Chaos;Head Review & Content Guide – A Christian Perspective on the First Science Adventure Anime

In our Chaos;Head review (anime), we will explore the content from a Christian perspective and provide a content/parent guide for the anime series. Additionally, we will also discuss the Chaos;Head and Chaos;NOAH visual novels from a Christian perspective.

Synopsis: What is Chaos;Head about?

When Takumi Nishijou, an otaku with a fetish for video game girls, has his life turned upside down, it’s not in the way you’d expect. He starts experiencing terrifying delusions that affect his psyche. He can’t seem to escape from gruesome visions of the New Gen Murders—crimes he insists he’s not involved in.

Or is he? As panic spreads, suspicion falls on Takumi himself. Is Takumi the killer, or is something far more sinister at play?

In our Christian Chaos;Head review, we will explore the positives and negatives of the story, plus content concerns—all from a Christian perspective.

Chaos;Head Review: A Christian Perspective on the Anime & Visual Novel

Chaos;Head is the first installment in the Science Adventure series, a collection of visual novels (novels in an interactive, game-like format). Many installments of this series have been turned into various other forms of media, such as mangas and anime series. Chaos;Head and its direct sequel, Chaos;Child were both turned into anime. Personally, I find them both highly mature in content and theme, and don’t recommend either of them for minors (so anyone under 18).

At its core, Chaos;Head is a psychological thriller with elements of sci-fi and horror.

The animation brings the grotesqueness of the story to life in an effective, disturbing way. However, the storyline is a bit hard to follow and the conclusion of the story leaves much to be desired.

Chaos;Head English Dub

Honestly, I think the best part of the show was the voice acting.

Todd Haberkorn (Chaos;Child, Komi Can’t Communicate, Robotics;Notes, Romeo x Juliet) does an excellent job portraying Takumi Nishijo. I was previously familiar with Haberkorn because he voices Prince Raj in Snow White with the Red Hair. His voice is rather distinct, and works well for Takumi.

Carrie Savage (Chaos;Child, Romeo x Juliet) voices Rimi Sakihata.

Additionally, we hear Clarine Harp as Sena Aoi, Sonny Strait as Takashina, and Vic Mignogna as The General.

Other voice actors include J. Michael Tatum (Steins;Gate,Steins;Gate 0, Ascendance of a Bookworm, Summer Wars), Monica Rial (Steins;Gate 0, Yona of the Dawn, Assassination Classroom), Caitlin Glass (Link Click, Spy x Family), and Trina Nishmura (Steins;Gate, Steins;Gate 0, Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World for My Retirement).

For a full list of the voice cast, click here.

Please note: which roles I highlight is based on familiarity, blog fit, and connections to other works I’ve covered or enjoyed. These choices are not meant to comment on the voice actor’s talent or performance.

Takumi Nishijo: The Useless Protagonist of Chaos;Head

Takumi Nishijo, the protagonist, is a womanizer. Although he struggles with paranoia and confusion—which warrants some sympathy—he’s a very unlikeable character. His objectification of women is distracting, and makes it very hard to like his character.

Despite being at the center of Chaos;Head, he often feels like a passive observer rather than an active participant.

His supposed purpose is to unite the other Gigalomaniacs—people who can alter reality—but he often feels confused and powerless.

That is, until the end, when he conveniently discovers his purpose and saves the day in a way that feels both contrived and unearned.

What are Gigalomanics?

Gigalomaniac is one of the most important concepts in the Chaos;Head and Chaos;Child series. Since I’m writing a Chaos;Head review, I will try to explain the concept simplistically (honestly, it’s okay if you’re confused because it certainly is confusing, and I can’t promise I fully understand it myself).

Gigalomanics are able to influence reality through realbooting, the ability to turn delusions into reality. They can alter what’s real, changing reality. It’s a cool power, but it also comes with plenty of chaos, confusion, and manipulation.

Gigalomaniacs often have other powers as well.

