Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions – Anime Review

Japanese Title: Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai!

Toradora

Another

Watched in: Japanese & English

Genre: Comedy Drama Slice of Life

Length: 13 episodes

Positives:

Colourful, poppy animation
Good laughs
Works in the drama well

Negatives:

Nothing special above the rest

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Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions is an anime that came off my abandoned list because a reader requested it for review. I had abandoned seeing this after judging it by the cover, for it has a character design type that I hate: the eye patch girl. You have no idea how much I hate that design. In particular, I hate the medical eye patch. I first encountered it in Ikki Tousen, a fighting anime featuring one such eye patch girl that has her clothes torn every fight. Wanted her to die.

I hate it because it doesn’t make any sense that they wear it all the time – medically irresponsible, even! It’s like those shounen characters with a band aid, usually across the nose. At some point, it has to come off. If you need a permanent eye patch, then get a proper one. The medical one just screams try hard of the lowest order and I have this irrational hatred of it. Before this turns into a full-blown rant about eye patches, I should start the actual review.

Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions takes the eye patch design and mocks it for the pathetic tacky fashion statement that it is. Yuuta is trying to escape his middle school past as a “chunibyo” called the “Dark Flame Master”. A chunibyo is the sort to believe that retaining your virginity until 30 turns you into a wizard. He fancied himself a fantasy hero. He was a LARPer who took it a bit too literally. No matter. He’s now in high school, where nobody knows of his dark secret. Time for a new leaf. In comes Rikka to ruin all that!

She is a magician of some renown and power, possessing the “Wicked Eye” that could unravel one’s destiny. Or so she believes. So dangerous is her eye that she covers it with an eye patch.

Try as he might, Yuuta can’t escape her delusions, aided by other classmates that join her magic circle and drag him back to chunibyo hell. The Dark Flame Master rises once more!

I find her a great character from the first episode when he sees her at the train station. The way she pretends to use the Force to open automated train doors and her smug strut on board that follows is simply a perfect introduction to the character. It isn’t long before the eye patch makes sense in completing her farcical appearance. This girl, whom I once hated based on appearance alone, is a delight to be around. My favourite scenes have to be those between her and her sister.

Her sister indulges the delusions on occasion, manifesting as epic duels of magic and comically oversized weapons (I love the cutaway to reality that shows them just smacking each other with an umbrella and ladle). The comedic timing is great throughout the series.

Chunibyo isn’t comedy all the way, however, as it introduces the drama at the heart of Rikka’s condition. Normally, this is where I would tell you that the story goes to crap while the writers try to force some emotion down your throats at the last minute. We’ve seen it time and time again in comedy anime, as though the writer is afraid that if the series doesn’t end with a gut punch, no one will take it seriously. They seem insecure in their comedy. But for Chunibyo, this isn’t the case.

First, it doesn’t bring this out of nowhere for the finale. We see hints of it from the first episode before the midpoint brings it to the forefront and the final act hammers it home. It explores the reason behind her chunibyo condition and her belief that if she can get strong, find just the right spell, she can see beyond the boundary of reality into another realm where her father has gone. It’s a clever way of explaining her character and giving her more depth than expected.

Now Yuuta, he’s rather flat. He works as a compliment to her craziness, but you never get the sense that he is a character beyond this story. He’s fine. I find the supporting cast more entertaining, particularly the girl who believes she wields the power of Mjolnir in her twin tails. I felt so sorry for her at the end.

Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions is one of the comedy dramas that manages to end on a satisfying note. Sure, it doesn’t elevate itself to some unmissable masterpiece, yet at no point did I deem it a bad show. It is an enjoyable ride from start to finish. And the eye patch didn’t suck.

Art – High

More animation went into this anime than what was needed, which is appreciated. It allows the fantasies to come to life and lively characters to shine.

Sound – Medium

Neither the music nor script are anything to write home about, though they aren’t bad at all. The acting is the strongest element in the audio department.

Story – Medium

A girl who uses fantasies to escape from reality drags those around her into a world of everyday chaos. This simple plot manages to balance comedy and drama to deliver a satisfying, if predicable, anime.