The Rascal Does Not Dream of a Knapsack Kid movie, which was released in Japan on December 1, completes the anime’s adaptation of protagonist Sakuta Azusagawa’s high school-era stories. It doesn’t mark the end of the Rascal Does Not Dream anime, however, for an adaptation of the light novels’ “College Arc” has been announced.
Sakuta’s college student stories began in the 10th volume of the light novels, Rascal Does Not Dream of a Lost Singer, which was released in Japanese in February 2020. Yen Press describes its plot as:
Becoming a college student means starting a whole new life…right? Sakuta honestly isn’t sure. Some things have changed, but some things are still the same. His reputation definitely precedes him just like before. Of course, it’s because the entire school knows he’s dating Mai, who’s as busy as ever with her acting career. Sakuta also still lives in Fujisawa with Kaede, but now his sister regularly attends school remotely and splits her time between the apartment and their parents’ home. And Sweet Bullet is giving it their all to reach stardom together, just like always. Except Uzuki’s been acting a little funny, and maybe, just maybe, Adolescence Syndrome might be the culprit again…
The Dengeki Bunko light novel series, written by Hajime Kamoshida and illustrated by Keji Mizoguchi, started back in 2014 and is 13-volumes strong as of July 2023. Some of the arcs have been adapted into manga by various mangaka. The plot of volume 1, Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai, is described as:
Bunny girls do not live in libraries. This is simply common sense. And yet, that’s exactly where Sakuta finds one in the wild. More bewildering is who the bunny girl is: Mai Sakurajima, a girl one year older than Sakuta, famous at their school for her acting career even though she’s currently on break. To top it all off, it seems like no one else in the library can see Mai at all, no matter what she does or…wears. Wanting to find out more about this mystery and maybe get a little closer to this beautiful upperclassman in the process, Sakuta launches an investigation to discover why an unforgettable bunny girl keeps becoming totally invisible.
The CloverWorks-produced anime adaptation got its start in 2018 with the Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai TV series. A movie adaptation of the Rascal Does Not Dream of a Dreaming Girl volume followed in 2019. The film adaptations of Rascal Does Not Dream of a Sister Venturing Out and Rascal Does Not Dream of a Knapsack Kid were announced in September 2022, with the former having its Japanese release in June 2023.
The series and movies are directed by Souichi Masui with Masahiro Yokotani as series composer/scriptwriter and Satomi Tamura as character designer. The cast includes Kaito Ishikawa as Sakuta, Asami Seto as Mai Sakurajima, Nao Touyama as Tomoe Koga, Atsumi Tanezaki as Rio Futaba, Maaya Uchida as Nodoka Toyohama, Yurika Kubo as Kaede Azusagawa, and Inori Minase as Shoko Makinohara.
Source: @aobuta_anime
