Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions -Heart Throb- is the second season based on the light novel series. It is twelve episodes long plus an OVA. After the last season and the movie, Rikka is now staying with Yuuta in his house, given that Rikka’s sister had moved to Italy. Despite them “living together”, nothing seemed to have changed. As per the usual, Rikka suffers from “chunibyo”, where she has delusions of wielding fantastical abilities and acts way out of what you would classify as normal. After the incident from the previous season, Rikka’s current actions are accepted as who she is.
The characters are now all in the second year of high school and with the new year comes changes to start afresh. This lasts for all of one episode and then everything goes back to normal. Nibutani continues to fight with Dekomori, Isshiki continues to vie for Kumin’s affections, while Yuuta continues to allow Rikka to indulge in her fantasies. As Yuuta and Rikka is now a romantic pair, that takes a lot of the focus even when Nibutani remarks that nothing between the two changes and she sets about trying to fix that.
The season starts off extremely strong. Whereas the first season has its moments, there were pockets of slower pacing. The first half of this season consistently has funny moments which work extremely well. It helps that we are now very familiar with all of the characters and with that comes certain expectations, which the anime delivers on. Nibutani and Dekomori’s rivalry is a goldmine of laughs. Their constant fights against each other could be said as proof of a great friendship. While the pair shows some sincerity at times, there are some moments where you shake your head knowing how it is going to fail such as when Nibutani decides to trust Dekimori.
The anime embraces the quirkier and odder nature of the setting. It seems to cycle through the various characters and focusing on them during each episode. For example, one episode would have Nibutani and her past as Mori Summer, while another would look at Kumin and how despite her “hobby” of napping, it turns out to be a serious matter that other schools have clubs dedicated to it.
The promised new character from the end of the movie makes their appearance early on. This is a world full of coincidences and it just so happens that the new character, Satone, is already acquaintances with Yuuta. While she may have seemed like an important character at first, she ends up being out of focus and underdeveloped. The season doubles down on both the romantic and comedy side, as well as making all the characters even cuter than the first season. Yuuta and Rikka’s relationship is slowly progressing, a development being that Rikka becomes jealous when other girls gets closer to Yuuta, yet she herself is still embarrassed due to her inexperience.
Yuuta and Rikka’s relationships is portrayed as really sweet and innocent. It’s obvious that the pair, and in particular Yuuta, really understands the other. It helps that the anime doesn’t immediately fall into the temptation of using clichés and love rivals to drum up drama at first. Even when it does do that at the end of the season, it’s not a huge deal. What’s heartwarming is their solidarity towards each other even though they struggle to express it at times.
The only slight problem with the season finale is that it doesn’t feel like it built up to much. At the very least, it never built up the same degree of urgency as the first season did. As a result, it can feel that everything remains at status quo and that there will be barely any changes for the future. It brings into question on whether Rikka will be able to outgrow her chunibyo, given that... you’ll have to when you eventually grow up and graduate.
The OVA picks up after the end of the season and provides something that’s slightly different. Yuuta and Rikka have an argument and this may seem normal for any couple, but since they’re not a normal couple, that’s where it gets interesting and manages to sustain the whole episode. You’ll also notice that Yuuta is pretty much the only male character, since Isshiki was put on the wayside for most of the season and ignored.
Overall, Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions -Heart Throb- seems flatter and less likely to do something unexpected when compared to the first season. It drives up the cuteness aspect, as well as focusing heavily on Yuuta and Rikka’s relationship. This isn’t a bad thing since the season is still enjoyable, although at times, you’re not too sure on where the plot is actually going.
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