The following contains full spoilers for Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai: Season 1, which is now available to stream on Crunchyroll & Netflix.

Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai season 1 took us through a rollercoaster of emotions and intrigue. The anime’s release, back in 2018, has come to be one CloverWorks(studio) best adaptations. A psychological and supernatural masterpiece, you might say. The short length of season left all of us wanting for more, and true enough, a sequel movie made way which more or less satiated that desire. But how good was Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai really?

The first season of the anime adapted 5 arcs, totalling 13 episodes. We were introduced Mai, Koga, Futuba, Toyohama, Kaede & Shoko, but we ended the season with Kaede’s arc (Rascal Does Not Dream of a Sister Home Alone), in which we witnessed Kaede struggle with an identity crisis and her own puberty syndrome.

In this review, we’ll analyse 4 aspects: plot, character development, quality, and enjoyability. At the end of every analysis, we’ll assign a rating to that aspect, between 1 and 10, and average everything out at the end to get an overall rating.

Plot

Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai demonstrated incredible plot building. In a short 13-episode series, this anime underwent several different arcs in which the subject character had struggle with their own unique puberty syndrome. Each case of puberty syndrome was different from one another, seemingly obeying different quantum mechanical principles.

Perhaps the most plot-deep arc was given by Kaede’s puberty syndrome. She was introduced as girl who was subjected to severe bullying to the point where she shut her inside her home, cutting ties with the social world. As viewers, we thought that reason was all there was to her introverted, brother-dependent nature. Little did we know, her puberty syndrome was the most severe yet – and maybe thats why her arc was the most emotional of the season.

Meanwhile, the mysterious allure behind Shoko-san’s character was progressively built upon in the background, using her character as the reason for Sakuta’s kind, yet rascal-like nature.

7

Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai Screenshots

Character Development

The development of the characters came in short successive turns. Because of the nature of this anime, character development of a specific character would progress and end in that respective characters arc. Between episodes 4 and 6, Koga came to fall in love with Sakuta, deal with her love for Sakuta, and ultimately give up on trying to live a life where she was dictated by that of her ‘popular’ friendship group’s standards. Between episodes 7 and 8, Futuba overcame her struggles with her personal identity crisis and affections for Kumini. Each arc spoke a different story in which the subject character heavily matured.

But that is not to say the character development was rushed. Each arc provided focus on one character which allowed us viewers to truly be immersed in the struggles being dealt with.

7

Quality

Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai does not lose points on production quality. As we watch this anime, there aren’t any moments in which we feel the quality is plain bad. However, we can see that CloverWorks did not go the extra mile. When compared to many productions of its time, we find a handful that are considerably more beautiful but in terms of industry standard, this anime definitely met the requirements.

5

Enjoyability

You know an anime was enjoyable when you know one day, you will be watching it again. How many you guys recommended Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai forward? And how many you guys already rewatched it for the second, or even third time? These are the type things that serve as proof for an anime’s true enjoyability.

Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai was truly enjoyable to watch. Every arc had an interesting plot to it, so much so that there aren’t any you’d skip over in a rewatch. From Shrodinger’s Cat to Lapace’s Demon, how often does an anime interest you in what you might learn in school.

And its enjoyment level is validated by its popularity. MyAnimeList has seen Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai to have over 1.5 million members, making it the 53rd most popular anime in the world as of writing. Impressive!

9

Overall

We’ve rated Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai on plot, character development, quality, and enjoyability. By averaging out each score, we arrive at an impressive:

7

But we’re interested. How would you have rated Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai? Rate it here:

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Let us know your reasons and opinions down in the comments.