中二病でも恋がしたい！/ Chu-2 byo demo KOI ga shitai!
Chuunibyou Demo Koi ga Shitai! – 02

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Yuuta is awakened from a dream about Nibutani by Rikka, who’s spraying him with a watering device that she claims is magical. Yuuta heads to school with Rikka, where she asks about his dad, who’s working in Jakarta. Yuuta gets elected to be the class rep along with Nibutani, which annoys him until he finds himself doing an inventory with her of the science lab. Yuuta is startled to find Rikka hiding in there, but is more worried that Nibutani will discover his past since Rikka is acting out her chuunibyou.  The stray cat that Rikka had found the night before is something she claims to be a chimera, thus she’s looking for a potion to give it the mana it needs to survive. Yuuta explains to Nibutani about the cat, leading her to point them to a senpai named Tsuyuri, who’s recently lost her cat.

Tsuyuri is amused by Rikka’s antics and agrees to go home with them to check out this chimera cat. At Rikka’s apartment, she makes a big show of things before allowing them into her room, which is decorated in an unusual but interesting way. Yuuta sees Rikka’s Mauser C96 replica on the wall and loses himself for a moment, to the amusement of Tsuyuri. Rikka is surprised that Tsuyuri found the cat, which she claimed to have made invisible, but Tsuyuri says the cat isn’t hers. Rikka’s sister, Tōka, enters and demands to know who’s cat it is. Rikka beats a hasty retreat out of her room via the balcony and down to Yuuta’s apartment and room, hotly pursued by Tōka.

Yuuta and Tsuyuri follow to find the sisters posed on his bed as if to battle.  Rikka ends up accidentally knocking herself out while using Yuuta’s bookcase as a launching platform. Back at Rikka’s and Tōka’s apartment, Tōka explains how her sister’s delusions are getting worse, plus Tōka has an allergy to cat and wants the animal gone. Yuuta hesitates, but Tōka produced an audio recording of him from a couple years back where he pretends to be the Dark Flame Master. Armed with blackmail material, Tōka forces Yuuta to help her, but when they enter Rikka’s room, she’s made another escape. Yuuta realizes the recording device is sitting unprotected in the living room, so he grabs it, then with Tsuyuri, beats a fast exit, joining Rikka in flight.

The trio go to a nearby park, where Tōka follows, armed with a ladle. Rikka speaks of how her sister, whom she refers to as a high-level priestess, is very powerful. Yuuta figures this is more of Rikka’s chuunibyou talking, but Rikka’s sister proves quite adept at using the ladle as a ranged weapon. Rikka wants Yuuta and Tsuyuri to escape while she covers them, then engages her sister in battle, which she imagines to be a massive one, even though in reality, it is not. Yuuta and Tsuyuri watch and cheer Rikka, who’s defeated by Tōka. Tōka takes back the recording device, makes the trio sit seiza, then asks that they keep the cat out of the apartment. She gives Yuuta a box of bandages as Rikka wonders why her massive attack didn’t work on Tōka. Back home, Yuuta decides to keep his old gear, then asks his mom if he can keep the cat Rikka found.

Thoughts/Review:

It is hard for me to know exactly what this series is attempting to accomplish.  On one hand, it is clear to me that we have parodies of the shounen action series, where characters have massive melee weapons, have all kinds of special abilities, and shout out the name of the attack they are about to perform.

On the other hand, two episodes of this have caused me to think a lot about fantasies and the line between an active imagination, where one daydreams of being something more, and delusion, where one actually believes they are something they really aren’t (such as a powerful mage). I thought about how earlier in the year, I played Skyrim and for the first time in any RPG computer game, I actually roll played the mage character I was playing. Heck, I even toyed with writing some adventures back then before other things took my free time.

As I watched the episode, I did find myself smiling and even laughing at things that happened, but after the episode was over, I found myself feeling sorry for Rikka, so much so that I actually want her to be right about the supernatural conspiracies she believes in.

The character of Tōka is pretty awesome. On one hand, she’s allowed her delusional, younger sister to move in with her to attend high school. The way Tōka moves and handles that ladle, combined with how long-suffering she is with Rikka, I wonder if she too suffered from chuunibyou earlier in life.  Regardless, the fact that she had the goods on Yuuta to blackmail him was the funniest moment of the episode.

As to Tsuyuri, she seems to be one of those types of people who just enjoys a good bit of fun, no matter how bizarre.

I do wonder what will happen when Nibutani learns of Yuuta’s past. I figure she’ll be OK with things, based on what little we’ve seen of her so far.

Only one more central character to introduce. I’m looking forward to seeing her enter the mix.