Kaguya sama wa kokurasetai season 2 is the disappointment of the season. It has its ups and downs, the ups being the final three episodes, and the downs being the rest of the season. Only the final three episodes provide any sense of progression, be it for the characters or for the plot. Ishigami’s long awaited character arc was freaking fantastic, but the same can’t be said about the other characters'.
Even after 24 episodes have aired, many of the characters are as bland as they were in the first episode of the first season. I was able to overlook this in season 1, because I
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don’t expect the author to be able to completely characterize and develop the personalities of four main characters in the span of 12 episodes, but I do expect that, or at least half of that, to happen within 24 episodes. If I don’t even know or understand the characters, and if I’m not even the least bit acquainted with them, how can you even expect me to give two shits about their romantic feelings for each other?
All the female characters (and I do mean all) are basically reskinned versions of various “-deres”. Kaguya is a tsun-dere, Hayasaka is a kuu-dere, Iino Miko is a baka-dere and Chika is an annoying-dere. The female characters have no personalities of their own, but have inherited their dispositions, if you can even call them that, from stereotypes. Chika’s character is just to be “cute”; I prefer the phrase obnoxiously irritating but whatever. The entirety of Kaguya’s character revolves around Shirogane; if we were to remove Shirogane from her life all that would be left is an empty husk of a high school girl. Indeed, if this is what the anime intended for her character to be, then I would’ve had no qualms with that, but that is definitely not the case. She’s supposed to be one of the leads, and all we know about her is that she loves Miyuki and has daddy issues. Do we know what caused her daddy issues after two cours? Nope.
Hayasaka has been Kaguya’s maid since her childhood, and that’s her character done for the series. I did feel myself liking Miko initially when she was introduced, because she was actually given a purpose, a purpose that wasn’t relied upon any other character, until that very purpose was daddy-daddy-dooed into oblivion. She was an interesting character and her struggles – public speaking and isolation – were well established. These are complications that I’m sure most of us could related to at some point in our lives. I was invested. I wanted a resolution for her character, not some sort of catharsis but something that would be satisfying and relatable, but all we got was a 5-minute scene where she overcomes it all through nakama power. I wish I was making this up.
A small pep talk from Shirogane is all it takes for her to overbear her fear of public speaking, fear that has cultivated in her mind since her elementary school days, and all it takes for her to overcome it is a debate about why boys in their school should shave their heads in order to conform uniformity. Yeah, BS.
That episode made me question something. Does this show want to be a comedy with serious moments, or does it want to be a serious show with comedic skits; because neither of the two seem to fit the show’s agenda, yet the show still tries its hardest to juggle the two topics. The comedy is more or less hit or miss. The jokes are predictable, 90% of them rely on some sort of misunderstanding between the characters, and frankly, though not a chore to watch, were a bit out of place at times. The joke about Shirogane being not very good at volleyball, and Chika having to teach him tirelessly worked in Season 1, but here that very same joke is repeated two different times; once with singing, and once with dancing.
There would be a moment or two where it feels like the show is actually trying to progress the characters’ relations, but then out of nowhere S Y K E, nothing happens because someone walks in on them.
I can’t go on berating the show as it does have some actual good humour. For example, my favorite in this season is when Kaguya, Ishigami and Shirogane are in a Shoujo manga parody. Now that was hilarious. Taking an already oversaturated genre and saturating it even more created some hysterical moments.
The actual witty comedic timings of the first season were lost somewhere and almost all the comedic moments in this cour are either forced, or mountains made out of molehills. For example, Shirogane approaches Kaguya in front of her classmates and explicitly asks her to PREPARE A SPEECH FOR THE STUDENT COUNCIL PRESIDENT’S ELECTION, but somehow the absolute donuts in the supposedly prestigious school for elites, mistake that for a confession.
The male main characters, are what carry the show because they actually have emotions and act like friends. The show WANTS us to believe that the main quad are friends but shows nothing to instate said relationship between the characters. Let me give you a rundown of how the characters treat each other –
1. Kauguya, with
a) Shirogane – lovey dovey
b) Ishigami – same joke about her being a cold af devil is repeated a million times
c) Chika – considers her a cancer to society and then immediately does a 180 and suddenly she’s her bff
Chika is the same with everyone because she’s got no personality. Shirogane and Ishigami are the only ones who show some sort of realism in their emotions. I know that it’s an anime and all and it doesn’t need to be that realistic, but what gets on my nerves is that the show tries to conceal the lack of depth in the characters and tries to swindle the viewer, using poorly constructed recurring jokes, into thinking that maybe the characters aren’t just ink droplets on a piece of paper.
