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Oct 11 2012

Categories: chuunibyou demo koi ga shitai, episodic review
Tagged: chu-2 byou demo koi ga shitai

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“Welcome to the Dark Side-o.”

“Every girl has her secrets.”

With a title Sentai Filmworks will probably butcher in localization, Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai! (Chu-2, She Has Adolescent Delusions, But I Want to Love Her!) is yet another Kyoto Animation series about a wacky female lead. So far, we’ve had a Whispered and a submarine captain, a god that doesn’t know she is god, a taiyaki-addicted girl in a coma, a girl who enabled a miracle of lights, Yui, a robot and a pint-sized genius, and Ms. Curiosity. Yeah, I can definitely see Rikka fitting in. She has major issues in separating reality with fantasy, doesn’t give a fuck about what others think of her, and makes zero attempts at fitting in. Zero fucks given. She’s basically the least realistic high school girl ever. Rikka’s the illegitimate daughter of Haruhi and Okarin.

Wait, this isn’t Future Gadget #56? Her brashness and rashness remind me a lot of Haruhi, yet she’s the polar opposite: whereas Haruhi thinks she is living a normal life while all this fantasy happens around her, Rikka is living a normal life while she thinks all there is this fantasy around her. Rikka also reminds me a lot of Okarin with the lab coat, her ridiculous inventions, and her delusional paranoia. Psy el congroo.

“Heilige Wasser!”

Rikka does come up with much better invention names than Okarin. I also think they are similar because they both like to make ridiculous poses and have laughs that emanate from their bellies.

(Though where the hell did she find a steampunk watering can? Did she buy it from etsy? Made it herself?)

“Wait, you didn’t get epilepsy from Hyadain no Kakakata Kataomoi – C? Have some Sparkling Daydream.” I think I’ve been in the anime blogging business too long when I watch this opening and think, “Mmm, Rikka looks like Fuko-chan, only with conspiracy delusions instead of starfish delusions… Shinka is Mikuru… Tsuyuri is Ui without a Yui… and Kyoto might reuse the voice actress for Sanae for Sumire” instead of what I should be doing: developing epilepsy ogling at Shinka.

(And can we get someone to make an animated gif with Shinka and Mikuru doing their cheerleader jumps side-by-side? That’ll be a belated Columbus Day gift for me.)

And I’m pretty sure Kyoto has done enough openings now that we can piece together Chu-2‘s by splicing together the old ones. At least it isn’t as boring as the current one for Space Bros that just has Mutta, Hibito, and Apo driving. That’s it. I felt like it needed a hachiroku or something.

Little sister… toothbrush…

If I had more time, I would do a montage of people moving. Pretty much every other episode one of anime this season features someone moving, either transferring, starting at a new school, getting dumped on a deserted island death game, or being tossed into yet another RPG world… it’s gotta stop. Aspiring manga and light novel writers: there are more ways to start a story than with people moving.

(It’s just too easy of a device to get people to introduce themselves. “Hi, I’m the new guy, and this is who I am.”)

“Avalon Schwarz!”

This whole sequence was awesome. I loved Tsuyuri’s reaction to it like she’s an 18 year old boy going to the Spearmint Rhino for the first time, and I loved how Rikka was foiled by a light fixture. That was awesome. I also liked how the cheap Ikea furniture broke apart… that was a nice touch. So far the ridiculousness and comedy of Chu-2 has been fantastic.

“Asuna beat out Chitanda in a moe poll?! Quick! More fanservice scenes for Shinka!” While I miss Fumoffo/Haruhi levels of fanservice, I do appreciate Kyoto’s attention to details, like how water cups around Shinka’s melonpan.

SHINY RED FIRE TRUCK!

Thigh high socks!

Emo facial distortion! It’s like Kyoto is putting everything I like into one show. The only thing missing is either emotional story (a la Clannad) or train wreck (a la Mai Otome). Needless to say, Chu-2 is ahead of Hyouka right now.

“DARK FLAME MASTER!”

