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Dec 08 2012

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

9 Comments »

“Our mission is about to start.”

(In pure Kyoto awesomeness, they mirrored whatever Yuuta and Rikka were doing on the phone screen, but pixelated. The attention to detail that they bring is incredible.)

Great organic humor generated by the cast. I loved how Isshiki (a.k.a. Sunohara V2) thought it was a good idea to confess in front of the whole school, loved how Tsuyuri downed him with prejudice, but, most of all, I loved how Tsuyuri had a fucking futon set ready to go at the bonfire and no one thought it was weird. She went to sleep in the middle of a dance, right in front of the fire!!! And instead of making fun of her, trying to wake her up, draw penises on her face, or whatever horrible things real teenagers would do, they just let her sleep. Then again, it’s fucking Tsuyuri, and I would definitely let her sleep. She’s so adorable.

Though she is pretty much the least developed character, behind Isshiki. We don’t know what makes her tick besides sleep, and we don’t know anything else about her. I felt like it’s a wasted opportunity– she’s a great character but just needs some depth. She’s the Mawaru Penguindrum of Chu2.

“Then just pinkies?”

These two are too adorable. They’re like Arima and Yukino very early on in Kare Kano… though I doubt Chu2 will progress at those speeds. For anime like Chu2, this scene is the money scene. It’s why we watched the past nine episodes: it’s the build-up to Rikka’s and Yuuta’s relationship that we all knew was coming, yet we still wanted to see them go through the motions: a bit anxious, quite sweet, and totally, totally awkward. Though I did like the twist that Rikka confessed first, which caused Yuuta’s hilarious counter proposal (I nearly died when the person biked by as he is doing his Dark Flame Master routine… funny because of the bike and also because he thinks he needs to be Dark Flame Master to win Rikka’s heart despite so rejecting it), and that final pinky thing. Icing on the cakii. The only Facebook relationship status-changing event that I could see topping this in the near future is if Marshall Lee wrote Fionna a love song.

“Don’t you normally do this kind of thing face to face?”

I like the lighting effects and the rain effects, but I didn’t care for the BGM, which was typically sappy jpop. I would have preferred the Dark Flame Master theme song to be playing instead! Da-da-dark Flame Maaaaster! Master of dark flames! Da-da-dark Flame Maaaaster!

Kyoto gave us meido all right… at least it isn’t meido Isshiki. Why couldn’t they have a character who had a meido obsession? I mean, surely there were 15 year old boys who fantasized about having a team of meido assassins?

(Definitely, meido Tsuyuri -> meido Rikka -> meido Nibutani -> meido Dekomori, who is only barely edging out Fuko-chan at this point.)

“You, stop talking.”

I feel like the pacing is a bit off at this point. This episode should have just been Yuuta and Rikka finally coming to terms with their feelings, and then the pinky holding ends the episode. That would have been sweet. It really didn’t need the extra Rikka trauma that immediately followed their confession (which was happened in Kare Kano: right after Arima and Yukino have sex for the first time, they get tossed into lame drama that really could have waited an episode or two). What I felt this episode lacked was empty, dialogue-less time. That’s something Clannad did ok and Battlestar Galactica did excellent. Not every moment needs shit to be happening… this is Chu2 not Nichijou nor Naruto nor Nisemonogatari. Adding a few pauses to when Yuuta and Rikka were under the bridge would have improved the scene and emotion quite a bit.

“Such emotions are forbidden!”

When you’re a kid, you want shit to be constantly happening. This is why Yo Gabba Gabba exists. When you get older, you realize pauses and contemplation are not bad things. I think Rikka kinda gets this, hence why she quiets up when she thinks. Dekomori… she’s more like an internet commentor who must prove the world that they are wrong! Especially Yahoo commentors.

I feel like Rikka’s sister is the worst character. I cringe a bit when she’s on screen. She’s not interesting, and they try way too hard to make her seem “cool.” But, in the end, she’s just an emotion-less robot who only wants Rikka to grow up because it makes her life simpler. So Rikka has a hard time getting over her dad’s passing… they try to yell at her and threaten her to get her to move on? Why hasn’t any of them tried therapy? Or realize that maybe two years is not enough time for a little girl to finish grieving over her dad? Or that it’s important for Rikka to still have a connection to her dad? Worse of all, she’s meddling in Yuuta’s and Rikka’s relationship to get what she wants… instead of being happy or Rikka or threatening Yuuta with “If you get her preggers, I’ll kill you”, but rather, “Hey, I know you’re just starting out a relationship with my little sister, but please remind her that her dad is dead. kthxbye.” It’s never about what Rikka but instead how Takanashi can antagonize her. And, of course, Takanashi doesn’t exist in Chu2 novels but is an anime-specific character.

I love this scene. I hope Rikka uploads the picture to Instagram.

(One of the biggest teases in anime, besides Haruka Minami’s melonpan, is how they never showed the shark-slicing battle in Katanagatari. Well, Chu2 is nothing but tease. We get excited for a beach episode, and Rikka doesn’t even get on the beach. She runs away once they finished changing into swimsuits. Then there’s this festival, which should have showcased a fight between Dark Flame Master and Tyrants Eye, yet we didn’t even see Nibutani vs. Dekomori. It’s almost like Game of Thrones where the battles are alluded to but not shown.)

The whole pinky thing is really cute and well done. Just how two awkward teenagers trying their best to make sense of their feelings expressing how they feel about each other. A lot sweeter and cute than kissing through the glass.

I’ve never had an umbrella not fall apart on my before the end of the rainy season. Maybe umbrellas in Japan are just better built than the ones I buy at Daiso… wait a minute…

100% beef! I like how Kyoto tried to make it McDonald-ish right down to the Ronald McDonald House logo as well as a Big Mac without cheese (I guess cheese isn’t as popular in Japan). But I just wanted to point out that unlike most anime where they depict a fake McDonald’s-like establishment with a “W”, they went for an “E” instead.

“You’re really stupid.”

Dekomori grows up to become… Milla Rage! She’s just training her hair…

This scene was heartbreaking. I was just like, “No Yuuta… don’t do that! Noooooo!” He went from Dark Flame Master to Dark Douche Master. I mean, everyone is happy. There’s a fucking school festival with dancing going on. Sure, you’re brooding about things that horrible sister put in your head, but can’t it wait until after the festival? Like, compartmentalize the hell out of it, and then find a private place to discuss things with Rikka? Isn’t this a better option than being a passive aggressive dickwad? Also, he could have been cool if he just told the mom, “Look, your daughter wants to grieve. Let her. And I’m eating this bento, nomomomom.” Maybe this show is painful to some people because it relives some poor choices we made in our pasts. Mmm.

They wanted her to grow up. Be careful of what you wish for.

Final Thought: Is it better to be with someone who accepts you for who you are, or is it better to be with someone who accepts you for who you want to be?