Behind the Clickbaiting Title - Seishun Buta Yarou Anime & Movie Review

(No, this is not the one)

Hearing an anime called Seishun Buta Yarou wa Bunny Girl Senpai no Yume wo Minai in Japanese or Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai in English, you might be thinking, "oh, this is going to be another generic romance comedy anime with slice-of-life and multiple heroines", but you are wrong. If you're focusing on the "Bunny Girl" part of the title, trust me, it is more than that.

Seishun Buta Yarou series, also known as Ao Buta (青ブタ), is an anime that aired in late 2018 based on a novel series under the same name that starts publishing from 2014. It is written by Kamoshida Hajime, the same writer of Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo. A bit of side note on the title alias, Ao (青) that means 'blue' comes is the character that made up Seishun (青春), and Buta (ブタ) itself means 'pig' (豚), but it uses katakana for more emphasis of referring a certain human behavior.

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Story

The story starts with our protagonist, Azusagawa Sakuta, searching for books in a library when he suddenly noticed someone in a bunny girl costume walking casually and unnoticed by everyone else. Turns out that the person was Sakurajima Mai, a senior in his high school. She also happens to be a celebrity in the showbiz industry since her childhood. The reason that Mai wasn't being noticed at the library is because of Adolescence Syndrome, which is a recurring theme throughout the series.

The story introduces Adolescence Syndrome as a supernatural phenomenon that you don't see happening in daily life. Although it does not tell us what are the causes of the syndrome itself, I can say that the syndrome grants the person's wish and desire, whether it is one that they ask consciously or unconsciously.

The series tries to explain the supernatural phenomenon through physics, to be precise: Quantum Mechanics or Quantum Physics. I have been trying to understand more about this field of physics as I currently reading through Michio Kaku's Parallel World and Neil deGrasse Tyson's Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, but then it seems that there's still a lot that I need to learn more. Although the series is only taking a few thoughts of the field, such as the famous Schrödinger's Cat and Laplace's Demon, it does explain necessarily and easily to the audience about the particular case for each character, especially for those who are not exposed to this field of knowledge. That being said, it is not a sci-fi series.

I like how foreshadowing for future arcs are often being used to fill in the mystery of the Adolescence Syndrome. For instance, how the prelude was presented in the first episode, or how characters and their problems are hinted way before their respective character's arc. They do blend well with the narratives and dialogues so it was not something that just randomly and awkwardly disrupts the story progression.

People might say that this series is similar to the Monogatari series to some extent, but it is not. For Monogatari, you might see it from both series encountering supernatural phenomena, although we know that in the Monogatari series, the causes are the oddities (怪異), while it is not sure what or who causes the Adolescence Syndrome to appear in the characters of Ao Buta series. Both indeed have the common trope set of characters like Hitagi and Mai who fill the girlfriend role for Araragi and Sakuta respectively, or first love characters like Hanekawa and Shouko. But it doesn't mean that these two series are alike 100%. Monogatari series is also more action-oriented while it is not the case for Ao Buta, so that's another difference.

It is hard to sum the story in a few sentences, but what I can think of is that Ao Buta explores these keywords as its theme: present state, desire or expectation, acceptance, and rejection or escapism. We have the present state, however, the characters desire or expecting something else. By wishing something else to happen, it leads to the rejection phase, which causes the Adolescence Syndrome to appear. We can see throughout the story that it can be solved through the acceptance of the current state. The story portrays them in a way that you can realize that their problems are common among teenagers or people who are currently mentally growing up to fit into society. This is a psychological genre after all.

(Oh, wait. I think I might have solved the puzzle already.)

The cliffhangers inside each arc made me keep watching it continuously until I finished the arc, or so I thought. After the ending theme and credits, there Is a scene that smoothly connects to the next character's arc, which made me watch the series to the end in one go. Tension and climax started to appear in the middle of the arcs, usually ending the 2 out of 3 episodes with a strong invitation that you need to watch the next episode now. The movie itself, albeit only 1.5 hours, made a rollercoaster emotional journey for me, and it was done well. Didn't feel like it was too long, it was on the spot, considering that it adapts 2 volumes. ちょうど良かった。

As it seems to be a serious-type of anime, they also inserted some jokes to break the ice for a bit. That being said, this anime shows more of sarcastic jokes rather than a comedic one. It does not use exaggerated fanservice scenes to make the joke happens (+ the typical main character being clumsy and ashamed at his action), which I think it is okay and contrary to what the visual of the anime might show and create misunderstandings of the series itself. The movie also still maintains the formula, despite showing less as it's more dramatic than the anime.

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Visual

CloverWorks handles both the anime and movie production, resulting in both having the same quality of art style. As having a close relationship with A-1 Pictures, you can see identical styles of characters and drawings.

I think what amused me personally is that the background. It makes me want to go to Enoshima, naming spots such as the aquarium and the Sea Candle. Scenes at the Shichirigahama Beach, which a lot of scenes occurring there, are also memorable, especially the waves and sunsets for some scenes. How it depicts the real-life locations was done well and it might invite people to visit the real-life locations, or a pilgrimage if you prefer that word.

During heated or tense moments, the character's expression is often drawn in a close-up frame which brings the emotion to life as we watch it. Meanwhile, panning is often used for relaxing moments, enhancing the beautiful background scenes like at the beaches as mentioned previously.

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Audio

While the opening theme by the peggies, "Kimi no Sei" (君のせい), making you a bit jumping and rocking, the ending theme, "Fukashigi no Karte" (不可思議のカルテ), serves as the smooth and calming counterpart. One notable thing is that the ending theme changes according to the character's arc, with its voice actress singing solo rather than the full casts (only for few episodes). The soundtracks cover the series by being coherence with the flow of emotions and feelings that are being shown, with most of the time being mellow tone.

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Final Words

Despite the full title in Japanese or English, this is not a series about a bunny girl (only). However, I'll give thumbs up for the title as it's a good marketing strategy.

(Future Bachelor in Business Administration approved)

It is more about the story of growing up as a person and try to face the problem directly, otherwise, a supernatural phenomenon is going to appear in your life as a manifestation of your inner desire.

Let me end this article with one of the dialogue lines that I like in this series:

咲太くんは言われて嬉しい言葉は何ですか？ 私は「ありがとう」「頑張ったね」「大好き」が三大好きな言葉です。 Sakuta-kun, What words or phrases that make you happy to hear? For me, it's "thank you", "you did well", and "I love you". Those are my three favorite phrases.

Makinohara Shouko