Chaos;Head: The Delusions Are REAL!

Hello everybody! Today we have an interesting and confusing anime series, Chaos;Head.

CHAOS;HEAD

DIRECTOR: Ishiyama Takaaki

GENRE: Psychological, Sci-fi,Supernatural, Thriller, Romance

YEAR: 2008

COUNTRY: Japan

Chaos;Head’s story is set in 2009 in Shibuya and is centered around Takumi Nishijō, a high school student at the private Suimei Academy, and the strange and brutal murders that have recently occurred in the Shibuya area, known as the “New Generation”  Madness. The story begins on September 28 with Takumi talking to an online friend called Grim. Grim is trying to bring Takumi up to speed about the recent New Generation events since Takumi is not interested in local or international news. A person named Shogun  joins the chat room midway through Grim and Takumi’s conversation. After Grim leaves the chat room, Shōgun begins to talk. He speaks in a very cryptic and confusing manner, leaving Takumi nervous. He then sends Takumi a barrage of image links, one of which appears to be of a brutal murder of a man being pinned by stakes to a wall.

The next day, Takumi comes across a real life murder scene. Witnessing a mysterious pink-haired girl pinning a man up by stakes in an alleyway, he immediately realizes he is witnessing the very murder detailed in the pictures he received the day before. Convinced Shogun is targeting him and the girl he saw committing the murder is somehow connected to him, Takumi tries to avoid getting involved with other New Generation events. However, as Takumi begins attempting to distance himself from the crime he witnessed, he soon catches interest of the police.

With the police suspecting him, and himself convinced that he is being targeted by Shogun, Takumi finds himself caught in a spiral of delusions and paranoia, as he desperately tries to keep himself safe and figure out why he is apparently being targeted. He eventually comes into contact with several other people related to the events, including the girl he saw committing the murder herself. Unsure of what is real or who he can trust, Takumi finds himself thrust into a much larger scheme than he ever thought possible, as the mysterious company NOZOMI carefully plots something from behind the scenes.

Chaos;Head is definitely one of the weirder anime that has been requested recently, which necessarily isn’t a bad thing. I am enthralled by most things that are considered weird and out of the ordinary, they normally have more character and are much more enjoyable. Anyway, Chaos;Head tells an interesting yet incredibly confusing story of delusions. The main character, Takumi , is somewhat likable as a hermit (even if he is a total dunce/douche to everyone he meets). The animation style seems a little dated, but I think it works fine with the overall theme of the series.

Now that I have space to talk about it, I want to explain to you just how confusing this story really is. It felt like Donnie Darko meets Inception wrapped up in an anime style roll. It also didn’t help that it jumps around everywhere. In some episodes we are focused on the “New-Gen” murders, then its about Takumi’s love life, then its about a new group of warriors much like Templars who can wield their delusions into existence…what? The audience barely gets a satisfyingly ending to any of the story lines since they jump around so much, my brain hurts just thinking about it. Also, could we have had just a few more episodes? I feel like they just needed a few more to flesh out all of there ideas and story lines.

PROS:

• Semi-interesting main character.
• Animation style.
• Theme.
• Story is intriguing.

CONS:

• Confusing as hell story.
• Needs a few more episodes.
• Donnie Darko + Inception + anime = Chaos;Head.

SCORE: 6.5 / 10

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