Cell phones are the most evil things ever.
What They Say:
I, Ex-Middle Two Syndrome sufferer (“Chuunibyou”) AKA Yota Togashi and current MTS sufferer Rikka Takanashi, have happily exchanged the vows of truth (we’re going out), and I am enjoying life IRL to the fullest… Or at least, I should be. Yes, I really should be. If it wasn’t for the game-changing appearance of my best friend from my previous middle school, super powerful MTS sufferer Sophia Ring SP Saturn VII AKA Satone Shichimiya! What in the world should I do now?! And thus, the battle of The Devil VS The Evil Eye begins!
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The serious business is out of the way; or at least however serious you wanted to take the matters that the drama and occasional humor has been focused on lately. Yuta, Rikka, and Satone have their love triangle all sorted out, however sloppily and haphazardly that may have been accomplished, so all is back to normal, more or less. But wait, Rikka is acting strangely? Whatever could be the problem? Ah, it appears that she once again wants to artificially advance their relationship past the point that she’s comfortable with. And yes, even though these guys are most of the way through high school that means kissing.
Didn’t we do this earlier in the season? Yes, this is much the same as an earlier episode, which felt a lot easier to get behind at the same not only because it wasn’t a rehash of sorts but also because one would hope that the point of going through the emotional ordeals they did would be to be able to intuitively realize what direction their relationship should naturally take, especially since, as Yuta points out, they specifically discussed that the last time this came up. For the finale of what I would assume is the series overall (I’d be very surprised if this was the first property that KyoAni did three distinct seasons of), it’s quite underwhelming, and a bit obnoxious.
Leading up to the “climactic” moments (using that word loosely) is a nod to the first episode of the season, beginning another term with some of the same elements, albeit on a much smaller scale due to not being a new season or school year. The gag of Shinka constantly trying to make her high school debut at every opportunity is still quite amusing, and in general, whenever the show just focuses on having a good laugh, it nails it pretty handily. However, the season did largely suffer from focusing too much on that aspect, and sadly the parts on the other hand didn’t feel nearly meaningful enough to carry themselves.
And in those final moments, what we get is certainly very captivating to anyone properly invested in these characters and their relationship, and everything about the atmosphere is set just right to convey those feelings, even if the content contained within doesn’t necessarily warrant it. But as is increasingly more predictable as the scene grabs you tighter and tighter, it’s all another typical romantic comedy tease, and even through predictable tropes can be fun and this might be what some people are looking for, it’s not unlikely that you’ll be yelling at your screen just a little bit.
In Summary:
The second season of KyoAni’s biggest franchise since focusing on its own IPs so far comes to an end, and it proves remarkably disappointing in comparison to the first, and especially for a series directed by Tatsuya Ishihara. It’s had its moments throughout, but has largely shown a lot more promise than it’s lived up to, and even with the direction it was going in, this finale feels like the worst they could’ve possibly done with it. Fortunately, this is all relative, as it’s still quite good.
Grade: B-
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Toshiba Satellite L655-S5191 PSK2CU-1C301U Notebook PC.