The delusion I wished for: let's talk about CHAOS;HEAD NOAH

Many years ago, my friend tried to describe the plot of an anime whose name he’d forgotten. To me, it seemed like he was rambling incoherently: suicides, government conspiracies, Tokyo being completely destroyed in some sort of catastrophe—just what could this show be? A few months later, he found the anime’s name: Chaos;Head. Being a fan of the Steins;Gate anime and manga adaptations, it wasn’t completely unfamiliar to me. By that time, I was already into VNs, so I decided I’d read it when it got officially translated. That was around five years ago…

This August, I finally installed C;HN, along with the Committee of Zero patch, after letting it sit for months in my Steam Library. This November, I finally finished reading it.

Except for the vague disconnected plot points described by that friend, I went in completely blind. The protagonist, Takumi, is a very unpleasant person, though far from the worst VN protagonist I’ve encountered. Like all reclusive otaku protagonists, he ended up being relatable to me in some aspects—and he’s got quite the amazing figure collection.

The story presents insane, impossible murders, one after the other, all while Takumi tries to go about his life as reality and delusions meld together. The Delusion Trigger was a pretty interesting mechanic—some delusions are iffy, some are violent, and some are funny—at the start I couldn’t resist pressing the big red denpa button at every opportunity, hah.

The pacing in the common route ran a bit slow at times, but I liked going about Takumi’s days, so it didn’t bother me too much. The story is filled to the brim with crazy plot twists, and it really picks up in the later chapters. It can get very dark and graphic—I’m a bit of a wimp, so sometimes I’d just leave the computer and take some fresh air while going, “what the FUCK was that, dude” and come back just to get my mind blown again.

As for the character’s routes, Nanami’s was kind of whatever; Yua’s was… interesting; Ayase’s was incredible; Kozue’s was incredibly violent; Sena’s was very, very good; and Rimi’s was very sweet. The ending was very cool—I live for epic final battles and repetitions— and also very satisfying after some 120 odd hours of playtime (a normal person would definitely take way less than that, I’m just a slow reader).

It's definitely not a VN for everyone, but if it’s your thing, you’ll love it. I sure did.