Part 3: Romance and Pacing

I had originally written like 3 pages about how much I hated the romantic development of the main characters, but the more I thought about it the more I thought that I was being too hard on it. I went back and rewatched the confession scene, and I think it’s a bit better than I had remembered it being from the first viewing. While I really dislike Sakuta and his interactions with Mai, I think their romance is passable. It could be much much better, especially with the narrative given, but it’s not as insufferable as I had originally tried to criticize it as being. It’s just my dislike of the characters that really detract from fully appreciating it.

The romantic narrative here is pretty good I think. Even in my original iteration of this “chapter” I praised it. It could just be executed a whole lot better. I like this idea of Mai and Sakuta maybe starting out with the relationship they maintain through the first three episodes briefly, interspersed with more sincere and romantic moments, Sakuta growing to forget Mai and being aware of it (which granted does happen in the show, but I think it could be handled better). They are desperate to figure something out, and it’s this period of struggle that really draws them together, Sakuta realizes his feelings for Mai before forgetting her. They have a genuine, romantic moment with each other and maybe confess their love. Then the next day, Sakuta has forgotten about her entirely. Have Mai actually in the picture trying to interact with him and show the emotional and psychological trauma she goes through in having her true love and last contact with the real world forget her. Maybe have her do something on her end to help him remember her, or try to solve the main narrative herself. Then do that confession scene, it would have a lot more punch. Not only would it be the big symbolic gesture that it is already, but it would also be genuinely cathartic as Sakuta is already in love with her and his remembrance makes the scene that much more powerful. There’s a good story in here, both in Mai’s struggles and Mai and Sakuta as a couple.

The biggest problem is that this narrative is just not given enough time to be fleshed out fully. Like, in any other of these “thinking man’s harem” shows, there is a clear romantic plotline between the lead male and lead girl that progresses throughout the show. For the majority of the storyline the idea of romance is entertained, but not really acted on. It’s important to note that both the male and female protagonists are probably not fully aware of their own emotions or how to handle romance, especially with each other. It’s a thing that takes time, these characters are usually head smart but not emotionally smart, and it’s their development over the course of the series that makes them finally being together more fulfilling.

I do fully expect Sakuta and Mai to continue to have romantic development as the show continues, Mai has that whole bit about “telling her he loves her in a month” and the show recognizes that the whole confession scene is exactly what it is...a kind of brainless, hot-blooded act of passion that shouldn’t be taken too entirely seriously, and I commend it for that. I can’t help but still feel it’s a little dumb though. Like, there just hasn’t been enough time for me to come to care about these characters’ romantic development this far to find the actual confession really powerful, however much its purpose is to help the school recognize Mai or for Sakuta to exclaim his true feelings aside.

Like, everything leading up to this point has been Mai occasionally showing her true feelings for Sakuta and him not really batting an eye at them, or them talking about fucking in that tongue-in-cheek manner they do so much. While I don’t doubt that there’s an attraction between them, I also don’t really view it as anything more than that to warrant the payoff of the confession scene. It feels like just the beginning of their relationship, and that confession scene is what needs to come at the very end of the show, not three episodes in.

I did find the mechanic of Sakuta forgetting Mai genuinely compelling. But...it’s just not executed as well as it could be. Like, Sakuta goes maybe 5 minutes without her in his memory? And then it’s just randomly triggered by something from the night before. It’s nowhere near enough time to make me actually care. Like, he goes to school half the day and remembers. I like this concept of human relations being so fragile and how that concept takes a toll on the romance (i.e. go watch Ef A Tale of Memories). It’s a neat little thing, but they just didn’t go all the way with it.

So I guess I’ll keep this part short. I guess the romance is the strongest part of this show. While the execution is far away from being perfect and I don’t really care enough for the characters involved in the first place, but there are definitely some cool ideas and bigger concepts in play here that I think are worth something, even if it’s just me imagining them in the context of a better show. I’m feeling a 5/10 on the romance, that’s a passing score for me at least.

So let’s move on to the most annoying part of the show that is really the main focus of my dislike for it...

Part 4: Your Mechanics Are Terrible and You’re Not As Smart As You Think

Okay, so the characters in this show suck, and the dialogue is shitty, snarky bits of comedy that does nothing to flesh them out to the extent this level of narrative requires. But I did say that Mai’s backstory was interesting right? There’s definitely the seeds of a somewhat interesting story here, I think if her story was implemented into a less obnoxious context it would be enjoyable. So surely they get at least exploring the supernatural elements of Mai’s existence correct, right? No. The mechanics of this show are cobbled together and fucking broken. It’s like the creator had this idea for a character arc but didn’t pay enough attention to the details to make it seem anywhere close to realistic if you think about it for more than half a second. And even worse than just letting this bad worldbuilding go unnoticed, they try to explain it but make themselves seem like even bigger asshats in the process.

