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Jul 22, 2020
**Disclaimer: I watched this anime earlier in my anime career. This has undoubtedly coloured my impression of and enjoyment of it. I hadn't been watching long enough to be, for example, frustrated with overused tropes, or other ideas long time watchers have expressed. Everything felt new and exciting. That said, coming back to this anime later on, I will try to talk about how it made me feel with the new found perspective of a little bit more exposure to anime.
TLDR: In every aspect, this anime was really solid. The reason that I will never forget it is because the incredible relationship between Sakuta and
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Mai, and the emotional impact Kaede's story had on me.
To start, lets talk about the content of the anime. I'm sure this has come up in every other review, but the bunny girl costume is a total bait, and not at all indicative of the content of the anime. It makes a little bit of sense within the story of the anime, but is still pretty weird. Additionally, a lot of the supernatural occurrences are explained with quantum theory, which while was a decent attempt, kind of came across to me as complete nonsense and kind of unnecessary. I could have done without it, but maybe others appreciated it more than I did. Other then that, the story was pretty great, and I REALLY enjoyed it! It was entertaining, the art was decent, no complaints all around.
Now the most important part: how it made me feel. aka. the emotional impact this anime had on me, and the whole reason I felt impelled to come back and write a review for it. Let me start off with a little story. When I was pretty young, I read this series about a dragon rider and his intelligent dragon. The entire series, 3-4 books worth, follower these two and their adventures together. They grew closer and closer as the books went on, and it was a really beautiful relationship. They fought together, visited other countries together, etc. When it got to the last book (I don't mind spoiling it since I have no idea what series this was), through a cavalcade of unfortunate circumstances, the rider and his dragon are separated indefinitely. The story ended. I closed that book and came back to reality. They would never see each other again. Their 3-4 books of relationship were over. This crushed child me. I felt real loss. I had spent maybe ~100 hours with these characters, and I felt every bit of loss they did. It took me a full week to recover from that, and I don't mean recover as in I stopped thinking about it. I mean recover as in to stop being on the verge of tears all day, and boiling over at the thought of the fate of those two characters. It is a level of misery I have rarely felt since. **SPOILERS** That said, after bingeing the last half of this show over the weekend, I encountered this same level of pain through empathy. When Kaede recovered her original memories, but we lost the Kaede that we had spent the whole show with, I felt this same loss. I assumed Sakuta would find a way to save both, or that everything would fundamentally turn out alright in the end, but this show didn't shy away from real consequences. It hurts to watch shows that aren't afraid to have a less than starry-eyed ending, but I will always love and respect them. I think it is so important for stories to sometimes reflect the harsh or even cruel reality of this world. Sometimes we lose people without reason. Oftentimes, things don't end perfectly, and we face hard choices with no right answers, just less wrong ones. La La Land comes to mind when I think of stories that don't have the ending people want, but the ending that people need. This is what draws such a strong resemblance to that book I read. I spent the next two days, Monday and Tuesday, being absolutely crushed. Again, I was on the verge of tears all day, and quite embarrassingly, I cried a fair amount on the bus ride to campus that morning. That's right, a university student crying over fictional characters. I'm not ashamed though. I hope I never lose this level of empathy. This is the main reason I rated this show so highly. For whatever reason, the emotional beats strongly resonated me, and I was emotionally devastated after finishing it. Although these were feelings of grief, they were the strongest feeling I had felt in a long time. All of that said, I don't know how many people will be convinced to watch it just because I had an incredibly emotional experience. I don't even expect most people to have that kind of response to it, but I wouldn't be surprised if some do.
"That sadness is another precious thing that Kaede has given you. It shows exactly how Big Kaede’s existence was"
-Mai
Something else that really stood out to me about this anime was the relationship between Mai and Sakuta. I've consumed a ton of anime and manga since, and I have never encountered a relationship that can even come close. Maybe Bloom Into You, but that is such a different relationship. Why did I love this relationship so much? I can think of one moment in the anime that solidified it me. Mai finds Sakuta and one of the other females hiding under the desk together for a reason that made sense in context. The obvious direction most animes would take this moment is to: play the moment up for laughs, have Mai get super jealous and mad over it, throw lots of superfluous conflict into the relationship. Instead, Mai handles it maturely, she gives Sakuta a chance to explain, and she believes what he says because there is already so much trust in that relationship. That is really the crux of this relationship. They are snarky, and cheeky, and funny. They make jokes, and little innuendos. They are sarcastic. But they are also so clearly in love. They are so fully trusting of each other. Their relationship mature, in the way that it does without cheap high school drama, ridiculous bouts of unjust jealousy, or comical failings of communication, There is strife, and there are struggles. It isn't always perfect sunshine and rainbows, but it is real. Their relationship is one I think about often, and admittedly maybe even strive for. That is why I love this show so much.
