Monday, March 25, 2013

Chuunibyou Demo Koi ga Shitai! Review















Synopsis:
Yuuta Togashi suffered from chuunibyou while he was in middle school. When he graduated, he put that dark history behind him and forgot about it... or he was supposed to. High school was smooth sailing and full of enjoyment—until the unavoidable, sad event occurs. The event that locks Yuuta into a contract with Rikka Takanashi and disrupts his desperately ordinary life.



Review:
Now I will be the first to admit my initial impressions of this game were far from amazing. The summary lends absolutely no justice to the series making it seem like yet another high school fantasy series. However Chuunibyou is one the better series I have connected with in a long time. The characters take center stage as they all struggle to identify the people they wish to become. Yuuta is constantly at ends while trying to bury his goofy roleplaying self in the past. Something that we have seen done over and over, yet this series makes issue far more realistic. At about six episodes in Chuunibyo takes a turn for the serious and the true genius of the writing shines through. There is also substantial detail put into even the smallest of aspects. The beauty of it all is how genuine the characters feel and how even though a bit crazy at times this series has some major insight on the behavioral mind of a young teen.


While I did not mention the voice work as a positive it certainly can be depending on how your initial response to the main lead character is. Though I had no personal issues there is certainly some debate on how at times her voice does more damage than good to the series. Musically this series also fell flat and it certainly brought down some of the more emotional scenes. At its core the music seemed to accomplish the bare minimum which hindered all the pivotal points. Another issue is with the twelve episode length, as is with most short series. there is a large lack of character development especially in the supporting role. It seemed like there was a missed opportunity when it came to better explaining how these character felt and interacted with everything happening.


At the end of the day Chuunibyou was well structured and thought out. In twelve brief episodes everything unfolded perfectly and by time it ended there was no real yearning for more resolution. The journey was greatly unexpected and I am so glad at how this whole series turned out. The developers steered far from the normal Harem and delivered something people could truly care about and appreciate. It was a great way to take something old and make it new again.

4/5
Studio: Kyoto Animation  Genre: Romantic Comedy Episodes: 12
Original Run: Oct 12, 2012 to Dec 19, 2012 Language: Japanese with Subs

Article by: Larry Harris

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