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View Poll Results: Chuunibyou Demo Koi ga Shitai! - Episode 11 Rating
Perfect 10 33 33.33%
9 out of 10 : Excellent 31 31.31%
8 out of 10 : Very Good 20 20.20%
7 out of 10 : Good 9 9.09%
6 out of 10 : Average 0 0%
5 out of 10 : Below Average 0 0%
4 out of 10 : Poor 2 2.02%
3 out of 10 : Bad 1 1.01%
2 out of 10 : Very Bad 1 1.01%
1 out of 10 : Painful 2 2.02%
Voters: 99. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 2012-12-13, 18:05   Link #81
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On the bright side, at least Rikka's classmates were kind and very open to being friends with her, despite her "weird girl" status. Clearly they're not interested in her chuunibyou ways, but that's fine. We all have different circles of friends that we hang out with depending on the context/situation and what we share in common. Like others have said, it's a matter of balance. Rikka just swung the pendulum too far to the right and abandoned what she sincerely enjoyed doing.
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Old 2012-12-13, 18:08   Link #82
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After watching this episode, I would like to conclude that this series has been better than what KyoAni usually makes. Part of the reason why I feel this way is because the concept of escapism plays a major role in most of our lives and the story revolves around this theme. It is thought provoking to see how the characters each deals with this problem in the series. It helps challenges the negative connotation with escapism and differentiate between positive and negative forms escapism. When is it healthy and when is it unhealthy etc?
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Old 2012-12-13, 18:24   Link #83
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I hope Rikka returns and have a cute kiss with Yuuta.
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Old 2012-12-13, 18:29   Link #84
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For me I felt very sorry for both Rikka and Yuuta ... and curiously the one who seemed to be most sympathetic to the situation was Nibutani. Kinda touching actually.

Dekomori also seemed to understand things very well - mainly that Rikka was unhappy and not being true to herself in some ways.

All in all a very satisfying ep.
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Old 2012-12-13, 18:48   Link #85
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I think this episode very clearly demonstrates the severe problems with Touka's hard-line stance against chuunibyou, and how Yuuta adopting it has hurt Rikka.

I don't necessarily fault Yuuta for that, because Touka did a pretty good job in guilting him into taking the actions he did last episode.


Yes, this was a painful episode to watch. A show once filled with fun and magic is now drenched in drab melancholy and dull normalcy. Rikka has gone from a colorful, fun, energetic figure to a depressing shell of her former self.

This shows that it's good to have a vibrant imagination, and to indulge it sometimes. To engage in fantasy for its own sake, and to dream the impossible dream. It's from that well of hope and imagination that Rikka drank, and drank abundantly. It gave her life zeal, color, and charisma.

Can Rikka get that back? Can she make it all work out?

For her sake, I hope she can. And if she does, I hope that Yuuta will take a more moderate approach in the future, and learn from his mistakes.
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Old 2012-12-13, 19:31   Link #86
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The more I think about it, the more it rubs me the wrong way.

While clearly Rikka needed to make up with her mom and needs to find some way of accepting that the past is gone, I think that somehow that got conflated with a bunch of other things that have nothing to do with it. This is why I had such a problem with what Touka was saying, and thought that Yuuta was a fool to think about it that way. And this is why I am not surprised by this episode.

Really, what does goth-loli outfits or room decorations have to do with it? Or even acting silly with friends? Heck, what does even the Jyaou Shingan have to do with it?

Obviously Rikka's way of doing things is a bit over the top, to the extent that it messed with her ability to deal with people normally - and stuff like the eyepatch is something you can't keep doing forever, at least not every day. But most of the real issues were being fixed, slowly but definitely. From being rather isolated, she now has a decent sized circle of friends. Things are mostly improving. I think even on the core issues - her mother and her father's death - I think she was getting there. Even without taking off the eyepatch, I think she probably would have been able to deal with the bento and living with her mother.

In a lot of ways, Shinka is a role model here - she still has her Feng-Shui and fortune telling, and really she still can't deal with certain types of things (the cheerleading club) but on the other hand she can deal with things pretty well. In Rikka's case, I think the room decorations and wardrobe are beside the point - she could keep all that and it wouldn't be anybody else's business.

