Film Review: Rascal Does Not Dream Double Feature

By J.D.

Warning: This review contains spoilers for the anime series Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai and the film Rascal Does Not Dream of a Dreaming Girl.  
​
On March 14th 2024, I got the opportunity to watch the double feature of Rascal Does Not Dream of a Sister Venturing Out and Rascal Does Not Dream of a Knapsack Kid at the Aratani Theater in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles, CA. Sister Venturing Out had been shown in the U.S. at Anime Expo last year but this was the U.S. debut of Knapsack Kid. Both films are part of the Rascal Does Not Dream series based on the light novels of the same name and earlier adapted into the television anime Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai and the film Rascal Does Not Dream of a Dreaming Girl. 

For those who don’t know, the basic premise of the series is the main character Sakuta Azusagawa helping people around him going through Puberty Syndrome which manifests itself in various ways. For the television anime’s titular bunny girl senpai, Mai Sakurajima, taking a hiatus from her acting career triggered her Puberty Syndrome. That made her invisible to just about everyone which caused her to walk around in a bunny girl outfit to find someone who can see her. In a very similar to Monogatari or CLAMP’s xxxHolic, this seems to happen to everyone around him and by "everyone", I mean mostly girls around his age who seem to have or develop romantic feelings for him.  

Anyway, now that that’s out of the way, let’s talk the movies.

Rascal Does Not Dream of a Sister Venturing Out

In the first film of the double feature, Sakuta’s younger sister Kaede decides she wants to go to the same high school as her big brother but she’ll need to ace the exams to counterbalance her poor attendance and grades due to her previous shut-in lifestyle caused by being bullied.

Yeah, this is the odd film out. It doesn’t really deal with Puberty Syndrome itself but with the aftermath of Kaede’s storyline from the last few episodes of the original television anime where it was revealed she had dissociative amnesia from the bullying and returned to her old self forgetting the last two years. It shows the effects all of this has had on Kaede’s mental health and her struggles with depression, anxiety and a really bad case of impostor syndrome.  

The film deals with the idea “being normal” and going against society’s expectations of what that is supposed to mean. Because Kaede is still easing out of being a shut-in, her school’s councilor suggests she go to a high school that offers online classes (The light novel this was based on came out in 2018 and in hindsight, seems prescient) but Kaede’s desire to be “normal” and fulfill the dream of the other Kaede, pushes her against this.  

It's also about the relationship of an older brother and a younger sister. Sakuta’s role in this film is mostly as an advisor to Kaede as he does his best to both support her lofty dreams and be there for if they can’t be achieved. As someone with a younger sister with her own mental health issues, I felt this made the film really resonate with me making it my favorite half of the double feature.

Rascal Does Not Dream of a Knapsack Kid

This movie picks up right at the end of the last one. After both his girlfriend Mai and his younger sister Kaede have graduated from high school and middle school respectively, Sakuta learns that his mother, who suffered a mental breakdown two years from the stress of Kaede’s problems and has been in a hospital ever since, is finally ready to come home and wants to see him and Kaede again.  This seems to trigger Puberty Syndrome in Sakuta and sends him to an alternate timeline where Kaede’s problems never happened, his mother never had her breakdown and everything seems as good as it could be. There’s just one problem: no one can see him. Now, he has to get back to his timeline and become visible once again.

Whereas Sister Venturing Out was centered on the brother-sister relationship, Knapsack Kid is focused on the mother-son relationship and this is where it stumbles the most for me.  Mrs. Azusagawa, I don’t think her first name is ever given, feels like such a nonentity in the film. Other than her breakdown, I don’t think we learn anything about her or about her relationship with Sakuta.  It just felt really unconvincing to feel Sakuta getting so strained over his strained relationship with his mother when there’s barely anything to it. As someone who lost his mother own mother just over two years ago, as I watched the events of the film unfold, I expected this relationship to hit me like a ton of bricks. Instead, it felt more like a wet noodle.  

On top of that, the “Sakuta ends up in a different timeline and no one can see him” part of this film was done better in Dreaming Girl where the relationship between Sakuta and Mai was developed enough that it was more convincing he would take such drastic measures.

If there’s one thing that I think Knapsack Kid does better than Sister Venturing Out, it’s the humor. Some of the jokes in both movies didn’t land for me but the rest of the audience was laughing along to them so maybe it’s just me. Knapsack had fewer of those moments. A character accidentally opening the door when two other characters are in a “This isn’t what it looks like!” situation will probably never fail to get a laugh out of me. These moments of humor help defuse the tension without destroying it entirely.

Science Fiction, Double Feature

These are definitely best seen as a double feature. Probably due to the serial nature of the original light novels, there are a few plot points from Sister Venturing Out like Mai’s attempt to get into her college of choice and Kaede’s choosing of a high school are brought up in Knapsack Kid.  In addition, the stinger for Knapsack Kid teasing the next project (University Arc, confirmed!) with a revelation about a seemingly minor detail from the last movie. The film treats it like something major but like with Sakuta’s relationship with his mother, I feel like I don’t have enough context to treat it with the same weight the film does.  

As for other parts shared by both films, those are all generally decent. The art and animation are both good but there’s only maybe one standout moment in Knapsack Kid and the rest is just serviceable.  It’s a kind of plain style that just fades into the background while you focus on the story and voice acting. Speaking of the voice acting, it’s all good conveying the emotions well even if it’s sometime let down by my problems with the story.  The special premiere was subtitled but I’m excited to see how the dub cast does as well. Kayli Mills, Kaede’s English VA, claims they cried recording Sister Venturing Out so I’m excited to hear them carry the emotional weight of that film on their back.

In conclusion, I think most people already know if they’re going to see these films in theater or not. Fans of the Rascal Does Not Dream series will come to see the continuation of the franchise and that same reason will probably be enough for people who aren’t fans to do the opposite. For those that do attend this double feature, you’ll find one good movie just short of greatness and one good enough movie.

For More Information on Rascal Does Not Dream:
https://rascaldoesnotdream.com/​

---

Scores:
Rascal Does Not Dream of a Sister Venturing Out: B+
Rascal Does Not Dream of a Knapsack Kid: C+

+ Good use of the double feature format to tell two connected, serialized tales.
+ The brother-sister relationship is well realized.
-  The mother-son one not so much.
- Teases of future plot points don’t seem as important as the story makes them out to be.

---