- [Foxen] Do you want a bunny girl senpai too?
So what's up guys, Foxen here.
Oh sorry, slightly a different question,
do you wanna watch the Bunny Girl Senpai movie?
The sequel movie actually just came out a few days ago,
here in japan.
Managed to get the first showing in.
So let's get into this, this will be a non-spoiler review.
If you do want any juicy info, feel free to ask below.
Definitely give a colossal bunny sized thumbs up,
and let's get started.
Before diving into this, a little bit of background info
on the Bunny Girl Senpai series.
For me the TV anime series got into my top 10 of 2018 anime.
It was super enjoyable seeing this chemistry
between Sakuta and Mai.
Especially with that super natural element mixed in.
It really gave me this vibe of Haruhi,
really only missing that ultra powerful God character
that you don't wanna not piss off!
One of the huge highlights for me is
that I definitely loved the dialogue between Sakuta and Mai.
It was especially wonderful
seeing this strong confident relationship.
Something that felt real instead of feeling half assed,
which unfortunately is all too common among anime
often used to serve us some cheap drama.
Anyway going in to my Bunny Girl Senpai movie experience.
I got to see it first thing in the morning,
in Tokyo, Shinjuku, at the first 8 am showing.
It was my first time going super early for a movie,
and oh my god, it was so packed!
They even had this lovely promo popcorn, drink set
for the movie but unfortunately that line was ultra long!
I only managed to get a churro from like a small stand.
The bad part, I forgot the coffee.
Huge mistake!
By the way, as a nice bonus for the movie showing,
you do get this small side story book
with the ticket purchase.
I think they were only doing this for the first week.
Anyway, let me just jump into the actual story.
Once again, non-spoiler.
The Bunny Girl Senpai movie takes place throughout December.
So immediately after the TV anime.
You've still got super element theme through the movie,
although that's definitely a lot more
toned down for this movie.
And this is not really a negative
but it felt very TV drama like,
specifically Japanese drama.
The anime was also more episodic at times
with that villain of the week,
or should I say adolescent syndrome of the week.
For this movie,
now you're thrown into Sakuta and Shoko's adventure.
That's right you're going to be getting a ton of these two,
specifically Shoko.
This is something important you should know going in.
Iʼve heard some people being super excited
about Mai especially.
So let me set your expectations here.
You do get Mai in the movie,
although she gets the 3rd most screen time,
The movie really is focus on
Shoko storyline and her mystery.
Which actually is appropriate since
the two light novels covered in this movie,
focused on Shoko and then Sakuta.
Previously each light novels focused on
one specific girlʼs issues and storyline.
For the actual stuff going on in the movie,
I hinted at this being a lot more chill and toned down
compared to the crazier stuff in the season one anime.
That said, they go through the days in December
fairly quickly so thereʼs no spots that are too dragged out.
If anything I really enjoyed the lighter moments.
Oh and I did mention coffee earlier,
that would have been really nice to have.
Except, you then get to around the midpoint of the movie.
Something happens!
This is really a shifting point.
Iʼll just say, that definitely got me super wide awake,
I didn't need coffee after that!
Post down below if you want the juicy info.
Really quickly let me touch on
the light novel source material.
The first Bunny Girl Senpai light novel,
got released back in 2014
there's nine total light novels right now.
Also there happens to be a manga adaptation too.
Four volumes!
For the actual season one Bunny Girl Senpai anime,
that covers the first five light novels.
This movie then covers the following two,
light novel six and light novel seven.
This does mean you still have two light novels,
in case you want to do a sequel.
Although you might be lacking in source material.
Next up, let me touch in the studio.
You got Cloverworks doing this movie,
which is connected to A1 pictures studio.
Most recently their known for doing
the Darling in the Franxx anime with Trigger studio.
And also the wonderful Promised Neverland.
Which turned out way better.
Next up the Bunny Senpai movie characters.
Really only three.
The first one being Sakuta.
So you still got this guy being the pig bastard
that he was in season one.
(speaks in Japanese)
Or way did that get lost in translation?
Perhaps I should say little rascal!
Most of Sakuta in this movie involves him
dealing with Shoko, her mysterious situation,
and of course him trying to figure out
the mystery of how heʼs connected.