Bunny Girl Senpai was an amazing show to me. Writing this review has made me desperately want to re-watch it. It is the kind of show that I won't stop thinking about for a long time, and those kinds of shows are rare. I hope that other people can get the kind of meaning and enjoyment out of it that I did. Highly recommend.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Jul 21, 2020
For the last year or so, I've been thinking about the power of telling stories. Stepping into the shoes of a character we may be unfamiliar with in our own lives and seeing the world through their eyes does more for educating than emotionless facts and statistics ever could. Whenever someone asks me what fictitious story has most changed my life, I immediately think of Hourou Musuko. This is truly an incredible read, and I highly recommend it for everyone, regardless of whether you are completely ignorant of trans people or you feel like you already know more than enough.
TLDR: This story does an amazing
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job representing trans people, and completely changed my life and the way I view trans people. This story made me grow as a person while being a very entertaining read.
First off, as you may notice themed in my reviews, anytime a story represents a marginalized / minority group, I am ecstatic. It is so important for these stories to be told, both so the wider society is exposed to people that they may not encounter in their bubbled life, and so that these groups can have stories about people that are like them. This story delineates the life of a young trans girl [and for a while a young trans boy]. This isn't the first time a manga has featured cross-dressing, but it is the first time (at least the first time I've encountered) that it doesn't fetishize it, play it solely for laughs, or ridicule it as silly or absurd. As far as I can tell as a cis person, it does a good job representing trans people. Just there, I would probably love this manga. It tells the story of a marginalized group that is rarely represented in media, and it tells it in a tasteful, accurate, and thoughtful way.
It has been a while since I read this manga, but as far as I can remember, it was generally an interesting story. I enjoyed reading it, representation aside. The characters were interesting. The story has often funny, which I found surprising given the serious nature of the topic at hand. It is the kind of read that tackles delicate issues but in an engaging way, which is really the power of fictional stories. We remain entertained the entire time while we simultaneously digest and actualize the story and its underlying themes and lessons.
I say that this story is the one that has most changed my life, and here is why. As philosophy tube would say, I was guilty of being "yer dad". I would openly deny being transphobic, and sincerely believe it. Intellectually, I could fully acknowledge that trans people deserved rights and protections. I knew that trans people were the gender they asserted, but was simultaneously uncomfortable around them. I didn't quite understand any it, but knew better than to express that. I hadn't done any of the hard work of understanding and empathizing, just the easy work of espousing the "correct" stances. Living life through the characters in this manga has helped squelch the last spore of transphobia I'd been hiding. It let me better understand what it means to be trans, and to empathize with the struggles that trans people face. This was just the start, and I am in no way saying that if you read Hourou Musuko you are no longer transphobic. However, for me, reading this manga let me start of journey of engaging with trans people in my life and trans creators. This book made me aware of just how ignorant I had been, and how important it is to do the hard work to overcome internal biases and to break the cycle of hate we've been handed. This has been such an incredible book for my own growth, and it is impossible to fully describe the myriad of aspects of my life it has changed.
It wasn't actually so much seeing the life of a trans person that changed me, but seeing myself reflected in some of the other characters. There were several characters who weren't openly hostile and violent (which is tragically an issue many trans people face, just look of crime statistics against trans people), but who just didn't get it. They were ignorant, and they were "yer dad", and they made life so incredibly difficult for Shuichi. They constantly invalidated who they were as a person, and said hurtful and insensitive things. They were just unacceptably ignorant, and that ignorance caused a lot of harm. My first reaction was to get so frustrated with them, and kind of despise them and their wilful ignorance. However, I soon realized that the reason I despised them so much was because of how much of myself I saw in them. I was ignorant of my own volition, and I was unquestionably perpetuating many of the same harmful ideas they were. This is what actuated my desire for change and self growth. I saw myself and the role I was playing in the life of trans people, and I realized how much I disliked it. It wasn't enough to not be violent or openly hateful. I needed to be an ally.
