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All media, especially comedy, will always strike a chord with an audience if it deals with a subject that they would find uncomfortable or too embarassing to discuss in their real lives. Of course, when an anime about how in our childhood we all acted in embarassing ways we'd rather leave behind, it really encapsulates that idea well. Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai is that show, but whilst it initially impressed me with it's humour and well animated fantastical battles, the way in which the momentum of the show shifted in the latter episodes left a bad taste in the mouth.

I'll talk first about the ... technical aspects of Chuunibyou, as they're arguably the most objective. A lot has been made, at least in the west, about how 'Kyoani's shows all look the same'. The complaint has also been made about Chuunibyou looking similar to K-ON!. However, this is wrong. Chuunibyou and Kyoani have quite distinctive art styles, no doubt due to the fact that the character designers are two different people (Kazumi Ikeda compared to K-ON!'s Yukiko Horiguchi). Kyoani's regular fantastic animation quality is not absent here, with fluid animation and a lack of any undetailed frames in the foreground throughout the entirety of the show. The animation budget and talent is especially shown off during the episodic fight scene, where Kyoani really brings the 'magic' of the scene to life with a stunning amount of frames and effects. Almost makes one wonder what may become of Kyoani producing a proper action anime in the modern era (not having done so since Full Metal Panic).

The sound is unremarkable but unsurprisingly solid. Both the OP and ED are catchy, and the music used from scene to scene always captures the mood capably. None of the OST tracks particularly stood out as excellent, though, but none of them were poor or overused enough to get on my nerves either.

I'll try and combine both character and story because both of these are inherently linked. I'll also do my best to avoid any spoilers. Initially, the 'story' of Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai! was about Yuuta trying to overcome his past sufferings of his "chuunibyou" (or 'adolescent delusions of grandeur syndrome'), which caused him to be the "Dark Flame Master" in middle school, going so far as to commute to a highschool quite far away from where he lives in order to start anew. This hope of his is shattered, however, when he meets a girl named Rikka who is suffering quite badly from this chuunibyou condition and seems to be fascinated with Yuuta and hiss being the Dark Flame Master. As one would expect, this leads to a very humorous series of events, and more characters are introduced such as Sanae Dekomori (a current sufferer) and Shinka Nibutani (a girl who, like Yuuta, is trying to leave her Chuuni past behind and lead a normal highschool life).

The series continues to be mostly comedic, slowly introducing the different characters and developing their personalities and relationships. It soon develops into a romantic comedy as such relationships blossom, especially between the main characters of Yuuta and Rikka. However, it isn't long after this that the series begins to lose sight of its direction in more ways than one. Let me start off with saying that I am not adverse to drama in romance, in fact most of the time drama is what keeps such a show interesting and worth watching. However, drama can sometimes be handled in a very poor way, and such is the case with Chuunibyou. In the last three episodes of Chuunibyou, the plot and momentum of the show is very poorly done. Bad plot devices, mindnumbing cliches uncharacteristic of the show and characters acting very out of character spoil what once was one of my favourite shows currently airing. I won't go into detail about exactly what I disliked about it, because it would be spoiling, but I will say that KyoAni are trying to take a leaf out of the Jun Maeda book of melodrama, and it just isn't working for them. Not to mention the ending provides no real romantic closure for any of the characters other than Yuuta and Rikka (and even their romantic ending is handled in a way that didn't exactly excite), and little to no explanation of certain things shown after the credits rolled. They could be setting up for a second season, but with a poor ending like that I'm not sure that I'll be watching.

All in all, Chuunibyou is still a good show. However, the lack of delicate balance between comedy and romance in the latter portion of the show and poor handling of drama detract from what was a very strong first half. My score would have been higher if it had stayed a pure romantic comedy, or if the concluding episodes had been more satisfying/better handled.

Overall, a 7/10, and a recommendation for anyone who enjoys comedy, romance, or perhaps just a little taste of their old adolescent delusions of grandeur.

Haiyoru! Nyraru-ani is the heartwarming story of the loli personification of Nyarlathotep (Nyarlko) who is a by-the-books otaku wish fulfillment nerdy chick, who is in love with a normal guy called Mahiro who can only keep this non-tentacled horror under control with a hastily brought down fork slammed right throough her hand. Also; later in the series, we meet Cthuhko, who is the Japanese loli imagining of Cthulhu. And rather than looking like an octupus god like figure from the sunken sity of Rl'yeh, she is actually a kuudere girl who wants to feast upon Nyarlko's carpet.

So, that is basically the story and the character ... section rolled into one. I won't tell you what I think of what I just wrote, because due to whether or not you are a Cthulhu mythos fan or not this could sound like the worst/best thing ever written by mankind.

The next thing to talk about is the art, which is as far as anime art goes is quite bland and ugly, and the animation is rather low quality. However, I can be a bit more forgiving here due to the fact this was made with Flash, a program in which I can barely get a stick figure to move it's legs.

The sound was decent. The few VAs there were had done somewhat well known characters (Yuno from Hidamari Sketch, Harumi from SZS) and the ending theme after each and every segment was nice, whilst somewhat annoying if you are watching the whole thing from back to front.

I enjoyed myself quite a bit, in no short thanks due to the constant stream of Lovecraftian/Anime and Manga references they popped in at opportune spots. And whilst I realize this was nothing but an advertisement for a novel I will never see translated in my life time (and screw learning Japanese, Spanish is hard enough) I can say that it certainly amused me for its short run time.

All in all, I recommend this series if you are a Lovecraft fan. Partly because you may find the show's humour enjoyable, and partly because I might derive morbid entertainment from your screams of terror as you list down everything that this anime just raped about your beloved Mythos. Non-Lovecraft readers might enjoy it as well, just don't expect to know what the hell is going on half the time. I rate it 7 grave rolls out of 10.