YMMV / Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai

• Award Snub: The fans of this series were pretty pissed when the Best Boy title of Crunchyroll's Anime Awards went to Izuku Midoriya, the protagonist of My Hero Academia, instead of Sakuta.
• Awesome Moments: After learning of Yosuke creating demeaning rumors of Tomoe, Sakuta goads him into a fight, knocks him off balance, and then gives him a biting "The Reason You Suck" Speech. He even turns the proclamation, "I'm a virgin!" into an awesome moment, since it demonstrates his doesn't-care-about-his-reputation personality and is said to defend Tomoe from a jealous jerk spreading rumors about her being promiscuous.
• Awesome Music: The beautifully composed ending theme. Each arc has a rendition performed by the voice actress of the focal character, occupied with their own unique animation. The last episode features the (linked above) full version of the song with all lead female characters singing it, while The Movie has a unique version sang by Asami Seto (Mai) and Inori Minase (Shoko).
• Best Known for the Fanservice: Downplayed, but definitely Invoked by the marketing of this show. From the key visuals, to the teasers, to even the title of the anime, they play up Mai wearing a Playboy Bunny suit. This is all despite the fact that in the series, she only briefly wears one in a bid to invoke a reaction and try to get people to see her. Not to mention, it's only the title of the first Light Novel volume; all of the others after that only share the words "Rascal Does Not Dream of" in the title.
• Fandom Rivalry:
  • A nasty, nasty one with Haruhi fans on 4chan. Do not mention Mai as the better Bunny Girl there, or the Haruhi fans will go after you.
  • It also has a less intense one with Bakemonogatari due to both series having similar premises but different executions with fans debating whether Mongatari's cynical surrealism or Rascal's idealistic but grounded approach is better.
• Fan Nickname: Due to the long title of the light novel, it is often nicknamed "Bunny Girl Senpai" by Westerners when the light novel or anime is referred to. The Japanese nickname it as "AoButa."
  • Nodoka in Mai's body and Mai in Nodoka's body are referred to by some fans as Nodai and Moka respectively.
• Fridge Logic: After Futaba merged with her other self, what happened to her clothes in the hospital? Did they resolve psychologically conflicting desires? What about the food she ate, was it conflicted food that occupied two different positions through quantum teleportation?
• Funny Moments:
  • Kaede walks in on her shirtless brother and a girl in a school uniform sitting on his bed. She immediately comes to the most logical conclusion; the strange girl is a saleswoman. Even after Sakuta tells her otherwise.
  • Tomoe hits Sakuta after mistaking him for a pedophile. After it's explained he was just trying to help a lost kid, she offers a compensation by allowing him to literally kick her butt. A passing bicycle-cop sees this and wonders just what on earth is happening.
  • While at the grocery store, Mai holds hands with Sakuta and jokingly asks if he's having lewd thoughts about her.
    Sakuta: My thoughts are a hundred times lewder than what you're imagining.
• Heartwarming Moments:
  • When Sakuta is helping Futaba with her Adolescence Syndrome problem, he calls up Kunimi and all three of them spend the entire night hanging out together on the beach. To help complete Futaba as one person again, Sakuta gets both Futabas to agree to hang out with Sakuta and Kunimi for an upcoming festival.
  • Mai making up with her sister. Nodoka had spent a long time living in her sister’s shadow and listening to her mother compare her to Mai. Then the two have a "Freaky Friday" Flip where they live the other’s life for a few days. Nodoka is convinced after seeing Mai succeed with a live show and seeing her mother smile at Mai that no one needs her. Sakuta shows her an old aluminum tin filled with letters from Nodoka to her sister that Mai kept. The two sisters finally make amends with each other including them hugging as they revert back to their own bodies.
  • Episode 11 is full of them as Kaede struggles to break out of being a Hikkikomori.
  • Future Sakuta and Mai's meeting before the accident. After everything that happened so far in the movie, this was heavily needed for the main couple.
    • The whole scene in general is both heartwarming and a Tear Jerker as Sakuta desperately hugs Mai, pleading with her to not sacrifice herself and promising her that he'll come back to her alive and well and make her happy. Mai eventually relents but then tells him that he got one thing wrong.
    Mai: I don't particularly expect you to make me happy. We'll find happiness together, the two of us.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: The Japanese voice actors of Sakuta and Mai go on to voice Naofumi and Raphtalia, right after Bunny Girl Senpai has finished airing. Fans have poked fun on this coincidence numerous times throughout the show's run.
  • The dub decided to replicate this by casting Naofumi (later one) and Raphtalia's English voice actors as Sakuta and Mai.
• Hype Backlash: Surprisingly, while Mai is a generally very well-liked character, her massive popularity has attracted a sizable number of detractors, who don’t find her to be a terribly impressive character deserving this level of praise; and at worst, they consider her far too idealized and seemingly perfect to be interesting when compared to other female characters. That said, most people generally appreciate her likable and approachable personality which compares favorably with colder, more abrasive LN heroines.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • Truck-kun has come again to destroy people's lives.^{Explanation (spoilers)} The trailer for the sequel film shows Sakuta about to be hit by a vehicle, which then kills Mai after she knocks him out of the way.
