So, since I know many of us like animu's, and many of us like to talk about Animu's, I figured, a discussion thread about them was in order! Personally, I'm not big in to MOE or other "cutsie" anime that largely serves as a fetisihization of highschool girls, and occasionally boys, and prefer more mainstream or action packed things like Ghost in the shell, Cowboy Bebop, Hellsing and Trigun, which are quite frankly amazing. I've only ever liked a new other anime, and wasn't even ever a big fan of full metal alchemist, although it was okay. Of the few highschool anime I have liked, they've been rather silly or awesome, such as Crimartie highschool or Code Geass, both of which I recommend, by the way. Code Geass is insanely mellowdramatic and takes itself too seriously, to the point of making it silly, but that makes it better in some ways, imo.
So, when it came to Chuunibyou, I never thought I would love it as much as I do. Now, it took me a while to get in to it; months I'd say. I kept try to watch the first season over and over again, and it was too... boring, and weird. It seemed to be trying a little too ahrd and not that great. From my experience, episode 1 is easily one of the worst episodes of the show, or at least the first 10 minutes is. I finally got around to watching it, and the first 12 minutes was... well, playing house. Mind you, Crunchyroll (an awesome sight by the way) starts you off on season 2 for some reason, which makes it even harder to understand. I couldn't tell if she was his sister, what she was doing there, or wut. The first 10 minutes or so is pretty boring.
And then, it cut to this. Just randomly in the middle of the series. WATTT???11ONEEE>?!
Out of nowhere, gigantic epic anime fight, "Terrorists", like she's afraid of being attacked by terrorists at any second, and I love it, every second of it. It's both a celebration and parody of Japanese highschool animu's, where everyone has magical super powers and has to save the world. In this, the stakes are low, essentially making it a MOE, but it's filled full of action, random scenes where they attack each other, and nonsensical plots that mostly revolve around the people being daft and daydreaming.
The most vivid daydreamers seem to barely be able to distinguish reality from their daydreams, which is where most of the conflict of the plot come from. In the first season, this is a result of real life problems that have caused them trauma psychologically which is pretty damn sad, but later one it's just because they like to have fun. The story revolves around 5 main characters, two characters who are desperately trying to cover up their past "Chuunibyou" (8th grader syndrome) two characters who are trying to do the same but with real life stuff by pretending, and one who's just along for the ride. The male protagonist and female protagonist are at odds in this respect, with the female more invested in the crazy imaginary plots, much to the lead male's chagrin. The second two females, the popular girl and the young one with crazy hair, are at odds because they constantly have conflicts with Chuunibyou. The 5th girl is just super sleepy all the time and does whatever, basically piggy backing on them in order to get a "napping" club, which is apparently important in other schools. The 5th girl kind of doesn't care, while two care too much about their secret fantasies, and two care too much about the fact they were in to secret fantasies.
The show, despite being a higschool romance at it's core, was surprisingly different than a lot of anime. It wasn't just two people who fell in love with a kiss and lived happily ever after, it feels like a real romance, with troubles and struggles as they work with each other and find ways to love each other despite their weirdness, oddities, and quirks. In some ways, they even grow to love these things. It's really cute in that aspect, in that they aren't just afraid of each other the whole time, but actually grow. In fact, they never kiss at all during the series, but they do eventually hold hands (lol). They let it grow naturally, and despite being a completely fake story, feels a lot more human than most animes or other stories.
This, thrown in with random battles and stupid problems. IMO, it's one of the best animes I've seen in a while, especially in the school genre. If you can find the surrealism and goofyness of the teenagers funny, while also throwing in elements of combat AND moe while celebrating and parodying both, this is the animu's for you! The only thing it needs is 10 more seasons. All of my moneysz. All of it. I love the little subtleties of the little kids thinking that English words are cooler (just like how we think Japanese words are cool), or how they can't even tell you what the english means later on in the series. They scream things like "Dark Matter Blaze!" or "Love!" in engrish, horribly pronounced, of course, which adds layers to everything they do. It's fantastic. Overall, and awesome show, in almost every way imaginable.
What do you think, Invicta?! What is your favorite Animu's, and why?!