---Spoilers---
Finally, I would be remiss to fail to talk about the bittersweet ending of this book. I was unbelievably heartbroken when I got to the end. This story ends with the looming threat of puberty. We've spent the entire story watching our dear Shuichi Nitori weather hardship and grow in confidence in who they are, only to have to acknowledge that this is at risk when puberty arrives. Their voice will drop, their adam's apple will develop, they'll get facial hair, and it will get harder and harder to present as female. Life is about to get a whole lot harder for her, and it hurts to see. The most surprising thing for me reading this was just how much I ended empathizing for Shuichi and this upcoming struggle. I would have never guessed how deeply it would effect back before I started reading it. Anyway, I just remember the ending of this story having a profound effect on me, and really messing me up emotionally.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Jul 19, 2020
I watched this one a while ago, but I just had to come back and talk about how much I freaking love this movie. Just to give you an idea, though it may out me and my dorkiness, here are a few facts. 1. I have been learning ASL ever since I watched this, and have stuck with it for more than year. I was also inspired by Dragon Prince, but primarily Koi no Katachi 2. I almost never re-watch movies or reread books, but Koi no Katachi is one of the few exceptions. I have re-watched this movie countless times, and it is my
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go to movie when I want to show people just how incredible anime can be. 3. After finishing this movie late at night, I immediately binged the entire manga, sleep be damned.
So yeah, that out of the way, lets talk about why I loved this movie so much. It is hard to describe just how much this film means to me. My words can't do it justice, but I will do my best.
Artwork: Incredible, stunning, so beautiful. It was so pleasurable to watch.
Music: Inspirational, heart-rending, just really solid.
Characters: multidimensional, imperfect and realistic, empathetic, enjoyable and likeable. These characters felt real. They were all flawed and flawed in very different ways, but for the most part, only in ways that made me love them and connect with them even more. Whether it was running from problems instead of facing them, following along with others even when it is wrong or hurts others, hurting others through ignorance, hurting others through our own insecurities, jealousy, each character was unique and wonderful in their own way. Also, there were several characters that I absolutely adored.
Story: I don't have enough adjectives to do it justice. This story was so powerful in so many ways. First off, so nice to see something like being deaf being represented in cinema. I don't know how important this kind of representation is because I am still learning about the Deaf community, but whenever a minority or marginalized group is represented, I am ecstatic. Secondly, I thought the subject was fascinating and new. We get the beautiful story of Shoko who is bullied, mistreated, outcasted, and how this hurts her and how they recover and grow from it. Beautiful, classic, meaningful. But then, we get another story. The bully. This is new to me. What do we do when we know we've hurt someone, beyond repair, beyond redemption, beyond any sort of justification? We see how Shoya has grown, and how deeply he regrets the damage he has done, to the point of wanting to take his own life. He has left scars on Shoko's heart that are not easy to heal. Seeing his growth and his attempts to make sincere amends, not self-satisfying nonsense, was incredible.
I was never a bully in highschool, but I think everyone was universally a little bit shittier in school. There are so many little things that I regret doing in school, things that undoubtedly made other people's lives that much harder at a time when everyone is so vulnerable. I think the story of making amends for things you did when you were a "different person" is so important. I was more naive, more insecure, less emotionally mature, less kind, less thoughtful, less experienced. In part, this movie gave me the push to reach out to the people I was unfair/unkind/mean to and apologize to them. My wrongs were nothing as spectacular as the wrongs of this movie, but I'm so glad I apologized and showed that I had grown and that I regret the things I did. When did this turn into a confessional time!
Anyway, if you like anime, you absolutely need to watch this movie. It is a masterpiece and a reminder that there are incredible stories in anime just like any medium. If you don't like anime or haven't really watched any anime, this movie is the perfect place to start. The culture shock is minimal and the story is so incredibly powerful and universal. I will never stop recommending and re-watching this anime with any of my friends who are willing.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Jul 19, 2020
This show was really chaotic, and I feel like there is a lot I missed watching. The dream-like quality of the world and the absurdity and surrealism were oddly satisfying. Watching it left me very emotional but in an incomprehensible way. I teared up at the end of the movie, but I'm not quite sure why. Was it the romance? Was it how elusory youthful memories are and how they are stretched? Was how fully alive these characters felt, and how little my life resembles that? Or was it all of the above? Watching this wasn't like watching any other anime. The story/plot takes a
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sideline, and instead, we are carried along by broad strokes of mood and moments, of genre and feeling. This show was absurd, beautiful, nonsensical, meaningful, but most importantly, really enjoyable to watch. I was pulled from scene to scene, caught up in the whimsy of this world that was somehow still grounded in emotional realism. Each moment felt absurd in its own right, but together, painted a kind of emotional canvas that really moved me. I'm no critic, and I'm sure there are better ways to describe this movie, so I'll just say this: I enjoyed watching it, and it really moved my heart.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Aug 16, 2019
I came into this manga a little hesitant, to be perfectly honest. I looked at the art style and thought, "Oh, this is an older manga, I wonder if its any good". I'm used to reading the new and seasonal stuff, but man was I in for a surprise.
