Continuing my musings on the Enneagram of Personality. Read the first part here.
Kobato is difficult to categorize. At fourteen, the brain’s electrochemical systems have only just started to put together the patterns that characterize adult thought. At that age, you’re still puzzling out what a personality even is. So I’d say Kobato right now is Type Four: The Individualist… But it’s less about her character than it is the character of an age.
Type Fours feel different. Nobody understands them; they see themselves as walking, unrecognized, at the precipice of love and loneliness. As you can imagine, this setup often leads to self-esteem issues. Unhealthy fours cope by indulging in a “fantasy self,” an imagined version of who they’d like to be. An aimless young man, for example, pretends that he’s a brilliant mad scientist, Hououin Kyoma. Or a little girl with no friends reinvents herself as Reisys VI Felicity Sumeragi, a noble mistress of the night.
In other words: Four is the chuunibyou type.
Akirascuro also believes in the fantasy self. But to qualify as chuunibyou proper, he says that there must be an accompanying urge to do. A case of “8th-grade-itis” requires some form of acting out, even if just the ineffectual, delusional kind: Kuroneko in OreImo threatens to use black magic against people who bully her, and Lelouch is admired in Code Geass because he uses the Power of Kings to enact precisely the revenge he’s always wanted. The common thread in Akira’s definition is motive inspiration: a spark of nerdrage as bright as the sun.
But is that really what characterizes chuunibyou? If you’ve ever known a self-absorbed middle schooler (or been one yourself — no shame in that), then you know: Awkwardness, lameness, utter uncoolness, thy name is thirteen. Indeed; the worse off you are, the more likely you are to indulge in fantasies of a unique destiny. It’s a directly negative relationship, and that’s the most important part.
Chuunibyou isn’t merely power fantasy in itself. Not even power fantasy that leads to action. It’s the tension between power fantasy and pathetic reality.
So, losers and good-for-nothings: Rejoice! Your chuunibyou is glorious.
December 28, 2011 at 11:49 pm
Kobato! She really is a interesting character taking her favorite anime vampire girl and acting like her, but she was always watching her brother or An-chan wanting to be with him. Like when Maria jumped on Kodaka! Kobato flipped out…
When I was 13/14 I can remember being into ninja turtles and GI joe! LOL Good times….in high school I was into some DnD and playing yugioh, ya those were some interesting days….
Those are some great sideways V pictures you got going on, long live Kobato! Now…we wait for another season of this addictive anime…
December 28, 2011 at 11:55 pm
When I was 13, I painted my nails black, read The Satanic Bible and Vampire: the Masquerade, and listened to Type O Negative.
… Yeah.
December 29, 2011 at 12:13 am
Nothing wrong with listening to Type O Negative. I’m just saying~
December 29, 2011 at 12:13 am
That is hardcore! But awesome xD
December 29, 2011 at 1:42 am
Holy mother of fuck I did not expect that you were a goth kid! But a goth kid with good taste in music at least!
December 29, 2011 at 8:52 am
At 13 I too was listening to Christian Woman and playing V:tm/M:ta, years later I found out I had a huge impact on what was “cool” in the local high school, shame I was home schooled. XD Kobato is a wonderful character because who among us hasn’t chased after our elders approval? She chases after her An-chan not for sexual reasons but just so the largest figure in her life recognizes her, no one can fail to understand the beauty of that I believe.
December 29, 2011 at 2:45 pm
Wait I just realized… I was 14 when I got introduced to Bloody Kisses :O A year older but still. May be onto something I never saw coming.
December 29, 2011 at 12:01 am
“Indeed; the worse off you are, the more likely you are to indulge in fantasies of a unique destiny. It’s a directly negative relationship, and that’s the most important part.” I think that explains why I still have some chuunibyou in me >_>
December 31, 2011 at 10:31 am
Everybody still has some chuunibyou in them. It wasn’t all 13-year-olds buying Code Geass!
