Chuunibyou Demo Koi ga Shitai! Ren - Episode 4 Discussion / Poll

[Dekomori Sanae]

I found this episode hilarious, the interactions between Dekomori and Nibutani were great

Originally Posted by teja208

@Klashikari I hear you, I guess our views aren't that different after all.

However, I still see Shinka as the one responsible breaking Deko's off switch by pretending to be Mori Summer in front of her even though she already graduate from it. Actually, another way of looking at it is Shinka made a mistake with her decision to capitalize Deko's devotion to Mori Summer in order to manupulate Deko into assisting her with the SC campaign. Yuuta and Rikka's part of the fault as well for coming up with the idea and encouraging Shinka to go for it. This is basically like deceiving someone for your own benefit and part of the reason why I think Shinka wasn't fit to become the SCP anyway.

So it's basically a bad decisions from all characters involve and lack of consideration and inability to anticipate of how will Deko behave under the circumstance.

^ This, pretty much.
Nibutani was the one who awakened the chuuni within Dekomori, so it's just normal that Dekomori adores here like that. Without Dekomori, she might not have become a chuuni.
Nibutani has put a lot of effort into convincing others (and herself) that she's not Mori Summer anymore, resulting in her negative reactions to anything related with Mori Summer. This is the entire reason for the squabble between her ans Dekomori, because Dekomori doesn't like this stuff to be put down.
Now Nibutani does something totally uncharacteristic for her: for totally egoistic reasons, just to further her reputation for the election, she suddenly does a 180 degrees heel turn and tells Dekomori that she still is Mori Summer.
What happens next is a result of two things: first, she's flattered by Dekomori's appreciation, something completely new for her, and wants it to continue.
Then, she's also taking pleasure in being Mori Summer again and not having to suppress it all the time. Dekomori notices the pleasure she has, is really happy about it and wants others to share the greatness of Mori Summer, in the hope that Nibutani will now openly admit her Mori Summer persona.
However, that's much more than Nibutani wanted to do, so she flips out during the speech, and they're back to "normal" again.

Originally Posted by Marcus H.

Does Shinka really want to be a Student Council President? I doubt it, especially since she has been the kind of person who is desperate for having a riajuu and is failing to do so. She did it with the Cheerleading Club, the tried out the Drama Club, and I'm not surprised that she went for the Student Council just to get the past of Mori Summer off her back.

Exactly. Nibutani has a flighty character when it comes to these things, with the beackground of her trying to be someone who she isn't, just to meet her preceived image of other's expectations of her. She just joined the Cheerleading club and the Drama club without much consideration, because she though it might improve her image, just to find out that they didn't really interest her at all.
Same thing with her hair and clothers change in ep. 1, a hasty action without much consideration to meet some perceived image, but keeping up the charade was grating on her too much, so she quickly dropped it again.
I doubt it was any different here. With the clubs, she could easily quit them again when they turned out to be rather uninteresting. With the student council president job, that wouldn't have been possible, she wouldn've been stuck with it with no way out. Thus, it was better for her that it ended the way it did.
In the end, the chuuni club is still the best and most fitting club for her, even if she still refuses to admit it. Realizing that will be an important step in her character growth and in accepting who she is and what she really likes to do.

[Marcus H.]

I forget her Maria-Sama ga Miteiru persona. But that's just adding to my view on the episode.

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by Klashikari

You realize that her "perfect girl" facade is nowhere close to her real personality? The contrast was done for laughs, but in general, Shinka is working on her personality to erase her chuuni past.

Then why would she re-embrace it in Episode 1 and also in this episode? This is part of the reason why I'm honestly very skeptical of the argument that you and others are making that Nibutani pursued the Student Council Presidency purely to erase her chuuni past.

