Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai: Tensai-tachi no Renai Zunousen

At the renowned Shuchiin Academy, Miyuki Shirogane and Kaguya Shinomiya are the student body's top representatives. Ranked the top student in the nation and respected by peers and mentors alike, Miyuki serves as the student council president. Alongside him, the vice president Kaguya—eldest daughter of the wealthy Shinomiya family—excels in every field imaginable. They are the envy of the entire student body, regarded as the perfect couple.

However, despite both having already developed feelings for the other, neither are willing to admit them. The first to confess loses, will be looked down upon, and will be considered the lesser. With their honor and pride at stake, Miyuki and Kaguya are both equally determined to be the one to emerge victorious on the battlefield of love!

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Adaptation:	Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai: Tensai-tachi no Renai Zunousen
Sequel:	Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai? Tensai-tachi no Renai Zunousen
Other:	He Wei Dao x Hui Yeda Xiaojie Xiangyao Wo Gaobai

Asakura, Momo
Japanese

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Staff

Omata, Shinichi

Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Aketagawa, Jin

Sound Director

Utsunomiya, Masamitsu

Episode Director

Obara, Masakazu

Episode Director, Storyboard

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Opening Theme

"Love Dramatic feat. Rikka Ihara (ラブ・ドラマティック feat.伊原六花)" by Masayuki Suzuki (鈴木雅之) (eps 1-12)

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Ending Theme

	1: "Sentimental Crisis (センチメンタルクライシス) " by halca (eps 1-2,4-12)
	2: "Chikatto Chika Chika♡ (チカっとチカ千花っ♡)" by Chika Fujiwara (Konomi Kohara (eps 3)

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Mar 30, 2019

Flexstyle

Not Recommended

Every season there is one entry the anime community overhypes beyond belief and this time it's Kaguya sama.

Story? There’s no story beyond two teen high schoolers failed love attempts at getting the other person to confess. Fans have dubbed Kaguya sama as the "Death Note of romance", which is laughable because the mind games here are pretentious, basic tactics.

The comedy is hit or miss most of the time, with the odd joke being able to crack a smile from me. The jokes and gags are repetitive and become stale e.g. the skit where the President and Kaguya gave love advice dragged on too long. ... The episode about the wiener joke (no, I’m not kidding) was so childish.

The characters are a bunch of troupes who receive no character development: Kaguya is a rich, childish, pampered tsundere with barely any endearing qualities. Chika is the cute ditsy airhead, Ishigami is the depressed emo okatu that fans relate to calling him "our guy". He's easily the worst character because of how one dimensional he is and all his jokes being so predictable e.g. "oh no, Kaguya is going to kill me! I'm going home President!". The president is the hardworking and studious guy. He’s the best of the main cast in my opinion. He's the most interesting, relatable and got varied comedy.

The main problem with this show is the narration. The narrator might as well be his own character with how overused it is, to the point it becomes overbearing and annoying. The writer clearly didn't grasp the concept of "show, don't tell" because i don't want to be told about the characters and their thought process like they’re puppets. I don’t know why the narrator is keeping score of their matches because it ultimately amounts to nothing and we get the same rinse-repeat scenario next episode. He’s often mentioning stuff that’s obvious on screen with info dumps, which is jarring because it comes across as if the viewer is too stupid to think for themselves.

I’ll give it to A1, the animation is great, the osts are good and the stylistic presentation is visually impressive enough for you to overlook most scenes taking place in one location. The opening visuals are creative, however the opening song is cheesy and the ending is forgettable.

Overall, Kaguya sama is a fun rom-com, but it's cliche and filled with troupes that would otherwise be criticised in other shows. The dynamic between the two leads doesn’t change as they are no closer to confessing to each other than they were at beginning. It's baffling to see so many positive reviews and the amount of praise it’s received when it lacks substance and does nothing special compared to other rom-coms.

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Mar 31, 2019

RebelPanda

Recommended

Confessing love to someone is one of the most intimidating challenges we face in our lives.

