[ Episode 12: Mission ]

The End is Super Special!

And so, CHAOS;HEAD has ended. That was a rather interesting fight. At more than one point I had no idea what the hell was going on. I didn’t know whether or not if Takumi was really getting skewered or not despite how the show loves to use illusions. I must admit though, that Harem ending he was having delusions of was pretty damn hilarious much in part to Sena confessing to Takumi and pissing off the rest of the girls. Speaking of the girls, their involvement in the finale was pretty indirect. Instead of sending power to Takumi I had thought they’d join him in the fight against Gen’ichi but I suppose that would’ve dragged the battle out longer. Still, I was expecting a more direct battle with a mixture of delusions but the way it was played out turned out to be okay. The last blow was pretty cool-looking as well.

As for the ending…it felt kind of odd. Sure, it ended the way it started and answered the question “Is she going to kill him?” but that was known already by the love confessions and such. Everything was restored back to normal and Sena, Kozupii, Yua, and Nanami all arrived to join up with Takumi and Rimi. Honestly, I thought that the ending felt rushed. They could have at least show some epilogue scenes during the ending sequence until the very end to show us how everyone went on to leave afterward. Perhaps an OVA is in the works? Who knows for sure aside from the studio itself. I just wished that the ending had more closure that what was given. Even so, I enjoyed watching CHAOS;HEAD from beginning to end. It was a pleasure having my mind messed with by the technobabble in the earlier episodes. Some of my favorite scenes were easily Yua’s constant and freaky synonym-repetition and FES’s concert and Yuki-like explanation of all that was going on behind the scenes. Takumi isn’t going to be an easy protagonist to forget about either given how he was pretty much useless and the near-ultimate hikikomori for most of the series. He’s been quite the interesting guy, that’s for sure.

So while CHAOS;HEAD was a nice ride I felt that it could have been much better had the build-up from previous episodes had been maintained, the villain more properly developed, and the final battle conclusion being more well-written and scripted (cliché!). It does a good job being what it is though and I can’t fault it for that. I’d recommend it to friends and others because I feel it is a show that, while nothing groundbreaking, is still something that should be experienced. It’s been real C;H!

When I said the last fight would be intense, it really turned out to be intense. Mentally, that is. Unsurprisingly, yet interestingly enough, delusions and mind games were all but absent and somehow Takumi was able to break through them all. Love is power? Firstly, I had to laugh my ass right off seeing Takumi getting pulled into the ground like quicksand, leaving only his eyeballs left. So I guess that explains one thing: those eyes… whose eyes are those? Takumi’s eyes, that’s whose!

Takumi took down Noah II pretty damn fast, so it felt, I dunno, anti-climatic? It certainly wasn’t not climatic… I think if Seira-tan was Takumi’s final obstacle, it would’ve turned out to be the greatest battle ever (not), but I was satisfied with the battle, even though the old idiot really didn’t do much. Though, those were some pretty strong delusions he used. That harem dream was whack, but I think what was really unsettling was right before that when Takumi was being skewered(?) and Rimi was watching with a grin on her face. Oh yeah, and… he opened up her shirt in the middle of a fight? Lawl. This guy’s bold. Right after everything returned to peace, Takumi was seen laying on the floor for some reason. Um… didn’t he just win? Why’s he so bent out of shape in the next scene? This particular scene is the exact one we saw at the beginning of the first episode. When the girls were talking about the Shibuya River, I immediately thought of TWEWY again. After all that’s said and done, Shibuya reconstructs itself back to normal and everyone’s happy, and then all of a sudden it ends like that. Areeeeee?!

I was expecting there to be some actual conclusion, heck even in the credits would’ve been fine, but it was the usual super special ending song Super Special. I still don’t get why they have angel wings. This filthy, defiler, disgrace of a show (BTW, nice insert during the final battle) was definitely all right by me, but a lot of shit that went down just wouldn’t fly to my standards. Spanning only twelve episodes based on a game seems rather short and would require cramming a lot of bits and pieces in. Had it been twice that amount like Higurashi, it would’ve been less confusing for me. I guess I have the game to look at whenever I feel up to it.

