Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai Ren – 05
Why a flight attendant outfit? I have no idea.
If the goal of the second season of Chu2koi is to get as many battles in for as many reasons as possible, they might start running out of reasons. This time it’s a nap battle. Yep, that’s what I said.
Check Off the Boxes
Rikka blows it at the special meeting
This was about as formulaic as this show’s ever been for an episode. We’ve known that the Oriental Magick and Napping Club In Summer isn’t really a useful club, because it’s an anime. And this week, it’s the old “Student Council needs to cull clubs that aren’t doing anything” plotline. And Rikka blows her chance to actually present the club to the Student Council, so they’re left with figuring out how to prove they’re doing something, which falls to Nana-sensei. And what do they end up learning? That there is competitive napping. Yep, just like it sounds.
The villain: Nemuri Sui. Her name is literally Sleep Sleep
If there was a Club Hardship Checklist, this show ticked every box:
- Going to be disbanded? Check.
- Come up with last ditch scheme to save the club? Check.
- Everyone’s a novice at the last ditch scheme? Check.
- Training? Check.
- Double-down bet? Check.
- Gimmick Trick to try to win that fails due to fecklessness of club? Check. Bonus points for result of fecklessness being oversleeping.
- Heroic battle to actually win? Check.
Action Sleeping!
I mean, the idea of a napping competition wasn’t terrible. It was suitably ludicrous, including the criteria for evaluation of naps, things like posture, waking up speed, depth of sleep. Giving Kumin-sempai a chance to be the Ace was a nice bit of a change, especially since she’s been trying so hard to fit in with the Chuunibyou side of the club as well. And having the battle be in the realm of sleep, against the experienced other team made it a bit more relevant to the show, although it also kind of ruined the uniqueness of the setup of this episode. And of course, with the club on the line, our heroes win and beat the more seasoned team.
Kumin comes through
Bonus Butt Monkey
Not really a whole lot to say. The episode was entertaining, but solely in a ‘well-executed but ultimately retread formula’ way. Zero character development, no plot arc movement, just this one-shot to spotlight Kumin. They even just jammed Satone in there to get a couple jealous embarrassed reactions out of Rikka, and then had her leave with that mission complete. Hopefully next week we’ll get to something a little more meaty.
About Highway
Proving that you don't have to be young to love anime, I enjoy all genres and styles of shows. If it's not hurting anyone else, you should never be ashamed of what you like!
POWUH: Metanorn Regular with 104 comments
This might sound harsh,but I’ve always found Kumin to be a rather pointless character,even back in S1. That hasn’t changed here so an episode focused on her felt so pointless.
I’m still not seeing the reason why this 2nd season of Chuuni exists tbh,other than obvious $$$ reasons. The comedy was always the main appeal but this isn’t exactly the type of anime that can thrive on that alone such as something like say,Daily Lives of Highschool Boys. I’ve seen many people say that the romantic & slightly dramatic aspect of the 1st season was never that good and while I mostly agree,I still found it rather heartwarming and no1 can say it was bad either. Most importantly,those aspects helped drive the story forward.
I actually liked S1 of Chuuni a lot but this one seems to be hard at work of leaving a bad taste in my mouth of the series,lol. Trying to be hopeful here but looking at KyoAni’s recent works,that’s not really an easy task…
POWUH: Novice (36-50) with 43 comments
I must agree with ou MgMaster. I liked the first season very much, and I actually thought the climax where Yuuta takes Rika to find the ethereal horizon quite moving, providing a great conclusion to the story.
So, I haven’t even tried to watch the second season. And comments here have convinced me I should no do so, as I’m rather short on time.By the way, Highway, I fully agree with you. I’m 50 and I don’t think one is ever too old to like something, especially anime. My motto: Life, Death, Anime in between!
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I think Kumin’s had a fine reason for being in the show: She’s been the ‘normal’ who can look at the others with amusement, rather than the horror that, for example, Shinka and Yuuta believe everyone looks at them with. So I’ve never really had a problem with her being around.
So far this season has been pretty strictly fanservice. I’m hoping that they’re getting this out of the way in this first half, and will actually have more of a continuing story in the second half. This episode in particular was disappointingly without originality, but it’s certainly not the mess that some other sequel series have been recently.
POWUH: 400-499 with 445 comments
Two eps ago i would have disagreed with the idea of this second season being strictly fanservice as i felt that the show was building up to seriously exploring the relationship between Rikka and Yuuta. I mean, chuuni is a show that could honestly tackle anything within the teenage school realm so to me, i dont find season 1 ending conclusively as a strong reason why a second season is not justified.
What i had hoped this season would be is an above average exploration of teenage couples in this day and age, and how confusing it can be to deal with your emotions and hormones when in a relationship, especially when your dealing with an eccentric significant other. I felt the first 3 eps did a competent job justifying the existence of a second season….and then the fourth ep came which made it painfully obvious that this series was going through the curse of “second season anime”.
Pretty much when a second season doesnt have enough plot to carry a whole cour, you start getting these character focus eps that kind of stretch out things that we could have figured out with plot progression…and that’s a little disheartening. Dont get me wrong, i still find the eps an enjoyable watch, but i cant help but wish this season would have stuck to the whole YuutaxRikka couple dynamic and perhaps shed more light on everyone else through well-written plot progression.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I probably wouldn’t have said it 2 episodes ago either. And I don’t know if I really begrudge them a couple episodes for dealing with three supporting characters. But they really shouldn’t put them back to back, and they shouldn’t ignore the main characters throughout the whole of both episodes.
POWUH: Metanorn Regular with 110 comments
give way save their club go sleeping battle to save give day in kumin indeed her napping save the club.
& oh poor makoto indeed quite butt monkey remind of TOMOKI SAKURAI give irony both had same voice for the record.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
It was obvious given what this episode was about that Kumin would be the one snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. If not for her, Rikka would have lost everything because of wounded pride.
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1557 comments
Why can’t all flight attendant uniforms be this awesome? The ones on my local airlines are complete ugliness.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
I guess all one can do is dream.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Pride is a real bitchy thing to deal with. You end up writing checks your rear might not be able to cash. Rikka messed up big time and if not for Kumin, she’d have really screwed.
Well, that was nuts. Napping clubs… Are you telling me these kinds of clubs really exist? How can they be legitimate and funded in the first place?
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
This one has more stall than soar; wonder what airline Nibutani works for? Even the in flight peanuts were stale.
About the only points I would give it were some of the brief flashes; during the Dream Sequence (I guess I’ll call it), seeing how the result of chuunifu woke the combatants.
Show needs to start barnstorming….