Chuunibyou Demo Koi ga Shitai! (Official English Name: Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions) is a 12-episode anime series based on a two-volume light novel series written by Torako with illustrations by Nozomi Osaka of the same name. The series is about delusions and reality and how our characters face it.
Yuuta Togashi is a boy who once have an 8th grade syndrome aka chuunibyou. It is a kind of "syndrome" wherein someone who is into anime, manga, games and other kinds of fictional material ends up thinking that he or she is part of some kind universe and he or she thinks that he or she is something special powers. In this case, Yuuta here thinks that he is the "Dark Flame Master". After realizing that this alter ego of his is kinda embarrassing, he starts to drop it and decides to start a fresh life free from delusions starting in high school... that is until he meets Rikka.
Rikka Takanashi is Yuuta's classmate and knows that he is the Dark Flame Master! To make it worse for Yuuta, she is a chuuni! Now that they are kinda stuck together, what is next between these two? Will it develop into some kind of a deeper relationship or that Rikka will be forever stuck in her delusions and not face the reality surrounding her life and much later, her past.
When I first watched the show's first episode, I easily dismissed it as some entertaining moe blob anime churned by Kyoto Animation to get more money. It didn't help that its source material only has two volumes in it and that it ended before the anime started! If my memory serves me correctly, most light novel adaptations these days at least adapt an on-going series. But after watching a few more episodes, I started to realize that this show is more than just about the adventures of a delusional high school student, it is also deals with some psychological stuff like coping up with the loss of someone.
In the show's earlier episodes, they are hints why Rikka's sister is concerned about her having delusions and such. At first I thought that she wants her to act normal in public. A few episodes later, we are introduced to Rikka's extended family and learned more bits about her life. As it turns out, her being a chuuni might be just a coping mechanism about accepting the death of her father. Thus it makes sense why Rikka's sister and her family want her to stop doing that and face the truth or the reality like what some people will say.
Rikka's search for the "'Ethereal Horizon" might be just her way to think of a possibility that maybe, just maybe, her parents are out there somewhere and that they will return once she finds this place. It is sad when you think about it but this is when Yuuta comes in. He acts like Rikka's support every time she did something. Yuuta kinda acts like Rikka's gateway to "reality", an ideal that Rikka abandoned some time in the series. That is why it is no surprise that after some persuasion, which is more like a talk about accepting the harsh reality, Rikka dropped the chuunibyou act and start living normally.
This is when the true theme of the series comes into play. The series is more than just about how to cope up with the harsh realities, but it is about being yourself in whatever you do. Rikka's coping up with her father's death is just being her all this time, and not some game of pretend like what most people think. Heck, even Yuuta's Dark Flame Master persona is something that he created because of his addiction to fiction! At the end, the series boils down to one harsh reality that most people can't accept, and that is how people cope up of "you" being "you". That is why I love how the series ended; it didn't end in a sad note but in a really fun note like how the series started.
Now that I am done talking about the plot, it is time to talk about the characters. The main cast of characters are great and the support casts, especially Touka (Rikka's sister) brings out the best from them. The other side characters might come annoying at times or have this impression that they are just placed there so that they can have more cute characters (and I was right about some of it), but it all depends on the viewer on how they receive them. In my case, I kinda hate some of them because they didn't contribute anything to the plot's progression.
The animation is something that I expect Kyoto Animation has, the animation is fluid, solid and sometimes, very realistic. What I like about it is how the director showed us the difference between what's happening in reality and what is happening in the delusion world. I just love how they animate the delusion world like some cool sci-fi or magical anime and later showed us what is actually happening... which is not really that fascinating compared to the real world. Some might say that this kind of thing is unique but I already saw it in Unofficial Sentai Akibaranger once, but they never had a chance to expand it.
Overall, Chuunibyou is one fun anime series. Even though the show's strongest point is its comedy when it comes to the delusional fights of our characters and why they think that they are doing is something that is kinda badass, surprisingly, this show can have some emotional and heart-warming scenes that can even make you teary eye from time to time for a TV show that is about the delusional lives of our characters. More than that, this show is more than just how to escape reality, but it is about accepting it by being you on ways to accept the harsh reality. Though their methods is something most people frowned upon, but that is their choice. They are being themselves when they delude themselves to their delusions.