This story reminded me what made me fall in love with manga in the first place. They may be far and few between, but there are great authors with even greater stories to tell. The depth of this story just touched my heart. It starts off as your typical high-school love story (and I did really
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enjoy that part of it. Just taking the first half, this was an excellent romance story), but then it transitions into some darker, and more profound. It gives you a vivid dive into what it means to be human, and I mean human in the way that whenever someone does something bad, we say they are only human. We are all a little messed up, some of us more then others, many through no fault of our own, but this story gives me hope. We are all trapped by vicious cycles, but those cycles can be broken.
There is just so much to talk about with this manga, I don't even know where to start.
For the first half, I really loved how each side character was given their own unique and beautiful love story. Each persons struggle was unique, but I found myself reflected in each piece. I felt attached to each character, and really loved deepening my understanding of them. It was like I got a little tangent from our main romance, but each tangent was so great in its own right, that I would have no issue reading an entire manga about them.
For the second half, I was just straight up blown away. The depiction of both struggles and people overcoming those struggles had me alternating between crying from despair and joy. Not to mention the classic theme of people growing up, leaving their high-school friends, and living their life. This was one of those stories that made me step back and look at my own life, and just, get excited? That's not quite the right word. Its more just being amazed that I get the opportunity to experience this crazy and amazing thing we call life. This story changed me, and for that, it deserves 10 stars.
I desperately need to go back and find more great, older manga like this. Society may change, and our stories change with them, but we are still human, and this story is touchingly human. It speaks to something innate in the human experience, and that kind of story will always resonate with me. If you haven't read this manga, you need to. Its got romance, its got deep characters, its got coming of age, and if you are anything like me, you will cry (a lot).
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Jun 19, 2019
This was an enjoyable manga to read. Each of the five main characters had their own unique twist on struggles with love, and each of their stories were interesting to follow. It was a fun plot device, where they turn into girls when it rains. Despite the story revolving around it, this story doesn't have a terrible amount of deeply insightful things to say changing genders. However, there were a few things that I liked, eg: some same sex crushes; which I always love to see. Other then that, this was just a fun, light, read. The time I spent reading it was enjoyable, and
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I could hardly put it down by the end. That being said, it wasn't deeply impactful, and I will probably forget most of it eventually. I also really enjoyed the dynamic between the five boys all struggling through something together. The camaraderie that they develop because of shared circumstances is just so real.
====SPOILERS AFTER====
Almost everyone gets the girl at the end of this story, or they plan to re-meet in several years, or they confessed to the boy they liked, It was just a solid and satisfying ending. No cliff hangers, no real ambiguity, no unresolved issues. I love it. Its the kind of ending that just makes you feel good inside. One thing I noticed is that it does feel like the characters were shoehorned into same sex relationships. I really wanted the main character and the other boy to get together, but that didn't happen. Tragic. It was still a good ending for me though.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Jun 17, 2019
This was a fun little story. It was pretty short, but I think that worked well for it. Anymore, and the premise would have made the story feel like it was dragging on. That being said, the ending did feel a tiny bit rushed, just skipping 14 years or whatever, but what can you do.
I really love stories where someone is sent back to highschool, like re:Life, etc, but I feel like the concept could have been done a bit better here. The flashbacks were inconsistent, and didn't feel like they made sense. This was a good read, and I was surprised to see
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it has a pretty low rating of7.56. I enjoyed my time reading this, and actually just ate through it in one go.
One thing I felt was that Tanaka's motivations weren't very convincing. More on that in the spoiler's section.
Other then that, this was a fun little read.
