Catch the other episode reviews here

Last time, Tadano almost got murdered by a crazy school girl, but don’t worry, everyone made friends in the end. Why hate when you can love, or something like that.

First Impressions

For our short start of the episode gag this time we have all the characters staring at Komi and she has no idea why. Normally I would say that she’s just self-conscience, but in reality, all of the students just can’t stop looking at her summer uniform because they’re all creeps.

Yadano’s back again, this time also as Komi’s rival. Her goal is to beat Komi in at least one of their physical tests. Despite her best efforts and screams, she still sucks, though. That’s her whole schtick, pretty much.

We then move on to the first big portion of this episode. Najimi invites herself to Komi’s house after school, and because Tadano is attached to both of them by the hip, really, he goes as well. There they meet Komi’s mother, the eternal 17-year-old. She mostly just embarrasses Komi a lot which Najimi and Tadano find cute. They share a brain cell.

Najimi is determined to make Komi uncomfortable for some reason, so she searches her room for anything she doesn’t want to see, including some raunchy books under her bed. And by “raunchy,” I mean books on how to speak to people. So sad more than anything. But at the end of the day, Najimi sends Komi a picture they took, she gets a picture frame on it, and everyone lives happily ever after.

They also go to eat ramen, but what’s more interesting is we get our chuunibyou character next. As someone who one of their favorite anime is a love story about them, you know I’m always down for some weirdos. Today’s is Nakanaka. Besides the unfortunate name, she also believes she has an evil eye, special powers. See Love Chunibyou and Other Delusions for more detail. Or Google.

She really wants to be friends with Komi, but instead of asking her, she makes up all kinds of excuses about how the world will explode if they don’t form a blood pact. Weird stuff. We also get to learn about the major turning point in Tadano’s life.

Back a few years prior, he was a chunni as well. He was also in love with the most popular girl in class. He decided to write “LOVE” out in bold letters on the field with that stupid paint thing you see a lot and confess. She immediately shoots him down because he’s weird, and thus normal, average guy Tadano was born.

Nakanaka and her weirdness caused all the other weirdos to stay away from her. Nobody wants to be partners with a chuuni for gymnastics, but lucky for her, Komi doesn’t care that she’s weird. Well, more so, she doesn’t quite understand the extent of her weirdness. Either way, a blood pact is formed.

We end with one final scene. Najimi stole Tadano’s umbrella like a jerk, and it’s pouring rain outside. Thankfully Komi waited for him, and they both do the super cliche romance thing where they both get under the same umbrella. Tadano even gets his shoulder wet to look like a badass. Let the man have this.

When Tadano actually puts together that Komi did wait for him and wasn’t reading for a while in the library like she said, he screams at the top of his lungs at her reaction, and the episode ends. I do love random screaming.

My Thoughts

I didn’t expect to see the return of Yadano so quick. I did read the manga just a couple of months ago, but my memory is not as good as it could be. I remember almost everything that happens, but you can’t expect me to know the order these things happen. I also don’t remember if Yadano ever gets more than a tiny segment dedicated to her. I imagine she would have to.

This series is basically Pokemon at the end of the day. Komi needs to make friends and fill up her Pokedex. She needs 100 of them, so you know if she ever meets a potential friend, she’ll need to officially befriend and/or form a blood pact with them. So Yadano will probably get her time to shine.

One thing I do notice seeing this story again, a whole lot of the characters are one-dimensional. That’s kind of the point. I think it works, but I definitely understand people who don’t like it. It takes a certain kind of person. Firstly, you can’t take it too seriously. The only character that’s fairly deep is Komi. Everyone else has one or two personality traits.

You have average guy, questionably gendered person, rival girl, chuuni, yandere, masochist. You get it. Why I think it works is because it’s not really about the people themselves. It’s more about how Komi and friends interact with them. Like I said in one of the other reviews, you have Komi, Tadano, and Najimi. They’re your main cast. The story is about them interacting with the new characters and trying to help Komi along.

If everyone were normal, the series wouldn’t be fun to watch. Likewise, you can’t write 100 well-written, deep characters. I mean, you could, but it would be wasted on a series like this. That means you need some trope-heavy characters so we can all have a good time. I personally really like Komi a lot. It has my exact sense of humor, but that’s not to say it’s perfect. It certainly isn’t. 

I look forward to who we meet next because I also don’t remember. My memory is about as bad as Komi’s communication disorder. The only difference is I don’t care to try and fix it. I’ll get old and forgetful someday anyway.

Thank you very much for reading

Does the concept of chuunibyou even exist outside Japan? Probably in some form, just not called the something. I don’t know. I was probably a chuuni by some standards. Were you? I don’t know. Let me know.