I'm not sure how KyoAni does it, but they always seem to surprise me. I originally passed up this series when it first debuted because it had the appearance of a moe harem series that's strictly a romantic comedy. However, if you came into this series thinking that's all it would be, you would be sorely mistaken. Chuunibyou is a series about staying true to yourself, no matter how strange or weird some people would perceive you as.
Honestly speaking, my favorite part of this series was the message behind it. This series revolves heavily around the process of "growing up." While I don't want to spoil it, the series does heavily address the issue of whether giving up your own creative individuality and forgetting your childhood fantasies is for the best. It also revolves around how one person's fantasies can serve as an inspiration to others. There are many semi-subliminal messages that carry on throughout the series, especially in the latter half. While I know my explanation might seem somewhat vague, it will make more sense as you watch the series.
The story revolves around Yuuta, a boy entering his freshman year of high school after completely abandoning his "chuunibyou" or "eighth grade delusion," of being a otherworldly warrior known as the Dark Flame Master out of embarrassment. However, the night before his first day in this HS, he meets Rikka, a girl he later finds out is in his HS class that lives in the floor above him climbing down a rope outside his balcony and assists in her escape. He learns that this eye-patch wearing girl also has a chuunibyou that she calls the "Wicked Eye" and is searching for the "Ethereal Horizon." Rikka spends much of her time around Yuuta, claiming how the Wicked Eye calls out for him to assist in her search and she even tries to start a hobby club revolving around magic users and the like. At the very least, that's how this series starts out, but it eventually revolves around the reasons for Rikka having this chuunibyou. Overall, the story is pretty decent and the characters are also quite interesting as well.
Outside of the two leads, this series had an intriguing supporting cast. You had Kumin, a pure and innocent girl with an obsession for naps, Sanae, a hyperactive girl with a vivid imagination that refers to Rikka as "master", and Shinka, the popular girl in the class who joins the club to destroy the evidence of her own previously abandoned chuunibyou that Sanae possesses. Makoto, Yuuta's class friend also joins the club later on. While this didn't have that much of a "club" focus, I found what made these characters interesting was how they all tied into each other during the series and the events that happened during the series that built their characters. Unfortunately, there isn't really much character back story for anyone besides Rikka, but at the same time, it didn't feel that necessary for this series. Each member of the club, as well as Touka, Rikka's sister serve more as support for the two leads, rather than each getting their own individual story arc. My biggest beef with the character development was that I really wish it would've built a bit more on Yuuta's character because his role becomes quite amplified later on in the series. It just felt like if Yuuta's character was developed even more, it would've only helped as this series reached it's climax.
The animation was pretty good, but not breathtaking, especially when it comes to KyoAni. The character designs are EXTREMELY similar to K-ON! and Hyouka, although that seems to be KyoAni's trademark at the moment, much like how Air, Kanon, and Clannad were KyoAni's staple character design during the late 2000s. Although, one interesting aspect I found about the animation was just how vivid they made the delusions, especially in the fight scenes. It would make for a very hilarious segue from an epic fantasy fight between Rikka and Touka to seeing the two fight each other with an umbrella and a soup ladle.
When it came to the weaknesses of this series, I'll admit that the pacing was sort of choppy. It had its parts that seemed to progress the plot pretty quickly and then bring it to an all-out stand still. There do also seem to be some minor events within the series that mostly serve as "plot convenience," especially toward the end. One of the minor gripes I do have about this series is that I wish it was a bit longer. While the series was able to accomplish quite a bit in 12 episodes, there was an awful lot of character development and story building that could've been done to turn this into a 24 episode series. I would say it was part of the reason why the pacing of this series felt so jerky. Since it was only 12 episodes, it only really had time to develop Yuuta and Rikka's relationship, but not much of anyone else. It's a shame, because the supporting cast had a lot of character to develop. I mentioned it earlier, but Yuuta's character development felt slightly too shallow, especially considering the message the series was trying to push across.
All-in-all, Chuunibyou is one of those series that will make you feel like a kid again, especially if you were the creative, imaginative type. It's one of those series that will make you contemplate the significance of giving up individuality for social conformity. In my honest opinion, I believe the series does a remarkable job of showing how important being true to yourself is and how your own personal creativity can serve as an inspiration to others. It's a powerful series in that regard. While I wouldn't call this one of KyoAni's best works, it is still a pretty strong series. If you're looking for a nice romantic comedy with some interesting social commentary and a bit of subliminal messaging, Chuunibyou is the way to go.
