Suffering From Junior High School 2nd Year Disease?
Japan has some interesting (?) illnesses. 中二病 (ちゅうにびょう) or “Junior High School 2nd Year Illness” is running rampant. And it’s not just limited to Junior High School students. It could be inflicting you, right now.
Let’s take this essential quiz right away to diagnose yourself.
1. Are you happy when people tell you that you are different?
2. When your favorite musician suddenly hits it big, do you suddenly lose interest?
3. Do you praise manga that has been cut from serial publication?
4. Do you unnecessarily add kanji to phrases that usually don’t have it?
5. Is your hobby observing people?
6. Do you have a fantasy nickname for yourself, like Dark-Wing?
If you answer yes to all of the above, you may be in trouble.
What is 中二病?
It’s when you believe that you are different from other people. That you are special. You speak your own minority opinion. You come from some environment that makes you stand out. You find the similarities of how your life is similar to the main hero of an anime or manga.
And now you know.
Not so bad? Inflicted with 中二病? I think everyone is to some minor extent.
Founder of Jalup. iOS Software Engineer. Former attorney, translator, and interpreter. Still watching 月曜から夜ふかし weekly since 2013.
Wow this post had perfect timing! I started reading Steins;Gate manga a few days ago and this word kept cropping up all the time. It was so frustrating because I couldn’t find a translation or anything on the Internet about it!
The only difference was that in the manga it’s written like 「厨二病」, any idea why?
So this is baisically what we would call being a “pubescent know-it-all teenager” right?
Know-it-all doesn’t really capture it that well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5xK0VpXzdI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2xwsyxR0dk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKl0T9kZwTw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2N-zVHkPhA
Or if you want, you can watch 中二病でも恋がしたい and the characters in there are kinda good examples of it too.
Did you actually watch the anime? Was it good? The title always interested me but I never got around to checking it out.
My opinion, for what it’s worth: I liked the first season more than the second, but they both have good storytelling, some rather moving elements, the bits in 中二病-vision are consistently awesome, and it has some interesting things to say about how how everyone constructs their own identities and the extent to which having fantasies can actually be a positive thing.
I’ve seen the first season, haven’t gotten around to watching the second. I found it pretty enjoyable for what it is, but Octonion seems to have already written a pretty nice review of it, so I’ll just leave you with this.
この腕の包帯は訳あって外せない。 黒炎竜が暴れだしてしまうのでな。
闇の炎に抱かれて消えろっ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqRLffWYPgg
It’s cute, it’s funny, and after the first season you’ll be a 中二病 expert.
Thanks everyone for info on it. Sounds/looks like fun and definitely worth a look.
Thanks for the info, maybe I’ll check that show out soon!
Interesting! Jisho.org defines 厨, when pronounced ちゅう, as “someone who makes childish posts (on a BBS, etc.)” so I imagine this writing is something of a pun and/or a 2ch reference.
I wonder how you get there starting from a word meaning “kitchen,” and if there’s any parallel to the modern use of the word おたく.
Yea I would assume that they take the 中 from 中学生 to mean childish and use the 厨 from 厨房 to be cool. Not sure if the meaning kitchen has any connection.
I looked it up, and as Octonion pointed out it came from 2ch. They often change the correct kanji for other kanji, and it becomes a new type of slang.
And どうして provides some good reference for learning more about it. Especially he anime that has it in the title.
Ahh I get it. A play on kanji!
I suffered from 中二病… before it was cool!
An oldschool 中二病! It does seem to be a popular catch phrase these days.