It was a fun ride following this to the end. Takumi changed dramatically, from an otaku recluse living inside some base storage house thing (WTF is that, anyway?) to now… I dunno, still living in there, but now with more value to his life? Now that Shogun’s gone I guess he can live out his life the way he wants, just like he had been doing in the beginning. So the only thing he really gained from this was a girl plus more girls, without even trying to trigger flags. Good show, Takumi! ‘Kay, guess I can change my mind about you, but try not to drink so much Coca Cola… Overall, anyone wanting to see weirdness and technological psychological warfare should check this out, especially Higurashi fanatics. C;H, thanks for the memories!

[ Episode 11: Independence ]

So Takumi has finally awakened and has become a badass. It’s about friggin’ time! I’ve gotta say his Di-Sword looks pretty cool. I find it interesting though that he is able to handle it so well. I didn’t see Shino being the New Generation criminal coming though. Then she delivered a second “WTF” by killing herself and activating the Third Melt. All of that right there just blew my mind because there was no real warning for it. That and it was a damn pity that such a sexy nurse had to kill herself. Anyway, Takumi’s use of his powers so far have been awesome. I particularly liked the way he offed Suwa with reverse delusions. Oh, and it’s good to see that Kozupii can actually talk with her mouth now!

The next episode is the big finale and of course that means Takumi vs. Gen’ichi is imminent. I wonder how the girls will help in the final episode though?

Why, why, why is it always the pretty nurse that’s evil? As if I hadn’t gotten over Miyo…

Jokes aside, this was a pretty good one. It’s probably just me, but I notice the soundtrack gained a boost of awesome. Takumi finally wakes up and, though he’s not that much different, he’s less of a wuss now! Oh, but wait! Takumi is now over his hate for 3D girls after realizing he’s in love with Rimi (wow, great deduction skills). He has the most generic looking Di-Sword ever, but it does its job… getting thrown and piercing through things. Now, guess the final confrontation with Noah II will be a really intense one and with all the girls on Takumi’s side, this shouldn’t be so bad. Sena’s subplot is done with, I think, but I never found it to be that important. What’s important now is the damsel in distress. Ah, even with a crazy show like this, there’s always the cliché.

[ Episode 10: Purification ]

Gwha? Goodness, this episode was filled to the brim with stuff. Takumi is apparently a delusion created by Old Takumi and him having delusions shaves away at Old Takumi’s life. I don’t quite understand that but I suppose it makes some sense if you squint hard enough. Yua’s twin sister Mia appears to try and kill her but is revealed to be some Nozomi agent who is taken out by Ayase. Oh yeah, Yua is now a Gigalomaniac as well! Sexy Nurse-san turns out to be Grim and Suwa (the young cop) is a traitorous bugger, apparently.

Old Takumi confronts Takumi at the very end and tells him that he is the only one who can put a stop to all the madness going on. Well, before he even tries to do anything he has to try and manifest his Di-Sword. From the looks of things it’s going to be him Yua, Sena, Orihara, and Ayase heading to where Noah II is located. There’s no telling what is going to happen between Rimi and Nanami though…a fight perhaps?

Hahaha, okay, so these delusions are actually from another delusion of a deluded person. Greeeat. How did such a thing occur? Why is this Takumi of a delusion so in to 2D girls, gaming, Coca Cola, and erotic fantasies? Well, now I’m not sure if Nanami is real then. A bunch of other revelations show up. So Shino, the hawt nurse is actually the one behind all this New Gen stuff? What the flippin’ hell? I’m still not sure how to comprehend all this but the last two episodes should hopefully clear everything.

