Infinity And One: First Impressions: Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai!

How many Derpa Onna-like series are going on this season @________@

I mean I really liked that series but still...I don't know how much derp I can handle per season...

A further note: due to time constraints, unless the review is sincerely requested, I will not be doing First Impressions posts of Zetsuen no Tempest, BTOOOM!, and Busou Shinki (nor will I be watching them; I might collect Zetsuen for later viewing pleasure though). For this season, I will mainly stick to my niches and the mainstream series. I will probably be reviewing K, though.

Many apologies, but it's hard to do all these series nearly alone (although OboeOtaku helps sometimes). I have also dropped Shin Sekai Yori, not because it also eats into my time but more because I already know what's gonna go on and that sort of crap is boring. But no worries, the rest of the Conclusion posts and some damn good First Impressions posts are coming up the bat. Anyways, here's to Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai!

Ring the bell if you had a good time

So it turns out that KyoAni is finally taking a standard fanservice series since...since...

Actually this is the first standard fanservice series they've done. What do I mean by standard? I mean something that does have a unique background/character interactions but is partly/mostly/entirely based on girls + the usual harem + rom-com. Or ecchi/suggestive scenes and/or dialogue. Or just moe girls lolling around. Yes, I realize that they did Lucky Star and K-On!, but those series are forerunners, archetypes that defined the standard more than actual members of the standard. It's because of Lucky Star and K-On! that people bitch and moan about the "moe trend" all the damn time. However, Chuunibyou is the first time that KyoAni has followed a trend. So will this series show that KyoAni can even make a bad trend seem good, or will this break the streak of respectable series that has come out so far for KyoAni?

Judging from this...the former. Definitely the former.

I don't think I even have to mention the production values at this point. KyoAni has proven itself time and time again that it can match and outmatch any other anime studio currently on the market in terms of audiovisuals, and Chuunibyou is no exception. The lines are clean, the frames are many, the actions are fluid and nicely timed, the art looks even better than the original art (as usual for KyoAni), and overall it looks like what NakaImo SHOULD have been in terms of visuals.

The audio is also quite good. Sparkling Daydream by Zaq, the OP, is energetic but not hyper. It also works the diminished chord progressions well so that the song isn't just flying far away for every beat. The ED (Inside Identity by Black Raison d'etre [Uchida Maaya, Akasaki Chinatsu, Asakura Azumi, Uesaka Sumire]) sounds like it could be a Yuruyuri character song or OP/ED, which isn't an insult at all. These songs are still in the shadow of the Hyouka OP/ED combo, but they hold up quite well for themselves. As usual, good job, KyoAni.

I'd also like to point out how the VAs fit pretty damn nicely. Uchida Maaya's voice (Sanka Rea [Sankarea]) surprisingly does well in the 'childish' range, so props to her and hope she gets some other good roles too in the future. Also, Fukuyama Jun acting out a male lead with flashbacks that require him to say stuff like "DARK FLAME MASTER"? Yes please.

This.

The plot? The standard harem, in Derpa Onna form (that is, the main girl is silly as fuck and the entire series revolves around the male lead dealing with 1) the girl and 2) interactions between the rest of the harem and the derpy girl). Except, obviously, the girl is weird because she wants to be cool and she's bonded to the male lead by the whole "I acted like a Dark Flame Master in middle school", creating a reason (other than the fact that she appears on screen first) as to why she should be the main heroine. The rest, as they say, is history.

It's this that kind of scares me. It's so plain, so standard. It's been done, rehashed, optimized for shallow viewing for every season. This derp girl idea has even been archetyped by Shaft, no less. So how will KyoAni make - this - good? It doesn't necessarily have to be unique in this case; it can just be one of the best in its niche and it'll be fine. But given such a generic plot, can KyoAni pull it off? That's the question hanging over us.

But after Nichijou, after Hyouka, after Lucky Star, after so many other staples, I'd prefer to believe that KyoAni isn't going to do stupid things. This time, I'm not gonna bet against the house.

Recommendation: Watch it; even if it turns out to be standard, it'll be a higher level of standard than something like Xebec could provide.

Not sure if no shits given or running away quickly

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OboeOtaku's blurb:
So, EC took my favorite part of the anime for himself, even though I discovered its pleasures first (this sounds like sex). So I actually don't have much to say, even if this was supposed to be a joint post. So I'll just spam snapshots and make silly references, because that's what I do best.