Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. So, last week I talked about the bunny girl anime. Long story short, this anime was a big hit, so big that CloverWorks decided to strike while the iron was hot and follow up on their biggest anime to date. . .with a movie. Released in 2019, the movie known as Dream Girl would cover volume 6 of the novel which was the Shoko arc, said to be one of the most dramatic arc in the story up till that point. The character of Shoko was a mystery up until this point. Was she real or just a figment of Sakuta’s imagination that he created in his time of need? Nobody knew but we all checked out the movie to get our answers. So let’s take a look. This is Rascal Doesn’t Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai Dream Girl.
The movie begins with Shoko in elementary school writing down her future plans where all she writes down is graduate middle school. We then return to present day where Sakuta and Mai make plans to spend New Year’s Day together for the holidays (if he’s lucky she’ll wear the bunny suit again). That night, while Mai is cooking dinner for Sakuta and Kaede in Sakuta’s apartment, Shoko arrives (oh my God she’s real) to have dinner with them (and we get a glimpse of yandere Mai). After dinner Kaede retires for the evening (smart girl. She knows a storm is coming) and we find out that this Shoko and the Shoko from the middle school are the same person. Every now and then Shoko will grow older as a result of adolescence syndrome. Not wanting to freak her parents out, Shoko decides to stay at Sakuta’s house for the time being with Mai deciding to spend the night as well (it is cute to see Mai be so assertive when it comes to Sakuta and other girls). He tries to contact Rio for help but she wants no part in this bloodbath (and honestly I don’t blame her. Not even an MMA fighter would want to get involved in this battle of the maidens). The next day Sakuta takes Kaede to the hospital for a check-up where he runs into the young Shoko who we find out has a serious heart disease that will kill her before she graduates from middle school unless she gets a heart transplant. A few days later, the older Shoko goes on a date with Sakuta (where I’m assuming he got Mai’s permission) where they go to a nice chapel (this is a very nice chapel. I wouldn’t mind having my wedding there) for a wedding experience. It gets revealed that the older Shoko is actually Shoko from the future who was able to get a heart transplant which allowed her to live. She says that she’ll disappear on Christmas and wants to go on one more date with Sakuta Christmas Eve, but Mai also wants to go on a date with Sakuta on Christmas Eve (oh shit, we’re at DEFCON level 1 here).
Sakuta decides to try and date both girls on the same day (we’re at DEFCON level 2 now) and goes to visit Shoko in the hospital where she goes into critical condition and Sakuta also collapses from the wound on his chest appearing again. He wakes up to Shoko and Mai where Mai reveals that her donor was in fact Sakuta. On Christmas Eve he gets run over by a car, dies instantly and the doctors give his heart to Shoko (wow, she was at the top of the list). Shoko doesn’t want Sakuta to die which is why she came from the future. She wants the person she loves the most to live, even if that means she has to die. In the days to come everyone keeps Sakuta company because they know what he plans to do, and it all leads up to Mai finally having her breakdown where she begs Sakuta to be with her forever. Christmas Eve finally arrives where he goes to school (were you not listening to Shoko. You die today, stay at home) and goes to see the young Shoko in the hospital. As he walks the streets he pieces together how Shoko was trying to get him to be someplace else and rushes over to the place he was supposed to meet up with Souko for their date (I’m confused about this scene as well). Sure enough, one of the cars hits some ice and is about to hit him, but Mai pushes him out of the way at the last second to save his life (her life on the other hand, not so much).
So Mai dies and becomes the donor that saves Shoko’s life. However, the death of Mai hits Sakuta pretty hard (now you know how she would have felt if you died). Devastated, alone and sad, Sakuta cries out for help and his cries get heard by future Shoko who reappears and helps him return to the past however it’s going to be very confusing (we’re getting into quantum physics here folks. Be very afraid and get ready for a lot of BS that makes no sense and is questionable). Sakuta arrives in the past, however nobody can see him because half of him is in future while the other half in the present. Until someone can confirm his existence he cannot exist in the present (like I said this is not going to make a lot of sense and will come across as BS). His existence finally gets confirmed by Tomoe and he has her go meet his present self where the two Sakutas talk to each other on the phone (this is way too meta). Future Sakuta tells present Sakuta what’s going to happen and the present Sakuta doesn’t like how the future him is telling him to sacrifice Shoko for Mai (I mean you are dating her so~) and threatens to get into an accident himself to save Shoko. Future Sakuta goes to see Mai dressed as a bunny (which is less sexy when a male does it) and tells her what’s going to happen where she’s not the least bit shocked at a future Sakuta showing up since present Sakuta told her all about it (I do love how open their relationship is with each other). Nothing really major comes from this conversation so we’ll just go to the meat of the story which is future Sakuta sacrificing himself to save present Sakuta. The plan works and present Sakuta lives along with Mai. The only downside, Shoko dies and future Sakuta vanishes as well (alternate timeline. Keep that confusion coming. (Mira): Actually, they fused together. (Nitsuj): I really don’t get this). So the next few days life goes by for Sakuta and the others where the other timeline is treated like a dream that everyone had (please say we’re almost done?). Sakuta and Mai go to the hospital where Sakuta discovers that Shoko’s puberty syndrome is still in effect. Basically, Sakuta and the others are in the future while the Shoko in elementary school is in the present which means she can still be saved. Sakuta talks things over with Rio who tells him that changing the past will have huge ramifications such as Sakuta not meeting Shoko on the beach and thus never transferring to her school where he would meet Mai and the others. Sakuta receives Mai’s blessing about going to change the past where he succeeds. Shoko lives, Sakuta gets back together with Mai as the memories from that timeline transfer over to this new timeline as a dream (hold up, I need a minute. *Whispers* So ridiculous. Eyes on the prize Nitsuj, you’re almost there), and we end with Sakuta and Shoko meeting each other on the beach again.
Final Thoughts
Okay. This is a tough one. The set up for this arc is interesting but I can’t help but feel that the author bit off way more then they could chew here. The story of Shoko coming from future and trying to stop Sakuta from killing for her sake only to have Mai die and have to undo all of that is good. However, the stuff with time traveling doesn’t make a lot of sense and is very confusing at some points that it almost ruins the overall experience for me. Thankfully, because I’m so invested in the characters as well as the story I manage to keep that experience alive and while it got dicey at some parts they manage to deliver an ending where everyone wins. This might be the only time in the series where they used a trope, but it’s a trope I think we all wanted to see. It was nice to see what everyone holds dear to them and how much they wanted to protect what they cared about. The decisions they make are hard, not perfect, and understandable why the characters would do what they do throughout the movie. Leading to decisions and heartaches that everyone regrets.
The animation is still high quality. I didn’t see that much of a difference between the movie’s animation and anime animation. The music is still good as well. It drives the story and conveys the emotions and thoughts of the character perfectly. This movie just serves as a good ending for season 1 and I recommend watching it as soon as you finish the season in order to get the full experience and leave on a satisfying note.
Final Score
The final score for Dream Girl is an 8/10 with a must watch stamp of approval. Despite my complaints about the time traveling I really did like this movie and thought it tied everything together to give us a great finale to the first season. As of now there’s been no word of a second season which is a shame as I really want to see what happens with these characters. Do yourself a favor and try to track down the novels after this review, but make sure you watch the anime and movie first. You’ll instantly get addicted. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.