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Jun 12, 2020
If I were to sum up this season in one word, it would be inconsistent.
I would divide this series up into two separate arcs plus an intro onto season five. The first arc was acceptable, the beginning was oh so slow and was filled with dragged out dialogue and plot leading up to a few episodes. Once we hit the moments of action, the show became enjoyable to watch again. I'm not obsessed with action or anything, however, the plot building in the first arc was just been unbearable to watch, it was slow, boring and dragged out.
However, what was mentioned before is
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not my main gripe. The second arc is. Never in my life have I had to bare through such a disappointing arc. My issues with it are as follows...
Not once did I feel any fear for our protagonists from the weakest antagonist we've known to date. They were so poorly constructed and it was just embarrassing to watch. They somewhat pulled it together at the end, but it was too late. No amount of sob story can save poor character development.
Furthermore, The entire arc seemed pointless, it only served to drag us away from the true story. I'm not against side stories, but when they're written this poorly and take up 1/3 of the season, I have no choice but to treat is as absolute filler. Utterly useless.
That said, there is a light at the end of this dark tunnel. The last few episodes showed that there is still hope for this show. We finally returned back to the main plotline after eight dreadful episodes, with a bang. I am excited for what the next season will bring and I hope they can recover from this undoubtedly disappointing season.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Feb 24, 2020
*This review contains spoilers and is meant to be an in-depth analysis*
Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai. Such an audacious title is worthy enough, on its own, to catch someone’s attention. However, we should never judge a book by its cover. Well, in this case, we should never judge a television show by its title. Beyond the ludicrous title lies an expertly crafted, thirteen-episode, show that not only invests us in the multitude of characters within a short amount of time but also gives us relatable experiences that may connect deeply within many of us.
The basic premise of the show is a simple,
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yet complex phenomenon called “adolescence syndrome.” As the name suggests, this strange syndrome occurs during adolescence. However, its complexity is due to the seemingly infinite types of adolescence syndrome that people may experience. This is because of the type of adolescence syndrome that the characters experience is due to their biggest mental and emotional struggle, during adolescence. In reality, adolescence syndrome is a clever, fictional illness, created by the writers to showcase a slew of problems that adolescents may face during their growth to maturity. As I said previously, the show is quite short. It is formatted in five separate arcs that focus on a different character. This allows the show to demonstrate its true strength: character building which in turn creates empathetic stories that resonate with us.
Throughout the show, we are treated to five different cases of adolescence syndrome, and with that, five different characters. Within those five stories, three of them stand out as being extraordinarily impactful to me.
At first, we are greeted by Tomoe Koga. An average adolescent who is just trying to fit into her class. Her problem arises when she is asked out on a date by her classmate Maezawa. Koga, knowing that her friend Rema Kashiba has a crush on Maezawa, couldn’t possibly accept the dating opportunity. If Koga didn’t accept the invitation, she would become shunned by her class. All she ever wanted was to fit in, so as she experiences a moment of panic, her adolescence syndrome occurs. Koga wakes up on the same day, over and over again and is forced to keep on facing this moment of panic no matter what she does. The only way to stop this repetition is to accept or reject Maezawa’s invitation. This applies to many of us throughout adolescence, we are just trying to fit in with our peers and not do anything to make us stand out in a negative light. This desire to conform puts a lot of pressure on us and forces us to think deeply about our decisions. Koga’s story brings in a very realistic scenario that may occur in one of our own lives. Accompanied by the desire to belong also comes a desire to please others. We are often stuck with difficult decisions that stress our desire to please everyone, yet we must move forward and choose the path of least harm.
The story that I resonate the most with is Toyohama Nodoka’s. Her desire to meet the expectations of her famous sister, Mai, is most applicable to me. Nodoka developed somewhat of an inferiority complex, which caused her to switch bodies with her sister to live out her life. As a result of adolescence syndrome. It was revealed that Nodoka had looked up to Mai her entire life and wanted to be her. This story is particularly compelling to siblings as it is very normal for one sibling to envy the other. This is especially true if both siblings are going through adolescence and discovering new hobbies and becoming more mature. In a broader spectrum, this arc demonstrates the fierce competition that adolescents face during their growth. The desire to succeed in school, sports and other extracurricular activities increase the tension in our everyday lives. This battle will have some stronger competitors than others which will undoubtedly create an environment where a feeling of envy will emerge.