If "face reality" means "burn every shred of what makes you unique" then what's the point?
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Old 2012-12-13, 19:54   Link #87
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Originally Posted by Warm Mist View Post
Also, many people seem to miss the coming of age aspect of this story. It is a romance, yes, but it seems to me like it's even more a story of Rikka and Yuuta growing up. Yuuta is not a dick, he just needs to mature. People bashing him for this or last episode's happenings also need to mature, in my view.

I'm guessing next episode will have Yuuta "learning his lesson" that having fun is okay too, and that being so ass-pained about trying to be mature and responsible, to the point of neglecting one's childhood, is immature in itself. What will happen after that, though, I don't know. I'd like for Rikka to at least successfully visit her father's grave, if only to close that part of her character arc.
Great point on this. Yuuta is sure to help fix things next episode (of course we know we'll get a happy ending), and people need to cut him some slack for being a teenager. Even at this low point, he's still arguably dealt with issues better than Touka ever did.

Death sucks. It's part of life. For those of you have seen Cross Game, Kou at one point declares that children should never die before their parents. He's right. But it still happens. And children should never see their parents die young. But it happens. One never really completely gets over something like this, although people have to find a way to move on. Rikka and everyone around her is trying to deal with that harsh reality in their own way. Rikka's way won't work in the long term, but it doesn't mean Touka is right to think her methods can apply to anyone. Yuuta is finding that out, and he and Rikka and the gang will figure something out next episode. But people hyperventilating about this need to chill out. The guy's a teenager; not a shrink. He's doing his best.

Regarding the episode in general, like others, I think the heavy dramatic tone maybe wasn't the best thing to do in a series with such a lighthearted core. But for one episode, I guess it's okay. And like others, the whole issue of Rikka's mom seems to be left hanging in a way I don't like. Too many questions unanswered, and I don't see how those issues *can* be answered with one more ep left. But if there's a good resolution to the series, I'll be happy with it, and I think the series deserves credit for grappling with questions about when fantasy is and is not a bad thing, and how we should cope with loss.

Last edited by Aquifina; 2012-12-13 at 20:05.
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Old 2012-12-13, 20:41   Link #88
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Originally Posted by Aquifina View Post

Regarding the episode in general, like others, I think the heavy dramatic tone maybe wasn't the best thing to do in a series with such a lighthearted core. But for one episode, I guess it's okay. And like others, the whole issue of Rikka's mom seems to be left hanging in a way I don't like. Too many questions unanswered, and I don't see how those issues *can* be answered with one more ep left. But if there's a good resolution to the series, I'll be happy with it, and I think the series deserves credit for grappling with questions about when fantasy is and is not a bad thing, and how we should cope with loss.
In some ways, the show is actually pretty ambitious in how firmly it transitioned from comedy to heavy drama/romance, and it hasn't really looked back. However, I think it's a tricky thing to pull off within the time-frame set by the show. It's pretty much guaranteed to have some significant flaws, but on the whole it could still be an excellent story. Almost everything rides on the conclusion now.

As for Yuuta... I have one positive observation to make about him, and one critical.


It's easy to now forget, but Yuuta started off as slightly self-centered. Understandably so, but he was still focused heavily on the self. He wanted to completely break away from his past, and carve out a bright new future for himself by embracing "normalcy".

Then he ran into Rikka. His initial treatment of Rikka sometimes bordered on the insensitive, because Yuuta was still focused on the self and saw Rikka more as an annoying obstacle than as a person. This could be largely laughed off, of course, because the first few episodes were highly comedic in nature. Nonetheless, it wasn't hard to feel sorry for Rikka in the first few episodes, and feel that Yuuta should cut her some slack.

