[Spoilers] Rascal Does Not Dream of Santa Claus - Episode 13 Discussion

Sakuta remains conscious and try not to be fainted is most crucial thing, glad he stay calm.

I did not expect that all, holy crap. In a way, both Sakuta and Mai redeemed themself here by saving each other (Sakuta pushing Mai and Mai cushioning his fall) contrast to the Dreaming Girl movie where they both took turns dying.

Overall, hell of a season finale. I am hella excited for the movie, afterall, who the heck is Kirishima Touko??

Huh, apparently thick thighs can in fact save lives...

I had seen people familiar with the source material say that there would probably be enough content left at the end of the season for one more movie, so I wasn't really surprised that we got the immediate movie announcement.

Welp, I guess we'll have to wait for the movie to find out who Touko Kirishima is and what's up with the child version of Mai that occasionally shows up.

Also, I liked how they gave every major character at least one line, and Mai kind of broke (or lightly grazed) the fourth wall by saying how it was a good day despite Sakuta's injury because he got to see everyone. It stretched the bounds of believability a bit, but it felt quite satisfying.

Finally, the thought just occurred to me as I was writing this that Sakuta almost got killed by an invisible SantaCon event (in March!), which is funny to me because it's in line with the negative reputation that SantaCon has with a lot of people.

And is the general public going to know who Sakuta is now? Earlier in the series, Mai told interviewers that she wouldn't talk about her boyfriend because he's not a celebrity, but he just appeared onstage at a public event and saved her life. Is there going to be footage of that going around? Or maybe the story just moves on from that...

Sakuta the madlad actually went all the way to Hokkaido just to pick up Fukuyama and bring him back to Yokohama to meet Nene the very next day.

Though Ikumi is the MVP for arranging the plane tickets and reserving that capsule hotel at the airport, complete with common area massage chairs and mini drink bars that you'd find in any Japanese capsule hotel, for them to stay overnight.

Thanks to Sakuta's and Fukuyama's persistence, they managed to bring back Nene. Though the other people who "disappeared" and "became" Kirishima Touko are still around, and they all ended up appearing at Mai's police chief event dressed as Santas.

As these Santas are invisible to everybody else besides Sakuta, they nearly unintentionally created a dangerous crowd stampede. Thank goodness Sakuta rushed to the stage in time to save Mai, though Sakuta got a head injury as a result.

Still, we get to see all the previous girls all either help rush Sakuta to the hospital, visit him there, or call him. Even Kunimi helped as the paramedic in charge of driving him to the hospital.

So with all the fake Kirishima Toukos out of the way, and with Mai set to once again deny she's Kirishima Touko at the upcoming music festival, all's well that ends well, right...?

That cliffhanger where Sakuta sees the Knapsack Loli Mai again is unsettling. We'll just have to find out in the upcoming finale movie that just got announced.

It's incredible how this show is everything that's wrong with modern anime.

13 episodes for a minimal plot development, only so a 70 minutes "movie" could be milked next year.

What a great finale and it didn't end on too big of a cliffhanger aside from questioning who Kirishima Touko is. It seems like they want you to believe it is Mito, but I don't know if I'm willing to take the bait just yet.

I'm still really interested in finding out why we've seen knapsack kid so many times this season. I haven't really come up with a good theory at all, at least nothing that feels reasonable.

The parade of friends through the episode was fun, we never really see them in the same episode. Himeji and Koga being buddies now feels very fitting given that they were the two massive troublemakers.

Really excited for the movie, hopefully it solves what mysteries are left in the series. Going to miss it when it's over.

Who was the person running behind sakuta at the end?

That ending scene with the mini-mai was genuinely terrifying wtf

Glad they announced the movie right away and we wont be left hanging ^^

Also got a got a good idea who Touko is

after all, she could see Nene.

.....and watch i'm dead wrong ^^; (I'm anime only, so just a guess)

Oh man, we didn't get any closure about Yoshiwa's love story. The movie can't come soon enough.

Man, what a way to end the season. To be honest, I myself am not quite sure still on what the knapsack kid Mai could mean. Why does she appear there when he's talking to Miori about Kirishima Touko? Just a coincidence or what?
But anyways, that cliffhanger they left us on is only getting me more excited for what the movie will be like.

THICC THIGHS SAVE LIVES !

