Chuunibyou – 04

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Love it or hate it (or both), there’s no one else who does this sort of thing like KyoAni can do it.

[URW]_Chuunibyou_demo_Koi_ga_Shitai!_-_04_[720p][D41E2856].mkv_snapshot_01.01_[2012.10.26_23.46.59]I’m of the classic “two minds” dilemma with Chuunibyou.  There are times when it really makes me laugh, and there are times when I just want to slip decaf into the espresso machine at Kyoto Animation.  They really are shameless, these people – they’re experts at creating anime in a style that’s been often imitated, never equaled, and it really seems to me that they’re far too much in love with chasing their own tail for anyone’s good.  But credit where it’s due – this is pretty slick stuff, as always.  I think my gut reaction that Chuunibyou was a style I don’t especially like done especially well is pretty close to the mark.

[URW]_Chuunibyou_demo_Koi_ga_Shitai!_-_04_[720p][D41E2856].mkv_snapshot_01.24_[2012.10.26_23.47.22]That doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy it – and this show is definitely working for me on the superficially comic level.  It’s funny a lot of the time, and occasionally very funny – and the Mabinogions of the world are thick with anime comedies that never manage that. I can’t help but laugh when Dekomori (miraculously, a character who makes Rikka look competent and sane) says she wants to eat curry in the other world, or when Rikka creates a magic circle out of Christmas lights.  As a madcap physical comedy Chuunibyou is well above-average and its fearlessness about going big pays off.  Where I wish it would tone it down is in the excessive moe pandering, which too often becomes self-serving and smug.  Yes, we know – you’re great at it, you don’t have to prove it anymore.

[URW]_Chuunibyou_demo_Koi_ga_Shitai!_-_04_[720p][D41E2856].mkv_snapshot_03.42_[2012.10.26_23.48.50]As a character comedy, I remain somewhat ambivalent, though I think the central message of the show is certainly fine.  There are secrets in all of our pasts we’d rather not have the world know about, and that’s certainly never more urgent than when we’re 16 and on the cusp of adulthood.  The gap between 14 and 16 can seem a millimeter wide one moment and a parsec (I was a sci-fi Chuunibyou, you know) the next, and Yuuta’s struggle with himself isn’t a bad thing to build a show around, especially when you have interesting developments like the reveal (which sharper eyes than mine picked up last week) that Nibutani has a Chuunibyou past herself are included in the mix.  I liked her Jekyll/Hyde transformations – I like her character generally, and think the show is better when she’s added to the mix.  It just feels to me as if the two aims of the show – the completely farcical comedy and the semi-poignant reflection on adolescence – are working at crossed-purposes for now, with the former winning out.  A really great writer could make the two work in harmony with each other, but I’m not seeing writing of that caliber here yet.

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7 comments

  1. A

    Greatness is greatness after all! 😀

    I must admit that Chuunibyou is right up my alley and has several elements that I simply love, so for me the series is a delicious treat that I am savoring. 🙂

    But then again, maybe that is not surprising to you, eh? 😉

    – Flower

  2. H

    I have to admit to a little disappointment in how Shinka was portrayed here. I hope the show will work on reconciling the two sides of her that we've seen, because at the moment they don't really make sense. I don't know if we can really say that the way she was in the second half of episode 4 is her 'true' nature, because even if you consider that the first half of episode 4 is her playing nice to Yuuta to get hold of Dekomori's book, that doesn't explain why she was previously nice to Yuuta prior to finding out its existence. She never even saw Dekomori until the 3rd episode, but seemed nice and a bit interested in Yuuta both on the train platform and when they were inventorying the Science room. And it was pretty obvious she was waving to him at cheerleading tryouts. So, I have hope that she'll turn out to be not as mean as she seemed this episode, and that she's just overreacting to some bad news.

    The only other explanation I can come up with is that people who quit something sometimes become the most ardent anti's to that thing. But she's known that he's around Rikka, and she's seemed to tolerate Rikka fine so far.

  3. M

    Shinka seems to be a self centered b***h who is pretending to be little miss perfect while trying to hide her past.

  4. T

    I also think I'm a bit half and half with this show, the characters are definetly entertaining and funny one one degree but they hall have a borderlining thing that can piss me off:

    Togashi: Pretty neutral, I don't hate him yet I'm not exactly going "HELL YEAH TOGASHI'S ON THE SCENE!!" now if it were yoshihiro togashi…

    Rikka: Her delusions and antic can be both funny and slightly annoying, she hasn't done anything yet to piss me off but sometimes it feels like they're pushing it.

    Nibutani: Before this episode, I figured that once we dug into her characer, I'd begin to hate her rather than feel neutral, but I do like the character and was surprised how much humor she can bring into the group, especially by balancing out sanae, who's probably the easiest to get on my nerves. I do feel however there can be a ticking timebomb with her somewhere…

    Sanae: Basicly rikka, only age appropriate, and so therefore slightly vamped up. when she's interacting with Rikka and Nibutani I don't mind her but otherwise, its either annoying or meh.

    Kumin: I liked her in episode 2, and generally she hasn't done anything in particular, but she's kind of comming off to me as ridiculously airheaded, and well back when I was starting anime with gash bell, there was a particular character that really made me mold a hatred for ditzes *which if a bit funny as I don't hate all of them* so she's pretty much close to that edge where I can't decide yet.

  5. B

    I really love this show, it's just to funny! Kyoani is one of my favourite animation studios because the shows they produce are really easy to slip into and just enjoy. I can just relate so much to the characters about they embarrassing tags they did in the past, even though I wasn't as extreme as writing magic books and creating costumes lol. This series is definitely in my top 5 that have come out this season and the Amarion quality is really top notch.

  6. i

    Lord of the Rings Chuunibyou.

    I feel very much the same. The moe feels excessive but the comedy can be great. It's a show which contradicts my usual preferences so I'm surprised I'm still watching.

    But sometimes we all just need time to turn off and laugh, eh?

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