So she purses the Student Council Presidency purely to erase her chuuni past, and yet she uses her chuuni past (via motivating/thanking Dekomori) to help in the endeavor itself? That's a rather large contradiction, in my view. "I'm going to drink more alcohol in order to achieve 'X' which I'm trying to achieve purely to erase my past as an alcoholic" Um... yeah

So if anything, I think this episode demonstrates that Shinka is willing to make a place in her current life for her Chuuni past; just a private place (which is still more than no place at all). The Shinka of Season 1 wouldn't have even considered putting back on the Mori Summer persona. This Shinka actually did it, so if anything, she's becoming more comfortable with her chuuni past. She's just compartmentalizing it. She's almost where Yuuta now is.

So I definitely think that Shinka really did want to become Student Council President. And even if she was doing that for greater social acceptance or social status, that's a fairly common reason for pursuing a political position anyway.

Wanting a political position for social status or social acceptance reasons doesn't mean you don't really want that political position. It just explains why you want it. You still do want it, and Shinka really did want it.

So her efforts were done to get the SCP position, but her aim is definitely not what you claim it to be: she doesn't sincerely want to be the SCP because it is her dream (it isn't),

What is her dream, then? To escape her Chuuni past? And yet she re-embraces that same Chuuni past in the very same episode that she talks about dreaming to escape it?

Season 2, Episode 1. The episode focused on Shinka's perspective once, and yet she had no plan for the student council, exactly because she is currently trying the "perfect girl" plan with her change of clothes and hairstyle.

How does being dark-haired instead of a blonde make her more of a "perfect girl"? Or how does her clothes change do that?

She didn't mention her plan for the Student Council, because she wasn't prepared to act on it yet, and because it had nothing to do with the plot of Episode 1.

Originally Posted by Kismet-chan

I don't understand why someone wanting to have a clean public face to separate themselves from their embarrassing past and genuinely wanting to be a school council president have to be mutually exclusive desires. Both of those could possibly be true for Shinka.

Good point.

Originally Posted by Dekomori Sanae

She just joined the Cheerleading club and the Drama club without much consideration, because she though it might improve her image, just to find out that they didn't really interest her at all.
Same thing with her hair and clothers change in ep. 1, a hasty action without much consideration to meet some perceived image, but keeping up the charade was grating on her too much, so she quickly dropped it again.
I doubt it was any different here. With the clubs, she could easily quit them again when they turned out to be rather uninteresting. With the student council president job, that wouldn't have been possible, she wouldn've been stuck with it with no way out.

"No way out" is exaggerating it a bit, but it certainly would be harder to get out than with the Drama Club or the Cheerleading Club, which is why I think this is different here.

Being elected to virtually anything carries with it a certain expectation of commitment. This isn't something that Shinka could walk away from as easily as she did the drama club or cheerleading club. If she just resigns as Student Council President a month after being elected to it, then that may well hurt her reputation with the entire student body. It could make her look flighty, unreliable, and unappreciative of the support others invested in her.

Now, I think that Shinka is smart enough to realize this, which is why I think running for Student Council President isn't something Shinka did just on a whim. I certainly doubt it's her life-long dream, of course, but maybe it is (was) her high school dream.

[Elestia]

Dekomori pleading so desperately with Nibutani to just take one photo of her Mori Summer almost made me tear up a bit.

Also, going to call it now. By the end of the we will find out that Dekomori still keeps that picture on her Mori Summer on her cellphone.

[teja208]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

No, she's not lying. She is Mori Summer. She expects Deko to have enough sense to realize that Mori Summer is just her old Chuuni persona that she can slip on and off like Yuuta does the Dark Flame Master - And like Yuuta, it's a persona she will be using sparingly.

It seems we have to agree to disagree here regarding the lying part.

But I guess you have a point, it appears that Shinka wasn't expecting that her acting as Mori Summer would end up breaking Deko's off switch. Personally, I don't see any indication that Shinka (or any other characters) is well aware of Deko possessing an off switch. I thought that term was coined by some of the posters here to explain their observation of Deko's ability to behave like normal people in public.

Actually, I don't even recall when did people start using that term.

[Dr. Casey]

I did a forum search for the word 'switch' in the Chuunibyou forum, and the first usage of the term "off switch" (in the context of turning chuuni behavior on and off) dates back to December 8th 2012. So, during the run of the original series.