So to go off on a bit of a tangent, these kinds of episodic supernatural occult detective shows are not uncommon. Mushishi, Natsume Yuujinchou, and Bakemonogatari (which of course I reference frequently) are all great examples of this kind of show done right. While all of these shows do involve supernatural occurrences that are not at all commonplace in their worlds and would cause any outsider in that world to freak the fuck out if they noticed, they also have clever ways to present these occurrences in a way that makes them feel real, or at least sensible in the realm they inhabit.

Mushishi portrays the existence of mushi as some foreign concept most of the bumpkins Ginko visits don’t understand (and most can’t even see them in the first place). It has this weird, mythical tone to it where the people view the spirits as things of legend, very old time-y. A central theme of Natsume Yuujinchou is the fact that Natsume is constantly trying to hide the fact he can see spirits from his friends and family, and how his interactions with the youkai world affect his interactions in the real world. Monogatari is unlike these other two because instead of making the supernatural happenings’ effect on unknowing people apparent, it abstracts everything to the point where it’s not even a problem—the only characters we see are those who are “in” on what’s happening, there are no outsiders. I have a hard time believing that Senjougahara made it so long without people realizing she weighed only 15 pounds, but at the end of the day that doesn’t pose much of a problem. Monogatari is focused on drama and character interactions, and their afflictions are more symbolic of these problems than anything. Doing away with unnecessary attention from outsiders feels natural in the way the show handles its atmosphere and theming, most of this stuff is broken if you think about it, but at least they provide a way for there not to be a world around to exploit that fact (if that makes any since—Monogatari indulges in artistry, realism is moot). I guess these comments on supernatural affliction representing past trauma of the main characters can also be applied to the characters in Bunny Girl, but let’s talk about the ways that despite the fact that it tries so desperately to be Monogatari, Bunny Girl fails as an occult detective show even in this sense.

Well, first of all, as one would expect of a “thinking man’s harem show”, Bunny Girl takes place in the very real human world. There’s no sense of abstraction as in Monogatari, so everything that happens just comes across as...really fucking dumb. Like, the point I realized this is the scene where they’re in the grocery store. Sakuta asks Mai about the details of her condition and how she interacts with the real world. This is the scene that’s supposed to act as a “reality check” of sorts, there are a lot of questions involving Mai’s invisibility that of course a show as “smart” as this one would go out of its way to answer. But the way this exposition scene is handled is so awful that it raises even more questions than what I would have gone in with.

“Oh when I hold things they disappear I guess” she says as she grabs a carrot from a shelf directly in the line of sight of other people in a supermarket...are they not going to notice that it just disappeared into thin air and teleported into the grocery cart? Or maybe if she just took it without anyone noticing, why hasn’t she taken advantage of that fact yet? She goes on about not being able to get food for herself, if she’s able to completely unnoticeably take it, why doesn’t she find a way to do that and pay the store back somehow. I mean, that’s what I’d do, at least, Mai seems like a pretty shrewd individual. Are there any boundaries for when the thing disappears in the first place? If she were to accidentally rest her hand on the grocery cart would the whole thing disappear (that would be super noticeable if so)? If she started pushing it, would it be completely gone like the carrot or would it just move on its own? Why do only the things she holds disappear, not the ones she interacts with?

There’s plenty of shit she’s touched up to this point right? Wasn’t she like lounging on tables and stuff in her first scene? Why didn’t those turn invisible? Is it just that she has to be physically holding it for it to disappear? At what point is something qualified to disappear, like if she turned a page of a book would that float or would the whole book disappear? She can touch humans and they not disappear, but will their clothes disappear if she touches those? Or will just an indent appear on Sakuta’s jacket sleeve when she grabs it? At that rate, why would the things she picks up disappear in the first place!?

I guess all of this can be ignored if we just view it through Sakuta’s eyes as the only one who can see her, but it’s such an unnecessarily complicated element to add to the story, why even bother? Like, it’s easier to just explain away a floating carrot or not even take the time to acknowledge that point altogether, just let it be accepted as a part of the narrative and move on. More on that later.

