Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai: Ultra Romantic

Alternative Titles

Synonyms: Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai: Tensai-tachi no Renai Zunousen 3rd Season, Kaguya-sama: Love is War Season 3rd Season

Japanese: かぐや様は告らせたい-ウルトラロマンティック-

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Information

Type: TV

Episodes: 13

Status: Finished Airing

Aired: Apr 9, 2022 to Jun 25, 2022

Premiered: Spring 2022

Broadcast: Saturdays at 00:00 (JST)

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

Licensors: Aniplex of America

Studios: A-1 Pictures

Source: Manga

Genres: Comedy, Suspense

Themes: Psychological, Romantic Subtext, School

Demographic: Seinen

Duration: 23 min. per ep.

Rating: PG-13 - Teens 13 or older

Statistics

Score: 9.12¹ (scored by 342,436 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #2²

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

Popularity: #256

Members: 659,019

Favorites: 24,126

External Links

Official Site, AnimeDB, AnimeNewsNetwork, Wikipedia

Streaming Platforms

Crunchyroll

Funimation

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9.12

Ranked #2Popularity #256Members 659,019

Spring 2022TVA-1 Pictures

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Episodes: /13

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Synopsis

The elite members of Shuchiin Academy's student council continue their competitive day-to-day antics. Council president Miyuki Shirogane clashes daily against vice-president Kaguya Shinomiya, each fighting tooth and nail to trick the other into confessing their romantic love. Kaguya struggles within the strict confines of her wealthy, uptight family, rebelling against her cold default demeanor as she warms to Shirogane and the rest of her friends.

Meanwhile, council treasurer Yuu Ishigami suffers under the weight of his hopeless crush on Tsubame Koyasu, a popular upperclassman who helps to instill a new confidence in him. Miko Iino, the newest student council member, grows closer to the rule-breaking Ishigami while striving to overcome her own authoritarian moral code.

As love further blooms at Shuchiin Academy, the student council officers drag their outsider friends into increasingly comedic conflicts.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Related Anime

Adaptation:	Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai: Tensai-tachi no Renai Zunousen
Prequel:	Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai? Tensai-tachi no Renai Zunousen
Side story:	Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai: Ultra Romantic Teaser PV - Ishigami Yuu wa Kataritai
Sequel:	Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai: First Kiss wa Owaranai

Aoyama, Yutaka
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Omata, Shinichi

Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Aketagawa, Jin

Sound Director

Obara, Masakazu

Episode Director, Storyboard

Kimura, Nobukage

Episode Director, Storyboard

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Opening Theme

"GIRI GIRI feat Suu (GIRI GIRI feat. すぅ)" by Masayuki Suzuki (eps 2-4, 6-8, 10-13)

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Ending Theme

	1: "GIRI GIRI feat Suu (GIRI GIRI feat. すぅ)" by Masayuki Suzuki (eps 1)
	2: "Heart wa Oteage (ハートはお手上げ)" by Airi Suzuki (eps 2-4, 6-13)
	3: "My Nonfiction" by Miyuki Shirogane (Makoto Furukawa) & Chika Fujiwara (Konomi Kohara) (eps 5)

More reviews

Reviews

Jun 24, 2022

RebelPanda

Recommended

Comedy tends to be subjective, as they say. Ultimately, we perceive art as beautiful, exciting, and hilarious. We define the meaning of these words ourselves, and to me, Kaguya-sama: Love is War - Ultra Romantic is subjectively perfect.

The writing in Kaguya-sama remains some of the sharpest on television, balancing physical humor with hysterical scenarios. The jokes are never easy or predictable, and the comedy emerges from a finely-tuned combination of unpredictable narrative turns and how much we know these characters after the first two seasons. Its perfection is partly thanks to the hilarious cast of loveable characters and production. Few modern anime directors bring as ... much creative inspiration as Shinichi Omata has to all three seasons. The endless supply of memorable frames, slick editing, and symbolic imagery make it a gloriously ambitious anime production.

Kaguya and Miyuki's worlds may seem like their own, filled with more spontaneous fantasies and lovesick visions than ever, but the real people in the student council surrounding them bring them back to Earth. Hayasaka and Kei ground Kaguya and Miyuki in reality respectively when needed. Their emotional support is endearing, and Hayasaka mainly develops as a multi-faceted individual. These supportive friends, and the series, recognize the mistakes Kaguya and Miyuki make along the way inherent in the relationship they so desperately desire. We know their end game is becoming a couple without admitting they're both emotionally vulnerable. We just don't know how they'll get there, and the journey is a fantastic achievement alone. Additionally, all five of the leads are balanced, and the writers seem even more confident in these characters than they did in the first two seasons.