[Anime Online]

I don't think even KyoAni knows the answer whether Deko is lost in fantasy chuuni-land or if she's actually a sly operator. Sometimes she's one thing, and sometimes she's another. I don't see any evidence of an off-switch. None of the other chuuni-characters exhibit anything like that. As I see it, it's just a lazy way to explain away KyoAni's inconsistency.

Deko did proclaim she would stop the imposter from ruling the school. So perhaps her old doubts returned and she decided to out Nibutani with the mabinogion. Who knows? She didn't even seem the least bit apologetic or remorseful she messed up Nibutani's bid for the Student Council President position. "She's the fake, so she deserves it, hah!"

[Klashikari]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

Then why would she re-embrace it in Episode 1 and also in this episode? This is part of the reason why I'm honestly very skeptical of the argument that you and others are making that Nibutani pursued the Student Council Presidency purely to erase her chuuni past.

I don't see any case where she re-embraced it in episode 1 as you say, save perhaps the chuuni battle showdown with Touka, which was purely because she was dragged to it.
Even for that part, that's simply because Shinka is not honest with herself. Pretty much how Yuuta was desperately trying to erase it, and still accepted it to a certain degree after interacting with Rikka.
S1 ep4 and ep5 clearly show she really consider all of this being embarassing as hell. In this episode as well, Shinka blurted supertitious thing, but strongly says it has nothing to do with chuunibyou.

It follows everything she had done so far: she purposedly joined the cheerleading club for that. She quitted it because she felt it was a hassle and the other members were annoying. Likewise, she suddenly joined the drama club and left as well. She changed her attire and behaviour for a very short time and reverted back when it just didn't work.

So she purses the Student Council Presidency purely to erase her chuuni past, and yet she uses her chuuni past (via motivating/thanking Dekomori) to help in the endeavor itself? That's a rather large contradiction, in my view. "I'm going to drink more alcohol in order to achieve 'X' which I'm trying to achieve purely to erase my past as an alcoholic" Um... yeah

Except it wasn't the case?
Look, as far as it goes, Shinka didn't show herself as Mori Summer for this endeavor, it has nothing to do with that.
She simply was touched by Sanae's efforts and devotion that she felt that wouldn't hurt. That's the exact same thing Yuuta did back in season 1: he played a DFM act for the mail after Rikka finally scored average grades in a test. Yet, I don't remember Yuuta saying "oh, Chuunibyou is fine now!". He was still not fine with his chuuni past, but it is okay to do it a bit for Rikka's sake.
If it wasn't for this scene, Shina would never have done it: it has nothing to do with her SCP campaign, but a personal matter after what Sanae did for her, realizing Sanae "could" be a nice girl, so giving her back the favor.

Your example has no relevancy to the situation, because 1) the purpose of Shinka's action wasn't the same as her goal 2) you can't drink for someone else's sake.

So if anything, I think this episode demonstrates that Shinka is willing to make a place in her current life for her Chuuni past; just a private place (which is still more than no place at all). The Shinka of Season 1 wouldn't have even considered putting back on the Mori Summer persona. This Shinka actually did it, so if anything, she's becoming more comfortable with her chuuni past. She's just compartmentalizing it. She's almost where Yuuta now is.

Shinka was never shown as completely "cured" from it anyway. Even in S1, she mentions things like fairies, curse etc to the point she has to correct herself. (hell, in S1 ep3, she -prayed- the fairies to get back the Mabinogion).
Shinka still doesn't accept her chuuni past, but she is okay to do it just once after what Sanae did. That's all. Otherwise, if she was really comfortable with it to a certain degree, that stuff would have been apparent on a casual occasions, instead of a very emotional one. Hell, she went haywire when she saw Satone and that she only had a picture of their middle school period. Yet, she "suddenly" wore MS garnament exactly because of Sanae's, not because she is "now fine with it".

