It's also about time I did an anime review so here we go with a look at:
Japanese title: Chūnibyō demo Koi ga Shitai!
12 episode :TV series & OVA
Highschool Rom-Com/Drama with outbreaks of fantasy.
Which is maybe a polite way of saying "Kids who watched too much anime and got carried away with the cosplaying"
Yūta Togashi was a chūnibyō during middle school, calling himself The Dark Flame Master, and as a result made himself into a social outcast. High school is his chance to start again with a clean slate and put his awkward past behind him once and for all.
But then one night a strange girl with a patch over one eye drops down a rope from the flat above and asks "Did you see? Do you want to see?" before disappearing again.
The next day, the same girl makes a scene in class, declaring that she's been waiting eons to meet him and that her hidden eye "resonates" - whatever the hell that means.
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| Dark Flame Master, meet The Eye of the Wicked Lord |
Her name is Rikka Takanashi, she's got a really bad case of chūnibyō and Yūta's plans for a normal high-school life are completely screwed.
Not only does Rikka know his secret, she's decided that he's her new ally in a quest to find The Hidden Boundary Lines regardless of his feelings on the matter.
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| Yūta has an interesting line in interrogation techniques |
This is another anime I stumbled across through watching Anime Vines. It looked a bit silly so when I found the 2 DVD set in my local CEX, I snapped it up. I then ended up binge-watching the series in two continuous sessions.
As expected there was indeed plenty of silliness. Yūta finds himself the unwilling straight man to Rikka's hyperactive imagination and a supporting cast that's equally peculiar in their own way.
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| Kumin Tsuri. Her favourite hobby is Napping and her dream is to start a School Napping Club |
The first few episodes are essentially Yūta trying to deal with the normal drama of high-school (making friends,, meeting girls and so on) while riding herd on a girl who literally cannot get a can of soda from a vending machine without turning it into a magical ritual.
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| Offical Class Hottie Shinka Nibutani |
So there's a fair bit of amusement to be had in Rikka's attempts to remake reality into something cooler where she's the star and in Yūta's inevitable reaction.
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| This is not one of them. |
Then, as seems to happen a lot with anime, the drama suddenly ramps up a lot in about episode seven and you get a much better insight as to why Rikka prefers her fantasy world to reality. For a lighthearted rom-com, there's some heartbreaking moments. There's also some really good fight scenes even if they do tend to turn into Rikka flailing away with an umbrella once reality kicks back in.
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| What the hell are Rikka and Sanae trying to do, exactly? |
I liked this anime a lot. I was impressed by the animation. (Seriously - the fight scenes are cool) I liked the characters and the way they played off each other. Some people might find Rikka annoying but as somebody else who has trouble with reality, I can kinda relate. The others all get some great moments as well.
Some scenes had me genuinely cracking up and others had me wanting to give everybody onscreen a big hug. That's rare these days.
Chunibyo.. is not one of those anime that takes your breath away but if you want 12+1 episodes of entertaining Highschool Rom-Com/Drama and a character who thinks she's the star of a fantasy anime, this might be a DVD worth looking at.
Here's a little snippet for you.
And now here's a GIF of Dancing Rikka
That's all folks.
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