protagonist, I wish the focus was more towards them because their interactions are some of the most enjoyable i have seen between two mains characters. I have always been a fan of spice and wolf because of the enjoyable interactions between the two main characters. The regret of having finished watching spice and wolf is of course the realization that no two main characters in other anime will have this much enjoyable interaction between the two of them. I have search long and hard to find an anime that have as enjoyable interactions as the main characters in spice and wolf and to be honest, I could not find one, rare case like the monogatari series do have an enjoyable interaction between the main protagonist, but because of the screen time issue, i would not put the interaction of the two main monogatari protagonist on the similar level of those in spice and wolf.
Of course the long search is finally done because with the airing of bunny girl senpai, I am happy to say that another anime have finally reach the level of enjoyable interaction between the two main protagonist, something which spice and wolf have already achieved. I also believe that the standard of interaction, interesting and not shallow interaction, between the two main protagonist that bunny girl senpai and spice and wolf have shown us should be the standard in all anime, and I wish that every new anime can and will achieve this level of enjoyment.
So overall and enjoyment wise I have to rate this anime and 8/10, the enjoyment I feel when watching the two main characters of course plays a big factor in this rating. Also the adolescence problems are something that I can relate to. And seeing what bullshit explanation of quantum mechanics they will says for a particular syndrome are very interesting and funny. This anime is an example of the sums is greater than its parts, because if you were to take a parts this anime, and separate its many aspect it would certainly seem underwhelming on its own, together though its many aspect creates a very enjoyable anime and I certainly can not wait for the movie.
Dec 29, 2018
Review No : 1
TL;DR : a mediocre story that stem from a good problem/topic with good characters and a sprinkle of supernatural phenomenon that spice up and help with the pacing of the anime. Seishun Buta Yarou wa Bunny Girl Senpai no Yume wo Minai or rascal does not dream of a bunny girl senpai might put you off after looking at its cover art and synopsis. At the start of the season there are two kind of people, some like me, who upon first reading about it in the seasonal anime chart chooses to avoid it because of its fan service nature and others that ... |
