Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions! Episode 1 + 2 Review

Episode 1:

Episode one opens with a brief introduction of Chunibyo, describing it as a state of mind in which an individual believes themselves beholden to magical powers as a result of a distortion of their sense of reality. This is when we are introduced to our first main character Yuuta Togashi, who was, up till recently, one such individual afflicted by Chunibyo, Dubbing himself “Dark Flame Master”.

However, with the approach of high-school life, Yuuta finds himself severely regretting his previous affiliations with the title. It is during this lamentation that Rikka Takanashi makes her first appearance, in the form of a pair of legs hanging over the edge of a balcony (this becomes a rather common theme). She then swiftly disappears off the edge again. And thus the two main character have become acquainted.

Rikka has fully immersed herself into the world of the Chunibyo going by “Wielder of the Wicked Eye” and due to one poorly timed exclamation she learns of Yuuta’s affiliations with his old name and swiftly proceeds to attempt to rope him into “joining forces with her”, he then swiftly declines her offer, overcome by the embarrassment. However, it is not long until Yuuta is forced to forgo his plans of making new friends in exchange for taking Rikka home as a result of her losing her wallet.

Episode 2:

Episode two begins with Rikka fleeing from a mysterious silhouette while hiding from the figure she discovers a cat. So Rikka does the only obvious thing and brings it over to Yuuta’s house. Waking him up with a barrage of water sprays.

Later on that day Yuuta finds himself counting equipment with Shinka Nibutani a girl whos had Yuuta’s eye since the day they started school. At which point the pair is interrupted by Rikka, maker her miraculous appearance from behind a plastic model. Rikka and Yuuta then set about trying to find the owner of the cat from the night before. This is when Kumin Tsuyuri is introduced, she claims that the cat’s description matches up with the likeness of her own presently missing cat.

Kumin then travels back to Rikka’s house to meet the cat and see if it is hers. As luck would have it however, the cat is not so its back to square one. At that moment, Rikka’s older sister Tooka Takanashi makes an appearance (she also just so happens to be allergic to cats). And so a battle ensues between the two sisters. Tooka then asks Yuuta to take the cat, threatening that if he does not she will publish a recording of him in the middle of his act as the “Dark Flame Master”. After this a fight ensues once again between the sisters, resulting in Rikka’s loss.

My Review: With a title such as is has I can’t rightly say what I was expecting from Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions! I was hoping for something great, but my recent slump into rather mediocre animes I was tentative, to say the least. Well, I am pleased to say that this show had me within minutes. The intriguing concept of a Chunibyo is ripe with ideas and the opening narration does an excellent job of establishing what Chunibyo is. One way I found this was used effectively in the show to use was during the fights scene at the end of episode 2, in where the fight is displayed from both the perspective of the individual as an over the top fight with lots of big explosions and from the perspective of the onlookers as a girls waving her umbrella around. Both of the main characters are very endearing and both have an excellent chemistry, in the way of Yuuta seeing himself in Rikkas eccentricity. I’m loving this series so far and looking forward to episode three and four.