February 3rd, 2014 
AstroNerdBoy 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 04 anime review
SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:
Nibutani decides to run for Student Council president, after quitting the drama club. While getting Yuuta to sign her petition to run, he remarks on rumors of her image, all dealing with her fighting with Sanae in various costumes. After Sanae attacks her in the hall, Nibutani begs Yuuta to distract Sanae when Nibutani visits the first year classrooms to campaign. Yuuta tries by pretending engaging in a chuunibyou moment with Sanae and Rikka in the clubroom, but when Sanae learns that Nibutani is going to campaign, she sneaks out to hide under the teacher’s desk. As such, as Nibutani attempts to give a speech to Sanae’s class, Sanae makes sure it goes quite wrong.
The group meets up at McDonald’s after school, where an angry Nibutani punishes Sanae while scolding Yuuta. Satone shows up, stunning Nibutani, as the two used to engage in chuunibyou back in middle school. Rikka and Sanae are doubtful that Nibutani is the real Mori Summer, but the photo on Satone’s phone removes all doubt. As such, Sanae stops being antagonistic to Nibutani, but instead calls her “Mori Summer-sama” in private, and “Nibutani-senpai” in public. Nibutani implores Sanae to keep her true identity secret, so she does. However, this change on Sanae’s part ends up being wearing on Nibutani, so Yuuta suggests Nibutani get her to help her campaign, which Rikka agrees with.
Sanae is overjoyed to help, so she makes a great campaign poster for Nibutani and is a great boost to Nibutani’s campaign. Rikka is disappointed when Sanae chooses to help Nibutani with a speech vs. doing chuunibyou stuff, so Yuuta agrees to step in as replacement, providing Rikka does her homework. At Nibutani’s home, Sanae shows her speech, which Nibutani approves of. Sanae’s earnestness and homemade cookies causes Nibutani to get out her Mori Summer gear, where a crying, grateful Sanae takes a photo. However, the next day during campaign speeches, Sanae decides to praise Nibutani as Mori Summer, causing Nibutani to freak out and lose the election. Because of this, Sanae becomes convinced that Nibutani is a fraud, thus their antagonistic relationship is restored.
Thoughts/Review:
Ah, Chuunibyou Demo Koi ga Shitai! Ren does my heart a lot of good as well as making me smile. ^_^
Sanae’s and Nibutani’s relationship has always been one of sisters. They may fight like cats and dogs, but at the end of the day, they would help each other. (Nibutani more so than Sanae, which is understandable since Nibutani is older.)
Of course, this antagonistic relationship has always been based on the fact that Sanae never accepted that Nibutani had been Mori Summer, the girl who got Sanae into the chuunibyou world. Nibutani had tried to prove she was Mori Summer, but Sanae never believed the proof. That’s why it was a little odd that Satone comes along with a photo, and suddenly Sanae believes. However, because this results in Sanae ceasing her antagonistic attitude toward Nibutani, with humorous and touching results, I let it pass.
I laughed out loud when Sanae suddenly started addressing Nibutani as Mori Summer-sama in private, and by the proper Nibutani-senpai in public. As Sanae started helping Nibutani with her campaign, I thought, “So, this is how things would be if these two ‘sisters’ got along and worked together, eh?” ^_^
I loved it when Nibutani decided to perform an act of kindness for Sanae by donning her Mori Summer gear and getting into the role again. Initially, I expected Sanae to suddenly say, “HA! Now I have the goods on you, Fake Mori Summer!” Instead, I was surprised that Sanae cried and got a picture of the person she admired most.
During this time, I couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for Rikka, who lost her best friend for a short period of time. Yeah, Yuuta was there for her, but he’s never going to be into the chuunibyou stuff like Sanae is.
As the episode drew to an end, I knew that the status quo would have to be restored, and I was a little sad by that. However, some of the funniest stuff in the Chuunibyou Demo Koi ga Shitai! franchise comes from Sanae’s and Nibutani’s sisterly fights, so having it come back wasn’t a problem. That being said, I still found Sanae’s rapid conversion back to Nibutani being a fraud Mori Summer to be a bit unbelievable, but like the first conversion, I let it pass for the good times that are too come. ^_^
Finally, there were a number of parody references in this episode, including a parody reference to McDonald’s. Man, I need a cheeseburger. ^_~
In the end, another very enjoyable episode, and one to get my week off right with a big smile. ^_^
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I am pretty sure that there was an EcDonalds in the first season as well.
Seeing it in this episode though did remind me of the MgDonalds from the (quite excellent) Hataraku Maou-sama!
It probably was, though I didn’t specifically remember it. McDonald’s gets a lot of parody references in anime titles. ^_^
Never saw that anime. I did a look-see and found an image for McRonald’s in that anime. Is that where the characters are supposed to be working at?
I’ts been a while so I looked it up. We both got it wrong it’s MgRonalds.
It is where the main character works. There is also SFC (Sentucky Fried Chicken). It is a surprisingly good anime that is very funny.