Whether it's Miyuki's struggle to learn a new skill with the help of Chika or Ishigami's awkwardness causing embarrassment, the humor feels in line with what we expect from this quintet and yet impossible to see coming at the same time. It's fresh yet consistent, which is common in the best comedies—I laugh because the jokes fit the characters I know so well, and yet I still can't see the punchlines coming. The leading voice actors embody their roles, bringing so much life and love to their counterparts. It's one of the best comedy ensembles in anime, realized with the show's trademark blend of raw emotions and ridiculous, over-the-top humor. Especially Iino Miko, who integrates into the group as if she's always been there after last season's election arc. My personal favorite side character Ishigami undergoes more progression, grappling with his own relatably awkward romantic aspirations throughout the season. Even the lesser-known secondary players have a handful of interesting, character-driven conflicts.

What they'll do when they hopefully become a couple is secondary to their continued ego-fueled hilarious hijinks, but let's say things progress in a natural and totally satisfying direction. Occasionally the show rides the line between recognizing what they need to do and their obliviousness to their emotions, and its equal parts cringe-worthy and earnest. I loved relating to these kids struggling to overcome their inner feelings of inadequacy to believe they're worth being loved. Without spoiling anything, a moment in the third episode shocks Kaguya into self-awareness, a trend continuing throughout the season for both leads. These are refreshing, much-needed moments of clarity in what had been a desperate struggle to gain each other's affection, but it also showcases how everything would be if their egos simply got out of their way. Luckily, they fight through their turmoil with sheer will and supportive friends.

The dynamite opening and ending themes are up to par with the series' high standards; there's even a special ending credits song that recaptures the spark the original one did all those years ago. Though they reuse the original soundtrack of the previous seasons, the editing and audio mixing make it fresh and suited to each scene.

The slow footsteps towards advancing every relationship in Kaguya-sama are beautifully measured and carefully considered. The show is excellent at taking each character to the brink of a romantic epiphany, but it simultaneously leaves room for the illusion of idealized love to fall apart when human nature believably prevents it. If Ultra Romantic was Kaguya-sama's swan song, it certainly has all the qualities of the perfect finale of this long-lasting love affair. It has been an incredible journey I won't soon forget. I can't wait to see what comes next for these characters I've become invested in over the past four years.

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Jun 24, 2022

SingleH

Not Recommended

What’s that meme about insanity? Like how the definition of “insanity” is doing the exact same thing over and over again expecting a different result? I’m not particularly up to date on internet humor, so I may very well be misremembering it, but either way, I’m definitely going insane. The universe keeps trying to tell me no one wants to hear me rag on this show, and I keep refusing to listen. The show is far too beloved at this point, and the only people still watching it are fans who have been watching since season one and now have a vested interest in being ... biased in its favor. Considering how repetitive this show is and how little anything in it has changed, any criticism anyone was ever going to make about it has already been made, and everyone has already decided where they stand. However, for some fucking reason, I just keep trying. I refuse to accept the suggestion that my complaints are as trivial as everyone says they are. For what it’s worth, I promise I’ll be nicer this time. I rewatched the entire series to review this season, and I’ve truly softened up to it over time, if only enough to give it a four.

My previous gripes had always been with how disingenuous the premise was—with how what the series presents is not a recipe for a healthy relationship—but looking back on it, I’ve realized how foolish it must’ve seemed to take the show THAT seriously. I mean, I still stand by everything I’ve said in the past, but it’s not like anyone is legitimately looking toward Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai for tangible relationship advice, so it was stupid of me to tackle it from that perspective in the first place. All people really get out of this show is cute moments and funny jokes, and they’re right to do so, but even then, I think the series still fails to achieve anything even close to the greatness which its mountains of praise would lead one to believe. Anything I could say on this point would be subject to intense subjectivity, as comedy always is, but suffice it to say I find this series to be completely and utterly unfunny, because what are we supposed to be laughing at here? The same jokes we’ve been laughing at—or at least the same jokes that some of us have been laughing at—for three seasons straight?

This show has begun suffering from an issue many long-running manga adaptations suffer from, but an issue which, lately, I think has been best exemplified by Re:Zero. I call it the Otto Effect. The Otto Effect is what happens when a popular show exhausts its original premise and has to expand the scope of its scenarios and characters to unnaturally manufacture something “new” to watch. If you want to see a downright surgical example of this, watch Eromanga Sensei. It begins as a show about two people standing in a room talking, but you can’t really get much milage out of that, can you? So after the first few episodes, the author realizes he can’t keep going with such an uninteresting premise and such shallow main characters, so he confronts the main conflict (the incestuous love story between the step-brother and sister), uses a retarded misunderstanding to put a pin in their relationship so the series has an excuse to not just end there, and then he opens the flood gates, inundating us with new characters and new drama, random arcs with sudden and empty goals, and endless meandering.

Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai is that: endless meandering. If you like the side characters, then sidelining the main cast and keeping their relationship on hold should be fine, but I kindly ask that you please appreciate that in the eyes of some, this formula just sucks. It still feels like it's dying to be a SHAFT show, but it hasn’t the writing talent nor directorial talent to even warrant the comparison. If I’m going to make one anyway, though, it would be that it feels like one of the later seasons of Monogatari, after Shinbou, Oishi, and even Itamura had all functionally left the project, and it was clear all the books they were adapting at that point were being treated as jokes by NISIOISIN himself. The name “Zoku Owarimonogatari” comes to mind, literally meaning “The End Continued” [insert Attack on Titan: The Final Final Final Season memes here]. It also still seems to think all you need to do to be funny is have one of your characters scream like an autistic light novel protagonist, have your narrator explain what’s happening in an exaggerated voice, or add speed lines and “bazinga!” text on screen.

Speaking of speed lines, by far my biggest issue with the show is how janky and cheap it looks. The first few cuts of the new season are reused animation from season two’s two-year-old finale which itself included reused cuts from season one’s then-one-year-old, now-three-year-old OP. They’ll put in occasional effort for some visual gags, but most of the time, the show just looks shoddy. This is of course everyone’s main gripe with A1 shows. Since they hire on such random people for such sporadic freelance work, they can have an entire episode that looks like shit, but there will be one moment that’s suddenly well-animated. Someone will simply walk across a room or do something with their hands and look really good for a second, and you feel like you’re having a stroke or something. The one thing they actually put serious effort into is those special EDs they do, but even they just make you say, “Oh. That’s cool. Next time, please put that effort into the actual show.” Plus, the cynical bitch in me can’t help but feel like they’re only included for the sake of going viral again à la Chika Dance.

To try to close this review off with some positives and maybe establish a bit of crossover, I’m happy to say that after rewatching the entire series, I’ve managed to come away from the experience with favorite characters, a small handful of memorable jokes, and things I liked. After rewatching season two, for example, I appreciate why so much of the young, male audience identifies with Ishigami so much, and I found myself personally enjoying Iino as an addition to the cast in seasons two and three, because her chemistry with Kaguya seems much more real than Chika’s one-note airhead personality bouncing off Kaguya’s one-note tsundere personality. Generally, I think the issues the show suffers from on paper are more a problem with its sense of humor and its repetitive archetypes than with its actual ideas or dialogue. After all, I do have to admit, after overcoming the old issues I had with the depiction of their relationship, even I can’t deny that, after a few drinks, this shitty looking, unfunny, repetitive slog can actually, sometimes, be kind of endearing. However, to reach back to the Monogatari comparison from earlier, it must be said that when a show takes three seasons to reach the point that another far better written, far better directed, and far better animated show reached in five tightly-paced episodes, one has to wonder—even if they liked the show and were satisfied by the eventual progress—just how much of their time had been wasted.

Thank you for reading.

Open

Jun 24, 2022

Mcsuper

Recommended

*Potential spoilers below

Love is complicated, scary, fleeting, but certainly not war. For Kaguya and Miyuki, though, it is. For months upon months, they have played this game where whoever confesses first loses, having lots of fun along the way, but when faced with a time constraint, was all this “war” a waste of time? Love doesn’t always wait for us, people come and go, and that’s why people must take advantage of every opportunity to be with those they love.

Watching this third season of Kaguya-sama was like watching the last act of a play, or listening to the last verse of a song. It felt ...

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'Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai' Gets New Anime Project

The 12th and final episode of the Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai: Ultra Romantic (Kaguya-sama: Love is War - Ultra Romantic) television anime announced on Saturday that...read more

Jun 24, 9:34 AM by DatRandomDude | Discuss (50 comments)

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Poll: Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai: Ultra Romantic Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) Naruleach - Apr 2	291 replies	by Ariaylor21 »» Yesterday, 6:48 PM
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Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai: Ultra Romantic

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Shinomiya, Kaguya

Ishigami, Yuu

Fujiwara, Chika

Shirogane, Miyuki

Iino, Miko

Hayasaka, Ai

Shirogane, Kei

Shirogane, Father

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Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai: Ultra Romantic

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