As the show comes to an end, we are greeted by Kaede Azusagawa. She is introduced as an adolescent that seems to suffer from agoraphobia. Later, we discover that her agoraphobia was triggered by her adolescence syndrome. Kaede was cyberbullied by her entire class which in turn developed her fear of going outside. Beyond that, it also erased her memory and developed an alter ego version of herself. The memory of being bullied was too painful for Kaede to continue living with so her adolescence syndrome triggered under that immense trauma. This story also brings the desire to conform with others to not stand out. As adolescents, we have the desire to not be alone, to not be considered a loner so that we won’t be targeted by cruel individuals.
What sets Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai apart from other generic Japanese shows, that document the lives of adolescents is the clever use of a strange phenomenon to demonstrate the impact of the struggles that adolescents face. This creates a compelling story that emphasizes the effects rather than just glossing over them in favor of telling just a story. The show also excels in its character presentation. Every character has their own distinct story that is well written and extremely engaging, coupled with experiences that most people can heavily relate to. Typically, shows that attempt to accomplish this become jumbled in their thoughts or become extremely laborsome to watch. For Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai, neither of those issues were present.
As adolescents, our main source of stress is our social interactions. The people around us create a sense of competition and pressure as we try to surpass and please them at the same time. Sometimes, the stress of being an adolescent is just too much. Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai, demonstrates this struggle beautifully. All be it through a title that is still shockingly strange to this day.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Jun 3, 2019
This review was made to provide as little spoilers as possible, therefore I won't be providing specific examples for my accusations. As you watch the show these flaws will appear.
They're back... but wait, are they going to be back forever? Some of you might be asking what this means... I'm talking about the obvious plot armor placed on anyone with the Fairy Tail insignia. This is a horrible decision made by the writing team of the source material. Sure, they can protect the beloved characters of the show to avoid community outrage. However, this move only diminishes the impact of a characters supposed death.
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What makes the plot armor even more aggravating is that, in the anime, they exaggerate the death to evoke sadness. This tactic worked for the first death as I legitimately felt a feeling of despair. However, all of that was immediately lost when the character came back to life. This paved the way for more characters to "parish" and after the second person was saved by the bell, this completely erased all meaning in character deaths as I just believed that they would return. Furthermore, the characters don't just die from normal combat causes. They die from heroic feats of courage "sacrificing" themselves for the benefit of their peers. That in itself is beautiful, but they never die, which makes the moment less meaningful.
Also, pacing is rough around the edges. I understand for an anime of this magnitude they will sometimes sacrifice pacing for income, so I won't be too critical of them. However, this cannot be ignored. My main gripe is with the formulaic nature of the episodes. They all essentially follow the same layout... slow beginning which remains stagnant, with a possible few moments of action, until we reach the very end of the episode, which is often a cliffhanger. This allows the viewer to really anticipate the next episode, but it makes the overall watching experience slow and boring. Just count how much time character expressions take per episode.
The whole “power of friendship” is bullshit and is so overused to the point that it just became annoying and childish.
Overall, this show is a disgrace to its previous seasons with pacing issues, repetitive bullshit and aggressive plot armor placed on characters that detract from the overall potential and enjoyment.
Reviewer’s Rating: 2
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Jun 1, 2019
A perfect harmony of personalities that cause humorous and interesting conversation between the characters. A not clueless male protagonist that doesn't fail to acknowledge the girl’s affection toward him. A female cast that doesn't instantly throw themselves at the male protagonist. These traits set 5-toubun no Hanayome (The Quintessential Quintuplets) apart from the generic harem.
What is a generic harem? The two that come to mind are High School DxD and Nisekoi. High School DxD, without spoiling much, embodies the generic harem concept with high sex appeal in its female cast and a clueless male protagonist (Issei) who fails to realize the obvious hints the
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females are showing. This provides boring interactions as the female cast actively throws themselves toward Issei which ends up with the same result every time, Issei left face red and oblivious of the affection toward him. This repetitiveness only slows down the show and hinders the progression of the plot. Although some might find these pointless interactions funny or entertaining, they only serve to frustrate me as I scream into my computer screen "GROW A BRAIN DUMBASS". Nisekoi suffers from the same problems. However, I would say the character interactions are a bit more meaningful compared to DxD, but still hinder plot progression.
