Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai: Ultra Romantic

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]

Shinomiya, Kaguya Main

Koga, Aoi Japanese

Ishigami, Yuu Main

Suzuki, Ryouta Japanese

Fujiwara, Chika Main

Kohara, Konomi Japanese

Shirogane, Miyuki Main

Furukawa, Makoto Japanese

Iino, Miko Main

Tomita, Miyu Japanese

Hayasaka, Ai Supporting

Hanamori, Yumiri Japanese

Shirogane, Kei Supporting

Suzushiro, Sayumi Japanese

Shirogane, Father Supporting

Koyasu, Takehito Japanese

Narrator Supporting

Aoyama, Yutaka Japanese

Shijou, Maki Supporting

Ichinose, Kana Japanese

Maeda, Toshihiro Producer

Negishi, Genki Producer

Ishikawa, Tatsuya Producer

Kikuchi, Yuuichirou Producer

Reviews

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 ... like at the end of this cour, something momentous would happen, and the characters would step away from the status quo, starting potentially a new journey in their lives.

I have to credit mangaka Aka Akasaka’s brilliant storytelling and hysterical comedy in the original work, but I can’t give enough credit to the wonderful work of A-1 Pictures, the animators, and all the staff working on this passion project. The anime brings the manga to life so well, with adaptations shattering all expectations. For example, that rap sequence in Episode 5 this season was one of the best single anime episodes I have ever witnessed, with references that made me shocked. Throughout the series, we’ve seen so many different references, such as the Monogatari series, Dragon Ball, and even Western culture references like A-Ha’s “Take On Me”, and Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody”. Once again, I cannot give enough credit to the staff for coming up with this type of modern masterpiece. What I find most impressive is director Shinichi Omata’s grasp of modern society. He has done his research on what kind of comedy works in this day and age, and it’s not always situational comedy, it’s comedy that harnesses works from other mediums other than anime, which is such a creative spin that borders on comedic genius. Comedy is subjective, and it’s possible that not everyone enjoys this comedy, but for me, it couldn’t have been much better and funnier.

My grading criteria: Story: /25 Art: /10 Music: /10 Characters: /20 Enjoyment /15 Thematic Execution /20

STORY: 22.5/25

The continuation of the antics of the student council. The continuation of Kaguya and Miyuki’s relationship. Similarly to previous seasons, each episode is divided into skits, but this season is a bit less episodic than the rest, because the meat of the season lies in last few episodes focusing on the cultural festival.

I never can get too much of Kaguya and Miyuki’s mind games, and there is no shortage of that this season. It’s not all the same as the previous seasons though, because there are some important developments, and near the end of the school year, Miyuki gets accepted into Stanford University, a renowned school in the United States. That would mean he would be separated from the student council earlier than expected.

The underlying reasons of these mind games and why they never confessed is simple. One, it is scary. Two, they thought they had all the time in the world. When we are in a good place in our lives, with little time constraint, it’s hard to leave the status quo. In fact, it’s scary leaving a comfortable place in our lives. For Kaguya and Miyuki, it would have been comfortable and fun to play their mind games forever, but each person has their own lives and ambitions, and when there is a time constraint, they had to act upon their feelings and get it all out there. It’s really a tale that depicts the different sides of every person, the playful side, the childish side, but also the mature side. It’s a pretty relatable story of one’s growth in high school.

A side story, and one I was very invested in watching, was Ishigami’s story with Tsubame. Ishigami has been one of my favourite characters since the first season, and he has a very intriguing personality, delivering cynical lines now for fantastic comedic relief. Tsubame is the leader of the Cheer club and the organizer for the cultural festival, so naturally, she was pretty popular amongst the students. Ishigami doesn’t come off as a very confident person, so a relationship with him and Tsubame didn’t seem very possible at first, but Ishigami, with some help from Kaguya, was able to take action in search of a date with her. The funny thing about all this, is that this is hypocrisy to the highest degree, in that she’s telling Ishigami to go forward with his ambitions, but she doesn’t want to confess to Miyuki herself. It was honestly very entertaining to watch the twists and turns of this relationship play out.

Overall, there was a lot of development this season for a few characters, not just the main couple, which was a good take on the romcom genre, allowing many characters to shine.

ART: 9.6/10

As I mentioned, this is a passion project made with a lot of love. The animation is vibrant, and always adds to the comedy. It’s a visual feast always, with chaotic animation every episode. I would also love to shout out Vercreek, an 18 year old animator who was the key animator for the Episode 5 ED “My Nonfiction”, which was such eye candy. The regular ED was also very good and colourful, with yet more references, this time, to Kaguya-Hime, and Starship Troopers! Sasuga A-1 Pictures!