Which is tackling that whole mystery back
from the season one anime.
This does mean you get ready for a lot
of Sakuta and Shoko moments.
Oh and this stuff definitely doesn't come
without itʼs own consequences
At times Sakuta reminds me of lightweight-Subaru version.
Oh yeah, Sakuta gets his own suffering cry time this movie.
I also do have to point out
that Sakuta seems a lot more passive in this movie,
in that he goes along with the flow,
for anything Shoko related that occurs.
That does change a little bit later as the movie progresses.
Next character up, Mai.
Someone give this girl a reward!
I mean Mai deals with so much in this movie,
she has the patience of a goddess, or maybe a Jedi.
So for this story you still have
the lovely back and forth between this couple.
Although there is a lot less,
since Mai really takes third seat
among Sakuta and Shokoʼs adventure.
Naturally you can just imagine
how Mai handles these two lovebirds
spending so much time together.
Meanwhile unfortunately Mai is busy with her own work.
To give Mai and the writing a lot of credit,
I'm extremely glad to see the Bunny Girl Senpai movie,
didn't take that easy, drama storyline route.
In other words running into those type of issues,
where you can really resolve them by talking it out.
Everything involving the Jedi like, understanding Mai.
Along with the reactions to the the events at play
still feels very real and not forced.
Next up the female star of this movie, Shoko.
I really canʼt dive into the details for spoiler reasons,
but do you know Sakuta and Shoko
spend a lot of time together.
At one point it almost feels like the two
are living together as a couple.
No surprise at all why Mai would want
to cut this other woman.
But jokes aside, youʼve gotten bits
and hear of the whole Shoko mystery
throughout the first season.
For this movie itʼs time now to fully address
how it was going on with this past girl.
Sakutas first love.
For me, let me just say that I liked Shoko enough.
Although I still highly prefer Mai myself.
Some of the Shoko backstory and situation
was some of the stuff I felt was more TV drama like.
You also of have Shoko mostly interacting with Sakuta,
which is weird as some points.
I mean she clearly knows sheʼs bugging Mai
but is like, oh well, not my problem,
I wanna go do this with Sakuta.
And I know part of this makes it feel like
thereʼs some love triangle going on.
Let me just reassure you though,
thankfully the movie story doesnʼt go in that direction.
As for the other characters in this movie,
pretty much everyone just gets a cameo.
You still have Futaba, Koga, Maiʼs sister, Sakutaʼs sister.
All of them do appear in this movie, but very very little.
From all of them Futaba might have gotten
the most screen time from the side cast.
Before you actually watch this movie,
I do have a strong recommendation.
You need to re-watch the Bunny Girl Senpai anime
before the movie, which is really rule
you should follow before any anime movie.
Thereʼs so many little callbacks, and relationship points,
scattered throughout this movie.
Youʼll definitely feel something is lacking
if youʼre struggling to recall the blurring details
if itʼs not fresh in your mind.
When re-watching, you just specifically notice
anything involving Shoko.
So if itʼs been more than,
say a month before you watching this movie,
time for a Bunny Girl Senpai re-watch!
Unfortunately I didnʼt get to re-watch this,
so definitely don't be like me!
Next up, let me touch on the animation.
This movie actually reminds me of the recent Rezero OVA,
that got screened in theaters here in Japan.
The movie as a whole looks very much
as what you would come to expect from the TV anime.
There really is no point in the movie
where you got some super high quality movie animation.
That's partly just because this Bunny Girl Senpai movie
isnʼt an action filled.
As a positive you still have good, consistent,
animation throughout the movie.
I never noticed any animation drop.
In other words this looked good on the big screen.
Low quality animation always sticks out in a theaters.
Trust me Iʼve seen a couple of anime movies recently
that clearly werenʼt made to be screened in theaters!
And talking about this being a movie,
I do have to touch on this side topic.
This fairly easy animation might've been the whole reason
that the movie even got greenlight
before the TV anime was even done.
Let's just be honest this Bunny Girl Senpai movie
might as well have been the next 4-5 episodes.
The people behind this really just chose to package it
in this way and marketed as a movie.
So take that as you will,
Iʼll go with the positive mindset on this.
