Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions (Blu-ray) (2012)

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General		Extras
Category	Anime	More…-Chuni Shorts (22:40) Trailer More…-Clean Opening Animation (1:31) More…-Clean Closing Animation (1:31)
Rating
Year Of Production	2012
Running Time	333:01 (Case: 325)
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered Dual Disc Set	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Tatsuya Ishihara
Studio Distributor	Madman Entertainment	Starring	Jun Fukuyama Leraldo Anzaldua Maaya Uchida Margaret McDonald Chinatsu Akasake Maggie Flecknoe Sumire Uesaka Brittney Karbowski Eri Sendia Genevieve Simmons Azumi Hoshi Emily Neves
Case	?
RPI	?	Music	Nijine

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English DTS HD Master Audio 2.0 Japanese DTS HD Master Audio 2.0
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	1080p
Original Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     Chunibyo is a Japanese colloquial term for an adolescent in middle school who, to try to stand out, lives in a delusional fantasy world where they believe they have hidden magical powers and develop an alternate personality to use them. In middle school Yuta (voiced by Jun Fukuyama / Leraldo Anzaldua) dressed in black, welded a large sword and believed he was the “Dark Flame Master” but he has now outgrown his obsession and is very embarrassed about his previous conduct, so much so that to avoid anyone he knew at school he has enrolled at a high school in another district, where he wants to be a normal student. But his plans to escape his past are doomed to failure because Rikka (Maaya Uchida / Margaret McDonald) has just moved in with her older sister Toka, who lives in the flat above Yuta and his family. Rikka is a full on chunibyo, wearing an eye patch to keep the magical powers within her eye under control. Rikka goes to the same high school, knows all about the Dark Flame Master and believes that in the distant past they had known each as spirit soul-mates.

     As a result Rikka trails Yuta incessantly, giving him little chance to be normal or to chat up the delectable Shinka (Chinatsu Akasake / Maggie Flecknoe), class president and voted #1 sexy girl by the boys in the class, who does seem to be interested in Yuta. Things get more complicated when Rikka establishes an “oriental magical club” at school to fight magical and hidden threats, mostly personified by the “priestess”, her sister Toka (Eri Sendia / Genevieve Simmons). Rikka also summons to the school the totally way-out chunibyo obsessive Sanae (Sumire Uesaka / Brittney Karbowski), who also happens to believe that Rikka is her master. The cute, nap-loving Kumin (Azumi Hoshi / Emily Neves joins the club and, to Yuta’s surprise, Shinka does also. But is seems that Shinka has a reason for joining the club hidden in her past.

     Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions (Chuunibyou demo Koi ga S***ai) is based on a pair of light novels. At the start it is a funny and off-kilter story about love, identity, reality, fantasy, delusions and growing up and it is unusual as it shows the chunibyo world of Rikka in full glory; the fights could come straight from any fantasy anime series and are loud, colourful and exciting, using a variety of weapons and special spells and abilities. But then the series quickly, and in a couple of frames, undermines this world by showing how the fights are seen by Yuta or others: a battle with huge magical weapons is shown to be, for example, a fight between Rikka with an umbrella and Toka with a ladle, or one between Rikka and Sanae with brooms! Both “realities” are played absolutely straight, making for an interesting perspective.

     However, at the half-way mark the series changes tone. Some humour remains but the series becomes sadder as it delves into loss, providing an explanation for Rikka’s conduct, and adding a wider context of reality and illusion in life, and misunderstandings in love which sometimes border on the maudlin. It is also noteworthy that Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions has a preponderance of female characters. Although Yuta is the main character he has no male role models and no male friends except his classmate Makoto (Soichiro Hoshi / Greg Ayers) who is more of a comic foil: his father is absent working in Indonesia and he lives with his mother and two younger sisters. All the rest of the main cast are female: Rikka and her sister, Shinka, Kumin and Sanae and the teacher at the school are female. I am not sure, however, what this says about the Japanese view of delusions or females.

     Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions ran for 12 episodes on Japanese TV between October and December 2012. The OVA (or 13th episode) aired in June 2013. A second season ran between January and March 2014. Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions: Series Collection in two Blu-rays contains episodes 1-9 on disc 1, episodes 9-12, the OVA and the extras on disc 2.

Video

     Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, in 1080p using the MPEG-4 AVC code. The IMDb gives the original ratio as 2.35:1, which sounds wrong for a TV anime. The presentation of the Blu-ray looks right and all other Blu-ray releases as also in 1.78:1, so I will go with that.

     The colours are generally soft and muted and some sequences are deliberately very soft, almost like seeing things through a gauze. Otherwise lines are strong and colours during the chunibyo fight scenes quite vibrant. Blacks and shadow detail are fine.

     I did not notice any marks or artefacts except for some slight ghosting.

     It is anime so lip synchronisation is approximate in either audio track.

     The English subtitles are in American English in a clear yellow font, although when two people are speaking one is subtitled in white text. The subtitles are burnt in when the Japanese dub is selected so cannot be removed for Japanese speakers. Smaller white text occasionally occurs towards the top of the frame to explain unfamiliar terms and signs. The opening and closing songs are subtitled alternatively in English and Japanese. I did not notice any spelling or grammatical errors.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     Audio is a choice of the original Japanese or an English dub, both DTS-HD MA 2.0.

     Both audio tracks are surround encoded so the rears featured music and effects such as the rain, giving a nice feel. The dialogue was clean. The sub-woofer added some bass to the spells.

     The English voice cast were OK although I still think the original Japanese audio provides more depth to the characters; it just sounds better!

     The score by Nijine is varied, sometimes subtle other times slightly intrusive.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

     All the extras are on the second disc.

Chuni Shorts (22:40)

     A different opening and closing song and 6 short anime sequences filling in some of the background of the characters and situations. Some are quite amusing.

Japanese Promos

     A trailer (1:54) and TV spot (0:32).

Clean Opening Animation (1:31)

     The opening song without the credits.

Clean Closing Animation (1:31)

     The closing song without the credits.

     The US Region A Blu-ray of Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions is a very expensive Limited Edition which includes a 152 page booklet and, apparently, some commentaries by the Japanese director and crew as well as the extras we have. In Japan there are Region A Blu-rays of separate episodes that are not English friendly. The UK Region B is due for release at the end of August 2015. I think our Region B release is fine.

     For half its episodes Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions is a funny, off-kilter anime about identify, fantasy and delusion; at the half way mark it becomes more serious as it delves into reality, delusions and love which to me is a tone shift too far and it gets a bit to soppy. But from the reviews I have read, others disagree; in any case Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions is inoffensive and has some interesting things to say about being yourself.

     The video and audio are fine. The extras are not extensive.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall