The origins of the bunny girl costume date back to the iconic Playboy bunny: a costume developed by the aforementioned
Playboy enterprise for women to wear at their clubs and has since become a worldwide icon of sex appeal and seduction
eventually weaving its way to Japan where it found a new surge of popularity rising in prominence in Japanese media,
especially in the form of anime and manga and through this comes one of the hottest shows this season:
Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai, a show which has absolutely
nothing to do with bunny girls, rendering this entire opening paragraph fucking useless
(you had one fucking job, title)
Bunny girl senpai is one of my favorite anime airing right now.
That is no small feat in a season more stacked than a 13 level card tower being built,
so I just wanted to talk about it for a bit
alright because there wasn't anything more misleading than a title and a poster that implied
this was gonna be some kind of generic light novel fan-service rom-com.
Hey look we've got bunny girls this time!
You're stupid enough to watch this because it has bunny girls in it
(clears throat awkwardly)
which I was
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.
So today I just wanted to show some love, you know
Just shed a bit of light for any of you who may have overlooked this thanks to the title and the poster and of course
answer the pressing question on everyone's mind: Why is it called
Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai?
I don't fucking know
Rabbit grill senpai was made by Studio Cloverworks
Which is actually an offshoot of A-1 Pictures who, if you didn't know, is the powerhouse studio
that made super popular anime like
Zettai Yareru Greece Shinwa (what) in 2008
That's it. That's all they've done
There's literally nothing else noteworthy to talk about so I don't think we're gonna find any more clues here *cue Sword Art Online Opening in the Background*
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
rumoured on the Internet to be caused by sensitivity and instability during adolescence.
Yeah, I know. What, you mean like balls dropping, body hair growing, period starting
Hmm, Dr. Google, I wonder if there's already a name for all these symptoms that exist that this show might be miss-
Are you fucking kidding me?
The show doesn't adequately express in its title or plot synopsis is what Puberty Syndrome actually is.
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 cyber bullied
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.
Now, I know what you're thinking okay: Oh a guy going around solving different supernatural phenomena
afflicting girls in an arc format complete with witty dialogue?
What is this, the new season of Monogatari without the head tilts?
Fuck, what does that make the watch order now?
Bakemonogatari, then Nisemonogatari, then you've got this new season,
Normiemonogatari
While there is that reminiscent feel to a lot of these other well-known light novel adaptations,
namely the Monogatari franchise, OreGairu and maybe even a slight dash of Haruhi
I do feel the comparisons stop past the surface level and Bunny Girl is really able to carve out its own identity.
Sakuta and Hachiman may give off similar vibes, both being loners with a similar life outlook,
but the reasoning behind their character traits are entirely different.
Sakuta is more about purposely ignoring the social norms.
He reads the atmosphere and chooses to go against it and is very different from Hachiman's pessimistic narcissism.
As for the Monogatari girls, they were meant to be a play on the cliched anime character archetypes
subverting our expectations of these traits we are used to and building them up to be characters
with far greater depth than we would usually see.
And because of this, the Apparitions are nothing like the Adolescence Syndrome
because the reasoning characters are affected by the syndrome is totally different.
You have characters which, 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 likeable 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 meant for me is that I got incredibly invested incredibly fast.
Every character gets developed through the course of their arc that is quick but feels natural
thanks to the situation they've been put in. By the end of episode 3,
you've already been on this emotional journey and you think to yourself:
Wow, that could have been the series climax right there and then you slowly realize that holy shit
you're only three fucking episodes in
every character 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
Which, um, you know, didn't trigger any PTSD for myself or anything
*onii-chan intensifies* OH GOD PLEASE NOT THIS AGAIN I CANT DO THIS A SECOND TIME
But we're forgetting the real reason Adolescence Syndrome is different from other supernatural phenomenon in anime
you see because at least Bunny Girl Senpai actually explains its phenomenon.
See, there's bound to be people confused as to what Adolescence Syndrome actually is,
but actually the show takes this into account.
So it makes these phenomenon easier to understand for the average person by describing it using theories of quantum mechanics
*awkwardly clears throat again*
Let me just say that last sentence again
Bullshit explanations of quantum mechanics aside, another thing that absolutely stands out
is the chemistry between the characters and the dialogue.
