Exceeded my expectations by a landslide and so far my favorite romance animes so far.
When I first saw this anime a couple years ago, I thought it was a cute anime and nothing more. I didn't even bother to watch it. But now that I've taken the time to actually see this show? I realize that it has so much more to offer than just the standard romcom I thought it was going to be.
I'm sure we've all had that point in our lives where we let our imaginations go wild, ignorant to what the world thinks of us. Sometimes it's as simple as having a dream job, like wanting to be a Pilot, an Astronaut, maybe even a Paleontologist. This anime tries to capture the more... extreme end of children's imaginations. When we believed that we had other-wordy powers, something else other than just a mere mortal. Of course I'm sure most of us have grown out of this phase though. We were just being dumb kids with amazing imaginations. This is exactly what the Anime Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions tries to capture within it's story. It starts off by giving us a look into our old childhood imaginations by introducing us to these characters. But the more the story progressed, it swiftly shifted from a comedy, to a sad slice of life. The transition was so smooth and handled so well. I began to realize that this wasn't just about kids having fun with their imaginations. It was about kids using their imagination to escape the troubles around them. It was a sudden twist that was so unexpected, but executed so well that you just need to give a round of applause to Kyoto Animation for their amazing work.
Animation: The animation in Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions really stood out to me. Kyoto Animation is known for their amazing artwork but the way this show was animated really left me stunned. The seamless transitions when the characters start to activate their Imagination, when the scene suddenly switches from a slice of life to full-fledged action anime. That's what really stood out to me when watching this show. The artwork was amazing, I could probably stare at the scenery all day. The colors were vibrant and really popped out of the scene. You can really tell that the animators put their heart and soul into every single frame of this show.
Story: I already explained what the story was about at the top of my review, but I'll just say that the story was incredibly enjoyable. In the beginning of the anime you think nothing of it. "Oh this just looks like a normal slice of life". We're greeted with a typical highschool cast. But the more the story progressed, we learned that it's not just the run-of-the-mill story here. We get a plot that's full of surprises, twists, and most importantly, laughs! Every character that we meet has amazing interactions, especially the main cast. The plot really makes the whole anime seems believable, like this is something that you could see in real life. What really hit me the hardest was the underlying theme of the story which is "Moving on can be painful, hard, and can take a while. But at the end of the day is necessary." Moving on from things is something that we'll all experience in our lifetime. The theme really helped the characters feel like real people and not just animated fictional beings.
Characters: What I said in the story part of my review might mix in with this part, but I think that the characters all have good interactions, and are overall the best part of the show. The characters make the show really feel like a journey, and helps you feel like you're in their shoes. Experiencing the show with them.
Final Thoughts: Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions is in my opinion, a must watch for anyone who enjoys anime, especially slice of life or sad Animes. Of course this show won't be for everybody. Some people may have not had a wild imagination as a child, or just can't resonate with the characters because they can't really relate. But at the end of the day this anime will really did a good job at telling it's story with wonderful characters and art. The show made me laugh, cry, and honestly kind of made me sad that my imagination wasn't as crazy as the characters in the show. I enjoyed every second of Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions and I really hope you guys did too!
(P.S Sorry if this isn't a very good review, I'm trying my best!)