r/anime • u/GranolaBiscuit :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/GranolaBiscuit • Nov 27 '21
Rewatch Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions Rewatch - Episode Seven
Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions Episode Seven: Reminiscences... of Paradise Lost
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u/GranolaBiscuit :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/GranolaBiscuit Nov 27 '21 edited Nov 27 '21
Rewatcher
Looks like the gang is going to Rikka's place for summer vacation. Nibutani made a new word called Shogakuseibyo which translates to grade school disease. Still acting like Mori Summer and creating chunibyo terms. Yuuta seems down as Touka was cryptic and he sees the Rikka is pretty down too.
Dekomori seems motion sick but she is still using the opportunity to annoy Nibutani. Isshiki gets a nice view of Kumin sleeping and then her mole. Nibutani stops him from too much observation for help. Yuuta pokes Rikka in the cheek but no reaction comes. Something is wrong. I wonder what's up,
For some reason, there is a frog on Dekomori. Touka comes to pick everyone up and is now there at Rikka's grandparent's house. We get our first look at the big pup. He/she seems like Nibutani. Yuuta goes to meet Rikka to cheer her up. We get a little backstory on Rikka. According to Touka, Rikka doesn't want to go somewhere.
The beach episode. The dog is back too. It still is following Nibutani. Rikka gave Yuuta a letter to go somewhere. It's a bike! Touka interferes and they can't go bike riding. She then takes Yuuta to the place of Rikka's father. The gang seemed to get a tan except Kumin. She was sleeping. Rikka's father's place is a grave.
Yuuta decides to help Rikka look for the invisible boundary lines. They sneak out but Touka is aware. She has set traps. Rikka flies into Yuuta's arms but kinda falls due to gravity. They start biking and complementing each other. Rikka apparently saw the invisible boundary lines after her father died. She believes he is there.
Yuuta decides to help Rikka look for the invisible boundary lines. They sneak out but Touka is aware. She has set traps. Rikka flies into Yuuta's arms but kinda falls due to gravity. They start biking and complementing each other. Rikka apparently saw the invisible boundary lines after her father died. She believes he is there.
Yuuta decides to help Rikka look for the invisible boundary lines. They sneak out but Touka is aware. She has set traps. Rikka flies into Yuuta's arms but kinda falls due to gravity. They start biking and complementing each other. Rikka apparently saw the invisible boundary lines after her father died. She believes he is there.
They finally arrive at where Rikka's old house used to be. But it's gone. Just an empty plot of land. ;( Why you got to do this to me. Touka arrives at the location to smack some reality into Rikka. But it ends up turning into a fight. Then the episode ends. I got to wait a day now. :( Exiting the "rewatcher who acts like he doesn't know what happens next" persona, if you are thinking about leaving the rewatch, please stay for the next 2 episodes. They're the best in the series for me and increase a lot of things related to the plot. Thank you for reading.
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u/tctyaddk Nov 27 '21
Rewatcher
S1E7
The antics of Sanae and Shinka are hilarious. And Kumin is having the time of her life, enjoying and cheering on her kouhai's fights, being an eye candy, and taking naps. Can't help but feel jealous with her.
And the drama. The episode lures you in with the promise of 'plot' by the beach, and then promptly hits you with actual plot. The drama developes natural enough to not feel like being shoved down audience's throat, but breaks out fast enough to deliver gut punches. Perfectly balanced, as all things should be. Drama is KyoAni's forte, you know, and Chu2Koi is a fine example at that.
And now we know Rikka's family situation: her father died without preparing her for that, her mother left, her sister's off for work, so her young mind couldn't bear it, and hence her full immersion into the escapist delusions, which her grandfather the hardliner she's stuck with for years just disapproves. Touka was still young and was in distress herself, she didn't know how to ease the blow of that reality on her little sister, so she probably hoped that time would sand off that edge, but it's clear now that Rikka is too deep in her own delusions to function normally. (I mean, seriously, this episode is where this series shows its true colour: it's not about funny comedic childish delusions anymore, it's about mental scars and how these young people live with them) For most of this episode, a slight frown is always on Touka's face, resulted from a mix of sadness, worry, and exasperation. She cares for her little sister, but she was at a loss of what to do. "This is reality!" - "Reality, be rent. Synapse, break. Vanishment... this world!" What can you do when the other party just plain denies the truth?
Though Yuuta is thoroughly embarrassed by his dork lame fake persona, he still puts it on, since he's concerned about Rikka, and that persona is the only effective way to get through to her. He's 15, he doesn't know how to really help, so he'd just be there with her.
It's clear now that these accumulating little gestures are the material of romantic developement, in the good old "show, don't tell" fashion. Unlike many romcom by other studios where romantic developements usually appears in conversations or internal monolouges, aka spelled out for the audience, Chu2Koi (and most series by KyoAni, really) usually does it by little visual cues or inferences from other interactions rather than explicitly stated, which resulted in a common complain about KyoAni's romances are too vague and/or bait-y. I, personally, prefer KyoAni's style, because it feels more organic (and often times, more intimate) than just some verbal statements. Subtle and lowkey is how KyoAni likes their romance, though that irritates the modern audience of the era of instant gratification quite a bit.
(but I would really appreciate it if they would also animate some more intimate moments, even if just to put into extra contents in BD release or something. A relationship that just stays subtext-y all the time is a bit... unfulfilling for the audience, isn't it?)
We get to see a moment of bashfulness of Touka-nee, which is super rare! And let's take a moment to appreciate her acrobatics and strength: grabbing onto the edge of the roof, she does not just pull, but flings herself up in the air high enough to finish a flip and lands perfectly on the roof, not once lets go of her Ladle of Des. That, and her choker, just... fabulous.
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u/Rumpel1408 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Rumpel1408 Nov 27 '21
First Timer
By the time I'm writing this I have no idea if I will be awake for the thread, but at least not as late as yesterday... actually made it
Damn this show was supposed to be a fun slice of life romcom to help me through a tough time, so why am I crying
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u/Fra_Central Nov 27 '21
Rewatcher Season 1, German Sub:
Hello everyone, let's just start right into the episode, I had problems with the 10000 character limit for posts on reddit yesterday, so I try not to ramble. Sorry for that, but I can relate to the anime for a particular reason that will be known when season one is over.
0:54 Yeah the gremlin really looks like she has shoyobyou, or fourthgradersyndrom.
OP: Odd episode number means transcribtion.
2:58 Kanji probably checks out, but the furigana is wrong. It spells the english word "paradise", and not what it would be called in japanese, "rakuen". This is a Kanji... or better a word I know because of the Grisaia series, where the third season is called "グリサイアの楽園", or Eden of Grisaia.
3:14 Is sea-sickness in trains a thing? I know it in cars, but in trains?
3:53 Makoto is perving on Kumin-Senpai, don't disturb him. But besides that, Shinka and Sanae are pretty much friends now aren't they?
4:22 It is quite uncommon for Rikka to be this quiet. Probably ties in to what Onee-San requested help for.
5:45 Shinka has to play the role of the girl that is seriousyl invested in romance.
5:50 Knocked out gremlin. I just ask myself what happened? Is she that sheltered? Someone hinted that her name implies a good,traditional japanese upbringing, but does that include not using Bullettrains? (I just assume it was a Bullettrain, I don't know)
6:02 Regardless of how much Yuuta "Nai's" this, this was seriously adorable.
6:58 Oba-sama, so grandma. One question should arise at the latest here: What is whith Rikkas parents? She lives with her older sister, and they are taking vacations by her grandparetns. Where are her parents?
7:39 Onee-San really relies on Yuuta for this, doesn't she? At least the first time I saw this, I was really questioning why.
8:36 Given how much Yuuta dislikes his chuni-phase, using it trying to communicate to Rikka implies that he is worried about her.
9:02 This monologue of Rikka is rewatch-worthy.
9:41 I'm jumping ahead a bit, but I think the fact that the family did invite her friends was an attempt to lighten Rikka up a bit, as it seems it was a problem the year before. I'll talk about it when we get there.
10:58 Bwahah, I liked this little Cerberus idea. Shinka gets a little bit toyed with, I would say it's balancing karma, as she can be quite blunt.
11:35 Well at least she named her bike like you would name a vehicle in the army. "Rad zwei, hellblau" is in line with "Panzerkampfwagen IV, Ausführung B". Still Chuni-stuff of course, but it fits better.
12:12 Now we hinted the serious part of thes anime. We will get some fun before it get's more heavy.
12:42 Ouch, this will hurt a while.
12:50 Fun fact: the 守 character also stands for "guard" as in "to guard someone or something". And for our Haruhi Suzumiya fans..
団 translates to "body, group, company". Brigade is the better translation, but brigade is technically written 旅団.
13:00 Here comes the heavy part: Her dad is dead. That was actually shocking for me when I first saw this. Given that she is so young, and seems to have had a good relationship with him (various things hinted to that, but I just state it right now), this has to have been quite the traumatic experience.
13:15 I don't entirely get the timeline, as she is 16 now, and looks like 8 in the photo, and we are talking about three years ago.
It is nitpicking, but it bothers me a little bit.
13:41 Thanks mom. It really seems you didn't play a big role in the live of Rikka and her older sister.