Aside from the format of the show solving supernatural phenomenon 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. Instead of just having one sarcastic git,
everyone's a smartass and everyone's trying to constantly get the conversational high ground
so the dialogue feels less like an exchange of words and more like a boxing match of wits
and this makes a conversation about the most mundane of topics so addicting to watch.
I never once got bored just watching people bullshit with each other
though I'm not sure how healthy it is to admire this dialogue
I mean I couldn't help but get charmed by Sakuta's deadpan straikghtforwardness of just saying whatever's on his mind,
but you get to a point where you're watching him saying the most grossly inappropriate shit
Which in normal social situations you should never say out loud but in your mind, you're like
same
Though, I am missing the number one reason why anyone would want to watch this show
And of course, that is the
FUCKING WAIFUS BABY!!!
*triumphant music plays*
It is rare you get to see a show of so many A-tier waifus to pick from.
I mean, help a guy out here, Bunny Girl Senpai. There are only so many smiles I can protecc
So many times my heart can skip a beat. So many doujinshis that I can read
no wait that last line is an absolute lie
You see, when the cast is as likeable as this, you get to choose between a variety of so many amazing girls
and Kaede
You've got Koga, you've got Futaba in two lovely flavors, you've got
someone who's done nothing but watch Eromanga Sensei her entire life.
And then you've got the latest edition
*funky-ass music plays*
MAI'S IMOUTO!
Yet through all this there's one that stands head and shoulders above the rest and that is of course
our main girl, baby Gahara herself, Mai Sakurajima
who just has the perfect mix of dry wit, a strong but tender heart, a blush worth dying for
and provide you with unexpected moments of cuteness with her
just a light sprinkle of tsun here and there
If waifuism was an art, she'd be the Sistine fucking Chapel of waifus
but you know instead of leaving you in awe, she just makes you melt into a ball of pink fluff
Mai: "Oh!"
Sakuta: "Oh?"
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
We're losin him! We're losin him, HE'S DYING!
And that is basically Bunny Girl Senpai, the anime that has nothing to do with bunny girls.
(Aside from, like, two scenes)
All in all, I have to say is that Bunny Girl Senpai has been absolutely incredible so far.
When I just started watching it, it was hard for me to pinpoint exactly why I connected with the show so quickly,
And while I could dive deeper into the overall meaning of Adolescence Syndrome as a concept,
at its core, I don't think it was that complicated for me.
You take out the strange supernatural phenomenon, you take out the BS quantum mechanics
or the influences it borrows from and what you're left with is very human characters coming to terms with their problems.
Problems many of us could have faced during our time in high schools as teenagers.
There doesn't always need to be a supernatural force to manifest our deepest flaws and insecurities
that are ever so present in this digitally connected era
Cyberbullying, the fear of being judged by our social norms, our online perception vs. our actual perceptions
and just coming to accept parts of us that we hate.
Many may write off the difficulties we face in high school as dumb teenage angst but that isn't always the case.
Some of these issues follow us into adulthood.
Some of us still wear those same insecurities we gained during that time every day of our lives
They didn't just magically disappear when we got older and it's our experiences when growing up that dictate how we approach these problems as adults.
Bunny Girl Senpai manages to capture this sentiment in a wholly unique way.
It shows us what would have happened if someone was there to help us tackle these trials head-on when we were younger,
written with the kind of dry chemistry you rarely get to see.
Whether you watch it for the various problems, the addicting dialogue, the lovable cast or Mai in the odd
Bunny Girl outfit, you'd be doing yourself a disservice by missing the show because at the end of the day
Rascal May Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai
But dear lord, I fucking do
(same)
Hey guys, hope you enjoyed that video. Thank you very much this month to
Joseph Warren
SupremeSayain
SunDownFun
Sisters10086
Eliphal
and everyone else on my Patreon for helping to support me for this month and making this video possible.
I know it's been a while since my last upload but a lot of that's been preparation for this month.
I've got a lot of videos planned this month plus the end-of-year review as well
So it's gonna be a pretty fucking busy month for me
Last year, I only had one day off the entire month and that was Christmas Day
So, um, I'm hoping it's not gonna be a repeat of that this year. Anyway, though, that's it from me.
Hope you haven't missed me too much. I've been Gigguk and until then, I will see you all next time
Girl, saying with Gigguk: Next time.
Gigguk: Shut the fffff-