Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions

Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions (中二病でも恋がしたい!, Chūnibyō demo Koi ga Shitai!, Even with Eighth Grader Syndrome, I Want to Be in Love), also known as Chū-2 for short, is a Japanese light novel series written by Torako, with illustrations provided by Nozomi Ōsaka. The work won an honorable mention in the Kyoto Animation Award competition in 2010, leading the company to assume its publication starting in June 2011. A 12-episode anime adaptation by Kyoto Animation aired in Japan between October 4 and December 19, 2012, with six six-minute Lite episodes streamed on YouTube. The anime is licensed by Sentai Filmworks for release in North America. An animated film was released in September 2013, and a second anime season, Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions -Heart Throb-, aired between January and March 2014.

Plot

Yūta Togashi is a boy who, during junior high school, suffered from "chūnibyō" (中二病, lit. "second year middle schooler syndrome", or "delusions of grandeur"), believing that he possesses supernatural powers and dubbing himself the "Dark Flame Master", therefore alienating himself from his classmates. Finding his past embarrassing, Yūta attempts to start off high school where he does not know anyone, free from his old delusions. This proves to be difficult, however, as a delusional girl in his class, Rikka Takanashi, learns of Yūta's past and becomes interested in him.

As the plot progresses, Rikka becomes more attached to Yūta, who, despite finding her delusions irritating and embarrassing, accepts her. He helps Rikka with a number of things, including founding and maintaining her club and tutoring her. When he joins her on her summer vacation, Yūta learns that two years prior, Rikka's father, to whom she was very close, died unexpectedly due to a terminal illness, causing her to fall into her delusions. After Yūta agrees to help Rikka search for the "Ethereal Horizon" (不可視境界線, Fukashi Kyōkaisen), which she believes will lead her to her father, she becomes romantically interested in him and vice versa.

Characters

Yuta Togashi (富樫 勇太, Togashi Yūta)

Voiced by: Jun Fukuyama (Japanese), Leraldo Anzaldua^[1] (English)

Yūta is the male protagonist of the story, a high-school freshman who used to be delusional, believing himself to be the "Dark Flame Master" and becoming alienated from everyone as a result. Finding this to be embarrassing, he attempts to erase this past from existence, even choosing to go to a separate high school from all of his junior-high-school classmates. However, after encountering Rikka, his past delusions come back to haunt him. He and Rikka eventually become closer and start dating. He and Satone Shichimiya were classmates in junior high and she was the one who inspired him to become the "Dark Flame Master".

Rikka Takanashi (小鳥遊 六花, Takanashi Rikka)

Voiced by: Maaya Uchida (Japanese), Margaret McDonald^[1] (English)

Rikka is the female protagonist of the story, a girl in the same class as Yūta who moved in with her older sister who lives above Yūta's apartment. She is an intensely delusional girl who believes herself to possess a "Wicked Eye" (邪王真眼, Jaō Shingan, lit. True Eye of the Evil King) and as such always wears a medical eye patch and bandages around her left arm, though she has no injuries. Despite being quite attached to Yūta, she is cautious of strangers and adopts a battle pose whenever she meets someone for the first time. Her fantasy weapon of choice is a frilly parasol which she wields as a sword. For her delusional operations, she often dresses in a mostly-black gothic dress and hose. She is also rather clumsy, often tripping over and forgetting things. The origin of her delusions came from Yūta himself, when she saw Yūta in his delusional phase at the balcony above Yūta's apartment. They eventually become close and develop feelings for one another and start dating, but Rikka's delusions appear to keep their relationship from progressing.

Satone Shichimiya (七宮 智音, Shichimiya Satone)

Voiced by: Juri Nagatsuma

Satone was Yūta's junior high school classmate. Although she considered Yūta to be her only true friend, she ended up transferring schools without saying goodbye during their second junior high school year. She transferred to Shinka Nibutani's junior high school where they became close. She suffers from delusions and calls herself "Sophia Ring SP Saturn VII" (ソフィアリング・SP・サターン7世) and addresses Yūta with the nickname "Yūsha" (勇者, lit. "Hero"). Satone is a character from the second light novel and appears in the anime's second season. Yūta and Shinka's delusions began with their admiration and mimicry of Satone's behavior. During her time with Yūta in junior high school, she developed feelings for him, but chose to stay as "Sophia Ring SP Saturn VII" and the "Magical Devil Girl" forever.