MUSIC: 9.5/10

Masayuki Suzuki had yet another wonderful opening in “Giri Giri”, though I do prefer the previous two openings. You can’t have Kaguya-sama without Suzuki though. The two endings were wonderful musically as well, especially “My Nonfiction”, which took rap elements and k-pop elements in a visually appealing ending. The OST is also great, as always.

CHARACTERS: 19.5/20

The main cast of characters bounce off each other very well, for great comedy. The voice actors do a great job, and I bet they had a lot of fun while doing the lines. Aoi Koga is such a great voice actor for Kaguya, killing it yet again, with her excellent range, balancing her dark side and shy side so well! I’ve talked about the characters a lot already, and it’s no surprise that I like every single one of them. I’ll just go over some of the characters I found interesting, besides Kaguya, Miyuki, and Ishigami.

Let’s start with everyone’s favourite comedic character, Chika! I noticed her somewhat lack of screen time in the cultural festival arc, and that made sense, since she’s more of a comedic character. Her running gag this season, similarly to previous seasons, is her being Miyuki’s teacher for many things, and getting PTSD from those experiences. Every time, that type of comedic bit is great, though I think they overly used it this season. Her bubbly personality was still a joy to see.

Next, we have a new character, Maki Shijo. I admit, I found her kind of annoying at first, but her friendship with Ishigami was why I ended up liking her. She has her problems with romance, but she’s able to use that to help Ishigami in his pursuit of romance. She was a wholesome character to watch, and had some great moments.

Lastly, let’s talk about Iino. Her “healing music” made for one of the funniest comedic moments of the season, as it was just so weird, but in a funny way. Her sensitivity to indecency made for an obstacle at times, so maybe she’s the “fan-service police”? Because of her, the fan-service in the show was limited? That’s how I like to see her as.

Great cast of characters that made for awesome comedic moments, while having their own character development in the process.

ENJOYMENT: 15/15

Had so much fun with this series, as I usually do with Kaguya-sama. Always was invested, so I was frustrated with the cliffhangers, but that’s a sign the show made me excited.

THEMATIC EXECUTION: 19.7/20

Basically, all the excellent animation and musical themes helped coalesce the production, and establish drama and suspense. Director Omata’s cinematography and grasp of modern culture and the human condition made for excellent comedy. The romance felt as well paced as ever, never forced.

OVERALL: 95.8/100

Kaguya-sama has been a work of pure love, and it has always been made with great passion. I love works of art like this show that doesn’t rely or flashiness or fight scenes to create suspense, but just relatable romance tales that keep me engaged and excited all the way through. I found that when there was a great episode, I always smiled throughout the end credits, and honestly, this show made my day sometimes. It’s one of the most fun I’ve had with an anime ever, and if anyone ever wants a funny romcom to watch, or even if they’ve never watched anime, this would be near the top of the list for me to recommend. I haven’t poured my heart out this much writing a review, and that’s a testimony to how good this show is. I feel blessed to have been part of this 12 week journey, and to be able to share all my thoughts to you. If you’ve read everything, I truly appreciate it.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Jun 24, 2022

Natsuki_SanJuan

Mixed Feelings

**This review contains some meaty spoilers**

Season 1 was good

Season 2 was great

But Season 3 was Ultra Average or Cliched


Ehh...
...
One of those letdowns I’ve experienced when I mostly watched romantic comedies when I truly let my guard down, and most people said that this will surpass the previous seasons. Mostly said this season will be peak among the rest and they suddenly made the anime only jumped into the hype train, and if their expectations will surpass it. Most of them will say that this is the best. And some of them will say (including me), same (or not) flick like the rest.

As much as I hate to say this, especially I’m a long time fan of this show…

I am already imagined that the ending would be 2 possible scenarios: There will be a confession in the last episode or, by default, they never confess their love to each other (misunderstanding in other words). At the end, I was right, because the last scenario happened in the first part of the season.