There’s a scene in this season where the Student Council is disbanded and the characters may never get to spend much time together, but the only thing I could think about is how much I don’t give a shit. The author tries to employ various techniques in order for the viewer to feel sad, which include but are not limited to – crying characters, other characters joining in on the crying, walking into the sunset and more crying. The characters also keep reiterating about how “nostalgic” the past year was as if to convince the viewer to feel the same. If you need to explicitly ask the viewer to have a poignant feeling during a scene, then you need to redo that entire part from scratch.
Show, don’t tell. That’s one of the main philosophies in writing, but unfortunately the show believes in “Tell, don’t show”.
We are TOLD that Kaguya worked the hardest to defend Ishigami, even though we are SHOWN that Shirogane was the one to pull Ishigami out of his “darkness”.
We are TOLD how Kaguya planned something, but we’re never SHOWN how or when she did it. For example, we are told, through Hayasaka, that Kaguya planned for two of the students to go to different schools after they graduated from middle school, only for Kaguya to later state “masaka, I am not that cold”. Is this the author’s way of building up Kaguya? Or is this the author just trying to give Kaguya’s character some edginess? Because, neither of them particularly worked.
The highlight of this season definitely was the handling of Ishigami’s character. The way his character arc was structured is praiseworthy. All the foreshadowing for his character, in Season 1 and the first half of this season, are finally compiled into two episodes and they were magnificent. The resolution was fantastic, the build up was fantastic, everything was fantastic. If only the author cared as much about the female cast as he does about the male counterpart.
The animation is as fantastic as it was in the season prior to this one. There is a sense of fluidity in the characters’ movements which go hand in hand fantastically with the amazing lighting and directing of the skits. There is always something in motion, be it in the foreground or the background, and if we get a still shot it’s usually accompanied with ambient music and gorgeous lighting. In terms of animation, there are no corners cut and there is almost never a dull moment.
The music is great. I like the new Opening and Ending songs this season, though I wasn’t particularly a fan of the previous season’s OP and ED. The rest of the OST is good.
I said it at the start of the review, I’ll say it again, “Kaguya Sama wa Kokurasetai Season 2 is a disappointment”. It has its highs sure, but the time used up in the detours it takes and the meandering it does in order to reach said highs, could’ve and should’ve been used more deftly.
Alternative Titles
Synonyms: Kaguya Wants to be Confessed To: The Geniuses' War of Love and Brains 2nd Season, Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai: Tensai-tachi no Renai Zunousen 2nd Season, Kaguya-sama: Love is War 2nd Season
Japanese: かぐや様は告らせたい?~天才たちの恋愛頭脳戦~
More titlesInformation
Type:
TV
Episodes:
12
Status:
Finished Airing
Aired:
Apr 11, 2020 to Jun 27, 2020
Premiered:
Spring 2020
Broadcast:
Saturdays at 23:30 (JST)
Licensors:
Aniplex of America
Studios:
A-1 Pictures
Source:
Manga
Genre:
Comedy
Demographic:
Seinen
Duration:
24 min. per ep.
Rating:
PG-13 - Teens 13 or older
Statistics
Ranked:
#772
2
based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.
Popularity:
#97
Members:
1,343,290
Favorites:
18,800
Available AtResourcesStreaming Platforms | Reviews
Filtered Results: 204 / 214
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Your Feelings Categories Jun 27, 2020
Kaguya sama wa kokurasetai season 2 is the disappointment of the season. It has its ups and downs, the ups being the final three episodes, and the downs being the rest of the season. Only the final three episodes provide any sense of progression, be it for the characters or for the plot. Ishigami’s long awaited character arc was freaking fantastic, but the same can’t be said about the other characters'.
Even after 24 episodes have aired, many of the characters are as bland as they were in the first episode of the first season. I was able to overlook this in season 1, because I ... Jun 27, 2020
If someone shits on Kaguya-sama in front of me, I have only one reply for them. “Urusai, baaka!”
Kaguya-sama: Love is War was a great show and one of my favorites of the year 2019. It had an entertaining cast of main characters, a group of just as amusing side characters that made an appearance every now and then, and to freshen things up, a simple yet compelling tale about two geniuses trying to outwit each other in a totally contrasting way to Light and L from Death Note, with top tier comedy to top it all off. It had certain elements that we’d previously seen ... May 2, 2020
No spoilers: I will only discuss what has been covered already. I will keep this short.