Shinka Nibutani (丹生谷 森夏, Nibutani Shinka)

Voiced by: Chinatsu Akasaki (Japanese), Maggie Flecknoe^[1] (English)

Shinka is Yūta's classmate and class representative, who is also a cheerleader. One of the most popular girls in the class due to her looks, she is generally thought of a kind and gentle girl. The truth, however is that, much like Yūta, she was also a delusional teen who called herself Mori Summer (モリサマー, Mori Samā) and had also chosen a different high school from her previous classmates to escape her past. When she learns Sanae is in possession of the last evidence of her delusional phase, Shinka joins Rikka's school club in order to try and retrieve it. When out of the public eye, Shinka shows her true nature to be bit more bitter and easily irritable, particularly when dealing with Sanae. While Yūta initially admired her or even had a crush on her, after seeing her true colors, he is disillusioned and becomes friends with Shinka instead. Despite her constant arguments and fights with Sanae, Shinka grows to care for her and vice versa. She, like Yūta, has more common sense than the other members of the group.

Kumin Tsuyuri (五月七日 くみん, Tsuyuri Kumin)

Voiced by: Azumi Asakura (Japanese), Emily Neves^[1] (English)

An anime original character, Kumin is a carefree girl who is a year above Yūta and the others. She loves sleeping and often carrying around a pillow (or many) with her wherever she goes. In one extreme case, she is even shown sleeping in a full futon on school grounds. Having been home-schooled before high school, she is very sheltered and conservative, lending her an old-fashioned ladylike demeanor which Makoto finds attractive. Her own "Nap Club" is integrated into Rikka's social group for lack of members. Out of respect for Rikka and Sanae, she earnestly attempts to understand their delusional fantasies. She has a tendency to sleep talk. She is also quite fond of cats.

Sanae Dekomori (凸守 早苗, Dekomori Sanae)

Voiced by: Sumire Uesaka (Japanese), Brittney Karbowski^[1] (English)

An anime original character, Sanae is a third-year junior high student who has very long blonde elastic twintails that often prove to be more of a hindrance than a help. Like Rikka, she is extremely delusional and often indulges in fantasy with her. However, unlike Rikka, she is a superb student who is at the top of her class and has already completed the entire junior-high mathematics curriculum. She owns several copies of the magic-spells book which is the remaining evidence of Shinka's delusional days. She is often at odds with Shinka, who she does not believe to be the real Mori Summer. She often ends her sentences with 'desu', emphasizing it to make it sound more like 'death'. She is aware that her delusions are nothing more than delusions. She comes from a very rich family and tends to behave normally around her classmates. She later promotes to the high school where Yūta and friends are studying.

Makoto Isshiki (一色 誠, Isshiki Makoto)

Voiced by: Sōichirō Hoshi (Japanese), Greg Ayres^[1] (English)

Makoto is Yūta's classmate who sits behind him and often analyzes the other girls in the class. He joins the Light Music Club so he could be with girls and attract their attention by carrying about his guitar, though he does not seem to have learned how to play it. Fond of his thick hair after being forced to wear it short for sports activities for the last three years, he is forced to have his head shaved once more when his notebook containing the "Cutie Poll" of the girls in his class is discovered. In the anime, he gets a crush on Kumin.

Kazari Kannagi (巫部 風鈴, Kannagi Kazari)

Voiced by: Manami Shirakawa

Kazari is Yūta's classmate from the novels, and the class idol. She was in second place in the ranking of the most beautiful girls in his school, although still remains the centre of attention. She had a close relationship with Nibutani in junior high school.

Kuzuha Togashi (富樫 樟葉, Togashi Kuzuha)

Voiced by: Kaori Fukuhara (Japanese), Monica Rial^[1] (English)

Kuzuha is Yūta's younger sister who is in the first year of junior high school. She is mature for her age.

Yumeha Togashi (富樫 夢葉, Togashi Yumeha)

Voiced by: Mami Shitara (Japanese), Ashley Miller^[1] (English)

Yumeha is Yūta's youngest sister, aged five. She finds Yūta's prior fantasy antics intriguing, often refers to them as "cool" and admires or idolizes Rikka.

Nanase Tsukumo (九十九 七瀬, Tsukumo Nanase)

Voiced by: Kikuko Inoue (Japanese), Carli Mosier^[1] (English)

Yūta and Rikka's homeroom teacher, who is often kind, if sometimes a little sadistic in teasing her students, particularly Rikka. She is called Nana-chan by Yūta and Rikka.

