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chuunibyou | Japanese with Anime
In Japanese, chuunibyou 中二病, "middle school second-year syndrome," generally refers to thinking, acting, or talking like you live in a fantasy game, manga or anime world, which is extremely embarrassing and you'll regret doing that in front of others later in your life. It's also romanized chūnibyō. It's sometimes abbreviated to chuuni 厨ニ.
Character: Dark Flame Master
Anime: Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai! 中二病でも恋がしたい! (Episode 1)
Meaning in Japanese
The word chuuni 中二 is an abbreviation of a school year:
· chuugaku ninen
中学二年
Middle school second year. (Japan.)
Eight grade. (U.S.)
o 13–14 years old.
And byou 病 means "sickness," or "syndrome." Together, they form chuunibyou 中二病, translating to "middle school second-year syndrome," or "eight grade syndrome."
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Syndrome Symptoms
The term chuunibyou doesn't refer to an actual sickness acknowledged by medical experts. Instead, it's a slang that refers to a certain type of person that tries really hard to be different from others, ending looking weird or pretentious.
Basically, people, in general, are very boring, and if you're a kid in middle school that doesn't know that, you'll end up feeling like you're less special than others, even though you're pretty much like everybody else.
Consequently, you'll do things to boost your ego, to make yourself appear more special than you really are, and more special than your peers, because you're having an identity crisis through puberty, and not being special doesn't make sense for you.
To have a better idea, this includes things like:
· Listening to foreign bands.
o Listening to obscure bands because they aren't popular.
§ Claiming you've been listening to a band before it was popular.
· Being an underachiever, but claiming "I can do it if I really tried."
o I have yet to use 100% of my power.
· Drinking bitter coffee.
o Because, in Japan, it's thought that only adults like bitter coffee, and you want to appear to be more mature than you actually are.
In other words, anything from acting like a delinquent to being involved in subculture for the sake of appearing different is considered chuunibyou.
In anime, chuunibyou characters often have "delusions," mousou 妄想, that they're a fantasy character, because fantasy characters are all special and unique, with cool, distinct abilities and names, so if you want to be special, you want to be a fantasy character.
It's pretty normal for kids to play around having imaginary fights where someone pretends to be the hero, someone else pretend to be the bad guy, and then they just imagine themselves casting magic, swing swords, and so on.
The kind of stuff they've seen in games, anime, and shounen manga, like ninjutsu. But do note that chuunibyou characters aren't necessarily otaku オタク, they just have been influenced by manga.
The problem is: this isn't LARP or D&D. It's embarrassing to act like this in public. The older you are, the more embarrassing it is, so most kids normally stop doing this stuff by the time they reach high-school.
If you do something embarrassing in your first year of high school, everyone is going to see it, and remember it through all three years of high school, so this would be a pretty good time to stop doing embarrassing things.
If you don't stop here, everybody will know you have chuunibyou, middle school syndrome.
Manga: Saiki Kusuo no Psi Nan 斉木楠雄のΨ難 (Chapter 3, 漆黒の翼こと海藤瞬)
· Context: Saiki talks about the token chuunibyoucharacter.
· aitsu zettai "chuunibyou" da yo na~~
アイツ絶対「中二病」だよな～
He's definitely chuunibyou, [isn't he?]
· kou-ni nimo natte, mattaku
高二にもなって 全く･･･
[Even] after becoming a high school second year [student], [good grief]...
Examples
Examples of things chuunibyou characters do include:
· Pretending that you can cast magic.
o Pretending you've been cursed by something.
· Using sticks, umbrellas, or other long, narrow objects as if they were swords.
· Pretending that there's an evil, global, organization, called "The Organization," conspiring into things everywhere.
o Pretending that you're part of a good, global, cool-named organization fighting the evil organization.
· Covering your arms in bandages, even though you haven't broke a single bone.
o Claiming those bandages are a seal, which contains your true power, which may be an evil power, or a demon arm, or something like that.
· Using an eye-patch, even though your eye is perfectly fine.
o Claiming that eye-patch is a seal, which contains your magic eye.
§ Using colored contacts to change the color of your eye, because it's a magic eye.
· Claiming to be a reincarnation.
o Claiming someone else was a friend you fought together with, or a foe you fought against, in a previous life.
· Having a pretentious naming sense.
o Using foreign words, katakana words, English words, and so on to name your imaginary skills.
o Using complicated kanji instead of normal, everyday kanji, which appears pompous.
o Using gikun 義訓 so you can do both things at the same time.
Bandages
Bandages are often used by chuunibyou characters to seal within their arms some evil, demonic power, that must never be let out.
· houtai
包帯
Bandages.
· fuuin
封印
Seal.
Sometimes, the character's true, real power is just too strong for him to control, so the seal is there to protect those around him from himself.
Character: Jet Black Wings, Shikkoku no Tsubasa 漆黒の翼
Anime: Saiki Kusuo no Psi-Nan, 斉木楠雄のΨ難 (Episode 1)
· Context: within the right arm of Jet Black Wings dwells the Black Beat that he stole from the Dark Reunion.