I couldn’t emphasize this enough, but the story is just the same. When you watched the first two seasons, the formula or flow of the show is just the same as the others. It goes like this; introduction of the characters, most of the number episodes are full of slapstick comedy fillers that are not irrelevant to the plot, and some sudden serious moments in the last few episodes. I thought this season will be different but it followed the same formula that I mentioned earlier. To be frank, this season is boring, compared to the other seasons. I know it’s mainly a troll comedy but it’s a romance too. I was annoyed with this kind of formula because I don’t know when this show is going to be serious at some point. I don’t know why the author started to pulled those side characters, as they are irrelevant to the main plot. I think he wanted to splitting his attention onto numerous side characters giving us several different generic romances at the same time. Mostly the developments will happen in the last few episodes and it’s lacking, as I expected this season would become grand since manga readers overhyped this. Come on, it’s the third season already. It suffocated me for some reason and the flow of the story is the same all over and over again. I wonder why the chapters from the manga are extremely long because the story has fillers and is mostly stretched out.

Going to the “filler episodes” that I mentioned before, it’s… average. Not unlike the previous seasons, that full of surprises. The quality of the comedy was degraded, since the dialogues are the same as in the previous seasons, and the jokes were overused and felt forced. It’s like they were trying hard to be funny like before but not anymore. The expressions, the punchlines, the vibe, and many more are like from the previous seasons. The segments are still the same but from different situations. The aftermath punchlines from the games were quite more predictable than I expected. In short, the comedy in this show is repetitive as fuck. I think only 100% die-hard fans of this show and new to comedy can laugh to these. The only thing that surprised me was the rap segment. I mean it’s from the same segment when Mama Chika teaches her son, Shirogane to improve his talents and skills. But, the unexpected actual rap battle between the characters was surprising.

As for the “serious romance” that was lacking, due to the lack of episodes for the serious moments, the festival arc was very generic and annoying. It’s like a minimalized version of Rent-A-Girlfriend that Kaguya couldn’t confess to Shirogane, even him, each other due to unexpected reasons. Remember when Shirogane invited Kaguya to enjoy the festival? She thought that if the students see them together, there will be rumors that they are dating. It’s just one of those Kaguya’s habits from the previous seasons, just to intimidate Shirogane. But, so it’s not a right, and is it bad for Shirogane to enjoy the festival too? One of the reasons why I don’t get Kaguya’s motives at all. If I may remember, those two or three episodes of the festival arc, led to a cheesy and predictable “serious moment”, where Shirogane will leave the school to study abroad, that lasted just 1 or 2 episodes. Again, this is the third time that they used the same formula from the previous seasons. That last episode lasted an hour and it was pretty rushed than the manga. The pacing was fast, I think and they condensed those 10-15 chapters, I think into an hour, heck it’s 45 mins if you exclude the commercials. At the part where this mysterious thief showed up, I predicted that was one of Shirogane's schemes. Well, the legend of giving hearts was the catalyst for Shirogane to come up with a plan to confess to Kaguya. I don’t know if is it just me because I watched too many romance shows and films, and this kind of scheme was pretty obvious. The dialogues were half-baked and didn’t reach the point of the “serious” moment. It’s pretty cringe to be exact. I really hate the forced drama in this show. Of all the seasons I've watched, the drama in this season was all over the place. It shouldn't be here in the first place because there's no room in this show for a drama. It didn't made fucking sense at all. The strengths of this show were in its hilarious and unique premise, but it excelled as a comedy that satirized romance tropes, not as an actual romance. From being a unique school comedy to an unfocused mess of a generic school romance anime. And heck, this is one of those failed attempts of romance. The part when Shirogane invited Kaguya to join him at Standford was pretty obvious. I mean they are both geniuses for fuck sake so there’s no way that it’ll not happen. They didn’t confess to each other at the end, and the whole thing ended with a ridonkeylous kiss. And the bad thing was, they censored it for no fucking reason. Remember, a kiss has different meanings. Overall, all the “serious” stuff, in the end, was cliched, forced, half-baked, and predictable. It was a beautiful moment, but still a generic melodramatic romance. If you want a truly romcom anime that ended with a romantic kiss, go and watch Maid-sama. It's more of a romcom than this.

The characters are still the same. For this season, they developed due to their inspiration for their crushes. The main characters, Shirogane and Kaguya, were pretty developed. They set aside their pride to conceal their feelings and fought with each other if who’s the one would confess first. As for the other characters, they are still funny, likable, and absurd as ever, and that’s it. They are still the same as the previous seasons.

As for the animation, it’s still the same and nothing to be expected about. I’ve seen some panels and scenes where the quality degraded. I know that the charm from the manga was different from the anime because the expressions from the manga were dark and well expressed than the anime. As for the sound, it is also still the same. Although I had problems with the OP. The OP from this season was pretty weak and I like from the previous seasons better. The ED was okay, nothing to be surprised about. The music was still forgettable in the end.

