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I have seen this anime thrice now. I first got interested in the show through a single screenshot on r/anime_irl that I saw back in 2018. On my first watch, I loved the show. The art was cool, premise was interesting, Rikka became my favourite character, and chuunibyou as a concept felt like something close to me. I researched into the phenomenon and thought "wow, I remember how I in 7th grade thought that I was special in some way". I was also just getting into slice-of-life and romance anime at the time, and this definitely boosted my will to search for more. I rewatched ... this back in 2019 and my opinion of it stayed the same, although I enjoyed it less this time around. It was just a dumb little show about a wacky girl and her adventures with a boy.

A few weeks ago though, I watched this again for the third time, and this time, it was different. Before, like I said, the story was to me just a dumb little tale of a girl who's really wacky and a boy who doesn't want to be wacky. But this time, I struck me. The show came across as the heart-warming tale of a girl who had become delusional after her father's death had traumatized her. Yuuta's aspirations to leave his Chuunibyou past behind is something that now came close to my heart. I've been a really weird kid throughout my life, but in the summer of 2019, as I was getting into high school, I wanted to try and change that around. I wanted to start anew. There was no one else from my old school going to the same high school as me, so that felt like the perfect time. It shouldn't be a surprise that when I then rewatched Chuunibyou, Yuuta's efforts struck way close to my heart.

The same goes for Rikka. Because to be honest, the change I made in 2019 was mainly because I wanted to be normal. I wanted to stop sticking out from the crowd. But in my heart, I still longed to be weird. To this day, I often find myself fantasizing about some of the weird behaviors I had back when I was a little kid. I want to be expressive, I want to be myself just like Rikka, but I also simultaneously want to be normal. I want to be a quiet, run-of-the-mill student with normal hobbies, just like Yuuta.

Chuunibyou tackles the theme of whether or not you should be weird or subsede to society's norms in a way very close to my heart, and while the conclusion it reaches is pretty generic, the road up to that conclusion is some serious food for thought. I can't talk too much about the final episodes without major spoilers, but suffice it to say, the way Rikka's character arc goes, especially in the ending, conveys a powerful message that you should be yourself and as wacky as you want.

I totally get why some people may not enjoy this show. Because admidetly, there are some serious flaws in it. The story turns from slice-of-life goodness to a high school drama midway. If you don't care about the themes, the story can easily feel stupid and the conclusion unsatisfying. If you're in here for romance, you are likely going to be infuriated by the sequels. This show can be something to enjoy on the surface-level if you are into dumb little tales of a wacky girl ending up in wacky scenarios. This show can be something to hate. To me, it's something I love and something that touched me deeply, and a show that will stay in my head for a long time.