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

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Alternative Titles

English: Kaguya-sama: Love is War

Synonyms: Kaguya Wants to be Confessed To: The Geniuses' War of Love and Brains

Japanese: かぐや様は告らせたい～天才たちの恋愛頭脳戦～

Information

Type: TV

Episodes: 12

Status: Finished Airing

Aired: Jan 12, 2019 to Mar 30, 2019

Premiered: Winter 2019

Broadcast: Saturdays at 23:30 (JST)

Producers: Aniplex, Mainichi Broadcasting System, Magic Capsule, Shueisha, East Japan Marketing & Communications

Licensors: Aniplex of America

Studios: A-1 Pictures

Source: Manga

Genres: Comedy, Psychological, Romance, School, Seinen

Duration: 25 min. per ep.

Rating: PG-13 - Teens 13 or older

Statistics

Score: 8.44¹ (scored by 346,240 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #122²

² based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #125

Members: 660,503

Favorites: 15,564

8.44

Ranked #122Popularity #125Members 660,503

Winter 2019TVA-1 Pictures

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Episodes: /12

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PV 2 Aniplex USA version

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Synopsis

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!

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Related Anime

Adaptation:	Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai: Tensai-tachi no Renai Zunousen
Sequel:	Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai?: Tensai-tachi no Renai Zunousen

More characters
Characters & Voice Actors

Shinomiya, Kaguya

Main

Koga, Aoi
Japanese

Ishigami, Yuu

Main

Suzuki, Ryouta
Japanese

Fujiwara, Chika

Main

Kohara, Konomi
Japanese

Shirogane, Miyuki

Main

Furukawa, Makoto
Japanese

Hayasaka, Ai

Supporting

Hanamori, Yumiri
Japanese

Shirogane, Kei

Supporting

Suzushiro, Sayumi
Japanese

Narrator

Supporting

Aoyama, Yutaka
Japanese

Shirogane, Father

Supporting

Koyasu, Takehito
Japanese

Shijou, Maki

Supporting

Ichinose, Kana
Japanese

Kashiwagi, Nagisa

Supporting

Asakura, Momo
Japanese

More staff
Staff

Omata, Shinichi

Director, Storyboard

Aketagawa, Jin

Sound Director

Obara, Masakazu

Episode Director, Storyboard

Utsunomiya, Masamitsu

Episode Director

Edit 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)

Edit Ending Theme

"Sentimental Crisis" by halca (eps 1-2, 4-12)

More reviewsReviews

Mar 30, 2019

12 of 12 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 4

OG_Gattsu (All reviews)

620 people found this review helpful

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

12 of 12 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 9

RebelPanda (All reviews)

400 people found this review helpful

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 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 simply confessing, they use their intellect for schemes to make the other confess their love first. The fear of being rejected is too much for either of their overly inflated egos to handle. Their trickery is undoubtedly the most extreme, and hilarious this genre can be taken to. But even so, the motivations beneath all of the outrageous scheming and exaggerated reactions are incredibly emotionally resonant. It’s always abundantly obvious that they’re in love, but whenever they come close to admitting it, they immediately fall back into their egotistical personas and shrug it off as best they can. Leaving minor hints that they’re ever so slightly closer to a confession.

Honestly, I tend to prefer romances that focus on the relationship, rather than all of the awkward build-ups into the final episode ending with a confession. Strangely enough, Kaguya-sama’s main appeal is that awkward teasing rather than the confession. 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, but it continues to raise the stakes, the directing is phenomenal, the relationship between the leads has progression and continuity throughout the series, and all of the characters are so damn entertaining.

Each character fulfills a distinct comedic role. Shirogane, the student council president, and Kaguya his vice, both at the top of their class, are constantly the center of their school’s attention. They are 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 amazing chemistry with one another. Any combination of the cast can create a great comedy routine. Even the smallest mannerisms and reactions put you into the mind of the character, conveyed through close-ups and internal monologues. This clues us in on how each person’s perspective, from a wild comedic display to a subtle reaction.