  • Futaba Explains It.^Explanation An offshoot of the Kakyoin Explains It meme on Reddit, where Futaba is portrayed as spending time on the r/Animemes subreddit not only breaking down memes to excruciating detail, but trying to explain certain memes in (occasionally bullshit) scientific terms.
  • "I want them to sandwich me!" ^Explanation During Nodoka's arc Sakuta takes Nodoka, in Mai's body, to the beach. She starts playing in the water, and Sakuta utters this while taking in an eyeful of Mai's thighs. The complete deadpanned way he says this turned the scene into a quick meme.
• Narm Charm:
  • Sakuta, standing in the school courtyard, screaming at the top of his lungs to the whole world how much he loves Mai, now that he has regained his memories of her. In any other series, this would be pure narm, but the sheer sincerity and context presented here elevates it to an awesomely heartwarming moment.
  • In The Movie Sakuta travels back in time to save Mai and uses the whole time a ridiculous pink bunny suit that's jarring with the otherwise serious tone of the movie, that doesn't stop the emotional moments from working.
• Nightmare Fuel: Mai's death in the 1st movie sequel, for its chilling realism — Mai is ran over and killed by a car, a shockingly common way to die in real life. Her mother and Sakuta's reactions were also completely heartwrenching and equally as realistic portrayals of both bereavement and Survivor Guilt, respectively.
• Self-Fanservice: Mai is not so much of a Ms. Fanservice in the anime, besides the short time she appears in the bunny suit she lacks significant moments of fanservice overall. And as seen when she was younger, she's quite a Reluctant Fanservice Girl by nature, despite having nothing against guys who find her attractive appearance-wise. That said, fanart represents her in definitely more fanservicey, revealing outfits and overall appearances, even though that's extented to the other girls as well.
• So Okay, It's Average: The consensus is that the second movie Rascal Does Not Dream of a Sister Venturing Out is pretty decent but hardly one of the strongest stories to come out of the franchise and that unlike the first one it feels more like a compilation of episodes rather that a proper movie.
• Spiritual Successor: As many anime fans often see "Bunny Girl Senpai" as "the son of Bakemonogatari and My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong, as I Expected", Mai is often thought to be the daughter of Senjougahara and Yukino. However, it should be noted that, despite some similarities, Mai is a lot nicer than the other two. All of them are snarky and witty girls, but while Mai is friendly and pure-hearted, and just teases Sakuta, Yukino really starts as a Good Is Not Nice abrasive and haughty lead female (though she Took a Level in Kindness later on), while Senjougahara is a rather selfish kind of Unscrupulous Hero with a yandere streak, and undoubtedly the meanest of the trio.
  • And what about Sakuta? He shares the proneness to lecherous remarks with Araragi, the refusal of social conventions with Hachiman, and the snarkiness with both main male characters. Still, he's definitely not a copy of them.
• Tear Jerker:
  • When Mai tries having a chat with her mom at the beach to discuss changing agencies in episode 2. Her mother walks past her, and when Sakuta tries telling her about Mai, she seemingly doesn't remember her at all.
  • In episode 3, Sakuta learns from Futaba that the likely reason for people forgetting about Mai may be due to the unconsciousness one has during sleep. As such, he tries various methods of self-induced insomnia, but eventually, his tiredness gets the best of him after Mai spiked his drink with sleeping pills, and is unable to stay awake when Mai tries helping him at home on his exams. He does eventually regain his memories of her, but it's still extremely sad to watch Sakuta losing his battle of drowsiness while Mai is complacent about what's going on.
    Mai: I was alone in the beginning, so I'll be alright. Sakuta forgetting about me isn't much...but still, thanks for everything. And....I'm sorry.
  • In episode 12, Kaede's struggles seem all for naught as the "original" Kaede returns, leaving Sakuta (and the audience) crying over the "death" of the girl we've come to know.
  • The 1st movie sequel brings the sadness up to eleven:
    • Mai's death scene. As Sakuta attempts to sacrifice himself to save Shoko, Mai pushed him out of the way from an incoming vehicle and was killed instead.
    • The aftermath of Mai's death wasn't any better. With her mother crying and yelling at the doctor to give Mai back, Nodoka yelling at Sakuta for not protecting her and breaking down in tears soon after, and Sakuta being completely broken.
    Sakuta: I'm sorry... I should've been the one to die...
    • Sakuta's breakdown after Mai's death.
    Sakuta: Help... Help... Someone, please save Mai-san... I don't care who... Please save Mai-san... Please... I beg you!
• Tough Act to Follow:
  • The Nodoka Toyohama arc, Rascal Does Not Dream of an Idol With a Sister Complex, is considered by the fanbase to be the weakest of the arcs adapted into anime. While not a Base-Breaking Character, fans found Nodoka's jealousy of her sister not to carry the same depth that the other heroines did. Definitely doesn’t help that she’s immediately followed by Kaede’s arc, which has been widely praised as the biggest Tear Jerker are of the entire series.
  • Likewise, the second movie Rascal Does Not Dream of a Sister Venturing Out is considered a decent story but hardly as strong as the ones adapted in the last arc of the anime and the first movie. Given it was hyped as the return of the franchise probably made it a bit more disappointing.

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