*Spoiler* Many characters in Chaos;Head are gigalomaniacs, including Takumi, The General, Kozue, Ayase, Nanami, Sena, and Rimi, among others.

Chaos;Head Review: Why I Don’t Recommend Chaos;Head for Christians

Chaos;Head was something I was excited to watch, and I was truly disappointed. While there are moments that highlight characters fighting for justice and working as a team, these are quickly overshadowed by the graphic violence and sexual content.

This makes it, in my opinion, very difficult for Christians to justify watching. I don’t feel like I learned anything useful in my walk with the Lord. The story didn’t really resonate with me; if anything, it made me highly uncomfortable. There are so many Bible verses against violence and lust (Psalm 11:5 and Matthew 5:28, respectively). The sexual themes felt solely for the purpose of fanservice.

Outside of the high levels of sexuality, violence, and (overall) lack of redeemable characters, there are other spiritual concerns within this story, especially in the characters’ religions.

The cultic Cosmic Church of the Divine Light encourages its followers to do evil, not good. It is a false religion with a kotodama and it is associated with the villains of the series. This church is pure evil, and a poor example of what church can be.

*Spoiler* Additionally, the head of the church is behind the New Generational Madness murders, a group of horrific, disgusting murders.

One of the deuteragonists, Ayase, has firmly rooted beliefs in something called the “greater will.” Her religion drives her entire character, and this religion is also highly cultic. Her band sings a song that ominously predicts one of the New Gen Murders known as the ‘cruc-affixion,’ where victims are impaled on cross-shaped stakes, highlighting the disturbing nature of the series.

Chaos;Head Review: Self-Sacrifice in the Anime *Spoiler*

I may dislike Takumi quite a bit, but the real version of Takumi is actually selfless.

The real Takumi Nishijou, also known as The General, “…did everything he could to try to get Takumi to awaken, despite the fact that if he did, Shogun [The General] would probably die. Whenever Takumi creates a delusion, because they are one and the same, it shortens the life of Shogun and makes him weaker.”

What does this mean? Takumi—the version we initially meet—isn’t the original version of Takumi. The General (or Shogun) is a nickname for the real Takumi, who created the Takumi we follow in the story (remember how I mentioned the whole “gigalomaniac” stuff in the last section? That comes into play now).

I know, it’s confusing. From here on, I’ll refer to the real Takumi as The General (though some people refer to him as Shogun), and the version he created as Takumi.

The General is a Gigalomaniac—which means Takumi is, too—and he has many special powers.

According to the Fandom article on Gigalomaniacs (of which The General, aka Shogun, is a member):

…Shogun is an extremely powerful Gigalomaniac capable of realbooting an entire new law of physics. Using this ability comes with a cost, however. Realbooting causes antiparticles to accumulate in Gigalomaniac’s body, leading to premature aging and a shorter lifespan…It also put a tremendous toll on Shogun’s body when Shogun realbooted an actual human being with free will into the world, not just shortening his lifespan further but also putting himself in a coma for around a year. (source)

The General put himself through a lot in order to create Takumi. Why? “His main goal is to get the delusionary Takumi Nishijou to awaken as a Gigalomaniac so that Takumi can defeat N.O.Z.O.M.I. and Norose, and destroy Noah II on his behalf” (source). N.O.Z.O.M.I., Norose, and Noah II are all connected to the villain/evil goals of the story, so it makes sense that The General would try to take out the evil at all costs.

Chaos;Head Review: Takumi’s Sister Nanami

Nanami Nishijo, Takumi’s younger sister, is a very kind girl although she and Takumi don’t always get along. “She is shown to care a lot for Takumi as she often checks up on him and gives him advice, trying to get him out of his secluded lifestyle…”

Nanami faces plenty of hardship, but it’s reassuring to have a legitimately kind character in the anime considering Takumi is a bit problematic.

Rimi: The Leading Lady *Spoiler*

Like Nanami, Rimi is also very kind and considerate. She is a calming presence for Takumi. Although she fights against the goals of the The General, she “was doing this out of love because she cared so much” for her friend the General.

