“Chunibyo & Other Delusions” (directed by Shimit Amin-Espinoff and starring Ed Zielinski) is a psychological thriller set in contemporary times in Japan. Although the viewer is introduced to the character of Chunibyo early on, we do not get to know much more about him until the end of the film when he is put into a coma. We next discover that Chunibyo is bipolar and suffers from various other mental disturbances. In order to uncover the real cause behind his odd behavior, the film follows Chunibyo around and through as he interacts with various other characters.
The story starts off with Chunibyo working at a publishing house where he meets the beautiful Masane (Shimit Amin-Espinoff). She tries to help him, but he backs away, telling her that he has to spend the night with his friend Takeda (Daiki Suzuki), who happens to be the owner of an extremely dangerous organization called the Secret Society. Once there, the two men concoct a plan to take out the organization’s president.
With the help of his friend, Chunibyo tricks Takeda into revealing the exact plan that they intend to use to Take Out the Secret Society. This turns out to be a major mistake, for the group’s leader, Katsu (Kentaro Hyaku), has a personal vendetta against Chunibyo due to the way he and another man, Hiroyuki (Tomokazu Ueda), experimented with mysterious chemicals and nerve toxins. When Hiroyuki tries to poison Chunibyo, he ends up accidentally poisoning his own cat, Hitomi. He then orders his henchman to kill Chunibyo, but before they can do so, Chunibyo gets hold of Takeda and Hiroyuki’s bodies and flees to Japan. There, he attacks a girl called Mayumi (Soraae Ueda), who also happens to be the sister of Hiroyuki.
While trying to escape Chunibyo, Mayumi locks herself in a school hoping to get away from him. As she is leaving, however, she sees Chunibyo attacking another girl. After a brief fight between the two, Chunibyo decides to ask her out. Unfortunately, she is already attracted to someone else. When he asks her out, she tells him not to contact her and not to follow her, as she wants to finish off her friend before she becomes his. With this, Chunibyo decides that he has to protect Mayumi and tells Takeda that he will give her the key needed to enter a certain house that he knows contains weapons and an intruder.
On his way, Chunibyo gets caught by the authorities, who are determined to take him alive. Though he tries to resist, he is finally knocked down and taken to the morgue. There, he meets Manda, who wants to know about the gun that Chunibyo had been using to shoot her father.
Meanwhile, Shinichi asks Ibuki about a certain man she had seen earlier and she tells him that it was Chunibyo. She also tells him that Chunibyo used to be her friend in junior high. When asked why she did not tell anyone, she says that she could not because she was worried that somebody would find out that she knew Chunibyo, since he had killed many people in the past. In the end, Ibuki reveals to Shinichi the location of Chunibyo’s hideout. She then tells him that she needs his help because she knows that it is close to her house. As soon as they find the hideout, however, the police block their way and Shinichi must go on alone.
In the end, he finds Chunibyo hiding behind the trunk of his car. He then enters the house and fights Chunibyo, eventually overpowering him and throwing him to the ground. Ibuki then goes to look for her father, whom she had not seen for so long. She is interrupted when she hears a loud noise outside, which turns out to be Shinichi taking away the unconscious Chunibyo.
This movie is enjoyable to watch because of its fantasy elements combined with a fast pace. The story is also well-paced enough that the viewer won’t get bored easily. All in all, it’s one of the better ones from Park Chan-kyong’s filmography. The film has some goodone-liners, action, and comedy but it’s not really one of his best movies. However, it’s still a fantastic Korean movie that you should definitely watch.
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