What is her dream, then? To escape her Chuuni past? And yet she re-embraces that same Chuuni past in the very same episode that she talks about dreaming to escape it?

There is no evidence what her real dream is, as much how you don't know for the other characters, Yuuta and Rikka included.
You are concluding things on Shinka's side simply because of her narration that mentions that despite her narration is the same as her presentation in Sanae's class: she puts a facade and arguably doesn't have such personality.

How does being dark-haired instead of a blonde make her more of a "perfect girl"? Or how does her clothes change do that?

For your instance, dyeing your hair at that age in japanese society is either 1) considered as trying to be a yankee in jp term (most likely for guys) 2) being fashionable. There is no evidence which color was Shinka's natural hair, but jet black is actually classic with little fancy possible (be it IRL or anime standards).
Reverting to an "usual" hair color and hair style give a very different vibe (hence why people were afraid Shinka was going to play the super good girl when the picture were leaked).
Likewise, the length of her skirt change her image as well: unless you are telling me that the length of the skirt doesn't change anything, which I -really- doubt it.

Shinka was trying to appear as a Yamato Nadeshiko, and both her attire and attitude are evidence of that (ごきげんよう is a glaring clue: not your usual teenager would use that, and it is plastered in anime for your refined lady and/or ojou-sama type for a good reason. Heck, Guten Morgen is enough for that...).

She didn't mention her plan for the Student Council, because she wasn't prepared to act on it yet, and because it had nothing to do with the plot of Episode 1.

It has, simply because Shinka declared her goal for this second year.
Why would she declare "I failed last year (implying her efforts bear no fruit) but this year will be different!", despite she has done nothing close that would assure her a SC position?
That simple statement proves her current actions are the same as last year: trying to change her chuuni image with actions that are seen opposite to this trend.
SCP preparations don't occur "magically" when elections are around: they are done early to prepare the said election, and yet for someone who "dreamed of it", she didn't even mention that.

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by teja208

It seems we have to agree to disagree here regarding the lying part.

Why? On what basis was she lying?

Mori Summer was her creation. That's her persona. There's nothing at all dishonest about her admitting that, and putting that persona back on, especially given Deko's previous contention that Shinka never was Mori Summer.

Suppose Spider-Man retired as a superhero, and spent a couple years as just news reporter Peter Parker. Then a huge Spider-Man fan hassled him about the theory that Peter Parker is Spider-Man, arguing that somebody who worked for the radically anti-Spider-Man J. Jonah Jameson couldn't possibly be Spider-Man. Peter wants to get away from his Spider-Man past because he wants to now live life as a normal human being, so he goes along with the theory denial but also wishes this guy would stop teasing him about it.

But then a day comes when revealing that he's Spider-Man would be helpful in getting this guy to provide crucial help in dealing with a supervillain that kidnapped Peter's wife. Peter reveals to the guy that he's Spider-Man by putting the costume back on, and doing things that only Spider-Man can do.

Would you say that Peter is lying here, just because he stopped wearing the costume a couple years ago, and doesn't intend to ever be Spider-Man again on a full-time basis again (instead just to deal with this supervillain that kidnapped his wife)? Or is he being honest by setting the record straight?

Shinka is doing the very opposite of lying here. She's likewise setting the record straight. She's correcting Deko - "The Mori Summer that you love and admire? That's me!"

But I guess you have a point, it appears that Shinka wasn't expecting that her acting as Mori Summer would end up breaking Deko's off switch. Personally, I don't see any indication that Shinka (or any other characters) is well aware of Deko possessing an off switch.

How could they not be aware of it? Deko gave a speech to the entire school in clear-cut non-Chuuni mode. Shinka was present for that speech, and obviously paid close attention to Deko given that she snapped a rubber-band at Deko during that speech.

Originally Posted by Klashikari

I don't see any case where she re-embraced it in episode 1 as you say, save perhaps the chuuni battle showdown with Touka, which was purely because she was dragged to it.

Rikka's issues with Touka aren't Shinka's problem. She could have easily just chosen to leave. She didn't. I think that says something.

