Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai! Ep 1 [First Impression]: Chuunibyou Sufferer

I’m glad this only airs once a week. Too much of this would be dangerously unhealthy for me~

Summary

The night before high school, while painfully remembering his middle school days, Togashi Yuuta comes across a girl, Takanashi Rikka climbing down his block of apartments with a rope. The next day, as he gets to school he realizes that Rikka is a sufferer of chuunibyou just like he was in the past, and attempts to stop anyone at his new school from finding out. After helping Rikka move her stuff into her house Yuuta reluctantly stores away the chuunibyou items he was about to throw out, to Rikka’s approval.

Vantage’s Impression

Straight from Japan comes another series that falls under the “weird and wonderful” category, this time a show about not so imaginary powers and high school, named Chunnibyou demo Koi ga Shitai! The first question anyone would ask is: what the hell is a “chuunibyou”? Even various online summaries don’t bother with translating the phrase, and neither will I – but [gg] subs succinctly does it quite well, calling it “eighth grader syndrome”. From what I understood of it, I suppose it’s like having an imaginary friend, however on a much larger scale and assuming an imaginary fantasy identity in which you fight the forces of evil. It’s the kind of thing everyone probably tended to daydream about in class when they were younger and bored, with “chuuni-” being middle school’s 2nd year (or eighth grade) hence the “eighth grader” connotation. It’s a condition you pick up one day, and eventually lose when you get older, at some point or another. Not everyone apparently has it, and those that do seem to be far and between, but I think they take it a little too far than what kids would do in real life. Well, all for the purposes of this anime I guess.

We have Oreki Houtarou Mark II an ex-chuunibyou sufferer as our protagonist, who unsurprisingly wants an everyday school life after alienating himself from his entire middle school then dying from embarrassment when he came out into the real world. I don’t blame him – making a good first impression is hard enough already, and now he has to add with his “dark” past (quite literally) that may or may not come to light in the future. I feel that he’s your normal yet slightly quirky guy that prefers to live normally and without much fuss, which in any case is better than your shameless perverted male lead who would have accepted Rikka’s invitation to see her panties straight off. When he did have chuunibyou, I have this feeling that he was a guy who went to the very extremes of the condition – chanting spells before dinner is one thing, but wearing a dark coat, a huge sword and making that kind of self-introduction is something I would die with shame before being able to finish doing. Which is apparently not a problem for Dark Flame Master.

I already knew Rikka would be moe from the promo posters and the PVs, but man was I unprepared for that. Today is Wednesday, isn’t it? Good. This weekly moeblob show is enough to sustain me through the rest of the week then xDD I can’t believe how absurdly cute she was…and the fact that she was so open about it straight off (unlike, I dunno, Chitanda Eru) made that even better. In terms of chunnibyou, she has it BAD. The dramatic train door scene pretty much said it all xD As did her golden contacts and uhh…multi-purpose umbrella? I don’t know what it was, but her face acting so serious whenever she went into fantasy-mode cracked me up! Rikka obviously sees Yuuta as a fellow kinsman in the world possessed by dark evil, latched onto him like a cat and now won’t let go. Sorry man, but your “contract” will probably mean sticking around with her more than the other hot girl you’ve set your sights on. That, and the fact that she kinda lives on the floor above you. Why, kami-sama? WHY NOT IN REAL LIFE ;____;

I really feel we’re hitting the ground running with this season. I’ve been happy with everything I’ve watched so far, and if this is the show KyoAni are picking up in replacement of Little Busters! I can forgive them (also provided that J.C. Staff doesn’t massacre the show). Though KyoAni takes to Key works like a duck does to water, it is also very true that they are masters of the art of moe animation, and I salute them for their efforts. Artwork just screams KyoAni, and the OP could become very catchy if given a few more replays. The show itself is off to a flying start too, and with Rikka and the various other introduced characters (who I suspect are ex-chuunibyou as well) it looks like Dark Flame Master’s days aren’t quite over yet.

And I suppose I’ll have to blog this. Don’t get me wrong, I-it’s not like I’m doing it for Rikka, or anything!

Possibility of Watching: Yup
Possibility of Blogging: Sure

 

Eva’s First Impression

FIRST THING FIRST: OMFG HOUTAROU!?!!?!?!

THIS SHOW IS SO FREAKING CUTE AND AWESOME!!!!!!!!!
It wasn’t hard to notice the references to Haruhi, K-ON, Code Geass (Lelouch’s famous mastermind pose and I think the contract Rikka made the reference to was between Lelouch and C.C but it’s been a couple of years so I don’t remember very well), Hyouka’s main character; Oreki Houtarou– I swore I was seeing things back when I looked back I was like, “HOLY SHIT!” with a mixed appearance of Guilty Crown’s Oma Shu. …Or was it just me?

So 8th Grade Syndrome is a condition where well, how I see it is that these kids becoming passionate about a certain activity or subject. Yuuta is trying his best to leave everything in the past because he’s embarrassed about it, but I’m not going to jump the gun and immediately claim that Rikka has a remarkable imagination and is passionate about the ‘storyline’ she is following. They are making it bit difficult to grasps whether the whole magic scenario is meant to be taken seriously, but honestly- even if this whole magic thing doesn’t happen (and I’m fairly confident that it will) I’m sure I’ll still be able to enjoy the show!

Yuuta decides to start fresh in a new high school so that he can rebuild his image. His whole situation and mission hit close to home as I actually tried doing the same thing when I first entered CEGEP. I wanted to separate myself from Anime and try to make new friends and gain a new hobby, and yet in the end, I still wounded up entering the Anime Club. How I see it right now (though don’t take it for granted as this is purely just a speculation): for Yuuta, meeting Rikka be it whether her storyline is the truth or not, will definitely help him gain some courage and not be so shy about openly being passionate about an activity or hobby he does.

Speaking of Rikka, I LOVE THIS GIRL. She’s just so adorable and epic. Her awesome action and dialogue using references (as pointed out in the above) makes her so loveable. We don’t know too much about her as this is only the first episode, but alsjdlajsdla I already see her potentially being my season favorite heroine, because this girl is EPIC.

The OP song it great, but the sequence itself- was a bit too flashy. Blink and you miss (oh and if you have a headache or prone to seizures… I’d suggest you skip it, my head didn’t feel so well after watching that…) and I was certain there were some hints of again, K-ON and Haruhi OP similarities, but not entirely surprising when it’s Kyoko Animation themselves who produced the two hot shows in the first place.

The ED was marvelous to watch with gorgeous background setting and still images with some transition effects.

Overall great start, I’m really looking forward to what’s in store for us!!!

Possibility of Watching: Guaranteed

Possibility of Blogging: High