Now, only one or two movies left to end this series...
I'm a bit saddened, but in a way it's nice that it ends when everything it wanted to tell has been told.
No filler, no bullshit, only a great story.

Oh so wonderful! The emotional beats were all on point. I got so sobby during the Hokkaido and the Nene in the car park scenes. I was questioning why they just didn’t go to Mai’s event since they knew Nene would show up there, but we got some powerful storytelling because of it, so I’m okay. I also loved the race against the clock feel this episode had during that time

I wonder how creepy it was for anyone who couldn’t see the group of Touko Santas and were being pushed into them. I’m so glad Sakuta was there to savevMai from danger and the anime use of light gore to put an exclamation on the scene. Then Safety Mai does safety and saves him from the fate that he saved her from.

Then the cast reunion at the hospital and on the phone? I guess it was to show that the guy who only had two friends and his sister at the beginning of the entire series has come so far and has positively impacted so many lives.

Then the cliffhanger! I have been saying here for a while that I think Mito is Touko or at least has simmering to do with her, and this ending kind of confirmed that. Just for clarification, I haven’t read the novels and only know the titles and order of all them from looking it up on bookstore websites. I don’t know anything about the story coming up, so I could still be wrong. Plus when the ferryman of realities shows up, aka Knapsack Girl, who knows what’s going to happen? Can’t wait for the finale movie!!!

the conclussion felt so rushed brah it killed all the momentum that was building up from episode 11 and 12, I guess the conclussion was satisfactory but it also felt super convenient, I was hoping to see more but it is what it is, i'll prolly just read the novels now

I am still glad I got to see a S2 of this anime, even if it didn't meet my expectations im still grateful for it, I loved Akagi's arc, easily on my top 3 arcs of this series, but sadly the others didn't do it for me

now we wait for the last movie. my hopes aren't that up right now but I will prolly get more hyper later

I'm so glad that Mai is doing well and it was great to see a lot of familiar faces again at the end. I have to admit, the ending gave me a bit of a heart attack. :D

this show defined MY saturdays for the past 3 months. im gonna miss this so much

The ending seemed a bit rushed if you ask me. I mean, i'm glad that things worked out well at the end (and noone died unlike in Dreaming Girl) but this justifies what some people were asking about with the last episode. “How are they gonna resolve all this in just one episode?” and so forth.

And was that the knapsack kid at the very end there? So we’re gonna be going back to that for the movie?

i was watching it last night late, I almost was about to feel like he gonna die, glad he is safe, thanks to mai-san. Seriously, bro this piece was 9.9/10!!

The teaser in the end, can't wait for next one!!

We are left with only one question as to who is Touko Kirishima, it seems show is making you believe it is Mito since her past is unknown and teased in previous episodes. The knapsack Mai is back with a message from another reality. (Anime only watcher).

But to be honest, this episode felt a bit rushed, the things happened too fast. Fukuma and Nene's story lacked a but of closure - even a hug would have a nice touch.

Now, with the end of S2 and announcement of finale movie, I am a bit sad that the series is coming to an end. Maybe a spinoff series with Mai and Sakuta's lovey dovey life is only thing that's going to heal me. (I am coping)

For Kirishima Touko, I have some theories -

1. Remember Shoko (not sure about the name), told that in all the futures, there was no Touko Kirishima
2. Knapsack kid changes realities

So that brings me to my guesses (in no particular order) -

• Mito
• Zukki
• Mai (still a chance of some otherworldly occurence & knapsack kid)
• Maybe someone for Zukki's group

Where do I continue in Manga / LN ? T-T
I can't wait for more

The movie has already been posted

This show is too good, It's so emotional to the point where you can;t do anything but just cry about it and it's genuinely something crazy whilst watching this show. You would have you're happy and wholesome moments and the get absolutely slammed by a huge emotional scene. This season particularly was amazing too. The sanata claus girl getting unknown for almost a year was so sad. Along with that we also had Asusagawa's middle school classmate and that whole storyline was sad to see. I loved the new characters as well including all the university classmates. I love how Takumi was able to remmeber Nene in the end. The best part of this series is that despite everything Asusagwa Sakuta and Sakurajima Mai are always there for each other no matter what and look after each other, despite everything happening around them they are always looking out for each other.