Chunibyo [Spoilers] - Is Rikka mentally ill?

Joshawott

Monsieur Monster
AUKN Staff
So, I was inspired by some discussions I've had on AnimeNewsNetwork about the character Rikka in Chūnibyō Demo Koi ga Shitai! and whether her chunibyo should be treated as a kind of mental illness or disorder?

Obviously, the series was rather vague about what being a "chunibyo" actually entails and didn't give us a lot of information about some of the series' past and current chunibyo like Nibutani and Dekomori, however we do have the following information:
1) Nibutani looks back on her chunibyo days with nothing but embarrassment.
2) Yuta became a chunibyo because he felt detached from his peer group and looks back on his days as one with embarrassment.
3) Rikka becoming a chunibyo was a conscious decision after seeing Yuta as one and being inspired by the strength he had in his beliefs.
4) When Yuta yelled at Dekomori about her being a chunibyo, she was very upset at first but was perfectly normal, happy and cheery the next day. Rikka was...the opposite.

Now, I want to make clear that I am not saying this from the point of view that the delusions the characters have are actually some sort of psychotic episode or something like that (As some ANNers mistakenly thought I was) - things like depression and social anxiety fall under mental illness and disorder too. What I mean by me thinking Rikka is mentally ill, is primarily based around the reasons she became a chunibyo in a first place and the effect doing so has had.

Rikka was only a small child when her father died. To her his death seemed sudden, but not only did she have to face the reality of his death, but she also had to later deal with having her father's illness hidden from her. I would say that this would have left her very shaken and unsure of what to believe, which is why Yuta and his belief in his delusions became so appealing to her. I believe that she adopted those behaviours as a shell to protect herself from having to face the reality of the world around her.

However, if you were to compare having chunibyo delusions to alcohol, you could say that Yuta and Nibutani's chunibyo would be like someone going out and getting absolutely drunk one night, then remembering and regretting their actions the next morning. With Rikka, it would be like she saw drinking as a way of avoiding her problems, so it became an addictive habit. It became a destructive addiction that only kept her further away from resolving her problems and interfered with her day to day life to the extent that it was starting to push her family away.

Then episode 11 had the shell being torn away from her. Before that episode, Rikka was a bubbly energetic young girl (albeit starting to become confused due to the romantic feelings she was developing). When Yuta denied her her delusions though, in my eyes she became very timid, downcast and frail. Like how making the majority of people with an addiction suddenly go cold turkey, Rikka received a massive shock to the system and to me, that's when the seriousness of her chunibyo addiction became clear - during the scene on the bridge on the way to school when Rikka didn't know how to talk properly. There has been some discussion about the intentions of the scene, such as was Rikka being serious or trying to make a joke? But to me, even if she was trying to make a joke, the delivery didn't have the same energy or punch that she had before - she was very deflated.

What do you think? Do you think Rikka's chunibyo could constitute as some kind of mental illness/condition or am I reading too much into things?
 
Otaku-san said:
And I'm pretty sure Yui and Ui Hirasawa are the result of inbreeding between first cousins.
Yui maybe, but Ui's pretty normal. Either that, or Yui fell down a lot of stairs as a baby and landed on her head on each step.
 
(Removed for needlessly offensive language)
Rikka would probably have depression-induced psychosis, as a result of not being able to handle her father's death and trying to escape reality. When I first watched the show, I began making connections between chunibyou and psychosis to see how similar they were, especially after Toka (Rikka's sister) said "Snap out of your delusions already!" and it was revealed that the sledgehammer was actually just a spoon ladle. I don't mean to shoot down your ideas, but Rikka most likely wouldn't have schizophrenia due to the fact that she doesn't exhibit most of the symptoms (such as her thoughts and feelings not being connected), nor has she claimed to have heard Wicked Lord Shingan's voice; but you are on the right track with psychosis-related conditions. About the thoughts and feelings thing I mentioned, though she might appear to have a certain kind of mood inside different from her thoughts, that's just her tough(ish) exterior due to her chunibyou. Also, I really like how you made comparisons with different characters from different universes. :)
 
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Probably she has "schizotypal personality disorder" which is a mild form of schizophrenia with complete control on self. but she has the symptoms of ideas of reference, odd beliefs, thinking and unusual perceptual experience.
-Medical student.
 
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