中二病でも恋がしたい！戀/ Chu-2 byo demo KOI ga shitai! Ren
Chuunibyou Demo Koi ga Shitai! Ren 12 anime review

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

The start of the second term has Kazari observe that Yuuta is not talking to Rikka, but simply gazing at her from a distance, causing Kazari to think that maybe the couple broke up. When Yuuta says it is the opposite, Kazari assumes passions erupted, causing Sanae and Nibutani to rapidly appear to question the situation. Kazari decides to approach Rikka about Yuuta, which causes Rikka to flee. Since Rikka has been spending time with Satone, Sanae and Nibutani pay her a visit to try to learn more. There, they discover that Rikka wants to form a higher contract with Yuuta. This causes both Nibutani and Sanae to think sex, but in fact, Rikka is talking about kissing.

Yuuta comes home as Rikka is researching kissing boys. She gets a text from Nibutani to come to a local bath house, so she, Sanae, Satone, Kumin, and Nibutani show up along with Yuuta. The girls go into the female side of the bath house so that they can freely talk without Yuuta around while Yuuta goes to the male side, joined by Mikoto. Rikka opens up, saying that though she revived the Dark Flame Dragon, her relationship with Yuuta is mostly unchanged, and she’s frustrated that he thinks he can buy her off with black things. Thus, she wants to go to the next level with Yuuta, and she asks the others to make sure she doesn’t flee. The others agree to this request.

The following day, Nibutani claims ignorance to what Rikka is thinking, but hands him a map to a place where Rikka wants to meet him under a bridge. That afternoon, the girls make sure that Rikka gets to the bridge. She starts to panic, so Satone and Sanae keep her from fleeing. Satone reminds her of her strength, then touches noses with Rikka to pass her mana. Now fortified, Rikka is more assured of herself as Nibutani comes down to tell them to speed it up. Kumin alerts them that Yuuta is coming, so the girls scramble to hide and observe as Yuuta joins Rikka under the bridge. It takes Yuuta a moment to realize what Rikka is wanting as she panics frequently, but he goes to kiss her until he sees a tear fall from her closed eyes.

Rikka confesses that she wants to be closer to Yuuta, but she’s scared and anxious. Yuuta says they don’t have to rush, but Rikka feels she owes it to Satone to take these feelings to their conclusion. Yuuta reminds Rikka of what she said made her happy — being together. Yuuta feels the same and after expressing it, a tearful Rikka runs to his arms. Yuuta says that they are changing, even if slowly, as a year ago, they wouldn’t have been able to embrace as they are now. They kiss each other on the cheek, but the kiss on the lips is interrupted by Yuuta’s phone and Kuzuha saying that Chimera has had kittens. Nibutani and the girls show up, not happy about the kiss being interrupted, so Rikka takes Yuuta’s hand and they flee, pursued by the girls.

Thoughts/Review:

Talk about going out on a very humorous and sweet note. There were a lot of good laughs in this episode.

Makoto, who’s been mostly ignored for this series, gets a great laugh when he reveals someone confessed to him and that someone happens to be another guy named Chihiro. Of course, Mikoto only wants Kumin, but sadly, that isn’t going anywhere. Still, the scene made for a great laugh.

Another great laugh came from the battling sisters Sanae and Nibutani, who think that a “higher contract” means sex, which causes their fight to end in a flash.

Nibutani’s Japanese remarks and Kumin’s English remarks about Rikka and Sanae standing before them in the bath was funny too.

Laughs aside, this episode, much like this series, didn’t go where I thought it might go. I thought there might be aftermath of Satone coming to a resolution over her love for Yuuta, but that wasn’t even in the cards. Satone isn’t moving out and should there be more anime, she’d likely be in a new series.

It was somewhat surprising that Rikka ended up being the one with issues. The writers did allow her to keep some of the progress she’d made in the series, but just threw in unexpected doubts and fears. I did like that she sought the help of her friends to make sure she didn’t flee or anything.

As expected, Rikka and Yuuta didn’t kiss on the lips, but they did get cheek kisses in, which is something. I hope that should there be a further anime (and I hope there is, though the end card of this episode hints at a negative on that front), things will get to a kissing point.

Regardless, the episode wraps things up nicely in a way that was funny and sweet, leaving room for more stories.  I’ll write a final thoughts review soon, but in the meantime, this was a good way to end the series.