Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai - Characters & Cast

Initially, Sakuta is motivated by a mix of curiosity and a sense of kinship with those suffering from Puberty Syndrome, as it afflicted his own family. As he develops a deep love for Mai, his primary motivation becomes protecting her and their relationship. This expands to include a fierce desire to help all the friends he makes. His ultimate motivation, revealed in the films, is to create a future where everyone he cares about—Mai, Kaede, and Shoko—can be happy, even if it requires him to endure immense emotional pain or alter the very fabric of his existence.

Sakuta begins as a social outcast, jaded and lethargic due to a past incident that left him with physical and emotional scars. He maintains a deadpan exterior to navigate school life without issue. His journey begins when he decides to help Mai, an act that reawakens his deeply empathetic nature. Throughout the series and movies, his arc is one of opening himself up to others and confronting his own trauma surrounding his sister and his first love, Shoko. He evolves from a passive observer to an active agent who fights against fate, culminating in the "Dreaming Girl" movie where he is willing to sacrifice his own life and reality to save the people he loves, ultimately maturing into a young man defined by his quiet, unwavering devotion.

Mai's initial motivation is simply to solve the mystery of her invisibility and return to a semblance of normal life. After falling in love with Sakuta, her motivation shifts to supporting him and building a future together. She is driven by a strong sense of loyalty and a desire to protect Sakuta from the emotional burdens he takes upon himself, often acting as his anchor to reality and providing the emotional support he rarely asks for but desperately needs.

Mai is introduced as a famous actress on hiatus, projecting a mature, serious, and often sharp-tongued personality to shield her vulnerability. Her arc is about learning to be honest with her own feelings and trusting someone enough to let them into her isolated world. Initially wanting to be left alone, she grows to rely on Sakuta's steadfast presence. She evolves from someone who represses her emotions to someone who can openly express her love, jealousy, and fear. In the "Dreaming Girl" movie, her character culminates in an act of ultimate selflessness, proving she values Sakuta's life above her own and solidifying her transformation from an isolated individual to a deeply loving partner.

The amnesiac Kaede is motivated by a desire to overcome her fears for her brother's sake, creating a list of goals to achieve. The original Kaede, after reawakening, is motivated by the desire to live up to the courage of her other self and to reconnect with the world she lost, particularly by deciding which high school is right for her own future, not just the one her brother attended.

Kaede's arc is split between two personas. We first meet the amnesiac "panda" Kaede, a timid girl confined to the house by agoraphobia resulting from past bullying. Her journey is about taking small, brave steps to re-engage with the world, culminating in her goal to attend school. A pivotal, heartbreaking twist reveals that her success causes her original memories to return, erasing the personality Sakuta had spent two years with. The arc of the "original" Kaede, explored in the movie "Sister Venturing Out," is then about grappling with a two-year memory gap and finding her own path forward, distinct from the persona she lost, showing her own form of strength and resilience.

The young Shoko is motivated by a simple desire to live and experience the things other children do. The older Shoko is motivated by a deep, selfless love for Sakuta; she appears in his life to guide him through his darkest moments, a kindness born from a future where he saved her life. Her ultimate motivation is to create a world where Sakuta can be happy, which paradoxically means finding a way for herself to live without him having to die.

Shoko is the most mysterious character, existing in two forms: a sweet middle schooler with a terminal heart condition and a gentle young woman from the future who is Sakuta's first crush. Her Puberty Syndrome stems from her fear of death and her inability to envision a future. Her arc, primarily in the "Dreaming Girl" movie, reveals that her future self exists because she received a heart transplant from a donor—in one timeline, Sakuta; in another, Mai. Her journey is one of coming to terms with her own mortality and desires, ultimately choosing to relinquish a future built on Sakuta's or Mai's sacrifice. The final resolution sees her saved not by a tragic transplant, but by a change in the past that inspires hope and action, allowing her to live on her own terms.