S1 ep4 and ep5 clearly show she really consider all of this being embarassing as hell.

She finds it embarrassing in front of random students. So does Yuuta when it comes to the Dark Flame Master. But if Shinka was as hardcore about getting away from her Chuuni past as you and others have argued, then it simply makes no sense whatsoever for her to put that persona back on in this episode.

In this episode as well, Shinka blurted supertitious thing, but strongly says it has nothing to do with chuunibyou.

You do realize this is like a tsundere denying her feelings for a guy she has a crush on, right?

It follows everything she had done so far:

No, it doesn't follow everything she has done so far. It definitely doesn't follow how she used her Chuuni past to manipulate/motivate/thank Deko in this episode.

Character motivations can change. Yuuta clearly demonstrated that last season. So I don't think we should allow ourselves to get locked into a closed-minded box when it comes to evaluating Shinka's motivations. Just because Shinka once wanted to erase her Chuuni past doesn't mean she still does.

Except it wasn't the case?

No, it was the case.

Look, as far as it goes, Shinka didn't show herself as Mori Summer for this endeavor, it has nothing to do with that.

The thanks alone isn't the only way she used her Mori Summer persona here. She used it for a large chunk of the episode. You use your past to achieve a goal that you're trying to achieve purely to escape your past - It is a total contradiction.

Shinka is either a walking contradiction for much of this episode, or you're wrong, and she really did want to become Student Council President.

Yet, I don't remember Yuuta saying "oh, Chuunibyou is fine now!".

He seems to be treating it as fine now.

[Klashikari]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

Rikka's issues with Touka aren't Shinka's problem. She could have easily just chosen to leave. She didn't. I think that says something.

Except Shinka deliberately looked for Rikka and Yuuta, exactly because she and Kumin were wondering what's going on. Remember that Shinka also has the knack of involving herself with other people's troubles (be it in this season or season 1).

She finds it embarrassing in front of random students. So does Yuuta when it comes to the Dark Flame Master. But if Shinka was as hardcore about getting away from her Chuuni past as you and others have argued, then it simply makes no sense whatsoever for her to put that persona back on in this episode.

How does it not make any sense? With Sanae's help, she believes she had a good shot for the SCP position, but the latter helped her solely because she is Mori Summer. How is that even "not making sense" to indulge Sanae just for once?
You are making it sound like the moment she does that, it invalidates everything she had done, which is not the case.
The whole point of this scene was to thank and apologize to Sanae after her commitment, period. It isn't like she is fine with Mori Summer (she isn't, as proved with her reaction with Satone).

That's why I brought Yuuta in the early part of S1, exactly because their situations are similar, albeit Shinka is much more hardcore in her denial.

You do realize this is like a tsundere denying her feelings for a guy she has a crush on, right?

And that's why I said it is a clue she isn't fully cured from it, yet she utterly denies it, portraying her as someone who is doing anything to erase it, as demonstrated every commitment she did prior this episode.

No, it doesn't follow everything she has done so far. It definitely doesn't follow how she used her Chuuni past to manipulate/motivate/thank Deko in this episode.

Character motivations can change. Yuuta clearly demonstrated that last season. So I don't think we should allow ourselves to get locked into a closed-minded box when it comes to evaluating Shinka's motivations. Just because Shinka once wanted to erase her Chuuni past doesn't mean she still does.

I guess that's the core issue and I will have to use the "agree to disagree card".
Frankly, I can't believe you think she doesn't want to erase her chuuni past, despite she blurted in episode 1 she failed on her first year, and now will push forward (hence the Yamato Nadeshiko act).
She is denying it thoroughly during this episode, be it for the sake of gaining the SCP position but also because it is just way too embarassing.

The thanks alone isn't the only way she used her Mori Summer persona here. She used it for a large chunk of the episode. You use your past to achieve a goal that you're trying to achieve purely to escape your past - It is a total contradiction.

Shinka is either a walking contradiction for much of this episode, or you're wrong, and she really did want to become Student Council President.