====SPOILERS FOLLOW====
I think the ending was really sweet, how he managed to save Yoshino from the stabber. I get warm fuzzies thinking about what their life will look like now.
I felt like Tanaka's motivations weren't very strong, like how he freaks out when Ichijou was just talking to his fiance. I hate seeing insecure small people act like that, and then have the story be like, yeah, that's normal. No, its psychotic, and if any of my friends acted like that, I wouldn't be friends with them anymore. It kind of put a dampener on the story for me. In fact, his motivations the entire time weren't very convincing. They tried to portray him as a "actually good person", but then also had him murdering a highschool friend because... I don't know, because he isn't nice to his crush. It felt a little silly.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Jun 17, 2019
This was a short and fun read. I definitely recommend picking it up. The characters were all interesting, the art was pretty good, and the premise felt new and intriguing.
This manga features cross-dressing as one of its plot elements. It didn't have some brilliant statement to make about cross-dressing and gender identity, like "Hourou Musuko" (but I mean seriously, after that read, nothing can really compare). However, it didn't present it in a pervy, titillating way, which I really appreciated. In a way, maybe it is normalizing it, in that the entire focus of the manga isn't on the fact that they cross-dress, it
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is just a plot element, but it also isn't overly disrespectful (and I mean in comparison to other manga dealing with cross-dressing). That's just what I think.
This was just a really solid, and cute love story, there isn't much else to say. I really enjoyed reading it. It wasn't a mind blowing, life changing, experience, but I would recommend anyone who likes SOL/romance to give it a try.
Itsuki is best girl, and anyone who disagrees is a chump.
JK team Botan all the way.
====SPOILERS FOLLOW====
I just wanted to talk about some stuff that will spoil the story. This is mostly for myself when I look back at the manga I have read, so if you aren't me, stop reading.
Hey me, what was with those unexpected feels? The whole story felt pretty light and cheery, with the only drama being what you would expect in a love story (love triangles and misunderstanding). Sure, Tokujira was scared of men, but that was like, "Oh she'll get over it, its more of a quirk". Then, Blim-Blam-Blow, its hits you harder then her father hit her, and her only friend betrays her to save face. Ouch. My little heart was not prepared for those feels. Also, I am so so so so so so glad that he ends up with Botan. I really thought the story was gearing towards Aoi, despite me cheering for Botan the entire time. It feels like it happens every time, where you get the well rounded, cute girl that likes the protagonist, being shot down for the quirky, barely functioning, weird girl that the protagonist falls for. SO ANNOYING. But best girl got what she deserved this time, and for that, I will bump my score up from an 8 to a 9. I'm also realizing that I front loaded my manga scores, so that almost everything I have read is between a 7 and a 10. I might go back and adjust some scores, or maybe I will try scoring things properly from now on. Anyway, if you read this far, why? And bye.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Jun 16, 2019
I think I've over done it with the slice of life and romance genre, because this manga was starting to feel a little bit cliched and repetitive. That being said, I definitely feel that compared to a lot of the SLO/romance out there, it still keeps it fresh. The premise was fairly interesting. The characters were all pretty fun. There wasn't any fan service that I can remember. It bought into some of the cliches, but it also avoided quite a few of the others. It probably helped that it was set in university, instead of high school. There's always some sort of rivalry for
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the main girl, and I have to say I was rooting for the other contender for a while. The main character came off as overly childish and a little too insecure and possessive. I think there are some cultural differences, and that kind of thing is normal in manga? Anyway, this was a pretty decent romance manga, and I would have loved it even more if I wasn't sick of romance mangas.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Jun 10, 2019
This was just a solid read. The characters were really fun to follow along with, and were so cute. The story felt realistic despite the fantasy element of characters ages being reduced. The relationships were sweet, and the circumstances emotion.
So many of the points hit a little too close to home for me. Things like putting effort into my life, and enjoying things despite them being temporary. It really is work to have a good life, and this story shows how important it is to put in that work. It was a little inspiring, and each character had their own bit of value to add
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to me.
The artwork was really great, especially since I don't read many full color mangas. I wonder how much extra work it is to colorize them. I think the premise of this story was really fun also. The last 20 or so chapters tugged on my heartstrings the entire time.
I wouldn't say that this is a life altering, soul-touching, kind of manga, but it was definitely high quality. I have zero complaints, and it was an enjoyable read from start to finish. I hope to keep finding manga I enjoy this much.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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