Yūta Togashi and Rikka Takanash’s childhood misadventures swept anime fans away in Love Chunibyo & Other Delusions. The series about two teenagers outgrowing their chūnibyō , or eighth-grader syndrome, together has become a classic example of how anime can turn a zany romcom into a heartfelt meditation on growing up.
After receiving an honorable mention at Kyoto Animation’s 2010 award competition, the studio began publishing the novel by Torako in 2011 before beginning their own anime adaptation the following year. Nozomi Ōsaka provided illustrations for the light novels, which were serialized through 2017.
At Kyoto Animation, Tatsuya Ishihara led production as a director following his work on The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and Nichijou at the studio. The adaptation began with a 12-episode TV anime that aired in 2012. It was released alongside six accompanying short animations, dubbed Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions Lite and would receive an additional OVA episode.
The next year KyoAni released the film Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions: Rikka Version, a not-quite sequel that revisits the first season from the perspective of Rikka Takanashi. The season would see a proper sequel in 2014’s 12-episode Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions -Heart Throb-. As before, the season released with Lite shorts online and would later get a thirteenth OVA episode.
The series concluded with the conclusive feature film adaptation, Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions! Take on Me. Released in 2018, the 90-minute feature was a box office success to close out the series, grossing upward of $1.9 million in worldwide sales at the time of writing, per Box Office Mojo.
To watch the series in order, you don’t really need to worry about the Lite shorts. But if you’re a completionist, just watch them after their respective seasons. The watch order for Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions is:
- Love Chunibyo & Other Delusions
- Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions: Rikka Version
- Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions -Heart Throb-
- Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions! Take on Me
You can watch Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions in full, subbed and dubbed, on Hidive.