Toka Takanashi (小鳥遊 十花, Takanashi Tōka)

Voiced by: Eri Sendai (Japanese), Genevieve Simmons^[1] (English)

An anime original character, Tōka is Rikka's older sister who supports her by working as a chef at a fine restaurant. She often has to put up with her younger sister's delusional antics, often punishing her by whacking her with a ladle. She is also seen to be extremely acrobatic and flexible, which she attributes to being a rhythmic gymnast when she herself was in high school. Rikka depicts her sister as a high priestess of evil and accuses Tōka of restraining her from her quest to reach the "Ethereal Horizon". She is sometimes seen playing house with Yumeha but on a negative outlook where they are always divorcing.

Media

Light novels

Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions began as a light novel series written by Torako, with illustrations by Nozomi Ōsaka. Torako entered the first novel in the series into the first Kyoto Animation Award contest in 2010, and it won an honorable mention in the novel category.^[2] The studio later published the first volume on June 1, 2011.^[3] Kyoto Animation has published three volumes as of March 14, 2014.^[4]

Anime

A 12-episode anime television series adaptation, directed by Tatsuya Ishihara and produced by Kyoto Animation, aired in Japan between October 4 and December 19, 2012.^[5][6][7][8] Starting before the TV series' airing, a series of six original net animation shorts titled Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions Lite were streamed weekly on YouTube between September 27 and November 1, 2012.^[9][10] The television series were released on six BD/DVD compilation volumes between December 19, 2012, and May 15, 2013.^[11][12] The volumes also contained bonus shorts titled Depth of Field: Ai to Nikushimi Gekijō (Depth of Field ～ 愛と憎しみ劇場, Depth of Field: Love and Hate Theater).^[13] A seventh volume, containing an original video animation episode, another Depth of Field short and the Lite shorts, was released on June 19, 2013.^[10] The series has been licensed in North America by Sentai Filmworks and was streamed on Anime Network.^[14][15] Sentai Filmworks released the series on subtitled DVD in North America on May 27, 2014, followed by an English dubbed release on DVD and Blu-ray Disc, due February 24, 2015.^[16]

The opening theme is "Sparkling Daydream" by Zaq, and the ending theme is "Inside Identity" by Black Raison d'être (Maaya Uchida, Chinatsu Akasaki, Azumi Asakura and Sumire Uesaka). There are also three insert songs: "Hajimari no Tane" (始まりの種, The Seed of Start) by Zaq in episode eight, "Kimi no Tonari ni" (君のとなりに, Next to You) by Zaq in episode ten and "Miagete Goran Yoru no Hoshi o" (見上げてごらん夜の星を, Look Up at the Stars in the Night) by Maaya Uchida in episode ten. The single for "Sparkling Daydream" was released on October 24, 2012 and the single for "Inside Identity" on November 21, 2012.^[17] For the Lite episodes, the opening theme is "Kimi e" (君へ, To You) and the ending theme is "Shikkoku ni Odoru Haōbushi" (漆黒に躍る弧濁覇王節, The Melody of Conqueror Dancing in Jet Black); both are sung by Zaq.^[18]

An anime film titled Takanashi Rikka Kai: Gekijō-ban Chūnibyō Demo Koi ga Shitai! (小鳥遊六花・改 ～劇場版 中二病でも恋がしたい!～, "Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions the Movie: Rikka Takanashi Revision"), which retells the events of the first anime season from Rikka's perspective, was released in Japanese theaters on September 14, 2013, and was later released on Blu-ray Disc and DVD on February 19, 2014.^[19] A second anime television season, titled Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions -Heart Throb- (中二病でも恋がしたい！戀, Chūnibyō Demo Koi ga Shitai! Ren), aired in Japan from January 8 to March 26, 2014, and was simulcast by Crunchyroll.^[20] The opening theme is "Voice" by Zaq and the ending theme is "Van!shment Th!s World" by Black Raison d'être. The first of a second series of Lite episodes was released on YouTube on December 26, 2013.^[21] The ending theme for the Lite episodes is "Shin'en ni Mau Senritsu Shanikusai" (深淵に舞う戦慄謝肉祭, A Hair-Raising Carnival Dancing in the Abyss) by Zaq. The second season has also been licensed by Sentai Filmworks, under the title Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions -Heart Throb-.^[22]

References

External links

• Light novel official website (Japanese)
• Anime official website (Japanese)
• Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia