Rascal Does Not Dream of a Sister Venturing Out

Story

Sakuta Azusagawa (voice of Kaito Ishikawa) can hardly believe that he’s with Mai (voice of Asami Seto), an actress and the most beautiful girl in school. Mai is about to graduate, and Sakuta has one year of school left, so he just wants be with her as much as possible. She wants him to focus on his studies so that he can get accepted into the same university as her.

Unfortunately, Sakuta has other demands on his time. He lives in an apartment with his younger sister Kaede (voice of Yurika Kubo) and must work to help provide for them.

Kaede was the victim of extreme bullying, which caused her to have a nervous breakdown and develop amnesia. She now lives with a 2-year memory gap and crippling anxiety, which makes it difficult for her to leave the house. She’s worried that everyone prefers the earlier version of herself and very much wants to be healthy again. Although Kaede is 2 years behind and the school councillor recommends that she enrol in online school, she’s determined to go to the same high school that Sakuta attends. Sakuta promises to help her as much as he can, and Mai pitches in too.

Is what Kaede wants really in her best interests? Does it stem from something else? What if she doesn’t get in? Will that make her condition worse? These and other questions plague Sakuta as he tries to live up to the demands on his time and the expectations he has placed upon himself.

Themes

Anxiety; mental health; depression; bullying; online schooling; personality disorders; family breakdown

Violence

Rascal Does Not Dream of a Sister Venturing Out has some violence. For example:

Kaede has strange bruises on her body that she can’t explain.
Mai steps hard on Sakuta’s toes when he does something she doesn’t like and crushes his feet to cause him pain.

Sexual references

Rascal Does Not Dream of a Sister Venturing Out has some sexual references. For example:

There are repeated references to a ‘puberty syndrome’. This is often blamed for Sakuta’s strange or unusual behaviour, like when he sees things that no-one else does, including a younger version of Mai.
When Sakuta is at a restaurant with his school councillor, someone says that Sakuta ‘sure loves older women’.
Sakuta tells a co-worker that her skirt is too tight. He asks whether she has gained weight and then advises her to ask for a bigger uniform.
A character says, ‘An idol that doesn’t wear panties attends this school’.
Mai says that she was thinking that Sakuta shouldn’t lay a finger on her until he gets to university, but she then realised that she couldn’t touch him either.
A character is asked whether he’s sexually frustrated.
A young girl explains how her mother got pregnant and had her when she was 18, so she was raised by a single mother.

Alcohol, drugs and other substances

There’s no use of substances in Rascal Does Not Dream of a Sister Venturing Out.

Nudity and sexual activity

Rascal Does Not Dream of a Sister Venturing Out has some nudity and sexual activity. For example:

Most of the schoolgirls wear very short miniskirts as part of their uniform.
Sakuta is changing his clothes and is standing in only his underwear when Mai walks into his room. She touches his chest, saying that she’s glad that the scar on his chest is gone. Then she tells him to ‘put some clothes on even though I haven’t done anything with you’. She’s still touching his chest when Kaede enters the room and quickly backs out while Mai tells her it’s ‘not what she thinks’.
There are teenage girl pop idols who sing on stage in miniskirts with bare midriffs.
A character is told that everyone can see her pants.
A mother mentions that she could see her daughter’s pants while she was onstage too. She then advises her daughter ‘not to spread her legs like that’.

Product placement

The following products are displayed or used in Rascal Does Not Dream of a Sister Venturing Out: Poky snacks.

Coarse language

Rascal Does Not Dream of a Sister Venturing Out has some coarse language. For example:

Sakuta announces that he needs to go to the toilet during class. On his way out the door, he says to his teacher, ‘It is both pee and poo so it may take a while’.
Sakuta explains how he once got so nervous in the middle of an exam that he had to poo.

Ideas to discuss with your children

Rascal Does Not Dream of a Sister Venturing Out is a Japanese anime with English subtitles. It breaks away from the supernatural content of its predecessor, Rascal Does Not Dream.

Rascal Does Not Dream of a Sister Venturing Out deals with very serious issues that are all too real for many young people, and it promotes online or alternative schooling. For these reasons, this movie is best suited to teenagers and older audiences. We also recommend parental guidance for children aged 10-12 years.

These are the main messages from Rascal Does Not Dream of a Sister Venturing Out:

Try your best.
Believe in yourself and your dreams.
Be grateful for everything in your life, including the challenges that come your way. Challenges are partly responsible for crafting you into the person that you become.

Values in Rascal Does Not Dream of a Sister Venturing Out that you could reinforce with your children include helpfulness, compassion, industriousness, courage and studiousness.

Rascal Does Not Dream of a Sister Venturing Out could also give you the chance to talk with your children about the importance of:

looking after their mental health and wellbeing
telling a trusted adult if they’re experiencing bullying or other traumatic experiences.