Sometimes, I’ve found myself describing a series that has a unique twist and saying
“It’s great to see this sort of thing!” only to realise later that I’ve said that
a lot about… conflicting narratives.
“It’s great to see a romance anime that has no weird twists” is something I’m
quite sure I’ve said or at least thought before, and yet the first thing I wrote down
while coming up with a script for this video was “It’s great to see a romance anime
that had this kind of weird twist to it” only to think about my hypocrisy for about
20 minutes.
Really I think the heart of my message is present in both cases, but I don’t think
deeply enough about it to go beyond that thought.
What I really mean is, “It’s great to see a romance anime that is engaging”.
I’ve watched both good and bad anime that have twists that don’t benefit the narrative,
so they become superfluous or grating on the story.
Likewise I’ve seen anime that don’t have any weird twists at all but are played so
straight that there’s no uniqueness to it and it just sort of fades away into the vast
sea of all other shows like it.
So today we are looking at a well written show that, I want to hope, will not fade from
our memories anytime soon.
Bunny Girl Senpai follows the story of the young second year high school student Sakuta.
Sakuta over the course of several episodes finds himself involved with something called
“Adolescence Syndrome” a badly explained disease that seems to cover a bunch of symptoms
described as…well “Anything Weird” but more so sounds like a fantasy-made-real version
of Chyunibyo.
Just instead of all the supernatural junk being a shared experience in the imagination
of those infected, Adolescence Syndrome has some surprising effects on the real world.
Starting off with how it affects Sakuta’s older classmate Mai.
Mai is a former child actress and idol, currently on leave of absence from the spotlight to
attend school and take a break from that glamor life for a variety of reasons the show briefly
gets into.
She’s affected by the show’s syndrome by no longer being observed by the general
public.
People stop seeing her, acknowledging her existence, even forgetting she even existed.
This over the course of the first few episodes extends further and further with each passing
day until the only person that seems to even know Mai exists is our protagonist Sakuta.
Of course, like these shows tend to do there is romantic tension between our leads, and
Sakuta becomes more involved in Mai’s life and situation.
Dedicating himself to both her care, and hopefully to solving her situation.
Mai is currently one of the better things about this series, both her attitude towards
the situation and in general her personality has been a highlight of the series so far.
Much more so then Sakuta who just comes off as a Snarky jerk who suddenly has a heart.
Sakuta as a character is only made better by his relationship with Mai and their interactions
have slowly become something I’m really enjoying watching each week.
But there are parts of the narrative dealing with the show’s mystery syndrome and how
Sakuta deals with it that gives me pause on occasion, while others that make me intrigued.
Like sometimes I wonder about the reality of such a situation and how I would react.
I remember my first time watching the Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, watching the character
of Kyon coming to the realization that the world he currently stands in is subtle different
then the world he was in only a day or so before.
I remember thinking, “Why does he, after confirming his situation, still try to desperately
talk to people about the old world even when he not only already knows the result, but
will look like a guy whose lost his mind to everyone else.”
This happens in Bunnygirl Senpai to Sakuta as well.
He’s confronted by Mai’s situation and comes to accept it as fact, but even as her
condition spreads to more and more locations he still seems surprised and angry that people
slowly start to forget her existence.
Would I act this way given the same circumstances?
Or would I take it even worse than they do and simply go mad?
These are the kinds of questions I end up asking myself, and while I’ll never have
a concrete answer on what I would do, it helps me further appreciate the story that the show
is trying to tell because of it.
Where the story goes from here though is what worries me.
I’m writing this video before I’ve watched episode 4, and as far as I’m concerned we
could just end the story here and it would be fine.
Great even.
But I know that Mai is not the only character dealing with the show’s touted syndrome,
and the show will start to introduce other female characters with other unique problems
that, I can only assume, Sakuta will attempt to solve.
But how Mai will play into the story from here on out will be how much I care with the
further narrative.
We’ve established a romantic relationship between our leads, but now with other female
characters being introduced I’m worried we’ll start to lean into harem territory
as Sakuta doesn’t necessarily seem like an individual who would not get himself into
the situations that might give girls around him the wrong idea.
What’s worse is that since I don’t particular care about Sakuta as a character, making the
rest of the story revolve around him as a character doesn’t necessarily make me confident
on how I’ll enjoy the show going forward.
If the show was about Mai I’m quite sure I’d enjoy the hell about of it, but with
that not being the case I can only hope for the best.
Regardless of how episode 4 and beyond play out, one can reasonably watch the initial
3 episode of Bunnygirl Senpai and feel like they are watching a short but complete romance
film with a supernatural twist.
It takes just over an hour to get through all three episodes if you skip the OP and
ED past the first episode and even if the plot goes to shit later these three in a bubble
are worth recommending alone.
But this is only my First Reaction to the series.
Perhaps it’ll turn out quite different.
Thank for joining me for this quick discussion, there will be streaming links in the description
should you require them and Let me know down in the comments what you have been following
this season hopefully we’ll talk about it in a future video.
A big thank you to my patrons, who make these videos possible and Until next time, WATCH
MORE ANIME!
And stay frosty.