SEISHUN BUTA YAROU WA ODEKAKE SISTER NO YUME WO MINAI

DESCRIPTION

CAST

NOVEL ComedySeishun Buta Yarou wa Odekake Sister no Yume wo Minai
MOVIE DramaSeishun Buta Yarou wa Yumemiru Shoujo no Yume wo Minai
MOVIE DramaSeishun Buta Yarou wa Randoseru Girl no Yume wo Minai

REVIEWS

• 

  melamuna

  95/100
  A satisfying after-story of a beloved series that's secretly a great amnesia story

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  Whenever we talk about the Bunny Girl Senpai series, we usually talk about adolescence syndrome and how it affects its characters. One certain character the series focuses on is Kaede Asusagawa, Sakuta’s little sister. She's mostly played as the side-goofy, innocent character for the majority of the first season, with a hint of a three-dimensional personality underneath her. She's also a victim of adolescence syndrome, manifested by her symptoms of retrograde amnesia. She had her own major arc from the first season, and it was a truly sad arc that resonated with the majority of viewers who watched the anime and was by far one of the most powerful story arcs from the first season. With that in mind, the overall existence of this movie seemed to be unnecessary because we've already seen her story before, but the film presented itself in a new unique angle that's surprisingly hadn't been explored much in the medium. ***

  For context, Kaede Asusagawa has retrograde amnesia, a form of memory loss that makes it difficult to recall old memories before the main trigger of amnesia happens. Kaede Asusagawa had a traumatic past that caused her so much stress that adolescence syndrome took over and literally replaced Kaede as a brand new Kaede, free from the trauma that caused her to switch in the first place. We have seen this arc resolved in the first season of Bunny Girl Senpai, but we never actually got a glimpse of who the first Kaede is. We have seen her a little bit from the series and in the Dreaming Girl movie, but not enough to merit her being a solid character, not to mention that the series treated Kaede as a background character after her major arc from the first season. Amnesia stories aren't mostly being explored well in the media, mostly because it's just hard to tell stories about amnesia in such a short amount of time, but this film managed to prove that you can tell a great amnesia story while also serving a great story overall.

  In the film, we are on a journey with the first Kaede. The one who is shy and timid, unlike the more determined yet still shy counterpart. The differences between these personalities are no less the first Kaede than the new Kaede, but the real Kaede doesn't feel the same way. The audiences have mostly been attached to the new Kaede, especially Sakuta, Mai, and other people who are with the new Kaede; however, with the new Kaede being out of the picture, the first Kaede can now live the years she lost due to adolescence syndrome; however, it is not an easy thing to do. The first Kaede has been struggling to adjust to the new environment she was introduced to immediately, a sudden shift from her lifestyle and her brother, who used to be just them and her family; suddenly, some of them aren't even there, and a new couple of people are in the mix. It's also far worse that she has these sets of expectations she has to fulfill, even though she has no exact clue why she's fulfilling them. All she knows is that the other Kaede is doing this, so she had to keep it on. ***

  Kaede and their journey is no easy feat; not only does she have to deal with the consequences of losing her memories, whether from the past or the present, but she also has to deal with the sets of expectations she left behind for people when you don't realize she did. The guilt she didn't expect of unexpectedly removing a huge chunk of herself she didn't remember, but it's the cherished memories from the person who she was surrounded with that the other half of yours, yet they're now in grief because the first Kaede decided to come back. The overwhelming feeling of satisfying everyone just so the people who are in grief can get by hurts, and the first Kaede was never really properly seen once she came back.

