I am a warrior. A brave hero of light standing unwavering against the constant torrent of darkness that threatens to wash this world away!
But not really. Still, it is always fun, and even a little bit healthy sometimes, to flex your imagination like that. Let’s be real as well, we have all done it too. Although, you probably didn’t know there was a term for such youthful thoughts.
Chuunibyou Syndrome – it is a uniquely Japanese term used to describe something that happens to children worldwide. Once you reach a certain age, the cusp of puberty usually, you begin to think you are special.
You have a fantasy power or a super spacial skill that makes you different. You know, playing with a bit of wood and pretending you are a knight, that awkward goth phase, pretending you are a chosen one – that sort of thing. Usually it is pretty harmless if not a bit cringe-worthy to your adult self.
If you want to sooth your own past or present cringe with a few like-minded weirdos in anime, anime is ripe with a number of young anime characters in the throes of chuunibyou syndrome.
Best Chuunibyou Anime Characters
Almost All Characters in Love, Chuunibyou, and Other Delusions
This series is all about chuunibyou syndrome. Almost all the characters are either past or present suffers of it.
While the series is a lot of comedy and a lot romance, it also gets surprisingly detailed as to why some characters manifested the syndrome. Usually, it is a taste of healthy escapism taken too far or at least too publicly.
Megumin from Konosuba
Finding a chuunibyou in a fantasy anime is not what you expect. Yet, that is part of the comedy.
Megumin should be a powerful mage, but she uses all her power to cast one explosion spell per day. She also does so in the most overly ridiculous way possible.
Gundham in Danganronpa 3
You only get to see Gundham in the Zetsubou-hen arc of Danganronpa 3, or the second game if you play the games. However, he is very much in the throes of chuunibyou syndrome.
His manner of dress and speech is odd even for Danganronpa, a series famous for its oddities. To add icing to the chuunibyou cake, he also has four hamsters he calls his Four Dark Devas of Destruction that do his bidding.
Shun from the Disastrous Life of Saiki K.
Shun is equal parts chuunibyou, paranoia, and multiple personalities. Many of these issues popped up from his desire to be more grown up.
Ironically, these issues are keeping him very immature. It is pretty deep and depressing for a character in a comedy anime, actually.
Hyouketsu no Judgeness from The Lost Village
The Lost Village is all about a bunch of misfits that meet after chatting on the internet, get on a bus, and try to find a lost village that doesn’t appear on any map.
Of course one of those misfits is a guy with an eye patch that very clearly has chuunibyou syndrome. Chuunibyou may be fun in anime, but usually they aren’t particularly popular people.
Blademaster General Zaimokuza from My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU
Although his grey hair suggests he is much older, Blademaster General is just an excitable high schooler.
He is the kind of guy that likes to do Jojo poses and make up anime-sounding attacks. However, most of all, he likes to talk excitedly about his weeb interests.
The Hero Club in Outburst Dreamer Boys
Like Love, Chuunibyou, and Other Delusions, Outburst Dreamer Boys is all about various chuunibyous that get attached to a recent (completely normal) transfer student.
They drag her into all their various delusional shenanigans, but do so more for comedy than anything else.
Eiro from Ground Control to Psychoelectric Girl
A delusion can be a form of protection. Ground Control to Psychoelectric Girl is about those that wrap themselves up in delusions like a comforting blanket. A major character in this is Eiro who believes she is an alien that is tasked with investigating humans.
Why she believes this, well, you’ll just have to find out.
The Game Creation Club in D-Frag
The female members of the Game Creation Club are rather mild chuunibyous as far as this list goes. However, as a comedy, their affliction need not be serious.
One of the major jokes in the show is that each of the members identifies with an element, and they use that element to torture the male lead.
Arthur in Fire Force
Fire Force, as a shounen battler, is actually not the place you would expect to find a chuunibyou character. I mean, it’s shounen. That’s the genre that usually makes chuunibyou anime fans.
However, Fire Force takes full advantage of making Arthur comically believe he is a knight. As such, he will only use his powers for form a sword and constantly espouses knightly values, despite this not being a medieval fantasy in any way. He even has a steed.
Yoshiko in Love Live Sunshine
You might not expect it, but chuunibyous in idol anime are actually a growing trend. Chuunibyou characters, particularly after Rikka in Love, Chuunibyou, and Other Delusions and Megumin in Konosuba are seen as pretty damn cute, and what sells idol anime? It’s usually not the music.
Yoshiko is probably the most memorable idol chuunibyou since she is so very passionate about it. She prefers to be called Yohane and claims she is a fallen angel banished from heaven for bad luck. She ended up so popular that her chuunibyou persona even got a spin-off.
Taiyou in My Clueless First Friend
My Clueless First Friend is a pretty wholesome anime that shows you can use the power of chuunibyou for the good of others.