Chika, the student council secretary is the embodiment of chaos and the straight man in the comedy routine. Unknowingly intervening in the intense battles between Kaguya and Shirogane to hilarious effect. She is intelligent, talented, and has more life experience than both of the leads combined. Deceptively she is designed to be cute and unassuming, but that's what makes her scenes so funny, and stellar delightful voicework. Then there’s the always anxious student council secretary, fittingly makes Ishigami a late appearance in the show but he’s likable for his long-running gags. We often see Kaguya and Miyuki's nefarious strategizing from the side characters' perspective, revealing how ridiculous they both look. Everyone else is aware they're in love, but everyone is waiting for them to make the first move.

Satisfying audiovisual feedback is used to enhance the great comedic timing. Every sound effect is pitch-perfect. The soundtrack constantly changes to complement wild tone shifts, it's nothing short of brilliant. The opening credits beautifully showcase the cast and the exaggerated mind wars with an aesthetic comparable to studio SHAFT. The theme song is so damn good, it is unlike anything else in anime nowadays. The third episode's special ending credits are amazing too; the dance is rotoscoped expertly. Talent like this is hard to come by. The artist, Nagisa Sugao, must have days animating that one an a half minutes of intricate animation. She not only came up with the dance herself she performed it to be replicated in animation. If that’s not the exemplary blend of talent and passion then I don’t know what is.

What elevates Kaguya-sama’s great comedy material far above any other rom-com is the amazing 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 clever budget distribution that takes what could have been an average adaptation to the best this season has to offer. Even with as little animation as this show has, there is always something moving onscreen. If a shot lingers on one subject with little animation, it's likely to highlight the current emotions of a character and get us into their headspace; a simple trick, but useful for maintaining our attention with a standard TV-anime budget. Scene transitions give the shot-composition a fluid presentation as well. Shots blend into each other in seamless ways. Objects fade into one another. 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 incredible. I have nothing but admiration for the director. Background art transforms to reflect the tone of the character’s inner monologue, perfectly indicating how the main characters overthink even the simplest of exchanges. This makes the moments when the animation becomes more complex far more impactful, and it is always saved to highlight a key character moment. Emotional character-development moments are outstanding and 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 outlandish 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 are geniuses, but they use their intelligence to do the stupidest things because they’re afraid of having their oversized egos trampled upon. The mind games they get lost in are entertaining, but they're so misguided in their approach to love that even their failures in the games are rewarding to watch. They’re both walking dumpster fires of people. 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 to someone is terrifying, growing up is an even harder challenge. Kaguya and Miyuki are slowly but surely on their way to figuring that out someday. Masterfully timed jokes, expert directing, and relatable characters. No matter if you love or hate anime rom-coms, 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.

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Mar 30, 2019

12 of 12 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 6

dotta (All reviews)

393 people found this review helpful

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.

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Mar 30, 2019

12 of 12 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 9

Stark700 (All reviews)

181 people found this review helpful

Almost every time someone talks to me about a romantic comedy, they'd would mention how well the romance is delivered. Then along came this show called Kaguya-sama: Love is War that goes beyond than just being a romantic comedy. In a landscape dominated by recent isekai shows, there’s a need for fresh air. Kaguya-sama managed be just that.

Aka Akasaka is somewhat of a new author in the manga world. Prior to this series, their only work I was familiar with is Sayonara Piano Sonata. When Kaguya-sama began serializing, I knew there was something special about this series with the way it introduced its story and characters. Do note that the anime adapts chapters not in a chronological order but takes them to make the overall tone of the show flow better. Every episode contains at least 3 segments from certain chapters. There’s also some that are structured with continued storytelling but nothing too complex. With that being said, I think it’s important to realize what this show really is.

First off, I would say that while this anime contains rom-com tropes, there’s also an insightful amount of dialogues that breaks from its traditional norms. Some will easily notice the mind games and dialogue wars between our two main protagonists – vice president Kaguya Shinomiya and President Miyuki Shirogane. Both are part of the prestigious school in Japan known as Shuchi’in Academy. While the two obviously develop feelings for each other, the show pits them into endless series of love battles. Their pride is on the line and neither are willing to confess their love. The English title also translates to “Kaguya Wants to be Confessed” so fresh anime viewers may wonder who will really be the one confessing in the end. That’s where the juicy part of the show comes in. You see, every episode contains segments about romance along with the constant mental battles between our two protagonists. From the very first episode, we see how much both characters value their pride. Their status at school are role models that everyone looks up to for their intelligence, looks, and position. In other words, Kaguya and Shirogane stands at the top of the mountain at Shuchi’in Academy and their only opponents are each other. Or is it? Because the more I watched this show, the more I realized the length both characters go to try to get the others to confess. This results in hilarious segments that drives the main plot. While both characters lack experience with love, they have many talent in other fields such as academics. In essence, the show manages to produce an immense amount of humor with the love war concept.

