However, these movies sell very well.
Summary:
- Rascal Does Not Dream fans want another TV series for the franchise, not more movies.
- Many people lose interest when they have to wait for the movie to be released on legal streaming.
- The new pair of movies is performing very well in Japan, so this strategy is clearly working.
When Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai (Seishun Buta Yarou wa Bunny Girl Senpai no Yume wo Minai) came out, it quickly gained many followers. It seemed that the anime was destined to receive new seasons with its popularity.
After the first season ended, the movie was announced, adapting the arc that was already teased in the TV series. While excited to see the franchise in the movie format, fans were also concerned that it won’t get any more sequels past that.
However, it got two more movies recently — and Western fans don’t seem happy about this trend.
Movie sequels aren’t always a good thing
Movie sequels have always been somewhat controversial. While movies tend to have better production values — after all, better animation gets even more spectacular on big screens — they also often have adverse effects on the popularity of the anime.
Unless the franchise the movie is attached to is as big as Demon Slayer (Kimetsu no Yaiba) or Jujutsu Kaisen, a movie sequel might actually make an anime less popular.
If the anime releases a movie sequel that adapts an important arc of the series, it will be impossible to watch further seasons without watching said movie. Fans who couldn’t watch it in theaters would have to wait for a legal streaming or Blu-ray release, many of which come much later and completely unannounced.
This gets even worse for Western fans, who sometimes have to wait for over a year to actually watch an anime movie. Successful enough movies get reruns in theaters for many months before they actually get released to the public, and many simply lose interest when they have to wait for so long.
While Western fans are losing interest, the franchise is still popular in Japan
Needless to say, the Rascal Does Not Dream franchise is very much a product of its time. Its peak of popularity was when the TV anime aired — in the late 2010s. By 2024, many people had simply forgotten it even existed in the first place, despite successful movie sequels.
The Dreaming Girl movie at least hit legal streaming quite soon. The new pair of movies, Sister Venturing Out and Knapsack Kid, came out last year. The former is already available on Blu-ray, but not on legal streaming — and Western fans aren’t exactly happy about that fact. They wish the anime just got a TV sequel instead.
That said, these movies are actually successful in Japan. Sister Venturing Out actually sold better than Dreaming Girl, despite being a sequel — and Knapsack Kid is shaping up to perform even better. It seems that the strategy is working out, so we might have to settle for movies at this point.