I fail to see which parts of this episode she endorsed Mori Summer mode besides her thanks to Sanae. And no, I don't consider the fact "keep it secret, I don't want my identity to be found out!" excuse as an evidence she was using MS. In fact, that's the glaring opposite: MS was obviously portrayed as a excentric personality, preaching "the truth" and fairies stuff out of the open, regardless how people would laugh at her considering she even did her stuf -in public- with Satone, instead of doing it in a club room whatsoever.
If she was -really- acting as Mori Summer aside of that thanking scene, it would be terribly obvious.
That's why I don't see any other MS scene at all, save when she thanked Sanae and the flashbacks.

And no, I don't see how it is a contradiction: if anything, she isn't embracing her chuuni past at all, otherwise she wouldn't freak out during this episode with Satone (It doesn't matter if Rikka/Sanae/Kumin/Satone knows about that since they are weirdo to Shinka, and Yuuta already knows her MS past, so there is no "random people learning about it" in this scene).
Hell, she wanted the Nabinogion to dispose it like she tried to do in season 1.

He seems to be treating it as fine now.

"Now". What I was referring was during the early part of S1, where he was doing everything to deny that. The whole point is that Yuuta was gradually handling Rikka's chuuni with different methods, but he definitely wasn't doing it on daily basis early in S1.

Due to point 4, I will just let it go, it is fundamentally pointless to go on, if the basis of the discussion is from completely different premise.
Best to wait and see what Shinka will do in the next episodes, assuming something will occur.

[CrowKenobi]

All this Shinka discussion has me wondering if she even knows who she really is. And until she stops running away from Mori Summer, I don't think that she will find that answer.

[DXMichael]

*Sigh* I never liked Dekomori's character, but this episode made me hate her more XD She's just a real annoying character that gets in the way a lot :s

[Dekomori Sanae]

Originally Posted by CrowKenobi

All this Shinka discussion has me wondering if she even knows who she really is. And until she stops running away from Mori Summer, I don't think that she will find that answer.

Yes. Nubutani is trying to be someone she isn't, and until she accepts her Mori Summer past and that she has fun in the chuuni club, she won't evolve.

[risingstar3110]

Originally Posted by teja208

@Klashikari I hear you, I guess our views aren't that different after all.

However, I still see Shinka as the one responsible breaking Deko's off switch by pretending to be Mori Summer in front of her even though she already graduate from it. Actually, another way of looking at it is Shinka made a mistake with her decision to capitalize Deko's devotion to Mori Summer in order to manupulate Deko into assisting her with the SC campaign. Yuuta and Rikka's part of the fault as well for coming up with the idea and encouraging Shinka to go for it. This is basically like deceiving someone for your own benefit and part of the reason why I think Shinka wasn't fit to become the SCP anyway.

So it's basically a bad decisions from all characters involve and lack of consideration and inability to anticipate of how will Deko behave under the circumstance.

Agree with your point, except i don't think Shinka was quite graduated from Mori Summer. I means in early this episode or the last, she was blabbering about love of magical spirits, or the spiritual energy that prevents her from staying longer in drama club. I think she still genuinely believed in some stuffs back in chunni day, just not so outspoken about them.

But yeah i agreed with you and Klashikari (and others) on major points of this episode:

1. Shinka once again want to distance herself from her Chuuni (which she tried before with cheerleading, drama club, and image change), this time to join SC in the name of "following up her dream"
2. Dekomori truely believe Shinka to be Mori Summer in the first half
3. Shinka tried to reward Dekomori service by appearing before her using her Mori Summer self
4. that overdrive Dekomori public's "chuuni off switch", as now she has the back-up of her all powerful master. Of course the first thing she does is to announce the arrival of Mori Summer as school president and how they will turn the school to their Shangrila protected by the loveful fairies
5. it goes horribly wrong, Shinka could not handle it. Dekomori thought she was tricked again by the fake Mori Summer, hence we are back to the status quo

So close to a yuri happy ending

I think it would have been better have they let Shinka winning the election. But then she started to feel uncomfortable with the school council role and how Dekomori kept getting chuuni all around her (or how Rikka started to feel really sad without Dekomori). So she quit the SC, started to act like she was tricking Dekomori the whole time and reset the status quo

[Sheba]

Mori Summer persona would be so at home in 1960s America, with all them hippies and Summer of Love.