Taking a look at each character on an individual level, Kaguya and Shirogane are actually quite normal despite being larger than life characters. However, the show portrays Kaguya as a girl who is obsessed with Shirogane. The extent of her mind games sometimes goes to extreme lengths such as trying to prevent Shirogane from leaving school, planting movie tickets, or even as something silly as fighting over a piece of cake. The result of these scenarios often end up with consequences or misunderstanding. This is where the show’s absurdity and humor comes in. Because of how hard both characters try to defend their own pride, they create a fake persona of themselves to each other. Nonetheless, it seems at times, Kaguya does have genuine feelings for Shirogane such as when she gets jealous of him interacting with Chika.

Ah yes, Chika Fujiwara. If there’s anyone in this show that could set off more reactions, it’s her. She’s like the catalyst for Kaguya’s mood swings in particular when interacting with Shirogane. Jealousy is easily shown on Kaguya’s face in early episodes and that’s thanks to her personality. In general, Chika is known to be disruptive to the school council. Whether she’s conscious about it or not, she often sets off absurd moments in the show because of her unpredictability. However, I think Chika’s presence in the show should be appreciated for exactly what she is. In fact, I categorize Chika as somewhat of anti-thesis of the main characters. She isn’t afraid to speak her mind and is very open about being herself. This is very different compared to Ai Hayasaka, Kaguya’s valet. Hayasaka takes on several personalities that can be hard to distinguish the real her. While being a supporting character, I find her role in the show important for being supportive of Kaguya.

As with many rom-coms, it needs to have male characters that aren’t just alpha males like Shirogane. This is where Yu Ishigami comes in. Having an inferiority complex, he doesn’t have nearly as much as pride in himself as Shirogane. Unlike him, Ishigami isn’t a real genius but he tries hard in things that interests him. The more I watched his character interactions, the more I realized how real he is compared to the others. He can be rather relatable for his social status and I can say without a shadow of a doubt that the anime needed someone like him too. That being said, outside of these characters, there’s only a small handful that gets spotlights such as Shirogane’s sister. There are occasional side characters that reinforces the themes of love in the show but these often don’t greatly influence the show’s plot. With everything being said, I think watching Kaguya-sama takes an open mind to accept what this show offers while also enjoying what you may not often find in rom-coms.

One of the interesting things I noticed is the production staff involved in the show. It consists of ex-Shaft members such as Shinchi Omata and Kei Haneoka. Director Shinichi Omata manages to capture a unique theatric feeling with his clever approach. For those who are familiar with Shaft, it can at times feel similar in style with his craft. Many scenes in the show has a dynamic transition that is impactful ranging from a character expression to the clever timing of the dialogues. Indeed, a show like this needs careful timing to deliver its dialogues. Even a narrator is here to speak for its plot. The animation quality is also polished with stellar effort and manages to capture the magic of the manga. We’re so lucky to have this adaptation with a golden treatment to be honest. Oh and who can forget the theme songs for the show? The opening contains a spy espionage-theme that matches this show in perfect union. It also contains choreography that shows the mind game themes without holding back. Simply put, it’s mesmerizing. Similarly, the ED theme songs are decorated with colorful aesthetics. There’s even one particular episode that had Chika perform her own ED theme because that’s just how damn good this show is.

I love the manga and the anime gave me a similar sensation. Sure, not all the chapters were adapted but that’s not the point at all. It managed to be rise above mediocrity of rom-coms by appealing to a variety of story gimmicks. The characters manages to deliver their lines like a theatric play filled with charisma and talent. While the story can feel repetitive at times, it’s thanks to the heartfilled humor that will always get you engaged. Kaguya-sama sets a gold standard for a romantic comedy that’s so much more than just confessing love.

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