An Interesting Story That Started with a Bunny Girl...

Hi, people. I have posted two different blog post last week, which are the post about Kishuku Juliet and the post about Oregairu. With that, another week is here. Looks like it's time for another blog post.

What a harem...Ahem, JK, it just a bunch of girls

Anyway, this post will be about an interesting story on something similar to Oregairu but it is a lot more...should I say...silly things happening. Anyway, it's Seishun Buta Yarou. OK, let's start...OK, let me redo it again. LET US START THIS!!!!!!!!



WARNING:-

SPOILER ALERT!!! If you haven't watched it and plan to watch it without anyone being the spoiler, please DON'T CONTINUE READING!!!



P.S. If you want to be spoiled, well, go ahead and read it. You HAD been warned. Don't blame me for being spoiled if you INSIST on continuing to read this post.

Introduction

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The anime...

The anime is adapted is from a light novel of the same name, which is Seishun Buta Yarou wa Banī Gāru Senpai no Yume o Minai (Japanese: 青春ブタ野郎はバニーガール先輩の夢を見ない), which is translated as Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai. It is more well known in Japan as Seishun Buta Yarō (Japanese: 青春ブタ野郎) and short name AoButa (青ブタ). For me, I will just call it Seishun Buta Yarou series. Why? The LN changes the name for every volume but ALWAYS leave the "Seishun Buta Yarou" part unchanged. For example, the 1st volume is actually the title that I had mentioned in the start of this paragraph BUT the 2nd volume is actually named Rascal Does Not Dream of Little Devil, which is a translation of this: 青春ブタ野郎はプチデビル後輩の夢を見ない (read as Seishun Buta Yarō wa Puchidebiru Kōhai no Yume o Minai). Oh, why the change in name for every volume? I will tell you about it in the later segment.

The cover of the LN's 1st volume...

Anyway, this Japanese LN series written by Hajime Kamoshida, illustrated by Keeji Mizoguchi and published by ASCII Media Works under their Dengeki Bunko imprint. Oh yeah, there is also the manga adaptation that is drawn by Tsugumi Nanamiya, which has been serialized in ASCII Media Works' seinen manga magazine since January 2016.

The manga cover...1st volume BTW.

As for the anime television series adaptation, it is done by CloverWorks, which was premiered from October 4 to December 27, 2018. You know what is even more exciting is? There will be an anime film adaptation, which is titled Rascal Does Not Dream of a Dreaming Girl (Japanese: 青春ブタ野郎はゆめみる少女の夢を見ない). The name is literally the name of the LN's 6th volume, which is about...wait, I'm not gonna spoil you 1st as it will be premiere in the third quarter of this year. Hopefully, the animation of the movie is not compromised like Imo-Imo.

The movie...

Plot

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Sakuta, our MC.

The story starts with a student named Azusagawa Sakuta and his relatively normal and loner teenage life. When he saw a 'wild' bunny girl in a library, he found himself being caught into a strange phenomenon. The bunny girl was not noticed by LITERALLY NOBODY. Nobody noticed her AT ALL. The bunny girl is a famous teenage actress, Sakurajima Mai. A famous person is not noticed by anybody?! What is going on?!

Oh! A bunny girl! Not my thing though. I like loli better.

Calm down, people. It's anime after all. Anyway, back to the story. This phenomenon gets worse day-by-day for Mai. More and more people start to become not able to see her as the day goes by. This phenomenon is called "Adolescence Syndrome", which usually stems out of something that they are able to psychologically overcome. Anyway, he was able to resolve Mai's problem after multiple hurdles by confessing his love for her in the middle of the exam period and also with the help of his genius friend, Futaba Rio. One weird guy.

That confession...

...make Mai to 'reappear'.

With that resolved, his life slowly moved away from his usual loner life and into a life of resolving the Adolescence Syndrome of different girls (somehow) including his genius friend, Rio and also his sister, Azusagawa Kaede. At the same time, he continues to get closer to Mai and strengthens their relationship. The story is somehow revolved around this essential theme of resolving the people who have gotten the Adolescence Syndrome (mostly girls. Why? Well, why not? Harem, I guess) and getting closer to his true love, Sakurajima Mai.