I would much rather take the next half a season or so
of story and pay a movie ticket price.
I mean you are getting this around half a year later.
Totally worth it in my opinion.
Definitely a better trade off than waiting years
and years for a second season or sequel.
Perhaps never even getting a sequel either.
And my god, were they ready with the merch.
They already have some figures coming out for this movie.
So yeah, it's time to buy that merch
and fund the sequel movie.
Next up, the music for this.
Honestly nothing really new that stood out.
Was there really any new soundtrack made for this movie?
Iʼm doubting it.
That said, any piece of music
that was used did seem to fit the scene well enough.
So if you loved any of the music in season one,
you'll definitely catch it in the background
oh, and for the ending I do believe you got an
updated version of season one ending.
Although they kept on changing this.
I do recall hearing Shokoʼs voice in this,
so might have been updated song
or a totally new ending song.
At the very least they did have the full ending song
over the credits.
The only thing that was lacking here was
that Kimo no Sei, Kimo no sei from the opening!
That would've been nice to hear.
Next up, my nitpicks or issues.
I probably didn't have some super high expectations,
so I really had to think of what was lacking.
Here is three minor nitpicks.
Emphasis on being small.
The first being the movie lacking some
high quality animation piece.
Since this was a movie why not at least
take advantage of that,
and have at least one super notable animation scene
for your movie?
It would have been nice for this movie
to have that one animation piece,
that people could point back to.
Second thing, it would have been nice to have more Mai.
I'm guessing theyʼve stuck to
the light novel source material
so they're restricted by that.
At times I felt the Shoko, Mai balance
was heavily thrown off.
I mean Shoko perhaps got two to three times
more screen time compared to Mai.
And then the third thing, no Christmas theme.
So you got this movie taking place throughout December,
it felt like a missed opportunity
not to do anything Christmas related.
I feel like this was partly due
to the movie being released in the summer time.
Next up, I do have to touch on the ending, not an issue.
Of course I can't go into spoilers
but it is worth noting something.
Let's just say something that happens
thatʼs not necessarily a cliffhanger,
but does leave some open ending questions.
This may even make you rethink some of the stuff
going on in season one, if you do re-watch that.
Naturally there is more story to be told
with two more light novels currently out.
I would say, look forward to it in season two.
Although I'm thinking they might go the movie route.
Just because this thing has been a huge success.
And also due to the lacking source material
for a full season.
Anyway, next up, do I recommend this?
As someone who had Bunny Girl Senpai in my top 10,
Naturally I'm a fan.
That being said, I wasn't really jumping up and down
waiting excitedly for this movie.
Ideally I would have re-watched the season one anime,
just to get more hyped up before the movie.
Still, I did find this movie enjoyable.
No major issues.
I would say the story in this movie
is in line with the TV anime episodes,
nothing more and nothing less.
My only standout nitpick, would have been
to have more Mai in the movie.
If you did love the TV anime,
I would highly recommend checking this out.
If you only enjoyed it or liked it,
I would still recommend checking this out at some point
but you don't need to rush out and watch it.
That being said, I do have to put this disclaimer out,
Unfortunately if you do wait on anime movies,
you do have to wait almost a year.
Anime movies outside Japan
also get a very limited screening window.
Hence I would highly suggest watching this,
if you don't want to wait almost a friggin year
to be released on Blu-ray.
As for how you can watch this if you're not in Japan,
Aniplex just announced an Anime Expo screening here.
I am going to be going to Anime Expo this year,
so maybe I'll check that out.
I mean just watching movies with a huge fan crowd
is always really nice.
For anyone else perhaps Fathom
is going to do a limited showing, coming soon.
By the way, I did mention the success of this movie.
This Bunny Girl Senpai movie actually only screened
in 31 theaters in Japan, opening weekend.
It already broke 100 million Yen this opening weekend.
So, really this is a huge success,
hopefully they consider making more!
I really think they'll consider doing the movie format.
So let me know, how much do you want to watch this movie?
Is anyone planning to catch it at Anime Expo?
Also post down below which anime movie
you want me to review next?
Type of anime movies,
definitely check out my recent Promare anime review.
That's Trigger studios latest anime cocktail.
Don't forget about my other juicy anime stuff
and I'll see you guys later.