Rascal Does Not Dream of a Knapsack Kid

Note: This post is considered an episode review and it dives into spoilers for the movie.

My original plan was to watch a fansub of Rascal Does Not Dream of a Knapsack Kid shortly after covering A Sister Venturing Out. However, I try to respect the official release to some degree so once Aniplex started releasing these movies on Blu-Ray, I held off on watching Knapsack Kid. Earlier this month, the movie finally came out on Blu-Ray so I figured now it’s a good time to finally cover it. Thank goodness, I remembered to check. I’m really bad with getting to these movies on time.

If you recall, Rascal Does Not Dream of a Sister Venturing Out introduced a younger version of Mai (Asami Seto) that only Sakuta (Kaito Ishikawa) appears to be able to encounter. One might therefore expect Knapsack Kid to elaborate on what the deal is with this character. Hell, she’s literally alluded to in the movie’s title. Surprisingly then, this movie kind of doesn’t explain anything about her. At one point in the movie, Mai mentions meeting a little girl during one of her recent acting gigs and my first guess was that this girl somehow assumed Mai’s appearance like Nodoka (Maaya Uchida) did once. It quickly becomes apparent that this is not the case. Sakuta and Futaba (Atsumi Tanezaki) speculate that the younger Mai might be from a different reality. Later in the movie, we do find out that this Mai can indeed move between different realities so this theory more or less checks out. That said, we don’t know her exact backstory or what she is doing in the reality that our versions of Sakuta and Mai live in. It’s possible that this younger version of Mai will appear in later arcs and we’ll get to know more about her.

Since the titular knapsack kid isn’t actually what this movie is about, that begs the question of what the focal point is instead. After A Sister Venturing Out, I was wondering what is possibly left for Rascal to even go over. By the second movie, it feels like everything has wrapped up. Well, I guess I’m a idiot because there actually is one last loose end left in the series. When Kaede got bullied and got struck with Puberty Syndrome, her mother (Mami Kameoka) couldn’t handle it and suffered a mental breakdown as a result. This led to Sakuta looking after Kaede on his own while their mother receives care at the hospital. Kaede recovers from Puberty Syndrome during Bunny Girl Senpai and she resumes her studies during A Sister Venturing Out but it’s only until this movie that she reunites and reconciles with her mother. So at the start of Knapsack Kid, Sakuta and Kaede’s father (Tomoyuki Shimura) informs the two that their mother is doing well enough that she can return home. With Kaede’s permission, the whole family arranges for a dinner at the apartment the Azusagawa parents are staying at.

Surprisingly however, this movie isn’t about Kaede again. Rather, it instead centers around Sakuta. At the start of the film, Sakuta discovers a new scar that appears to start near his belly button, meaning his Pubery Syndrome has resurfaced. The movie initially has you thinking that this connected to the younger Mai but this is not actually the case. After the family dinner, Sakuta discovers on the next day that no one can or hear him, not even his family. He soon deduces that his mother is somehow connected and he then recalls that he didn’t look or at talk to his mother on the night before. Sakuta realizes that because he had to grow up and take care of Kaede, he’s come to resent his mother for no longer being there for them and now that she’s recovered, he subconsciously ignores her. His Puberty Syndrome is therefore an inverse in which he’s the one being ignored. The scar on his stomach is supposed to resemble an umbilical cord, symbolizing his separation from his mother.

As he contemplates on what to do next, Sakuta meets the young Mai who offers to help him get back home. This however results in Sakuta trading places with a version of him from an alternate timeline. In this timeline, Sakura apparently prevented Kaede from getting bullied and his family continued to live together. Mai is still his girlfriend so for all intents and purposes, this is the ideal timeline for Sakuta to live in. This part of the movie does feel like padding but I do understand its inclusion. All Sakuta has to do to resolve his Puberty Syndrome is reconcile with his mother but that’s easier said than done, now that he’s aware of complicated his feelings towards her are. With the young Mai sending him to the alternate timeline, Sakuta is given an easy out and that allows him to realize that he’d rather confront his syndrome an earnest than cheat his way out.