Kaguya-sama: Love is War takes this relatable fear to the extreme. This anime isn't your average rom-com; it's a fight to the death between two stubborn geniuses in a battle of who will confess first. Kaguya Shinomiya is the wealthy heir to a corporate enterprise, a prodigy of course, but sheltered, with far more pride than common sense. Her adversary, Miyuki Shirogane, comes from a much more humble background, a workaholic to reach the top of his class, but unfortunately, he has little experience with anything else. Despite wildly ... different upbringings, they share many things in common; stubbornness, unrivaled intelligence, egos more inflated than two hot air balloons, and they're both hopelessly in love.

Rather than merely confessing, they use their intellect for schemes to make the other confess their love first. Fear rejection is too much for their overly inflated egos to handle—this makes their attempts to trick each other over-the-top and hilarious. Still, the underlying motivations of their outrageous scheming are heartfelt. It's always evident that they're in love. Whenever they come close to confessing, they immediately fall deep into their egotistical personas and shrug it off.

Truthfully, I should hate Kaguya-sama. I prefer romances that focus on development and believable relationships—rather than awkward interactions until they finally confess in the final episode. Kaguya-sama's main appeal is cringe-worthy teasing, and it's abundantly clear we won't get a confession anytime soon. Albeit with the stakes raised so high that its psychological warfare is comparable to Death Note. You may think a premise as simple as this would grow tiresome. Still, it continues to raise the stakes. The directing is phenomenal. People often complain that nothing changes through the series—but they're overlooking details. The relationship gradually progresses, and each chapter has permanence. The student council room changes, past conversations are referenced all the time, and their attitudes change. Kaguya and Shirogane start as very cold, keeping conversation to a minimum, then they become more open with their personal lives. Of course, they retain their professionalism. Another complaint is that the jokes are repetitive; this isn't entirely offbase. As the show progresses, each characters' sense of humor changes. They begin to understand each other more; as such, their banter becomes more personal.

Each character fulfills a distinct comedic role. Shirogane, the student council president, and Kaguya, his vice, both at the top of their class, are always the center of their school's attention. They're geniuses but also crazy in love with each other. The supporting cast and even the narrator add so much more to the comedy. They all have fantastic chemistry with one another. Even the smallest mannerisms and reactions put you into the character's mind, conveyed through close-ups and internal monologues—this clues us in on how each of them feels, from a wild comedic display to a subtle emotional response.

Chika, the student council secretary, is the embodiment of chaos and the straight man in the comedy routine. She unknowingly intervenes in the intense battles between Kaguya and Shirogane to hilarious effect. Although she acts airheaded, she's intelligent, talented, and has more life experience than both of the leads combined. Then there's the always anxious student council treasurer, Ishigami, who makes a late appearance in the show. He's likable for his long-running gags and banter with Kaguya. We often see Kaguya and Miyuki's nefarious strategizing from the side characters' perspective, revealing how ridiculous they both look. It gives the show a welcoming sense of self-awareness.

Every joke lands with a powerful impact because of the audiovisual feedback. Every sound effect is pitch-perfect. The melodic orchestral music constantly changes to complement wild tone shifts; it's nothing short of brilliant. The opening credits beautifully showcase the cast and the exaggerated mind games with an aesthetic reminiscent of studio Shaft. The theme song is so damn good; it is unlike anything else in anime nowadays. The third episode's notable ending credits are impressive, too. Chika's dance was rotoscoped with expert detail rarely seen in big-budget productions. Talent like this is hard to come by. The artist, Nagisa Sugao, must have days animating that one-and-a-half minutes of intricate animation. She not only came up with the dance herself; she performed it to get replicated with animation. If that's not the ideal blend of talent and passion, I don't know what is.

What elevates Kaguya-sama's great comedy material far above any other rom-com is the exceptional directing from Shinichi Omata, among other industry experts. Known for his work on Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu, he brings brilliant storyboards, a considerate eye for framing, dynamic direction, and creative budget distribution that takes what could have been an average adaptation to the best this season has to offer. This anime's excellence is thanks to perfect production management. Even with as little animation as this show has, there is always something moving onscreen. If a shot lingers, it's to highlight emotions without any dialogue, like the moment Kaguya admired her nail polish on the way to the club. It's brief, but it tells us exactly what she's thinking.