December 29, 2011 at 12:13 am
Kobato’s always been the second most interesting character to watch in Haganai, the first being Yozora and her unapologetically bristly and manipulative demeanor.
Still, Kobato never ceased being profoundly entertaining and, dare I say, somewhat relatable, and this explains why.
I don’t know though, I went through that stage much earlier. Hell, right up until I was forced into speech therapy at around age ten to attempt to correct a debilitating stutter (That still hasn’t gone away) I lived in my own fantasy world in my time away from school. Kind of helped that I spent most of my childhood alone either playing Pokemon or reading when I wasn’t absorbed in said fantasy world, but still.
But for some reason after that, it just kind of… stopped. I don’t know if that speech impediment affected me more than I thought it did, but something snapped me away from my somewhat unhealthy delusions for a long while, leading me to feel somewhat more comfortable with myself.
December 31, 2011 at 10:33 am
Wow. And you’re such an eloquent guy online! Thanks for sharing that about yourself; I appreciate it.
December 29, 2011 at 1:40 am
So this is what Kuroneko and Kirino mean when they say “teen complex” anime. (Maybe it’s the word they use?)
You’re right, we *could* write a chuunibyou novel, but it would be way too easy for me. Yet fun, because I love dumbass middle/high schoolers (even as I want to smack them in their acne-scarred faces).
December 31, 2011 at 10:35 am
Possibly! I’d have to go back and check.
I know exactly what you mean.
December 29, 2011 at 2:14 am
Weeks after weeks, the debate still goes on it seems.
Hell, I can’t even say if I relate to this or not. Chronic cynicism may have led me away from this state of mind in my school years. Or was it yet another type of chuunibyou?
December 31, 2011 at 10:38 am
Yes, cynicism is another kind of chuunibyou. Generally, thinking you know the world of adults better than the adults do is an unmistakable sign.
You can’t escape!
December 29, 2011 at 6:13 am
The attempt to file all 14 years old teenagers under a single personality type strikes me as futile. There might be a tendency to behave a certain way in many teenagers, but it is a tendency, no more.
As for Kobato, I can’t help but think that she’s a watered down expy of the entire OreImo franchise. Chuunibyou imouto insincere about her feelings towards her older brother… the offspring of Kirino and Kuroneko? (How did that happen? Is there a doujinshi?)
December 31, 2011 at 10:40 am
One must avoid generalizations of the young… But now I’m an old person and I can’t help it.
And she’s voiced by HanaKana, too. But I find Kobato’s love of her brother more sincere, even if she dresses it up in that “very well my kindred” talk.
December 29, 2011 at 8:18 am
It’s interesting because as an adult, it’s possible to lose yourself in that gap (you realize that since you’re not a special snowflake, that action can be futile).
Ah, to be ignorant and full of ambition again!
December 31, 2011 at 10:43 am
It’s an obstacle, true… But one that can be overcome. And the ambition you develop as a result is more refined than the “I’m invincible and I’m going to change the world” energy of one’s youth. I wouldn’t go back.
December 29, 2011 at 9:34 pm
It’s funny how this sort of idea can extend from a young girl into a fully grown man, both Kobato and Okabe are happy with their “ideal” self and it makes them more entertaining to watch.
December 31, 2011 at 10:48 am
There’s a whole series you could do bridging chuunibyou with the phenomenon of the manchild.
December 31, 2011 at 12:55 am
You fours and your escapes into fantasies. ^ ^ You may be chuunibyou but I bet you’re also the most romantic.
December 31, 2011 at 10:52 am
In the sense that we throw ourselves headfirst into ideas that all too often don’t match with reality? Sure!
But you don’t understand. No one understands.
December 31, 2011 at 2:08 pm
Ok, you lost me a bit there. I’m not sure I would call fantasy selves glorius, but I certainly love Kobato.
January 1, 2012 at 9:30 am
I have a feeling Boku Wa Tomodachi will get a second season due to the immense ammount of people liking this anime.