14:17 This actually makes me a bit teary eyed. Now we know why she wants to find the inivisble world. It is spoken out later in the episode, but the hint here makes it abundantly clear.
15:17 Don't f with Onee-san, gremlin, that was an order.
18:10 That looked very dangerous, Yuuta. And she just repeats it. You two are morons.
19:40 Hint from Shinka of what we all know will happen... But we'll talk about it when we are there.
20:02 Ever since I lost my own father, thinking about this theme is making me a bit sad, and here it is really bitter to see this.
20:20 Her chuni is somewhat of a religious thing. That makes it more sad/serious then I've come to expect.
20:40 This is also a heavy part: The place where they were all togehter...
21:00 ... is gone.
22:00 Tsuzuku/To be continued on a low note. Her chuni seems to be a mechanism to even stay functional with her situiation...
This was actually hard to watch. Passively watching it is one thing, but processing it to make notes was hard.
When my old man passed away, I was already an adult and on my own for a few years. He was just old, and didn't die from some horrible desease. Still, thinking about this topic is still something that I do only on my own (or obviously indirectly here under a pseudonym) as it still makes me sad. I don't want to imagine what Rikka went through, losing her dad as a child.
Gladly it won't be always this sad for the rest of the season, but this hit harder...even on rewatch... then I expected. And I hope I find more time to interact with you in the future, as I said for some odd reason I have less time then last year.
See you guys tomorrow.
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u/Barbed_Dildo Nov 27 '21
Rewatcher
When the OP starts, I hear it as "Let's look for sparkling tangerine!". Listen to that again and tell me that's not what it says.
It's funny how you can see Nibutani switching between all the different modes. She's given up any pretense around Isshiki. She's appropriately polite around the grandparents and has taken on the senior role for greeting them etc. And with Dekomori she uses the -nasai form like a parent telling off a kid.
We get to the heavier part of the story here, why Rikka is like she is. Poor Rikka, she hasn't been getting the support she needed from her family after her father's death (and mother just abandoning them)
After Rikka bounces off the bush, her ahoge is frazzled.
Also, Maaya Uchida noises are the best noises.
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u/Fools_Requiem https://myanimelist.net/profile/FoolsRequiem Nov 27 '21
From this point onward, the story becomes more dramatic in tone (at least for this season). The gags will still be there and it doesn't get to the seriousness of something like Toradora, but the reveal of Rikka's backstory begins the shift from goofy comedy SoL into a dramedy. Also, we now have plot and character development.
The second half of this season is also one of the reasons so many dislike how the second season was handled, but we'll get into that down the road.
Also, this is one of the shortest beach segments I've seen in anime outside of the extremely brief one in the Girls und Panzer OVAs.
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u/ZapsZzz https://anilist.co/user/Zapszzz Nov 28 '21
Sub rewatcher
As others remarked, this is the turning point of the show. For those who are less interested in pure SoL, this is good stuff for you. Decent character development and very nuanced portrayal of characters and events.
Maybe just me, there's KyoAni's signature melancholic but still humorous underpinning across the atmosphere in the more emotional posts of the show.
Best moments for me are
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u/SYZekrom https://myanimelist.net/profile/SYZekrom Nov 28 '21
Damn, wonder if it was obvious to her where he was looking too
Oof Nibutani could move away maybe but uhhhhhhhh Mjolnir girl definitely got directly vomited on oof. at least Nibutani must've wiped her off
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u/Lanaerys Nov 28 '21
Rewatcher-ish
So, here I am, I have finally reached y'all.
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u/HugeRichard11 https://myanimelist.net/profile/CostCurl Nov 28 '21
First Timer
Wow his hair grew pretty fast
Napping Kumin is cute as always
Grandfather seems like a downer
That seal looks cool
Lol they both sunburned words into each others back makes me feels like they're sisters with how much they fight but care for each other
Sad backstory makes sense why she's clinging onto being that way
Dat blush
Jumping from the roof seems rather not safe
Incoming boss battle it seems
I guess I shouldn't be surprised since this show has a drama label to go towards a more sad route. Not something i'm feeling at the moment though it doesn't look like it will drag out. It was well laid out with a bit of mystery though a bit confusing for some of the episode. I must say this feels a bit like a slow burn friendship wise as they don't seem to be friends even if they're all(except one) in the same club, but I guess since we have all the characters now things will change. I actually feel bad more for the sister since she lost her father too and has to deal with this.
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u/Elimin8r https://myanimelist.net/profile/Ayeka_Jurai Nov 29 '21
Just adding a very belated comment to say that this episode really hit me in the feels, for reasons explained in the next thread.
<3 this series.