Then, in Episode 5, Yuuta made a major adjustment. He started to really, truly care about Rikka. Since then, Yuuta has gone above and beyond to try to help Rikka, to try to make her a happy and successful person, to do everything he can for her. Some of this is romantic love, but a lot of it is just good old-fashioned caring and empathy. Yuuta is a much better man now than he was at the start of the anime, imo. He became nothing less than Rikka's hope and inspiration, and at times, it was beautiful to watch. He deserves credit for all of this, for becoming a better human being.


But Yuuta has become so caught up in trying to help Rikka mend fences with her family that he's lost sight of what Rikka is to him, and precisely what he is to her.

My one real disappointment with Yuuta in this episode isn't anything that he said or did. It's what he didn't say or do. Rikka is his girlfriend now. When someone you love is hurting, you put aside any awkwardness and uncertainty, and you comfort them, at least at a basic level. Yuuta should have at least hugged Rikka at some point in this episode, imo. He should have reassured her that it's going to be Ok, and that he's going to be there for her.

I'm really hoping we see Yuuta rise to the occasion like this next episode.


Edit: Also, I think something important should be considered here (by Rikka, Yuuta, and us in the audience as well). Ultimately, what brought Yuuta and Rikka together? What was the main thing that forged their bond and ensuing romance?

...Was it not chuunibyou? Yuuta's chuunibyou is why Rikka fell for him. Rikka's chuunibyou is why Yuuta came to care for her. Chuunibyou is at the core of their romance; fantasy helped created something real, and potentially beautiful. Just something that I think Yuuta should think long and hard about. Do you really want to completely dismiss that which brought you and your girlfriend together?
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Old 2012-12-13, 20:50   Link #89
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@Elestia: Rikk'a grades suffering came from the LN, I believe. Something about real school work not interesting her because it doesn't follow her Chuunibyou. And while Sanae may have Chuunibyou, as well, unlike Rikka, she doesn't allow it to affect others. To her it's a fun game. As we've seen, her grades don't suffer at all and she's very personable with the people in her class, as she knows when to turn it off. The only time she really acts like that is when she's interacting with the club members. Though we havent seen her home life, I'm sure that even at home she acts pretty normal among her family, like she does with her classmates.
I'm going to take a guess and predict that even if Rikka wasn't a chuuninbyou she would still have problems dealing with math.

Judging by the way Dekomori was bawling her eyes out when Yuuta snapped at her she didn't think it was simply a "fun game". If it were really true, there would be no reason for her to react so strongly to Rikka's sudden change then. The way she acted during that scene seems to suggest that it is quite important to her.

Honestly, that scene reminds me of when a jerk maliciously tells a child that there is no Santa Claus. Sure, it's all made believe and the child probably already knows that there is no such thing, but the person is still an asshole for doing it.

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Rikka on the other hand isn't just doing it for fun, she's using it to run away from reality. That's a you said a way to cope with trauma. However, while it may not be heavy drinking or anything like that, it's being just as destructive to her life. She has no friends outside the club, it's affecting her family just like a heavy drinker can poorly affect theirs, etc. She needs help and can't keep on the way she is or she won't make it in the real world. Sometimes, a big shake up is needed to make someone see that... Sometimes they never recover at all and they end up dead in a pool of their own vomit.... Sometimes, they need to realize for themselves that they can't keep doing this. The problem with the last one is that sometimes the realization comes too late. What happens when they're in their 20s and Yuuta is trying to impress his boss at the local office party and Rikka goes all Chuuni on him?
I don't see why she couldn't have fun and at the same time being a form of escapism as well. She seems to be having a lot of fun when she is playing with Dekomori and Yuuta with her behavior. But I think you are projecting a little too deeply to go as far as to say that Rikka's chuuninbyou is as destructive as severe alcoholism. It would probably be more akin to a being more eccentric, immature, or childish than anything else. Rikka just simply needs to control herself a bit without having to resort to an serious intervention at her age. It could be simply be a step down to Dekomori's level where she can interact with other's normally, which is not a huge transition to make in my opinion.
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Old 2012-12-13, 20:51   Link #90
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But Yuuta has become so caught up in trying to help Rikka mend fences with her family that he's lost sight of what Rikka is to him, and precisely what he is to her.