Kaguya-Sama is back to bless us with great writing, hilarious moments and hijinx this spring season. As a manga reader, I can assure you that the content will improve from here on out, not like the first season is bad. Story: 9 -The story is very simple, whoever confesses first loses and Shirogane and Shinomiya have immense pride in having the other confess first. But this season, we noticed how closer they've gotten with various events going on, like the birthday arc, the election arc etc. There has been an on ... May 2, 2020
Love is war is not just a very good comedy it is something more.
Nowadays when we get a comedy almost every season there are very few anime that make themselves memorable even after they ended. The genre is oversaturated and the quality just does not seem to be there. Gladly this is not the case with Kaguya-sama: Love is War. We have already been blessed with what was a formidable first season, and the second one raises the bar even higher. The small skits and jokes are on par with the likes of Gintama, Daily Lives of High School Boys and ... Jun 27, 2020
Are you ready to be graced by the charming Kaguya that we all got to know? Want about how much Miyuki has grown since the first season? Want to know how much love this season 2 gives to the fans? I got good news for you because Kaguya-sama Season 2 leaves no shortage for high expectations. You came to this sequel so be prepare for enlightenment by a show that reaches even greater heightss.
The alluring appeal of Kaguya-sama comes from an exquisite colorful cast of characters. From the start, we should know this isn’t just a typical rom-com with lovey-dovey episodes. Rather than just producing ... May 2, 2020
“This is the way the world ends, not with a bang but a whimper.” ~ T.S. Eliot.
After the train-wreck of a mess the first season was, comes the Plane-wreck - KAGUYA SAMA: LOVE IS WAR Season 2 Make no mistake this season will advertise you into watching it with evolved comedy. but mixed with same inherent problems which existed from the season 1 Even before the show starts, comes the cretin narrator. I don't know why we even need one. This anime tries to mug it's own audience with blatant dis-ingenuity which is so goddamn hilarious (The only humorous thing about this anime). The whole concept is ... May 2, 2020
Competition between Kaguya and Shirogane has continued. There aren't many anime that have love stories like Kaguya-sama: Love is War. It takes the theme of the love story of anyone who falls in love first so the person who falls in love is the one who loses. This love story is quite unique because each character uses their brains to develop strategies so they can make their opponents feel in love with the winner. The winners themselves are determined in each chapter in the episode and sometimes the results cannot be predicted. Each of the two main gets their turn to tell the plan but
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May 3, 2020
I cannot believe that this anime has become so popular, I mean, Why the heck do you like it? The characters are flat, and they hardly have any charisma; besides, they are actually very inconsistent with their characterization, the main couple is portrayed as model students who are too mature for their ages, and at the same time, they act like childish fools throughout all the anime. No! It's not like, Kare Kano; where the main couple PRETENDS and TRIED to be perfect, here, the author tries to make me feel that they are model students and immature teenagers AT THE SAME TIME, the backstory
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Jun 27, 2020
[Minor "spoilers" might be included here: they're not too important and merely references, just a warning for people who don't want to know absolutely anything]
Kaguya-sama: Love is War is an anime that came out during Winter 2019 and since then, it has become quite a very popular and well-received series. I'm not going to lie, I liked the first season a lot when it first came out, but my tastes towards anime and things as a whole has changed a lot since that period, in fact I don't like the first season that much anymore, so my negative perspective towards this new one would probably ... Jun 27, 2020
This show is like my migraines.
This is one of those anime which is so shallow as to be describable by a single word, and in this case, that word is “noise.” Never before has there been an anime which does so much visually which is this artistically lifeless and falls into this many archetypical trappings. Despite all the cutesy little nods and prods found in its (largely unanimated) on-screen jokes and jabs, every visual detail it overwhelms you with can hardly be called thoughtful and invariably boils down to a bunch of visual noise meaning nothing because nothing is actually happening intellectually, thematically, or—if you ... May 2, 2020
What does a rom-com need? This may be a weird question but hear me out.
So many rom-coms foucs on plot twists and weird situations, but the most important thing that distinguishings a good rom-com from a great one is really the characters. If the characters aren't likeable the series breaks. And this why Kaguya sama works so well. This season of Kaguya-sama is were it all starts coming togther- things have changed from last season. The characters starts being more serious, there is more delvopment, and shirgone and kaguya really starts considering conffesing. That's the thing that makes kaguya-sama special: it changes. Sure, small things happen ... Jun 27, 2020
Kaguya Sama s2 is everything that we got in season 1, but 100x better. Simply put, it’s one of the best adaptations I’ve ever seen.