Overall, this season was pretty weak than the previous. Honestly, I enjoyed a few of the segments, but the rest were pretty the same. I had a few laughs from some parts of many segments from this season, but I expected something greater quality of the jokes than the previous. The previous seasons are still superior compared to this season. I set my expectations high that this will be different, but in the end, hope seemed to be lost. The serious development was good but honestly, the whole thing could be better. Even if the jokes from this show are new and executed well, it’s still a hit-or-missed comedy in the end.

For some reason, The “Ultra Romantic” from its title was very misleading. The whole season isn’t ultra-romantic and it should never be.

Story: 5/10
Animation: 7/10
Characters: 6/10
Sound: 6/10
Entertainment factor (Comedy: 3/5, Romance: 2/5): 5/10
Enjoyment: 6/10
Score: 6/10

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Jun 24, 2022

DailyVoiceClips

Not Recommended

Going into Season 3 of Kaguya-sama I already had high hopes for it to live up to the hype. Both of the previous seasons are 10/10 in my opinion, and I already knew that "you know what" was happening this season from everyone spoiling it in every single Youtube comment section. The expectations for this season was even higher consider that we had to wait TWICE as long between S2/S3 (taking 2 years to make) compared to S1/S2, which was probably because of the pandemic but it was still something to consider as a fan.

So I had no reason to suspect anything would be wrong ... or that this season wouldn't be as enjoyable as I expect from this series.

Unfortunately, Kaguya-sama Season 3 drops the ball hard in terms of what gave the series it's charm.

To get the good out of the way, the animation is still good. They really went the extra mile in certain episodes, and the rest is what you'd expect from the series. Music is still on par, although the opening is probably the weakest of the 3 both in terms of music and visuals but it isn't bad by any means.

Now for the bad...

Kaguya-sama has always nailed it with its comedy. Every single episode in S1 and S2 has me bursting out laughing from how creative and unexpected each joke was. So it brings me no pleasure to say that I barely chuckled throughout Season 3. None of the humor lands, and any attempt at a joke is so sparse now since this season is more focused on the "Storyline" and introducing a bunch of new characters that we've never seen before. It might get a snicker from me every once in a while, but after 24 episodes most of their jokes are either repeats from what they've done before or "Character reacts in a overdramatic way". It just isn't funny and it seems like they've run out of tricks to pull so they resort to trying to tell a dragged out story instead of setting up comedic scenarios to build up actual jokes.

(Vague Spoilers Below)
I'm not going to go through any specific plot point, but like I said before this season is more focused on establishing background characters and less so the main 5 we all know and love. It just feels like a waste because they don't actually develop these characters in any meaningful way. The show states who they are and then constantly repeat whatever cliche they are given before making the audience care about them. I don't even remember any of their names to be quite honest because they were all forgettable. There are exceptions to this, but as a whole focusing on new characters instead of the ones we actually care about was a mistake.

And even our main characters have suddenly turned into the most brainrot versions of themselves. Kaguya will go through a 10 minute monologue about how she will finally put her foot down and do what needs to be done, and then the next episode revert back to that "Boo hoo I want him to confess to me!!!!!!!!!" stick. It was cute when we first saw her, now it's it's unbearable because we already gone through her "Okay, I will finally confess" character development multiple times already. Iino barely does anything in this season, Ishigami goes from being an absolute chad to just a romance foil for Kaguya, Fujiwara barely shows up period and doesn't have her happy-go-lucky personality anymore instead just being straight up stupid at times. Shirogane is the only one that acts like he's supposed to, but he alone can't carry the entire show.

But my biggest complaint is how dragged out this show has become. In the previous seasons, you didn't really care if Shirogane and Kaguya confessed or not. The fun was seeing how the two tried to weasel a confession out of the other, and how their situations often blew up in their face. I personally wasn't ever frustrated when they got close to confessing and then something magical happens to interfere, as long as it was funny and entertaining then it didn't matter. But now that I've said that the show isn't funny anymore, all that we are left with is a painfully long slog till the end to get anything meaningful from this already drawn out game of cat and mouse.

Very often is there zero payoff and without the comedy to make the bait enjoyable, it just becomes around mediocre rom-com where the main characters don't do anything until the very end.

As someone who loved S1 and 2 of this series, Kaguya-Sama Season 3 is a massive disappointment. The comedy is gone. the fun of the "will they/won't they?" is gone. The main characters are gone. And most importantly, the charm is gone.

I hope Season 4 can somehow regain what it lost with this season, but I have zero hopes that the rest of the series will be good again.

3/10

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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