My one real disappointment with Yuuta in this episode isn't anything that he said or did. It's what he didn't say or do. Rikka is his girlfriend now. When someone you love is hurting, you put aside any awkwardness and uncertainty, and you comfort them, at least at a basic level. Yuuta should have at least hugged Rikka at some point in this episode, imo. He should have reassured her that it's going to be Ok, and that he's going to be there for her.

I'm really hoping we see Yuuta rise to the occasion like this next episode.
This is a great point. I'd just add that Yuuta is also ignoring his *own* happiness in his quest to try to fix things between Rikka and her family. It's clear he's unhappy through much of this ep., and Rikka's state is eating at him. He stops himself at multiple points from doing the *correct* thing in human terms, because he thinks it doesn't correspond with the harsh reality he thinks Rikka needs to recognize. It's self discipline transformed from a virtue into a vice. However, he's so focused on having to deal the *reality* of the facts at hand that he forgets that life isn't just about facts. Or if it was, it'd be truly miserable, and there are emotional truths that need to be respected. He hasn't learned that whatever the facts on the ground, sometimes we need to follow our instincts.
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Old 2012-12-13, 22:50   Link #91
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This is a great point. I'd just add that Yuuta is also ignoring his *own* happiness in his quest to try to fix things between Rikka and her family. It's clear he's unhappy through much of this ep., and Rikka's state is eating at him. He stops himself at multiple points from doing the *correct* thing in human terms, because he thinks it doesn't correspond with the harsh reality he thinks Rikka needs to recognize. It's self discipline transformed from a virtue into a vice. However, he's so focused on having to deal the *reality* of the facts at hand that he forgets that life isn't just about facts. Or if it was, it'd be truly miserable, and there are emotional truths that need to be respected. He hasn't learned that whatever the facts on the ground, sometimes we need to follow our instincts.
Very well said.

As much as I had ragged on Yuuta for his past violent and insensitive behavior, I was prepared to forgive him all his sins after that very wonderful confession scene. But it all turned sour again in the second half of episode 10, and his complete lack of compassionate actions in this episode didn't do anything to improve his standing for me.

Frankly, I don't know how the anime staff is going to pull off the last episode in a credible and believable way. As miserable and depressing as this episode was, it was actually, for the most part believable. Rikka utterly devoid of any happiness, yup. Rikka repeatedly asking Yuuta for advice to make sure she was doing the "right thing" (or, more specifically, doing things in the Yuuta approved fashion), check. Yuuta raging at Dekomori, what else is new? But no less believable, if not more so, was Dekomori's concern for her dearest friend.

Watching this series reminds me of watching Sakamichi no Apollon. Up to, and including, the penultimate episode I had mostly very high praise for the series. It was a near perfect adaptation of the manga, and even better in some aspects. Even the first half of the last episode was better than the corresponding manga material. But, the second half of the last episode was utter crap. The director made decisions which turned an anime that I had thoroughly enjoyed into an anime that neither will I ever watch again, nor will I recommend to anyone.

I fear that this is what will happen with this series as well. As much as I have griped and complained, I have actually enjoyed this series. I have not read the original material, so my perspective is solely as an anime viewer. Whether or not certain things were explained better in the novels doesn't matter to me. If they leave too many things to the imagination of the viewer, then the story will just feel incomplete. It's bad enough when no two individuals in a group of people cannot agree on what happened when they all saw the same thing.

We didn't get to know exactly what happened when Yuuta confronted Rikka about taking off her eye-patch. We don't know how things went for the three weeks after she did remove it. We don't know the full circumstances of her mom leaving, or coming back. Etc. Will the director pull off a miracle with such a spectacularly believable, positive ending that I won't care any more about all the former ambiguities? I do hope so.
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Old 2012-12-14, 01:39   Link #92
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It's clear he's unhappy through much of this ep., and Rikka's state is eating at him. He stops himself at multiple points from doing the *correct* thing in human terms
Yuuta's state of mind in this episode is another great storytelling IMO. It is once again a "show, don't tell" technique. I believe there is only one or two instances where Yuuta narrate himself what he think, but it is clearly showed throughout the episode that he don't like what he is doing. Not only does he stop himself multiple times from saying something, his downcast look, the lonely face he has as he watch Rikka interacts "normally" with "normal" friends, etc. This episode also mark the glorious return of KyoAni's de-saturated color platelets since CLANNAD, IIRC. All of them show that he is unhappy with the situation. That Rikka's current state doesn't sit well with him. He is basically grinding his teeth trying not to tell Rikka what Dekomori want him to say.