Sakuta returns to his timeline with young Mai’s help but he still feels uneasy about seeing his mother again. He discovers a journey entry left by his counterpart who, among other things, suggests that leaves a letter in Mai’s mailbox. A understated but funny joke here is Sakuta’s counterpart providing a letter for him to use and Sakura deciding to not use it, only to then write the exact same message anyway. To Sakuta’s relief, Mai does appear before him at the end of the day. Earlier in the movie, Mai’s co-stars half-jokingly give her a marriage certificate and she and Sakuta decide to fill it out for giggles (…I think). Thanks to the information Sakuta left on the certificate however, Mai is able to remember her boyfriend and believe the letter he left in her mailbox, hence the two being able to reunite.

Something that you may noticed about this movie is that it echo the plot of Bunny Girl Senpai (the arc specifically, not the entire first anime season). This time however, Sakuta is the one people ignore and not Mai, like in Bunny Girl Senpai. I admit that the retread is worrisome but I do like that the movie does double down on the role reversal by having Mai remember Sakuta this time around. Having the two reunite on the school field, the same place where Sakuta confessed his feelings to Mai and got people to remember her again, is a very cute callback and it does make the reunion feel more meaningful.

As they spend the night together (not like that), Mai encourages Sakuta to confront his estranged relationship with his mother head on. I find that Mai’s contribution in Rascal‘s story varies from arc to arc so I really appreciate that she helps resolve this arc. It certainly makes sense. Sakuta is struggling to make a decision but he most certainly would take Mai’s advice to heart. Moments such as this is why I enjoy the relationship between these two and appreciate that Rascal continues to commit to it.

The following day, Sakuta pays his mother a visit during one of her hospital checkups. He lets go of his resentment and instead thanks his mother for raising him when she was able to and thanks her in her effort to recover. Could the movie have gone straight to this scene once Sakuta figures out what’s going on? Perhaps. I can’t deny that the solution is pretty self-explanatory. At the same time though, I don’t think Sakuta’s gratitude would work if he doesn’t mean it. By having him realize he doesn’t want an easy out and talking things over with Mai, Sakuta’s attempt feels more genuine and it feels more satisfying to me as the viewer. Having Kaede join in the reunion is a nice touch, given the role she has in Sakuta’s complicated relationship with his mother. Kind of wish the dad is here as well but otherwise, this scene works really well.

Seeing as Knapsack Kid addresses the last remaining loose end in the story so far and the story isn’t far from over, this movie leaves a couple of hints for what comes next. During the alternate timeline segment, Sakuta encounters a classmate named Ikumi Akagi (Aya Yamane). Sakuta never met her before during high school but these two were apparently classmates back in middle school. In the journal entry left by his counterpart, Sakuta is advise to investigate a connection he apparently has with a girl named Touko Kirishima. At the very end of the movie, Sakuta runs into Shoko at the restaurant he works at (I’m kind of sad that Shoko has been shoved to the wayside but to be fair, she deserves to live at peace). Shoko reveals that she remembers several timelines that she lived through via her Puberty Syndrome and she notes that one person who did not exist in any other timeline is a singer named Touko Kirishima. I have no idea what any of this means other than Puberty Syndrome striking again but I’m sure we’ll find out in due time.

Rascal Does Not Dream of a Knapsack Kid is another solid entry into the Rascal series. It does reuse the plot of the very first arc but I can give that a pass as the movie does use it to explore Sakuta’s character and sufficiently address a loose end that the series could’ve easily forgotten about. Like with A Sister Venturing Out, I don’t think it holds a candle to Dreaming Girl but at this point, I should probably accept that nothing in the series is going to top the first movie. It really is that damn good. I nevertheless enjoy the second and third movies as solid epilogues to the story so far. As some of you may know, Rascal will be returning to TV next year with a second season titled Rascal Does Not Dream of Santa Claus. I’m actually going to miss the movie format as I think these arcs work quite well as standalone features. On the flipside, a TV season means multiple arcs will be adapted, as opposed to one at a time. Regardless if it’s a movie or a TV show, I’m just glad that the anime is going to continue and I’ll of course be covering once it returns.