Admittedly, season one of Kaguya sama was pretty meh to me. It definitely had some highlights like the final arc, but for large swaths of it, I felt bored. Kaguya-sama season 2 represents a total shift for me. The series keeps the same comedy that it had during the first season, but there’s definitely a lot more serious moments this time around. Every episode gripped me and went by quickly, to the point where I still don’t know how the ... May 2, 2020
* Non-Manga Reader Review*
After the massive success of the first season. It was inevitable that a season 2 was coming. The first season has many things going for it, a unique premise, high production quality, and fantastic voice acting. But what made this show into the massive success that it was, were the memes. This show has many clips and moments that can easily be made into memes, mostly coming from Chika. That along with the catchy OP and the Chika dance made the show very popular. It also helps that the show is genuinely great. So, has season 2 lived up to the first ... May 2, 2020
Kaguya-sama season 1 was already a good 9/10 for me, but season 2 is even better than that.
Story 9/10 The story of Kaguya-sama's second season is obviously a continuation of the first season, but after watching the first three episodes of the second season, the entire first season just feels like a introduction to the show. What i'm trying to say is that things really start to get going in this season. The main characters are getting a closer to each other little by little, few new characters get introduced and the side characters get some good development too. Kaguya-sama season 2 just took everything that ... Jun 27, 2020
This season; the boy won't be raised; the cutes lack the hows; Chika doesn't dance. But.. even Haddaway will get to know what tsundere's heart disease is. *Oddly loud Rick whisperer meme* "It's war. He is referring to the war part. Ch [burp].. check the title, it's in there somewhere."
**Disclaimer: Miko is a very capable person and we all love her very much. You may disagree but know that no one's gonna call you a homie where I am from. Without further ado, The first 3 episodes are mediocre. After that Kaguya returns to its track with witty humor and new direction. The author seemed to ... Jun 27, 2020
“Are you having a normie moment?” ~Ishigami Yuu
That's us Kaguya-sama fans to all those not enjoying it. The battle of love between the idiotic geniuses tried to answer the age-old question of "If two tsundere fell in love would they ever find out" is back at it better then ever with season 2. • STORY: 9/10 The story offering a premise so simple anyone can get behind it but captures the attention of the reader with its funny and entertaining mind games which make the viewer wonder if these characters are stupid or genius!? The answer to that only comes out as a "YES" cause it matters little ... Jun 27, 2020
The first season of Kaguya-sama: Love is War was a breakout success. With its over the top direction and comedy along with its cast of well-rounded characters with amazing chemistry, the show became easily one of A-1 Pictures’ best works. On top of that, it was helmed by an acclaimed director of Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu, Shinichi Omata. Not only did he return for a second season, but the show would be adapting material manga fans consider to generally be better than what the first 12 episodes covered. With such lofty expectations, it’s difficult to see how a show would really top itself, at least
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May 12, 2020
It's just top tier.
This is the kind of anime that everyone would enjoy because of the: Comedy which is that kind of comedy that catches you off guard at times and you just cant help but laugh and smirk the whole episode. Story: It's not the most serious story but's it's still a good story people who read the manga know that in the future things will get a lot more serious but i'm gonna leave it at that for now. just know that the story is amazing and will get a lot better(which i thought was not possible but they nailed it) Art: It's just pretty ... Jun 28, 2020
This season kaguya-sama: love is war is the most popular, funniest and most enjoyable title, and although it is true that there was not much competition, the series is as good as many think?, we will know, I will try to make the most complete review possible.
Story The main plot is very mundane and weak, so I will just say that, like other series of its kind, it is just an excuse for history to exist and It will not be relevant until a climax, it must also be said that it is irrelevant because it is not that the series ends only because ... Jun 27, 2020
Me: “Pfft. What’s everybody raving about? This anime is just a generic romcom and isn’t that good at all!”
Narrator: “He is lying. He’s actually an embarrassingly huge Kaguya-sama: Love is War fanboy and laughs hysterically at just about every joke in the show.” Ok, I can’t hide it, I really enjoy this anime. The 1st season of Love is War wound up being the unquestionable anime of 2019 for me, and I'm pleased to announce that this sequel matches every bit of the quality and charm of its predecessor. What, you don't believe that a simple romcom could possibly be as good as I claim? How ... |