Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions is an anime that is based on the light novel series. The first season is 12 episodes long plus an OVA. It follows Togaki Yuuta, who is deliberately starting high school far away from his junior high in order to have no chance of seeing his old classmates again. This is because he was embarrassed of his behaviour back then. He had “chunibyo”, the literal translation being “second year middle school illness”, whereby he had delusions that he had special powers, just like in fantasy media.
Yuuta was calling himself the “Dark Flame Master” and acting all high and mighty, as if he had secret knowledge and great powers but it only served to isolate him. When we see his memories of those days, you are equally as embarrassed as himself. Yuuta had resolved to put all those chunibyo days behind him and get a fresh start. It seemed to go well as he managed to make a friend on his first day but unfortunately for him, Takanashi Rikka is here to ruin his day.
Rikka had moved to the apartment above him and had seen his displays of chunibyo. She herself suffers massively from it, wearing an eye patch and has no qualms with showing her tendencies in public. She targets Yuuta, saying that they are extremely compatible and thus begins their friendship. It’s actually quite funny seeing Rikka and her antics and how Yuuta has to go ahead and try to calm her down. Yuuta doesn’t want to be seen as being involved with her but it’s too late.
Strangeness attracts strangeness and what started off as just Yuuta and Rikka slowly grows into a bigger group. It’s kind of funny to see the situations of other characters that cause them to join. At the end of the day, this ends up being a slice of life comedy as they form a school club for themselves, just that the club’s activities are weirder than normal. The group of characters naturally ends up being a fairly tight knitted group, despite the reservations of several of them. It helps that they are all each have unique personalities.
The delusions of Rikka are given visual form in certain segments. This helps the viewer get a better idea of what is going on in their heads... before it snaps back to reality and we see the random awkward poses they are doing. This is also when crazy over the top battles happen between characters as they wield gigantic weapons and seemingly parodying other anime that does this seriously. There are a lot of flashy visual effects which can make for some impressive scenes.
As the season goes on, we eventually learn that there are reasons behind Rikka’s behaviors and that it’s just her way to cope with how things are. Granted, she might have taken it to the extreme by becoming completely delusional and oblivious, but you have to give her kudos that she manages to keep it up despite everything to the contrary. Naturally, there is a bit of romance between Yuuta and Rikka, as it gradually develops over the course of the season. Given both Yuuta and Rikka are inexperienced in this area, as well as not the most normal of people, this ends up being quite complex and delicate to handle.
Furthering Rikka’s problem is how her family is not very supportive of her behavior but this goes deeper than her just being in a phase that she’ll grow out of. They genuinely do worry about her, especially as they feel guilty and shift some blame to themselves. This ends up being the big plot point at the end of the season. It’s at this point where we’re so used to Rikka’s crazy behaviors that it definitely feels weird when she acts normal.
The ending is interesting since it initially conveys the message that having chunibyo is not desired and that you have to grow out of it eventually. Then the other message is that it is a coping mechanism and it isn’t completely negative. You’ll end up having mixed feelings about it due to this but then again, there wouldn’t be this story if it didn’t embellish it to some degree in the first place. The OVA occurs after the season finale and takes place during Christmas. It covers what happens afterwards and the reality is that not much has changed. It does feel like status quot, not daring or wanting to try anything new.
Overall, Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions has its moments. It can be embarrassing to watch some of Yuuta and Rikka’s behaviours when they go full chunibyo, but on the other hand, it carries its charms as well and their actions can be downright hilarious. While most of the season is typical slice of life affair mixed in with some teenage school drama, the second half is a little bit heavier as we find out Rikka’s backstory. While it’s not a perfect or amazing anime, it is definitely more than just enjoyable.
---------------------------------------------------
For other anime reviews, have a look at this page.