But, like many have already said, he can't simply change his stance. I think Klashikari pointed out something similar in the last episode thread--the chuunibyou-Rikka, as she was, will not survive in the society, especially in Japan. It is easy for us viewers to say that the Jyaou Shingan is a better character and she was way more fun to watch. However, the characters in-universe are not and should not treat Rikka as an entertainment. Like it or not, something has to be done.

Of course, I'm not saying what they're doing is the best. I'm not sure who said it first, but I agree that what shows that you're graduated from chuunibyou is not when you stopped acting them out. It's when you can look back fondly at the period when you still are and still can having fun with those fantasies from time to time. I agree with many others that that's what Yuuta and Rikka are looking for. How they will get there, though, will be very interesting.
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Old 2012-12-14, 02:50   Link #93
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Of course, I'm not saying what they're doing is the best. I'm not sure who said it first, but I agree that what shows that you're graduated from chuunibyou is not when you stopped acting them out. It's when you can look back fondly at the period when you still are and still can having fun with those fantasies from time to time. I agree with many others that that's what Yuuta and Rikka are looking for. How they will get there, though, will be very interesting.
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“Critics who treat 'adult' as a term of approval, instead of as a merely descriptive term, cannot be adult themselves. To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence. And in childhood and adolescence they are, in moderation, healthy symptoms. Young things ought to want to grow. But to carry on into middle life or even into early manhood this concern about being adult is a mark of really arrested development. When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.”
The author of The Chronicles of Narnia, though I doubt you didn't know that.
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Old 2012-12-14, 03:07   Link #94
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About Yuuta lashing out at Dekomori: It was a harsh scene, but I can partly understand Yuuta. He was during the whole episode in doubt with the way he has handled the situation. And it looked like that when Dekomori started her speech that Yuuta was already "trembling" in holding is outburst back. Yet, Dekomori, who was understandably concerned about Rikka, couldn't read the mood either and (unintended?) kept pouring more oil in the fire until Yuuta snapped. When she was talking under tears, you could see that Yuuta's respone at one point was also on the verge of shedding tears. Yet, stuff like "Did your tricks ever work once in reality" was uhm ... not that appropriated, but once the stone is set into motion you cannot easily stop the upcoming chain reactions of the stone avalanche/rock slide. At that point Dekomori wasn't really able to talk back and it seemed like the beginning of "finishing her off" in that heated discussion.

Let's see Kumin's true power in the next episode. Seeing that she's a normal person (except her ability to sleep with her pillow in every location), maybe she can give Yuuta some "neutral" advice. Her only connection to chuunibyou is, after all, only the school club in contrast to Rikka, Sanae, Nibutani and Yuuta.
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Old 2012-12-14, 03:29   Link #95
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Let's see Kumin's true power in the next episode. Seeing that she's a normal person (except her ability to sleep with her pillow in every location)
It's called narcolepsy. People that are narcoleptic can sleep really a lot and everywhere regardless the location.
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Old 2012-12-14, 09:10   Link #96
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Rikka's problem is that she didn't have an "off" switch. Of course there's certain social situations (especially in the adult world) where you have to talk normally and can't go on about "The Tyrant's Eye". But there are also social situations were you can safely act out and embrace your "inner chuunibyou" (and this is true for adults to - just go to a comic book, Star Trek, or anime convention ). Rikka's club was ideal for providing a safe social situation for acting out.

Yuuta shouldn't have told Rikka that she needs to scrap the eye-patch, period. Or that she needed to scrap chuunibyou, period (if he did tell her that). What Rikka needs to do isn't lose the eccentricity, but rather compliment it with some normalcy for certain situations.

