Chuunibyou Demo Koi ga Shitai! – 05

中二病でも恋がしたい!/ Chu-2 byo demo KOI ga shitai!
Episode 05

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Chuunibyou Demo Koi ga Shitai! - 05Sanae attempts to conquer drinking milk as Tsuyuri cheers, when Nibutani arrives, looking for her pom-poms, and gets milk spewed into her face. Meanwhile, Nanase-sensei has summoned Yuuta and Rikka, as Rikka’s recent math score was a 2/100. If her scores don’t improve, Rikka’s club will be dissolved. Rikka is panicked over this as the two return to the club classroom, just as Nibutani whacks Tsuyuri for saying she smells like spoiled milk. Nibutani thinks it would be OK for the club to be disbanded, but Rikka is determined to study, only to reveal to the others that she stinks at math. Rikka’s approach to studying proves to be quite unorthodox.

Chuunibyou Demo Koi ga Shitai! - 05The group heads to a shrine where instead of praying, Sanae and Rikka make commands to get Rikka through her math test. To the shock of Yuuta and Nibutani, Sanae is tops in middle school and has already been accepted to their high school. Although Sanae is impressed that her Master got into high school without having mastered the basics of math, Rikka changes tactics and decides to pray at the shrine. Since Rikka is keen on not studying, she strikes a deal with Sanae-sensei to clean the pool in order to not have the club disbanded. The club heads to the pool, but things soon degenerate into goofing off, especially between Sanae and Nibutani, who despite being a cheerleader really has no interest in doing it.

Chuunibyou Demo Koi ga Shitai! - 05Since the club failed to clean the pool, the stakes have now been raised for Rikka as she now has to not only pass her math test, but also have a higher grade than the classroom average. Yuuta agrees to tutor the panicked Rikka at her apartment.  The tutoring session does not go well as Rikka claims not to understand what the “characters” of math are thinking. She tries to get out of studying, but Yuuta blocks all of her attempts. In final desperation, she gets Yuuta to agree to take a break, where she says she’ll make tea. Rikka gets a message from Tōka, leading Yuuta to learn that Rikka often spends her evenings alone.

Chuunibyou Demo Koi ga Shitai! - 05Rikka and Yuuta exchange phone e-mail addresses, when Yuuta realizes he still has his middle school, chyynibyou e-mail address. Rikka thinks his is cool since hers is normal and wants to change hers. Yuuta thinks that might be a problem, but since Rikka only has Tōka and Sanae who’d care, she doesn’t see it as a problem. Upon hearing this, Yuuta agrees to come up with a cool name for Rikka’s e-mail if she studies. She buckles down and studies until she falls asleep. Returning home, Yuuta finds Tōka in his room, playing modern house with his little sister, who seems to appreciate Yuuta’s efforts. After much studying, exam day arrives and Rikka gets a 52. However, since the class average was 50, the club survives.

Thoughts/Review:

I think this was the funniest of the episodes so far, but it was also one of the more touching episodes.

Chuunibyou Demo Koi ga Shitai! - 05

 

On the humor side, I find I rather enjoy the fights between Nibutani and Sanae. I like how Sanae is not embarrassed by her chuunibyou behavior, thus totally owns Nibutani, her senpai. Plus, Sanae turns out to be pretty smart, making it even more awesome. ^_^
Chuunibyou Demo Koi ga Shitai! - 05
The curling moment was just awesome as well. ^_^
Chuunibyou Demo Koi ga Shitai! - 05

On the whole, there are lots of parody references and tropes here, the main one of course being the cleaning of the school’s pool, followed the dreaded exam and the need to “pass” with a failing grade. Seriously, a 52 is passing in Japan? I often see grades that would have failed me in my school days being sold as low-passing grades in anime/manga.

Chuunibyou Demo Koi ga Shitai! - 05

 

On the serious side, this episode seems to have unlocked one of the main reasons these folks get into the chuunibyou — loneliness. I got a sense of that last episode when Sanae spoke of how the Mori Summer’s posts spoke to her heart.
Chuunibyou Demo Koi ga Shitai! - 05

 

I did find it interesting the Nibutani wasn’t really interested in being a cheerleader, but she wanted an activity that got her into the popular ranks. One wonders how her association with Rikka’s weird club will affect her.
Chuunibyou Demo Koi ga Shitai! - 05

 

While I’m sure the anime production team did the scene as purposeful melodrama, I couldn’t help but feel so bad for Rikka when she said that the only two people who’d care about her changing her phone e-mail address would be her sister and Sanae. I hope we learn what happened with Rikka’s parents.
Chuunibyou Demo Koi ga Shitai! - 05

 

Also, I loved the moment with Tōka. I feel pretty sure she used to be a chuunibyou person, as seen by how easily she played make believe with Yuuta’s little sister. Also, the fact that she carries that ladle around says something to me as well. While she may be a well adjusted adult today, Tōka has been unsuccessful in getting through to Rikka while Yuuta has been successful, getting Rikka to study and have improved grades.
Chuunibyou Demo Koi ga Shitai! - 05
I may not find this series as funny as some folks, but I have liked it in ways I didn’t expect. I’m looking forward to seeing where this ultimately goes.
Chuunibyou Demo Koi ga Shitai! - 05

 

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10 Responses to “Chuunibyou Demo Koi ga Shitai! – 05”

  1. evgenidb says:

    Off-topic:
    Manga adaptation of BBC’s Sherlock: http://mangafox.me/manga/sherlock_pink_iro_no_kenkyuu/

    BBC’s Sherlock is a blast, by the way. 🙂

    Another off-topic:
    Another reminder to watch Level-E.

    • AstroNerdBoy says:

      Keep the reminders coming. ^_^;;;

      I do need to catch Sherlock and should look into the manga.

    • evgenidb says:

      It’s worth it, trust me.

      Mind that it’s the British “Sherlock” (6 TV movies so far, with 1:30 hours each), not the US “Elementary” (which recently started).

  2. burnpsy says:

    A 50 is a pass in Canada. From what I gather, Japan has something in the ~30 range as the failure threshold.

    • AstroNerdBoy says:

      Well, I’ve always seen anime/manga where they have low scores marked as passing. Never made sense to me since 60 was bare minimum for passing, and even then, for the classes I was in, often that wasn’t good enough.

    • ChronoReverse says:

      It really depends on what the test is designed for. Easy tests that you can ace simply by studying are common in North America

      But many places where there are exams tough enough that simply paying attention in class and studying your textbook isn’t enough to ace them.

  3. Anonymous says:

    This episode got me man. Hit me right at home.

  4. Anonymous says:

    Even though you didn’t comment on it, I see you did notice Level Upper reference from A Certain Scientific Railgun with the filename of your last image.

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