[ Episode 9: Rejection ]

Heh. So Rimi finally reveals herself as a Gigalomaniac. It’s about time, really. Though it was pretty surprising that Sena suddenly attacked Takumi because he created that iR2 formula. Crazy girl, you’re supposed to talk first and then act! Anyway, Takumi finding his home missing was pretty messed up. That pretty much means that it probably never existed in the first place. However, the biggest revelation is that the old guy in the wheelchair is Takumi. Old Takumi! Shock! What does that mean? Rimi has been working with him for a while as well. So what could his goals be? I guess we’ll find out soon enough.

Hah, I totally called it. Shogun = Takumi. I was beginning to ponder this ever since Takumi was contacted by him and was sent those photos. But not just any photos. Photos from the future! How’s that possible? Obviously that would mean Shogun is from the future then! Or… I dunno, I’m still figuring out that part. But anyways, it was an interesting episode with Rimi revealing herself and also Sena going nuts. Funny how Takumi brushed off his phone call like that. I can’t blame him for thinking it’s a joke, but I think he was a bit impulsive there. Now his imouto’s in great peril. Good job, shmoe.

[ Episode 8: linkage ]

Whoa. There were tons of fighting in this episode! It was pretty much Sena and Kozue versus Norose for most of the episode with Takumi watching. Ayase also showed up to lend a hand at the end but it all turned out to be futile since the Noah II turned out to be fake and Norose wasn’t ever present in the flesh (read: DELUSION). That’s a smart where to build up for the final confrontation with Norose near the end. It’ll probably be Takumi who takes him on at that point though, especially since it seems like he has kidnapped Nanami. Though given the kind of guy Takumi is right now, I won’t be holding my breath on the whole RESCUE AND REVENGE quest.

Lastly, what was up with the meeting between Rimi and Shogun? That entire scene was confusing. On one hand they’re talking about dreams and then Rimi mentions erasing Takumi. What? Is she really just putting on a front to keep tabs on Takumi then? ARGH, there’s no telling at this point. I still want to know exactly who Shogun is though…

Finally, something a bit more action-packed after the consistent amount of excess information and delusions. The battle between Gigalomaniacs was pretty neat, but since it was merely a fake Norose, I just had to laugh knowing that Ayase appeared out of nowhere just to take care of him, or so she thought. Shamefully a wasted effort, but I really did like the sight of Cocytus. The only reason I’d say Takumi knew the myth about Cocytus is because of Empire Sweeper most likely.

We learn a bit about the girls too. So Sena is afraid of puppies? Kozue, on the other hand, had some traumatic past of not knowing who she was, and that made her silent forever. Now, I’m not sure how these group-stalkers affected her this way, but it must’ve been incredibly terrible for her to cause so much fear. Now I’m thinking her telepathy was born from her delusion of speaking again, or something like that. Now, Takumi was incredibly wussy while the girls were trying to rid Noah, but now with the stakes raised, he better man up himself.

[ Episode 7: realization ]

So it seems everything involving the Di-Swords is starting to become a little clearer. The basic premise is that they are connected with delusions. Thanks to Sena, NOZOMI is confirmed to be an antagonistic organization that was already hinted at in the OP sequence since the start. She seems to know quite a lot about this stuff so it’ll be interesting to see where this all goes. I can’t say I saw the telepathy thing for Orihara coming at all. I find her to be quite cute. This episode also reveals that Takumi can indeed materialize a Di-Sword but only when he’s in danger and/or unconscious. Something tells me he probably won’t be able to do it while awake until at least two episodes from now. Maybe.

Well well, so Kozue turned out to be a telepath. Kinda random, but we’ve seen weirder. Also turns out she’s friends with Sena. The term “Gigalomaniac” is an odd term. So it describes ones that are able to see these Di-Swords, use such particles to make the delusions realize, and a bunch of other stuff. Speaking of Di-Swords, Takumi was able to conjure one up for a moment, without him knowing it. He was getting beaten up pretty bad too. I wonder why Ayase took a leap on the top of the school anyway. Was she perhaps controlled against her will too? Did that shockwave somehow affect her?