Maybe he should have put it as "Rikka, in order to avoid detection by the Administration, you have to learn how to hide your inner powers from the general populace. That means acting normal in-class, and in crowds. Here's how you act normal..."

It's actually not that hard to do, and just about everybody does it to some extent. Most adults are more open and laidback at home than they are at work, for example.


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I'm going to take a guess and predict that even if Rikka wasn't a chuuninbyou she would still have problems dealing with math.
Agreed. Dekomori demonstrates that you can be a hardcore chuunibyou and still great at school. Rikka's math problems are inherent to her weaknesses with math. They're not because of her chuunibyou.


Quote:
I don't see why she couldn't have fun and at the same time being a form of escapism as well. She seems to be having a lot of fun when she is playing with Dekomori and Yuuta with her behavior. But I think you are projecting a little too deeply to go as far as to say that Rikka's chuuninbyou is as destructive as severe alcoholism. It would probably be more akin to a being more eccentric, immature, or childish than anything else. Rikka just simply needs to control herself a bit without having to resort to an serious intervention at her age. It could be simply be a step down to Dekomori's level where she can interact with other's normally, which is not a huge transition to make in my opinion.
Agreed. Very well-said.


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Originally Posted by Aquifina View Post
This is a great point. I'd just add that Yuuta is also ignoring his *own* happiness in his quest to try to fix things between Rikka and her family. It's clear he's unhappy through much of this ep., and Rikka's state is eating at him. He stops himself at multiple points from doing the *correct* thing in human terms, because he thinks it doesn't correspond with the harsh reality he thinks Rikka needs to recognize. It's self discipline transformed from a virtue into a vice. However, he's so focused on having to deal the *reality* of the facts at hand that he forgets that life isn't just about facts. Or if it was, it'd be truly miserable, and there are emotional truths that need to be respected. He hasn't learned that whatever the facts on the ground, sometimes we need to follow our instincts.
Emotional comfort is there precisely for handling unpleasant facts on the ground. It's not a sign of weakness, it's a sign of humanity.

There's times in life where keeping a "stiff upper lip" is important, but if that's your only coping mechanism for facing hard facts, you're going to either eventually break down in a huge way or you're going to turn as numb as a zombie. And the latter is precisely what has happened to Rikka. The girl needs emotional comfort just to make her feel something other than numb melancholy again.
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Old 2012-12-14, 13:03   Link #97
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Rikka's club was ideal for providing a safe social situation for acting out.
Actually, no that's not really a safe social situation. Club activities are quite important for Japanese schoolers, and having remotely "productive" clubs is quite important for budget and especially room allocation.
People with no club are often seen as asocial, and thus no good in the grand scheme of being part of the society, but screwing around in a silly club won't give you more credit, far from it.

The only safe social situation for Rikka antics would be within private environment, as in: at home or in a place that no one would judge her (such like Yuuta's house).
Quote:
Yuuta shouldn't have told Rikka that she needs to scrap the eye-patch, period. Or that she needed to scrap chuunibyou, period (if he did tell her that). What Rikka needs to do isn't lose the eccentricity, but rather compliment it with some normalcy for certain situations.
Rikka's eccentricity is beyond just having fun: it basically overwrote her personality and how she deal with everyone, not just people who are close to chuunibyou whatsoever.
Which means: Rikka has to switch out from her chuunibyou, but also has to define the antics in a complete different fashion.

The major reason is that her chuunibyou is the way for her to cope with her father's death, meaning it isn't just being eccentric: it is basically a way to "handle" reality, however indirect it is.