For reference, an actual power within arm being unsealed by undoing bandages:
Character: Hiei 飛影
Anime: Yū☆Yū☆Hakusho 幽☆遊☆白書 (Episode 58)
· Context: Hiei unsealing the Dragon of the Darkness Flame, or Jaou Ensatsu Kokuryuu-ha 邪王炎殺黒龍波, literally "Evil-king, kill-by-burning, black-dragon-wave."
Eye Patch
Similar to bandages, chuunibyou characters also wear "eye patches," gantai 眼帯, to seal some sort of power within their eyes.
Top: Sturmhut シュトゥルムフート
Bottom: Cerberus ケルベロス
Anime: Boku no Tonari ni Ankoku Hakaishin ga Imasu. ぼくのとなりに暗黒破壊神がいます。 (Episode 1)
· Context: when Sturmhut removes his eye patch, the "Dark God of Destruction, Miguel Offenbarung Dunkelheit Wahnsinn Äußerst Gefallener Engel Abgrund Nachfolger," Ankoku Hakaishin Migeru Offenbārungu Dhunkeruhaito Vānzuin Oisāsuto Gefarenāengeru Appugurunto Nāhaforugā 暗黒破壊神ミゲル・オッフェンバールング・ドゥンケルハイト・ヴァーンズイン・オイサースト・ゲファレナーエンゲル・アップグルント・ナーハフォルガー, awakens.
o The name is spelled 暗黒破壊神ミゲル・黙示録・闇・狂気・究極・堕天使・奈落・後継者, with everything after Miguel as gikun 義訓. The meanings are:
o mokushiroku
黙示録
Apocalypse. (Offenbarung)
o yami
闇
Darkness. (Dunkelheit)
o kyouki
狂気
Insanity. (Wahnsinn)
o kyuukyoku
究極
Ultimate. (Äußerst)
o datenshi
堕天使
Fallen angel. (Gefallener Engel)
o naraku
奈落
Abyss. (Abgrund)
o koukeisha
後継者
Successor. (Nachfolger)
Magic Eye
A "magic eye," magan 魔眼, or "evil eye," jagan 邪眼, or jakigan 邪気眼, is an often weirdly colored eye that has some sort of magic power, or is cursed, or something like that.
A character that wears an eye patch probably has one of these.
With chuunibyou characters, since they never remove the eye patch, it gets hard to confirm whether they're just lying and have normal eyes, or that they do, in fact, have special eyes with special colors bearing special powers.
Character: Takanashi Rikka 小鳥遊六花
Anime: Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai! 中二病でも恋がしたい! (Episode 1)
· Context: Rikka doesn't have heterochromia, she simply wears colored contacts.
For reference, an actual magic eye:
Character: Ciel Phantomhive シエル・ファントムハイヴ
Anime: Black Butler, Kuroshitsuji 黒執事 (Episode 20)
· Context: the pentagram on Ciel's left eye is proof of his contract with a demon.
Exceptionally:
Character: Kumoko 蜘蛛子
Anime: Kumo Desu ga, Nani ka? 蜘蛛ですが、なにか? (Episode 7)
· Context: Kumoko goes full chuunibyou when she learns that she can get a magic eye.
Posing
Being the edgy anti-heroes that they are, chuunibyou characters couldn't be chuunibyou characters without all the over the top posing, gesugao ゲス顔, and pretensions of being an evil mastermind.
Covering your face as you talk is a particularly popular way of appearing cooler than you really are.
Character: Megumin めぐみん
Anime: Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! この素晴らしい世界に祝福を! (Episode 2)
· waga na wa Megumin!
我が名はめぐみん!
My name is Megumin!
o waga
我が
First person possessive pronoun, specially used by grandiose characters, and characters with delusions of grandiosity.
The Organization
The "Organization," soshiki 組織, also known as "They," yatsura 奴ら, is an evil organization planning world domination from the shadows behind the curtains, whose conspirations happen to involve high school students for some nefarious reason.
· In Saiki Kusuo no Psi-Nan, the Organization is also known as Dark Reunion, who targets its former member, Jet Black Wings, in an attempt to steal the Black Beat sealed in his right arm in order to create a new world.
Naturally, the Organization operates at global level, if not at interplanetary level, multi-dimensional level, or time-travelling level. They're powerful enough that neither the police, the army, the galactic federation, nor Doctor Who can stop them.
For the record, we aren't talking about SCP here.
The only entity capable of fighting against the Organization is an institution which the chuunibyou character is affiliated with. It's up to the chuuni, as an ally of justice, to be wary of the organization's movements and report back to central command whenever possible.
Left: Hououin Kyouma 鳳凰院凶真
Right: Makise Kurisu 牧瀬紅莉栖
Anime: Steins;Gate (Episode 1, Stitch)
· Context: Kyouma, on a cellphone turned off, reporting that he's been caught by an agent of the Organization.
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