[teja208]

Originally Posted by risingstar3110

Agree with your point, except i don't think Shinka was quite graduated from Mori Summer. I means in early this episode or the last, she was blabbering about love of magical spirits, or the spiritual energy that prevents her from staying longer in drama club. I think she still genuinely believed in some stuffs back in chunni day, just not so outspoken about them.

But yeah i agreed with you and Klashikari (and others) on major points of this episode:

1. Shinka once again want to distance herself from her Chuuni (which she tried before with cheerleading, drama club, and image change), this time to join SC in the name of "following up her dream"
2. Dekomori truely believe Shinka to be Mori Summer in the first half
3. Shinka tried to reward Dekomori service by appearing before her using her Mori Summer self
4. that overdrive Dekomori public's "chuuni off switch", as now she has the back-up of her all powerful master. Of course the first thing she does is to announce the arrival of Mori Summer as school president and how they will turn the school to their Shangrila protected by the loveful fairies
5. it goes horribly wrong, Shinka could not handle it. Dekomori thought she was tricked again by the fake Mori Summer, hence we are back to the status quo

So close to a yuri happy ending

I think it would have been better have they let Shinka winning the election. But then she started to feel uncomfortable with the school council role and how Dekomori kept getting chuuni all around her (or how Rikka started to feel really sad without Dekomori). So she quit the SC, started to act like she was tricking Dekomori the whole time and reset the status quo

Right, guess I should rather said instead that Shinka is desperately trying to graduate from it despite deep down she still have some attachment left. She never quit the chuuni club like other clubs which said something about that.

Also agreed with your last paragraph. I began to see why novalysis complain about the waste of opportunity. What you proposed here could’ve become an interesting and hilarious turning point to the story.

Just imagine how will the dynamics changes if Shinka actually won.

Shinka gets to fulfill her high school ambition of becoming SCP although the method by which she earned her position may cost her more than she bargained for. She probably wants to strangle anyone who dares to call her Mori Summer Kaichou., on the bright side, there is no need for her to hide it anymore since the whole school knows that name by now especially among the first years who idolized her new image. She may get into trouble with some of the school faculty members who believes that she’s spreading some nonsensical occult teaching all thanks to Deko. It would be surprised twist if the school headmaster is alright with it since he’s secretly a closet fan of Mori Summer blog.

Deko gets her wish of popularizing Mori Summer, but may not be as successful in spreading the teaching of Mabinogion. She probably has a tough time facing competition of numerous Fake Mori Summers: those who dress up like Mori Summer purely for fashion and copycats who come up with their own version of Mabinogion.

Rikka getting depress after getting into fight with Deko because latter stop calling former master. She may start to fear that Yuuta may one day leave her side as well just like what happened to her father and Deko now that she spend more time with Shinka than her. I think this will be a perfect opportunity for Yuuta to man up and help those two made up, and also made another contract with Rikka to never leave her side forever. That should strengthen their relationship even further.

So yeah, lots of potential wasted there.

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by Klashikari

Except Shinka deliberately looked for Rikka and Yuuta, exactly because she and Kumin were wondering what's going on.

With this in mind, here's something to consider. If Shinka is as hardcore about erasing her chuuni past as you and others have argued, then why is she allowing herself to get caught up with people who are chuunis themselves, and know about her Mori Summer past?

The way you erase your past is by having your closest circle of friends be people who know about your past, and who frequently remind you of it? So there's another big contradiction here that runs contrary to your argument.

And Shinka is choosing to do this. Nobody was trying to get her involved in Yuuta/Rikka's relationship back in Episode 1. It's not like Yuuta came to her for help, she interjected herself into his business. She chooses to get involved with these people.