What Touka and Yuuta couldn't deal with Rikka is how they couldn't find a compromise that would leviate Rikka's feelings after her father's death, due to absolutely no practical situation save being able to accept such situation to begin with. But her behaviour so far is hardly helping people or even Rikka herself in such matter: it encompasses her environnment in fantasies, which leads to a vicious circle. Not only people would put distance between themselves and Rikka, but Rikka would be even more stranded on the "horizon" issue.
Quote:
Maybe he should have put it as "Rikka, in order to avoid detection by the Administration, you have to learn how to hide your inner powers from the general populace. That means acting normal in-class, and in crowds. Here's how you act normal..."
That does NOT solve the problem at all. In such condition, Rikka would actually act the opposite as she should be: instead of accepting reality, she puts a "reality" facade simply for society convenience, and remains on her longing feelings for her father.
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It's actually not that hard to do, and just about everybody does it to some extent. Most adults are more open and laidback at home than they are at work, for example.
Except that even when people keep reminding Rikka to stop her antics in public (not outright saying to stop being chuuni altogether), she -keeps- acting like that. That really shows how far that behaviour got anchored in her.
Quote:
Agreed. Dekomori demonstrates that you can be a hardcore chuunibyou and still great at school. Rikka's math problems are inherent to her weaknesses with math. They're not because of her chuunibyou.
Actually no, it seems it is her chuunibyou that leads to difficulties in math: Rikka has trouble to grasp math concept, which is initially disctracted by her imagination. Her little speech regarding dice probability is a good example of that: because of her imagination, she just can't comprehend the math exercise, or even the "purpose of math".

Quote:
Emotional comfort is there precisely for handling unpleasant facts on the ground. It's not a sign of weakness, it's a sign of humanity.

There's times in life where keeping a "stiff upper lip" is important, but if that's your only coping mechanism for facing hard facts, you're going to either eventually break down in a huge way or you're going to turn as numb as a zombie. And the latter is precisely what has happened to Rikka. The girl needs emotional comfort just to make her feel something other than numb melancholy again.
The problem is the mechanism itself is flawed: some people are managing their own problems with little rituals and gimmicky activities that would lead no harm whatsoever.
While Rikka obviously isn't dangerous per se, she will not be able to handle herself nor going anywhere in society if she is 100% chuunibyou like she was during the first 10 episodes.

Really, the fact the chuunibyou antics shown so far being funny is just some sugar coated demonstration of what it actually is.
From a character point of view who knows Rikka, it reminds them too well she still doesn't get over her father's death and still gnaw her to her very daily activities. But beyond that, it is also a major problem in term of social interactions and whatnot: proof is that Rikka just cannot "adapt" herself towards the person she is talking with: regardless if it is Kumin, Yuuta, or random bystander, she will talk to them as if the world is afflicted in a battle between darkness and light forces and she has the key to unleash tremendous power.


Like I said before, let's assume it isn't that bad... what do you think people will really think of it? Try some Dark Flame Master antics in a supermarket for 4 hours straight, even when the security guard or policeman has a talk with you, and let's see how things will turn out.
Now do that 100% of the time with anyone you encounter for a week, and I think some people will plainly think you are nuts. And then factoring Japanese culture and society, and you have the winning ticket to be called a "goner".
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Old 2012-12-14, 13:20   Link #98
ele-ene-ene
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The Kübler-Ross model, commonly referred to as the "five stages of grief", is a hypothesis introduced by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross in her 1969 book On Death and Dying, which was inspired by her work with terminally ill patients. Kübler-Ross' hypothesis was that when a person (and/or their survivors) is faced with the reality of their impending death, he/she will experience a series of emotional "stages": denial; anger; bargaining; depression; and, acceptance (in no specific sequence).

Source: Wikipedia

Rikka's chuuni is equivalent to the denial stage. The lack of preparation for the death of her father made this stage would reach out too. Yuuta's intervention interrupted the process and go straight to a false acceptance . The pity of all this is that Rikka could not mourn the death of his father.
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Old 2012-12-14, 13:44   Link #99
Shadow5YA
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I posted this in the image thread already, but I think this perfectly sums up the situation:

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Originally Posted by Triple_R View Post
Rikka's problem is that she didn't have an "off" switch. Of course there's certain social situations (especially in the adult world) where you have to talk normally and can't go on about "The Tyrant's Eye". But there are also social situations were you can safely act out and embrace your "inner chuunibyou" (and this is true for adults to - just go to a comic book, Star Trek, or anime convention ). Rikka's club was ideal for providing a safe social situation for acting out.
No, the "ideal" would be a private environment where she isn't held accountable for anything. As Klashikari already mentioned, school clubs do answer to the administration, however occasionally, especially when it comes to money/budget issues. Then there's also showing off their club to the adviser in charge, as well as outsiders during school festivals. School comedies always try to make it seem like clubs provide students with their own isolated world, but in reality that's not the case at all. Not even close.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Triple_R View Post
Yuuta shouldn't have told Rikka that she needs to scrap the eye-patch, period. Or that she needed to scrap chuunibyou, period (if he did tell her that). What Rikka needs to do isn't lose the eccentricity, but rather compliment it with some normalcy for certain situations.

Maybe he should have put it as "Rikka, in order to avoid detection by the Administration, you have to learn how to hide your inner powers from the general populace. That means acting normal in-class, and in crowds. Here's how you act normal..."

It's actually not that hard to do, and just about everybody does it to some extent. Most adults are more open and laidback at home than they are at work, for example.
There is reason why only Rikka is unable to blend in class, while Dekomori is fine despite playing as hard as Rikka does.

It's easy to verbally state how to be "normal", but it's clear from this entire series that Rikka honestly does not know how to be normal anymore. To her, the eyepatch was her way of hiding her power.

Which brings me to my next point:

Quote:
Originally Posted by Triple_R View Post
Agreed. Dekomori demonstrates that you can be a hardcore chuunibyou and still great at school. Rikka's math problems are inherent to her weaknesses with math. They're not because of her chuunibyou.
It's a fallacy to assume Rikka will be fine just because another person with different circumstances can handle it. For example, you can't assume one person won't become drunk and act irrationally after drinking a certain amount of alcohol just because someone with a stronger constitution can handle it.

Dekomori and Yuuta have different reasons for showing chuunibiyou than Rikka does. Unlike Rikka, those two acted out their fantasies because they found it fun, and nothing more. You see Dekomori helping out with her classmates. You see a younger Yuuta hiding his gun and toning down his acts when a policeman passes by. You see the present Yuuta only show his Dark Flame Master persona in private with Rikka.

As you mentioned before, Dekomori and Yuuta clearly have "off switches" for their chuunibiyou while Rikka doesn't. It's because Rikka doesn't know how to stop her chuunibiyou that she lets her imagination run wild in math and ends up failing.

Therefore, yes, in this special case it is Rikka's chuunibiyou that is causing her difficulty in school.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Triple_R View Post
Emotional comfort is there precisely for handling unpleasant facts on the ground. It's not a sign of weakness, it's a sign of humanity.

There's times in life where keeping a "stiff upper lip" is important, but if that's your only coping mechanism for facing hard facts, you're going to either eventually break down in a huge way or you're going to turn as numb as a zombie. And the latter is precisely what has happened to Rikka. The girl needs emotional comfort just to make her feel something other than numb melancholy again.
The girl needs to find emotional comfort in something else than her fantasies if she can't control them like Dekomori can. The way Rikka acted for at least the first nine episodes is just the opposite extreme of her lethargy now.

Rikka can have her chuunibiyou fun again and act out her fantasies as long as she does it solely for fun instead of as a serious way to a fleeting memory of her father alive.

The solution she needs has to be found elsewhere. For starters, she could... you know, actually mourn her father's death and pay her respects at his grave.
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Old 2012-12-14, 14:14   Link #100
Julio C
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Izayoi View Post
After watching this episode, I would like to conclude that this series has been better than what KyoAni usually makes. Part of the reason why I feel this way is because the concept of escapism plays a major role in most of our lives and the story revolves around this theme. It is thought provoking to see how the characters each deals with this problem in the series. It helps challenges the negative connotation with escapism and differentiate between positive and negative forms escapism. When is it healthy and when is it unhealthy etc?
I never expected that this show would take a more serious note. I feel really bad to what Rikka is going through now as well as Dekomori losing her only friend.

I can only see a bitter sweet ending, probably not as emotional as this episode.
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