Life of Sakuta and Mai together...

This story shows a lot of teenage trouble similar to Oregairu but not as deep as Oregairu. The story has also described a few quantum mechanics like Schrodinger's cat. It is quite interesting and doesn't have deep psychology stuff. This anime is really quite nice even though it is OBVIOUSLY not as comfy as cute girls doing cute thing anime like GochuUsa, KinMoza and Yama no Susume. Anyway, I quite like it as it is less heavy to consume as Oregairu. OK, I'm done here so let's move on.

All of the girls...

Anime Rating

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Story (Rating: 9/10)

The story is mostly about helping different individuals (and it's somehow usually girls) out of their troubles that caused the Adolescence Syndrome to happen. Unlike most anime with the MC mostly surrounded by girls or have people that are close to them that are mostly girls, this MC, Sakuta had decided that Mai is the one that he loves. Hard to see this kind of thing nowadays. Anyway, the plot and the flow of the story are quite well done and are easily understood. Nothing very complicated. AND...some of the light-hearted scenes are quite funny. Hehe...Anyway, Kaede's arc feels a little undone, to be honest. That is why it is not a full mark here.

That scene...

A blushing Futaba is cute...

Art and Animation (Rating: 6/10)

The art and animation of the show are pretty decent. Nothing outstanding though. From the look of the characters and the consistency of the animation, they are ALL pretty decent but nothing really outstanding. Well, seems harsh from me, isn't it? For me, this is considered pretty good, to be honest. Decent art and animation are NOT an easy job to do (especially using the old 2D tech), you know?

Oh...Koga's confession

Sound and Music (Rating: 10/10)

Good OP and ED songs. The opening song is energetic while the ending song is beautiful and is uniquely presented. The ED song is presented by different characters in the story depending on the arc that it is in. Anyway, decent BGM, I say.

The OP album pic...

The ED album pic...

Characters (Rating: 9/10)

The different characters in the show are quite well developed in the story. The unique thing about this anime is that it develops a certain side character (usually girls, somehow. Don't blame me on that) depending on which arc that it was in. As for the relatability of the characters to the audience, it does have things that you and I might be able to relate like the "atmosphere" or the crowd mentality and the hope to blend in or not being left by others. The issues are quite relevant if you are at least paying attention to it or take note of it. It's not that hard to notice. Same case here...because of Kaede's arc.

Cute Kaede!!!!

Koga is quite cute too.

Enjoyment (Rating: 10/10)

For me, the anime has soared WAY above my expectation because I thought it is some bunny girl fanservice heavy anime and without solid storytelling, before I watch it. I took a glance at it and found myself surprised by how good the story is. From there, it is a good trip to the human soul and experience. It feels like a mirror to the usual human behaviour and probably myself. Anyway, this trip is not as painful as Oregairu, which are quite twisted and painfully true to human nature. This story also stays quite to human nature but it is quite well done. Oh yeah, I've forgotten! There are some light-hearted scenes are quite enjoyable.

Koga...oh, Koga...

Overall Rating: 8.8 (8.5)/10

Screenshots

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Poor Mai...

Koga...wait, it's not what you think there.

Koga is quite cute...

LOLI!!!!

BTW, she is Makinohara Shouko

Oh...Kaede...you're so cute.

The 'meeting'...to resolve Futaba Rio's problem

The trio stayed up to early morning...

Rio and Sakuta chatting...

Nodoka and Mai "face-off" trouble...

Nodoka and Mai's trouble...RESOLVED!

Sakuta meeting with his sister, Kaede's former best friend

Suddenly the adult Shouko appear...

A painful experience...

A decent ending to the story...

PV/Trailer

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Anime

Movie

Conclusion

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Well, it looks like the post is reaching the end. If you are careful, you might have realised that I have been consistently briefly talking about Imo-Imo on recent blog posts that I've done. Why? The people who have watched it will know about how bad the animation is. Very poorly made. A work that is been rushed throughout. It's literally garbage anime. Will talk about it on a later date. BTW, I gotta go. I hope that you enjoy it and hope to see ya again. Goodbye, and God bless you!

More cute Kaede!!!!

And even more Kaede!!!!