Recap: As the rest of the students begin choosing which clubs they want to join, Rikka decides to form a club of her own. After some negotiating with potential members, the “Far Eastern Black Magic Nap Society of Summer” is born.

Jel’s Thoughts: This episode was a little disappointing after last week’s exceptional outing. For one, I’m slightly disappointed they played the “Let’s Start the SOS Brigade! the Light Music Club! The Cultural Research Club! The Choir and Sometimes Badminton Club! The Neighbors Club etc… a club!” card. I’m not saying I have a better solution, but there has to be some other way anime can bring crazy emotionally unstable kids together in the same room, right?

I’m also a bit concerned they’re going to abuse Rikka’s imaginary fights. Last episode was brilliant because it fit the situation so well. This week’s duel with her “servant” just felt shoe horned in for the sake of adding another crazy fight, which I might add was significantly less impressive looking than the first. I’d be cool with them carting out an elaborate battle scene periodically but they’ll be getting diminishing returns each time.

Overall though, Chuunibyou still delivered in the humor department, including plenty of the dumb physical gags I love with a few absurd touches like Kumin-senpai’s Nap club. Can we officially declare her the Mugi of this series? We also got some small development on the romance front, as Nibutani really seems to be into Yuuta. Are we being set up for a KyoAni style drama bomb? I sure hope so. In the meantime, I can’t wait to see what exactly the Far Eastern Black Magic Nap Society of Summer actually plans on doing for activities. I’m sure it will be fun to watch.

Dragonzigg’s Thoughts: This episode definitely feels a little like it’s treading water, but having said that KyoAni shows have never majored on stunning plot development. Instead it’s more about simply hanging out with the characters, and there’s plenty to like in that regard in this episode. Like Jel I am a little disappointed they played the club card – it’s a cheap and easy way to say ‘look, all these weirdos are now an official group’ and give the showrunners an excuse to show them together to the exclusion of everyone else. Having said that, the way it was assembled was full of charm. Kumin clearly has been chosen as the wacked out fount of pure moe for this show and I do hope the show continues to somewhat ration her appearances. Elsewhere, Rikka’s confrontation with the English speaking teacher was an adorable moment of vulnerability, and she generally does very well this episode, indulging in some shameless cheerleader fanservice and getting some great lines in with the drama club.

If there’s a concern to be found here, it’s in the other two characters. I’m a little worried that Shinka is falling in rather easily with the gang of weirdos, as I had envisioned her as the cool girl on the outside who Yuuta is constantly drawn towards, but she’s still got time to be developed further. Sanae is more concerning – she’s basically Rikka 2.0 and though their fight was pretty great, as someone who is already tiring a little of Rikka’s non-stop never-turned-off personality I fear this may lead to another avalanche of those jokes. Not super fond of the overt Evangelion reference either. But these are all minor nitpicks – Chuunibyou still continues to be charming, cute and out and out funny, and I enjoy it immensely.