Scenes blend into each other seamlessly. Objects fade into one another—and the transitions never break the 180-degree film rule. I counted more than a dozen match cuts in a single episode; The level of detail put into storyboarding each cut is impressive. I have nothing but admiration for the director. Background art transforms to reflect the character's inner monologue's mood, indicating how they overthink even the simplest of exchanges. The breathtaking animation only gets used to highlight pivotal moments, such as when Kaguya and Miyuki come close to kissing. Emotional character-development moments are highly memorable because of this extra attention to detail.

Omata employs a frenetic style to emphasize punchlines and give importance to every bit of dialogue. Reality occasionally bends to create incredible and abstract visuals, which makes potentially mundane punchlines incredibly intense. These moments reflect just how exaggerated the crazed characters perceive their mind games to be. On the far end, the show straddles the line between slapstick comedy and an all-out thriller with static lines overlaying close-ups as a character verges closer to defeat in a battle; this is what makes Kaguya-sama so funny. Kaguya and Miyuki have astronomical IQs, but they use their intelligence to do the most idiotic things because they're afraid of having their hearts broken. It's so painfully relatable. The mind games they get lost in are entertaining, but they're so misguided in their approach to love that even their failures are hilarious to watch. They're both walking catastrophes. Thankfully the show acknowledges this and pokes fun at them through irony and sarcastic supporting characters. Its visual excitement, music, and wildly contrasting tones craft a dynamic comedic experience.

Confessing your love for someone is terrifying. Growing up is an even more formidable challenge. Kaguya and Miyuki are slowly but surely navigating through their complicated emotions. Masterfully timed jokes, expert directing, and relatable characters—this show has it all. No matter if you love or hate anime romcoms, this takes the standard genre tropes and subverts them in new and exciting ways. Kaguya-sama: Love is War is an outstanding series that anyone can walk away from wholeheartedly adoring.

Open

Mar 30, 2019

dotta

Mixed Feelings

To describe Kaguya-sama: Love is War as a battlefield of love, between two prideful geniuses, who see confessing as a sign of “weakness” is well—sort of misleading.

Not because these type of scenarios don’t happen throughout the show, but more so because I’m not entirely sure that it is accurate to describe the characters as “prideful” or even “geniuses”; and that might be the biggest issue the show has.

Kaguya-sama begins in a very direct way; the whole idea of the show, everything about Miyuki and Kaguya, and their relationship is thrown at us through a narrator. There is no build up of their relationship, we are ... told they are in love and we are immediately expected to care. As a result, I found it difficult to ever form a sort of solid connection with the characters, to ‘root’ for their romance, to think their ridiculous antics were always funny. Miyuki and Kaguya have little chemistry. It feels like I am missing something. With more care given to the characters, this show really could have been something special.

I can imagine this could have been salvaged, if the characters proved themselves so charismatic and fun that they would eventually become completely endearing. But the characters never really had a consistent personality. Because let's be honest, Miyuki and Kaguya are not always ‘prideful’. The are constantly shown as vulnerable, embarrassed, and shy. Highlighting those parts about them were easily the worst bits of the show. When they were smart, cunning, devious, it lead to the best and most hilarious moments. The author probably did this to make them more relatable and cute, but I ultimately think it negatively impacted the show. Some of the situations Miyuki and Kaguya go through are so trivial and childish that only sheer ridiculousness of their characters could have made it genuinely hilarious. When we know that the basis of their resistance to being open to one another is rooted more in shyness than pride, it makes the situations come off as more silly than potentially hilarious. It should have gone all in on making them scheming egomaniacs, for the sake of the humour.

Sometimes the show did have moments where the characters acted the way I hoped they would—and it was funny. Various moments of the show proves itself as creative, enjoyable, and worthy. Chika and Ishigami served as good side characters, although it may have been a little too obvious that sometimes they were just there to steer the direction of the joke. The art style was bold and outwards. Over time the show starts to get a bit more ‘normal’ looking, but I do appreciate shows taking a step outwards to make it more memorable.

Many times I was left feeling like some potential was being wasted. The show does stick to a formulaic way of having a ‘winner/loser’ in every bit, which didn’t always work. Sometimes it seems like the direction of the joke was radically shifted for no other reason than to just create a winner or a loser. I never found the narrator useful, and at worst he was just annoying. The show should have been more free, less confined to one particular style. Often it came off as settling.

The most disappointing thing about the show is how good it could have been.

Open

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Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai: Tensai-tachi no Renai Zunousen

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