Or alternatively acceptable is that the whole existence of Mai’s invisibility is purely metaphorical and representative of people just not recognizing her, Puberty Syndrome stemming from the inside and only someone as free-thinking as Sakuta is able to recognize that. If that is the case, then they do a shit job of presenting this idea, there’s no level of abstraction or fantasy that makes that seem viable. It seems very cut and dry that Mai is just invisible. I don’t think this is what they’re going for, but I’d accept it as an alternative with proper presentation.

But anyway, that still doesn’t explain the fact that Sakuta was basically interacting with a person directly in front of him that no one else in the store could see and no one even notices the fact that he’s talking crazy shit about turning things invisible and flirting with thin air? That one guy with the glasses was there from the very beginning of the scene and didn’t pay him even the slightest of mind despite the fact that he was right next to him the whole time he was talking to Mai. But of course, he did finally notice something was off after Sakuta anime gasped after Mai grabbed his arm just for the sake of a comedy bit. Which is fucking dumb. You’re not going to tell me this guy has an anime overreaction to only one thing the whole time this numbskull is talking to himself for 3 minutes straight.

Okay, so at this point you’re probably thinking that I’m being overly pedantic and nitpicky. I stood up for this kind of thing in Monogatari and Natsume, why am I bashing it here? Well there are several reasons. For one, this show has a terribly, terribly pretentious attitude about it. Like it’s so smart that it just needs an exposition scene to address these questions that are better left untouched. Which isn’t a bad thing on its own, I think having logic introduced into a fantastical story is a nice touch. When the logic actually makes sense. Look, if this show is going to take the time to smugly explain itself, I at least expect it to know what it’s doing.

Like, do you know what make this exposition scene better...just do it in a private area. Let Mai tell Sakuta shit with no one around so he doesn’t seem like a headcase in front of random strangers and shit’s not disappearing all over the place. That’s all you have to do. Let Sakuta have enough sense to not act like an idiot in public. The touching and making items disappear would still be stupid, but it’s at least a little less idiotic in its explanation. I known I’m kind of just overanalyzing one scene...but this one scene is fundamental to understanding how Mai’s condition works. And it’s not like I’m racking my brain for things to nitpick, these are all genuine questions that should immediately come up within a moment’s thought of the implications of the system.

Or alternatively, don’t even bother explaining the mechanics of the thing. When you take the time to explain a basic concept, at least make an effort for your explanation seem thought out. If Bunny Girl had completely eliminated this scene even, I would not feel as much disgust towards it. Like, just let the thing happen, it’s fine, it’s a work of fiction, dumb abstraction can exist, just don’t make yourself seem like an idiot because you need to explain how everything works to the viewer when you don’t even understand how everything works yourself. Of course there’s no mech that can exist as the size of the universe and throw galaxies around, but that scene is still fucking awesome in Gurren Lagann. Materialization shiratori is fucking stupid and broken, and that episode of No Game No Life is one of my favorite episodes of anime. Natsume rides around on Madara through the sky all the time in Natsume Yuujinchou, do people just see a boy floating through the sky? Listen, all anime is full of dumb shit that doesn’t make sense, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s a cartoon. Just don’t insult my intelligence by talking down to me by trying to present shitty mechanics in any form of meaningful way. It just makes you look like an idiot.

(granted, the tone of this show is one that seeks realism more than Gurren Lagann or NGNL, but I still wouldn’t put it on a different level from Natsume. Also I hope this whole rant about talking out your ass trying to explain shit you don’t understand yourself doesn’t come back to bite me haha. Well, let me address now that for a lot of these three episodes I was borderline comatose, I’m sure there’s plenty of details I missed. I’m at least 88% confident about my writing here, but wouldn’t be surprised if there was a major detail I somehow missed. Just as a disclaimer. But hey, if this show weren’t so boring I wouldn’t have to worry about not paying attention in the first place :X)

(also there’s so many questions I have regarding the way this arc ends...Why does Sakuta only remember Mai after seeing the one vague detail from the previous night? And then everyone else remembers her collectively after his confession scene? I know his confession of love was enough to “ingrain her in their brains” or whatever, but it still doesn’t feel like much of a resolution. Why does the one kanji symbol trigger his memory and the letter he wrote to himself about her not. Why does hearing the name Mai Sakurajima fall on deaf ears, but the symbol doesn’t, especially when just hearing some yelling idiot yell the name Mai Sakurajima bring the memory of her back to everyone else in his class, when he had such a deeper, longer connection to her than anyone else there. I guess this is the kind of dumb shit that doesn’t need to be explained, but I mean...it’s still dumb when your story that has been based in logic to this point resolves so illogically. Once you introduce a need for realism into explaining everything, you can’t just fizzle out with hand-waving stuff)