How does it not make any sense?

People who are sincerely trying to erase their past would not actively use it to achieve certain goals, or to thank people. It is an obvious contradiction.

You are making it sound like the moment she does that, it invalidates everything she had done, which is not the case.

It doesn't invalidate everything she has done, because she isn't trying to erase her past. Rather, she's compartmentalizing her past and very much wants to be discreet/private about it. Is she embarrassed by it? Yes. But clearly there is a part of her that is in fact fond of all of this which is why she doesn't truly want to erase her past.

Shinka is essentially tsundere towards chuunibyou. There's a part of her that's embarrassed by it, but there's also a part of her that's fond of it, or she would not be friends with these people (Yuuta, Rikka, Deko). Heck, Shinka even let the tsun mask slide a couple episodes ago when she talked about what a magical girl is supposed to be like.

And that's why I said it is a clue she isn't fully cured from it,

I think this is part of what's causing you to be a bit off. You seem to view chuuni as something that people need to be "cured" of. As something that can't be a controlled and enjoyable part of a person's life.

So in Shinka you probably see somebody admirably trying to get "cured" from it, but struggling to do so.

But what I see is a conflicted individual with mixed feelings about chuunibyou who is trying to grapple with that. Part of her would, indeed, like to eradicate it completely from her life. But there's another part of her that finds it appealing, based on reasons I've already delved into.

The truth is that Yuuta is the one person in this show who has it totally under control, and has taken a healthy balanced approach to chuunibyou. Ultimately, I think he's the model that the other chuuni characters in this show should strive to aim for.

yet she utterly denies it, portraying her as someone who is doing anything to erase it,

If she was doing "anything to erase it" than she wouldn't be socializing with other chuuni by her own choice.

Frankly, I can't believe you think she doesn't want to erase her chuuni past,

I believe that she doesn't want anybody else to find out about it. But no, I definitely don't believe she's trying to erase her chuuni past, because such a goal runs completely contrary to the company that she chooses to keep. And I don't see anything strange about my position here.

[mangamuscle]

Originally Posted by risingstar3110

[*]that overdrive Dekomori public's "chuuni off switch", as now she has the back-up of her all powerful master. Of course the first thing she does is to announce the arrival of Mori Summer as school president and how they will turn the school to their Shangrila protected by the loveful fairies

Nibutani made it quite clear she was "undercover", even "deceiving" her own parents. I mean, no mater how devote you are, you don't start shouting to the Romans "here is Jesus, here is Jesus" <-- ok, one did, remember how that ended?

I think it would have been better have they let Shinka winning the election. But then she started to feel uncomfortable with the school council role and how Dekomori kept getting chuuni all around her (or how Rikka started to feel really sad without Dekomori). So she quit the SC, started to act like she was tricking Dekomori the whole time and reset the status quo

My solution is more simple, make Makoto Isshiki the villain, make him steal the Mori Summer photo from Deko's phone with a pdf copy of the Mori Summer's holy book and read it aloud during the speeches to sneer at his biggest rival in an attempt to rack in some votes.

[SeanJD]

I also felt bad about Nibutani for dealing with Dekomori because of her nature of always getting in her way of things but I almost believed that Dekomori had deep respect for her being Mori Summer. Of course, I had a feeling that things were going to revert back to normal once again. It was a good episode but I would have to agree that the plot is lacking even after S1. I really wished that Nibutani would have won the election but knowing Dekomori it was probably not going to happen.

On another note, I hope there will be some developments with Rikka and Yuuta as well because Shichimiya will come across between their relationship at some point in time. Only time will tell if something happens.

[Liddo-kun]

One of the funniest episode I've seen so far. Shinka was really tormented by Deko all thoughout - with a finishing blow at the end, by revealing her as Mori Summer. Totally disgraced.

It's a good thing that the friendship didn't fall apart. Mori Summer and Deko are still friends at the end of the episode (fighting as usual again ^^).