This series follows a girl who is bullied in class as they claim she is the grim reaper and will curse anyone who gets close to her. Taiyou, a transfer student and energetic chuunibyou, of course immediately wants to be best friends with the grim reaper. I mean, how cool would it be to be best buddies with death, right?
The rest of the series is them being fast friends and Taiyou’s chuunibyou syndrome taking them on cute adventures.
Jurai in When Supernatural Battles Became Commonplace
You know what would be neat? Taking your standard chuunibyou and actually giving them magnificent powers. Wait a few years and I’m sure it will be an isekai plot.
Jurai works with that concept, in a way. When Supernatural Battles Became Commonplace follows a club of people that recently manifested supernatural powers. The club president, a chuunibyou with a power of his own, determines they need to train to save the world. However, no one else has really manifested powers, and there is really no great evil to face. Instead, mostly they just sit around the club room.
As a comedy anime, of course Jurai’s power is edgy, but not all that useful.
Several Characters in A Destructive God Sits Next to Me
Like many other series on here, A Destructive God Sits Next to Me is built on chuunibyou syndrome. This time, it is a normal guy who is plagued by the chuunibyou delusions of his classmate Hibiki who believes that they were foes in a past life.
Kobato in Haganai
While Haganai is about a high school club for people that don’t have friends, it doesn’t stop the main character’s little sister Kobato, a middle schooler, from joining.
She is your standard gothic lolita, but firmly believes herself to be an ancient vampire. As she is quite young, of course the persona was inspired by an anime.
Maria in This Art Club Has a Problem
While Maria is introduced as a potential rival to the main character who can’t get the boy she likes to not only be in love with 2D waifus, Maria is too busy in the throes of chuunibyou for romance.
While introduced as a passionate anime fan, her passion goes beyond the TV as she frequently deals with the (not real) supernatural powers inside her.
Kyotaro in The Dangers in My Heart
This wonderfully sweet romance anime was almost too tainted by Kyotaro’s chuunibyou personality in the beginning, but his brand of chuunibyou is actually probably more relatable and realistic compared many of the other depictions on this list.
Kyotaro, withdrawing from his peers in order to protect his fragile self, is what would be called a “murder chuunibyou” where he constantly reads graphic forensic books and thinks about killing his classmates.
The books he reads act as armor to keep people away from him, and his murderous desires towards one girl are actually confused feelings of love. Let’s just say The Dangers in My Heart is a romance that every edgy teen with violent impulses should watch.
Soumei in Food Wars
Food Wars is filled with wonderfully passionate and quirky young chefs, so a chuunibyou among them doesn’t stand out too much.
Soumei is what you would call a “samurai chuunibyou,” as in he dresses, talks, and acts like a samurai in modern Japan. As he grew up in a sushi restaurant and wanted to protect his mother from verbally abusive sushi chefs, this particular flavor of chuunibyou makes more sense.
Omoharu in Komi-san Can’t Communicate
While Omoharu is a pretty minor character, in a show full of notably quirky characters, they use chuunibyou syndrome to make them stand out.
You will note the eye-covering bang cut at sharp angle, a good herald of a chuunibyou if not just a gloomy character. However, what really gives it away is the eye patch also covering that eye. An eye patch they don’t need, of course.
Lala in Monster Musume
As an actual supernatural creature, making Lala a chuunibyou was actually pretty amazing as a joke.
Lala is a Dullahan with various abilities, but instead she chooses to passionately proclaim herself the grim reaper in a very similar way to a goth teenager trying to pull the same stunt.
Masayoshi in Samurai Flamenco
The entirety of Samurai Flamenco is based on Masayoshi’s chuunibyou delusions. This time, they are more superhero-themed.
This male model by day gets a custom hero suit made, goes out on patrols, and tries to enforce his code of justice on the world despite not having any martial skills to speak of. He does his best and it makes for some pretty fun comedy right up until Samurai Flamenco decides to start taking things seriously.
The Entire Pretty Boys Detective Club in Pretty Boys Detective Club
As Pretty Boys Detective Club is a surreal Studio Shaft anime by infamous clever dialogue lover, Nisio Isin (The Monogatari series), you don’t take the Pretty Boy Detective Club as a chuuniobyou club at first glance. It is so surreal and dialogue-dense that it could be a completely unironic series about pretty middle school boys who solve mysteries.
However, it isn’t until the end where it makes this beautiful statement about how your present life is a story waiting to be told by your older self and you should live it so it will be a fantastic tale that you realize that they are all just indulging chuunibyou delusions, not completely unlike Outburst Dreamer Boys – another series on this list.
It was all just some chuunibyou fun in the end!
Do you know any more good chuunibyou anime characters? Let fans know in the comments section below.
