chūnibyō

is a Japanese colloquial term typically used to describe adolescents with delusions of grandeur. These teenagers are thought to desperately want to stand out and convince themselves that they have hidden knowledge or secret powers. It is sometimes called "eighth-grader syndrome" in the United States, usually in the context of localizations of anime which feature the concept as a significant plot element.

==History== The term was used by Japanese comedian Hikaru Ijūin in 1999, who described the effect as if it were an illness he had contracted. Ijūin made a statement disavowing the idea in 2009, as it had changed from a light-hearted remark to a condition that was studied seriously in psychology. In 2008, Hyōya Saegami wrote a book called , or "Chūnibyō User Manual", in which he identifies three types of chūnibyō: "DQN", who act like delinquents; "subculture", who go against the mainstream trends; and "evil eye", who aspire to have special powers.