  The opposite also applies. Sakuta is the older brother of Kaede. He had twice seen her sister die (metaphorically), and he had to learn from the tragedies, get over the grief, and embrace the Kaede he was now dealing with, no matter how difficult it was for him. Sakuta must cope with and overcome the loss of both Kaede siblings, who are individuals in and of themselves, at a particular point in history while they are still fully alive. The dynamics of Sakuta and Kaede in this film are cold; there is a huge distance between them despite being close siblings; there is isolation, pressure, and sacrifices made just so the other person feels comfortable around them. It's a sad and tragic journey where no life is at stake, but harm to the relationship is. *** Rascal Does Not Dream of a Sister Venturing Out might be the awkward volume when looking at a distance, and despite it's lack of adolescence syndrome, new characters, and a heavy weight from the previous arcs and how the story was handled, it's a special case of showcasing the effects in the process of healing through a mental challenge despite the ups and downs, coping with losses, and tiebacks for reconnections while providing more threads to create more memories of the present time. A perfect example of a psychological drama anime that has a lot of heart and care showered into it. ***

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• 

  dagonsayamog

  95/100
  The OVA explores themes of gaining back one's identity and autonomy while struggling meeting others' expectations.

  "Rascal Does Not Dream of a Sister Venturing Out" can be considered an OVA epilogue to the last three episodes of Season 1 of Bunny Girl Senpai, instead of a standalone movie. Aside from its pacing and format, which don’t fit a conventional feature-length film, it acts as a mini-sequel to Sakuta’s sister Kaede’s arc after recovering from her dissociative amnesia where, triggered by the trauma of her being bullied, she lost all her prior episodic memory and turned into a ‘blank slate’—referred to as “kaede” (due to a lack of a nuanced English equivalent to kanji and hiragana Japanese texts, they will respectively be referred to as such from here onwards).

  

  In contrast to the focus on kaede’s remarkable two-year recovery from being a shut-in truant at the end of Season 1, the OVA shows us Kaede suddenly dealing with the fact that a lot of things have happened to her and her loved ones during her absence. Among other things, she now has to adjust to the fact that her brother now has a girlfriend; their mother became mentally unstable while she was having her dissociative period, and they now live apart from their parents all because of that. Furthermore, she is now expected to be able to head outside and attend school, which must all feel so overwhelming to Kaede. It’s like waking from a fugue state and finding yourself piloting an airplane.

  Many of the themes explored in the OVA revolve around Kaede gaining back her identity and autonomy while feeling the immense pressure of having to meet the expectations established by kaede. All of these seem like things that have been imposed on her without her consent and active participation. While not entirely all bad and unwelcome, even her progress and achievements feel alienating because she wasn’t there to experience them firsthand, and they were kaede’s efforts not hers. She then feels guilty and extremely indebted to kaede, the crux of which was when she reads kaede’s diary and finds out about her dreams checklist. She saw that Kaede had one unfulfilled dream—to go to the same high school as her brother, in Minegahara.

  

  As Kaede sets out to fulfill her other self’s dream, she has to face the fact that she cannot just simply apply to any public high school because she blew off almost two years of middle school, and her grades weren’t all that great. But she was determined to get in even at the expense of her health. While she was eventually able to take the entrance exams, her health turned so bad that she wasn’t able to finish it. During Kaede’s struggles and frustrations, Sakuta was always there to support her. It’s very heartwarming to see how much he’s grown over the series, especially in how he’s accepted and loved both kaede and Kaede. It’s also satisfying how Sakuta has finally had the chance to make up for all the guilt he has felt for being unable to help out Kaede before. Of course, he wouldn’t be able to do this much for Kaede without the help of the rest of the lovely cast. Eventually Kaede realized that she did not need to fulfill kaede's dream and that she should follow her own dreams and live her own life.

  

  Finally, while Mai and Sakuta aren’t the main focus of this OVA, it’s still nice to see how much this adaptation included all their moments together and how much they’ve matured to handle being apart. Part of this, especially the opening and post-credit scenes, is a clever setup towards the sequel "Knapsack Kid," which I’m looking forward to watching next!

  While this doesn’t reach the level of greatness that is "Dreaming Girl," I would still rate this OVA quite high because of how well it portrays my favorite character, Kaede. I think "Sister Venturing Out" is a great example of an anti-coming-of-age coming-of-age story, and if you’re into that kind of thing, then I highly suggest watching this.

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