Enough with the criticism of other shows. As stated before, 5-toubun on Hanayome sets itself apart due to its brilliant writing of character interactions that always serve to be entertaining. I've never been so entertained just hearing two characters converse. Here is broad explanation for each of the girls without spoiling too much...
Itsuki and Nino both serve the tsundere role in the show. However, they show different degrees of the tsundere trait. Nino showed a sharp distrust in Fuutarou which allowed the beginning of the show to really feel as if Fuutarou needed to earn her trust to succeed. The writers knew this and made Fuutarou's journey more difficult with a few unexpected mishaps. This served primarily as comic relief and were a joy to watch as these scenes were beautifully crafted and they all made sense in the scheme of the story. Itsuki was much less harsh and served as the gateway between the quintuplets and Fuutarou. Her interactions with Fuutarou were very relatable, concise and slightly humorous. One of the primary highlights of her character was her process of finally beginning to trust and develop mild affection for Fuutarou. It was beautiful and unexpected.
Miku stands out with her personality, she is the stand alone dandere in the beginning of the show and her interactions with Fuutarou only serve to further enhance her trait. These interactions can only be described as pure, wholesome innocence with a hint of humor. *SPOILERS AHEAD* (until the end of the paragraph) Throughout the show we get to see Miku develop into a more eager and upfront individual, breaking her dundere trait by the end of the first season and vowing to the other four sisters that she will take Fuutarou for herself. Although this transformation is not groundbreaking, the well written dialogue allows for the contrast in character to be more meaningful.
Yotsuba and Ichika both play a similar role with their deredere like personalities. Although these two characters could have been boring and one dimensional, they weren't kept that way. Instead, tied with their personality trait of being friendly and energetic, came their moments of adversity and seriousness which really helped make them more meaningful characters as well has enhance their character development. Furthermore, their interactions bring a sense of light heartedness to the overall story as they are generally always energetic and positive outside of their moments of adversity.
However, so many positives come some flaws. Based off the score that I chose to give this; the flaws are present. However, the positives still far outweigh the flaws. The main gripe that I have with the show is the plot sequence. In the OP the main end goal was established as which girl, out the five quintuplets, was Fuutarou going to be married to. It was then shown that Fuutarou was going to be their tutor and that, we assumed, would allow their relationships to blossom. This was just not a strong enough motive for them to eventually get married. Most likely, the writers also realized this when writing the source material and added a much more convincing motive. But, this was added far too late, toward the last 1/3 of the first season, this made the beginning feel lacking as the plot just didn't have complete harmony like the character interactions. Even though this may seem like a major issue, it wasn't a big deal in the long run as it was eventually amended.
Overall, this show was phenomenal with its brilliant character interactions that not only bring humor, but also beautifully promote character development that is both exciting and shocking. I highly recommend it!
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Mar 31, 2019
Alright,
Charlotte was an overall very enjoyable experience, however, it is hindered by somewhat poor character development and many loop-holes that may bother some.
I felt that they focused too much on Tomori and Yu while somewhat ignoring Yusa/Misa and Takajou. Toward the middle of the story, I'd almost forgotten about these two "main" characters. But I really didn't care for either of them so It didn't affect my enjoyment, but it might affect yours.
*SPOILERS AHEAD*
The overall story had many loopholes, for example when Yu took Takajou, Tomori and Yusa's powers before leaving the journey he did not once take advantage of those abilities
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on his journey. Furthermore, when Yu took the ability of healing, he didn't heal his damaged eye. why? Also, couldn't the people who want to capture the power users raid the school? What is stopping them? However, the main thing that bothered me the most was that despite the danger of exposing themselves as power users they used them without caution on their missions.
The final episode may also disappoint some as I believed that this series could have continued for another seven episodes, at least, instead of rushing the crap out of the end.
Overall, despite all the issues listed above, I enjoyed the show way too much for these issues to majorly affect my score. I highly recommend this show.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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