I think everyone can relate. There’s always something tragic a kid latches onto… you can’t help it… you’re young, you’re impressionable, you’re lost. Either you’ve tried to shave your head so you could be like Picard, insisted on a Harry Potter-themed 14th birthday party, hosted an X-Files sleepover/marathon, talked like Gollum for a solid two years of middle school, or whatnot, everyone latches onto something. Everyone. It could be Twilight, Star Wars, Doctor Who, anime, Indian music videos, My Little Pony, that terrible long webcomic everyone cosplayed as at Fanime this year, or whatever… it doesn’t matter… there’s tragedy for everyone. (Except the star quarterback who is banging the head cheerleader… except he’s probably banging her mom too on the side… so, yeah, everyone has a tragedy.)

And I know. I have an anime blog. A big reason why I started an anime site (before my blog) was that I wanted to see if there were people like me. Before the internet became popular, being into anime felt isolating… I can imagine that’s what Yuuta feels like with DARK FLAME MASTER… but after I started my Aa! Megami-sama fansite, I was like, “Holy shit, there’s others who like this same sappy manga that I do.” It’s not like I feel anime is more cultural acceptable, it’s just as time goes on, I care less what others think and focus more on what I like. I enjoy anime for what it is (fanservice, repetitive tropes, underaged magical girls), and, yeah, it’s not all awesomeness, but have you seen American TV these days? It’s surely better than Honey Boo Boo and 666. I think this series is going to be about how Rikka gets Yuuta to accept himself for who he is rather than who he wants to be (as seen currently through his fantasies). I would say the theme is reminiscent of Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai.

(Then again, I thought Hyouka was going to be about Encyclopedia Houtarou with Chitanda moe… oh how wrong I was…)

Jun Fukuyama needs a lifetime achievement award or something. He’s like the Peter North of pr0n. (And just like pr0n, there’s like 1 competent male actor who appears all the time because, (a), no one cares about the male talent and, (b), no one cares about the male talent when compared to the female talent.) The only blemish is that he didn’t voice Keima. He and his agent really dropped the ball on that one… he should have been like Samuel L. when Samuel convinced Lucas to put in him the prequels.

Rikka’s sister is the typical cooler, sexy, yet laid back, bad ass older sister. She seems more intense than Mao and Houtarou’s sister (but I think a bit of that is Rikka’s perception of her), and she is just as sneaky as Houtarou’s sister (but more evil, like lawful evil instead of chaotic neutral). I like how her sister puts on high heels to pursue the trio, and then she headshots poor Tsuyuri with the ladle. She definitely graduated from the school of bad assery.

Kyoto’s animation level this season: over 15,532. The fight sequences have been better than SAO‘s, and they are great fun. Gurren Lagann fun. Man, only if Kyoto had someone– let’s say worked with them in a past or recently as a scriptwriter– who had a great, proven story about romance, comedy, fanservice, giant robots, and invincible stuffed animals… wouldn’t you want to watch that? Mmm… nah. Totally far-fetched. It’ll be more ridiculous than if Shaft made another Hidamari Sketch series.

“A drink to restore magic power.”

How is she not Okarin’s illegitimate daughter?!

“KIRABOSHI!”

One of my highlights of the past year was when I met the Star Driver character design back at Fanime, and I tossed him a “KIRABOSHI!” and he did it back.

This reveal was excellent. The pacing, the camera cuts, the background music– just compare the technicals of this show versus pretty much any other show this season, and no one does it this complex. It makes Little Busters seem like it was from 2004.

(Wouldn’t wearing an eyepatch and a colored contact be bad for you? Especially if you don’t need them? Wouldn’t they screw up your vision?)

Inside Identity feels like a K-On! music video. This is not a bad thing. I fully support Rikka, Tsuyuri, Sanae, and Shinka becoming the new Houkago Tea Time.

I like the contrast between Yuuta’s room and Rikka’s. Rikka has a ton of random stuff… a nine-tailed fox plush, a Newtonian (?) thermometer, succulents, a Button, a Squirtle… my gosh. It’s like her personality: out there. Meanwhile, Yuuta’s room looks like he’s training to be a boring salaryman driving a Cresta.

(And look at how detailed her room is when compared to his and his derpy plane. Did Yuuta see that poster and go, “Ha, I need this derpy plane on my wall so people won’t think I’m the DARK FLAME MASTER!”? Is Kyoto trolling us with the poster because they did such a nice job on the Hayabusa one from Hyouka? I want to know. You want to know.)

Final thought: What if Rikka is right, and there’s an organization far, far more sinister than CERN out there plotting world domination?