Rascal Does Not Dream Of Bunny Girl Senpai Review
Yen Press’ recent launch of the critically acclaimed Rascal series is an absolute must-read!
High school rom-com Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai is written by Hajime Kamoshida and illustrated by Keji Mizoguchi. You can read more about the news of the release in our article here.
There will be a second novel in the series. The author says so. Can’t help but be mad at the cliffhanger the story is left on though. Well, without further ado into the review!
Review
Rascal was a rollercoaster for me from start to finish, that doesn’t sound positive but hear me out! I thought at first it was going to be a typical rom-com with a bit of supernatural in it. Plenty of comedy, great characters who all have fantastic chemistry with each other but nothing really special. Nothing that stands out. I am glad to report that I was beyond wrong!
Let’s start with the characters. At first they seem kinda 2D, yeah they’re not necessarily what you’d expect from lead characters in a rom-com. Sakuta is straight up blunt, kinda rude and makes it clear he doesn’t care for societal norms but clearly cares for others. Mai is a girl who seems like she’s gonna do the whole “tsundere” thing but really doesn’t. You get bad first impressions but in a way that’s a good thing because it’s only when you’ve finished the novella that you realise the tiny hints of character change in them that make you end up rooting for them at the end. It’s so ingeniously subtle that I didn’t notice at all in my first read, then started reading again and thought to myself “was Sakuta always this much of a d*ck!?”
The sneakiest plot I’ve ever come across
This ingenious subtlety doesn’t just end there though, the plot. The plot needs to be spoken about. I’m going to try and avoid spoilers so this may come across rambly but I only do that because I genuinely want people to read this for themselves and experience what I did. There were times when I found the story slowing a bit, one example I’ll give is a conversation about 50 pages in. Our two mains are finally having a bit more of a heart to heart than they ever have and it all gets a bit slow. There’s alot of dialogue and most of the things being said seemed to be completely unimportant. Then the story throws you a massive curveball! I went from “oh not this is gonna become a teen romance with supernatural crap ain’t it?” To “what in the living hell is happening!?” Within one sentence.
I kid you not.
One sentence, that’s all it took to shake the entire thing up.
And when I look back at it, it’s genius because the entire book hints so heavily at this plotline but you just don’t see it until it happens and then look back and think “of course! It was there all along!”
The story knows exactly how to pace itself to give you just the right amount and type of information at the right time. I cannot fault it, not even a single bit.
Final thoughts
Kamoshida-Sensei’s fine art to storytelling is evident here. The hints, clues, loveable characters and meticulous attention to detail should be praised.
Like I said previously, I’d want everyone to experience what I did which is why I’ve been so vague (perhaps too vague) but getting into the nitty gritty of characters and their bonds would be kinda spoiler-y as this story is massively character driven.
The illustrations by Mizoguchi-sensei are beautiful and I was glad to have them. They gave me a good idea of the kinds of look the author was going for with each character in mind but they’re no so out there that they shatter your own illusions.