As we already discussed previously in the review, awakening Takumi means The General’s own death, something Rimi doesn’t want because The General is important to her.

Chaos;Head Review: Chaos;Head NOAH Visual Novel

Let’s talk a moment about the Chaos;Head visual novel since it is the source material for the anime.

What are visual novels?

A visual novel (VN) is a form of digital interactive fiction. Visual novels are often associated with the medium of video games, but are not always labeled as such themselves.^[1] They combine a textual narrative with static or animated illustrations and a varying degree of interactivity. (source)

Plenty of visual novels exist, and some are more appropriate than others. The creators of Chaos;Head quickly replaced the Chaos;Head visual novel with Chaos;Head NOAH, which came out in 2009.

Chaos;Head NOAH expanded the story significantly and is now considered the Science Adventure Series (a visual novel series which includes Chaos;Head) canonical “first entry.”

What about Chaos;Head NOAH?

The visual novel for Chaos;Head NOAH, as previously stated, has replaced Chaos;Head visual novel in the canon.

When I searched Chaos;Head on Steam, only Chaos;Head NOAH appeared in my search results.

To me, that just further emphasizes that Chaos;Head NOAH replaced Chaos;Head.

This means, of course, that when considering the content of the visual novel from a Christian perspective, we need to consider the content flags in Chaos;Head NOAH instead of just Chaos;Head.

Thankfully, Geeks Under Grace published a detailed Chaos;Head review on the NOAH version of the visual novel which includes a content guide.

According to the review of Chaos;Head NOAH from Geeks Under Grace,

Some gamers may have heard of the Steam controversy where Chaos;Head NOAH was banned from the platform, despite its sequel Chäos;Child remaining playable. When it first released in Japan, the X-Box version of the game garnered the equivalent of an Adult Only (AO) rating, probably for violence and gore. After some tweaks, it was moved down to a Mature rating. Chäos;Head NOAH is a release of the M-rated version of the game, though its contents remain more mature than other stories in the Science Adventure franchise.

Considering how explicit the content was before the tweaks, and then how mature it still is, it’s really hard to justify playing it.

Additionally, Geeks under Grace acknowledged that “They toned down the sexual content for the anime, thank goodness.”

The anime already felt sexual and uncomfortable, so I can only imagine how much worse it is in the Chaos;Head NOAH visual novel! (Although, believe it or not, the sequel to Chaos;Head, Chaos;Child, is even more graphic in the anime, and I assume the visual novel is as well, but that’s conjecture).

Honestly, from a Christian and faith-based perspective, I absolutely think that Chaos;Head NOAH is worth skipping. There are plenty of other visual novels out there with content that aligns closer with a Biblical worldview.

What about other Science Adventure shows?

I absolutely love the Steins;Gate series. I haven’t yet viewed Robotics;Notes, but it’s also on my to-do list.

The one show I will not review from this series is Occultic;Nine. I recommend Christians use immense caution with Occultic;Nine due to the occultic themes.

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Chaos;Head Christian Review: FAQ

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Conclusion: Chaos;Head Review

As a Christian, I really can’t recommend the Chaos series, and I hope my Chaos;Head review accurately explained why.

I know not everyone shares my perspective, and I believe that every Christian has the right to make their own decisions about what media they consume. Always follow the concepts discussed in 1 Corinthians 10:23-24 when selecting media and listen to the Holy Spirit.

I hope this Chaos;Head review and content guide is helpful.

Additionally, Geeks Under Grace, another wonderful Christian review site, has a Chaos;Head review about the visual novel (NOAH edition). I highly recommend you check it out for further reading.

Please note that the opinions expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Renewed Mind Media. We write these reviews as a guide but are not responsible for your own choices with media. We are not associated with the creators of this anime in any capacity, and these are strictly reviews for the purpose of education and commentary.

Photo Credit: Chaos;Head anime poster. Under fair use for review/commentary/criticism/education. All rights retained by respective owners.