You’re right. I just transposed the “g” with a “c”. ^_^;
Anyway, thanks for the information on the series. ^_^
I guess it was just me, but it seemed to me that Dekomori really went beyond the pale this time.
The first time, watching the raw, it didn’t seem that bad. The second time, watching the sub and knowing what was coming, seemed to show Dekomori in a much more sinister light. It probably didn’t help that the episode started off with Nibutani saying that this was a dream of hers – but from there, Dekomori’s actions increasingly came across as having been a pretense all along. The clincher was: If she had really believed in Nibutani as much as she professed, why did she prepare a normal speech to fool her and then switch speeches at the last moment – and more particularly, if she didn’t expect/want Nibutani to “fail” the “test”, why did she have the picture blown up ahead of time?
It was still a fun episode – I especially liked the idea of Yuuta “playing” with Rikka and Dekomori as a distraction and Nibutani’s imitation of the Dark Flame Master, among other moments. But to me, this time Dekomori was really playing dirty.
One last random thought: Is it just me, or is Shichimiya quickly becoming one of the more endearing characters? I know she has to grow up sooner or later, but I find myself hoping it doesn’t happen during the series. Compared to her, the others’ concessions to reality almost seem a little jaded…. Shichimiya makes none. (^_~)
After watching the episode a second time, I decided that Sanae was really not acting with malice toward Nibutani. In her chuunibyou mindset, Mori Summer is like a goddess to Sanae. Nibutani was always just a pretender, so Sanae rejected her. But when she saw the proof (and I admit, her switch of opinion on the fly was a tad bit unrealistic to me), Sanae then accepted Nibutani as Mori Summer. As a true believer, Sanae wants to spread the gospel of the Mabinogion. So as I saw it, when Nibutani started freaking out, Sanae was genuinely surprised that Nibutani was negatively reacting to the words of Mori Summer. It was the way she looked at Nibutani and said, “Senpai?” I’m thinking that in Sanae’s mind, revealing that Nibutani is Mori Summer would assure Nibutani’s victory.
Another element that I think points to Sanae being earnest is her choosing Nibutani over Rikka. Rikka is her best friend, and the one she calls “master”. I don’t see Sanae abandoning Rikka just to pull an elaborate prank on Nibutani that takes days to bear fruit. When Sanae and Nibutani are acting like bickering siblings, Sanae’s attacks or acts of revenge happen in short order with a quick payoff if successful. She might abandon Rikka for a moment, as she did to sabotage Nibutani’s speech to Sanae’s class, but then she’s right back.
Of course, I could be totally wrong. After I watched the episode a second time, I just decided Sanae was being earnest all the way.
I’m kinda neutral on her at the moment, but you are correct, she has made no concessions to reality. Now that you’ve mentioned it, I’m wondering if this will be something that gets addressed by the series. Sanae used to be untouched by reality until the end of last series, where she abandoned the chuunibyou lifestyle for a short time. So now I can’t help but wonder if there will be some event that will force Satone to do the same. ^_^;
As an aside, boy was I wrong about the love triangle thing. ^_^;;; I’m actually glad about that.
After watching the next episode and then going back and watching this one a third time, I’m mostly swayed toward your point of view. I think what had me convinced that Dekomori was putting on an act all along was partly evidence-based… but mostly based on the fact that there were too many awkward coincidences on top of the rapid conversions from adversary to true believer and back again. I was expecting a more nuanced story than was actually there, and couldn’t have fun just watching it as a result.
I think I need to get my willing-suspension-of-disbelief meter retuned. (^_^);
Heh! It is a case-by-case thing with me. In this case, I was willing to give the rapid conversions a slide.
I think Dekomori still knows that Nibutani is Mori Summer. She realized that Nibutani really does hate her Chuunibyou past. So Dekomori chooses to pretends to call Nibutani the Fak Mori Summuer in order to spare Nibutani any more humiliation.
Also, I don’t know you realized, but in this picture
http://anime.astronerdboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/x02-Nibutani-punishing-Sanae.jpg
there is a person staring at the group. I think it’s the same person watching them from a distance in episode 2 http://imgur.com/RzXiQAa. I wonder if this person will show up in the background in the upcoming episodes.
Oh, you mean at the end of the episode, where she restores things with Rikka as well. Interesting idea. Man, I’d love for that to be revealed to be true, even if Nibutani never knows. ^_^
I never even noticed that girl in either moment, and I have that screenshot as well.
http://anime.astronerdboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/02-Spying-on-Rikka-and-Yuuta.jpg
That’s almost freaky eerie in a stalker way. ^_^;
It does look like the same girl, doesn’t it? In episode 2, she’s taking a picture, probably of Yuuta, but it could be Rikka. In episode 4, she’s just looking out, but she’s blushing and Yuuta is irritated with Nibutani and vice versa.
OK, now I’m going to have to keep my eyes open. ^_^; Thanks for pointing that out. ^_^
[…] episode 4 of Chuunibyou Demo Koi ga Shitai! Ren, there was a moment when Nibutani put on her Mori Summer gear […]