Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai: First Kiss wa Owaranai

After their first kiss, Kaguya Shinomiya and Miyuki Shirogane are left unsure where their relationship stands. The troubling uncertainty of whether they could be considered an official couple unleashes newfound problems as both Kaguya and Shirogane struggle to sort out their feelings.

While the lovestruck student council officers fret, the Christmas season rolls around, and romance is in the air. In the face of widespread tenderness, Kaguya and Shirogane must endure their affectionate battle of wits once more. Should they reconcile their feelings for one another, they may find themselves within reach of what they have both been longing for so long: true love.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Adaptation:	Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai: Tensai-tachi no Renai Zunousen
Prequel:	Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai: Ultra Romantic

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Characters & Voice Actors

Shinomiya, Kaguya

Main

Koga, Aoi
Japanese

Shirogane, Miyuki

Main

Furukawa, Makoto
Japanese

Ishigami, Yuu

Supporting

Suzuki, Ryouta
Japanese

Fujiwara, Chika

Supporting

Kohara, Konomi
Japanese

Hayasaka, Ai

Supporting

Hanamori, Yumiri
Japanese

Iino, Miko

Supporting

Tomita, Miyu
Japanese

Shirogane, Kei

Supporting

Suzushiro, Sayumi
Japanese

Shirogane, Father

Supporting

Koyasu, Takehito
Japanese

Narrator

Supporting

Aoyama, Yutaka
Japanese

Shijou, Maki

Supporting

Ichinose, Kana
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Hatakeyama, Mamoru

Director, Storyboard

Aketagawa, Jin

Sound Director

Obara, Masakazu

Episode Director, Storyboard

Kitamura, Shoutarou

Episode Director, Storyboard

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Opening Theme

"Love is Show" by Masayuki Suzuki feat. Reni Takagi (高城れに)

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Ending Theme

"heart notes" by 鈴木愛理

Reviews

Dec 20, 2022

Natsuki_SanJuan

Recommended

*spoilers in marked section*

Have you ever thought if Kaguya-sama is pure romance rather than so much comedy?

Behold! The most beautiful and romantic movie of the year. This is the greatest story of Kaguya-sama has been told. The epic conclusion to the geniuses' war of hearts and minds since the first season aired in 2019. Ending the war once and for all in this merry Christmas gift offering from A-1 Pictures, Kaguya-sama ~ First Kiss wa Owaranai ~!

After receiving a massive disappointment from the outrageous uLtrA RoMantiCC, I felt angry with this show because it left me with a bitter taste since I’m a fan of ...

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Feb 22, 2023

exviroan

Mixed Feelings

Well-written

Until now the anime's production earned a reputation of making miracles come true. It was impressive how much of a well-done adaptation Season 3 was considering the various production hurdles. This 'movie' would look like an even harsher challenge, since the announcement frankly came out of nowhere and it was delivered so quickly after season 3. For the most part, this release looks like another miracle. However, this time there are parts of the adaption that have been lackluster and some that are pretty bad.

I won't go into specifics in order to avoid spoilers. But basically, the movie is mainly adapting an arc of the ... manga that's usually competing for the title of the best arc in the manga. And for the most part, the adaption of that material is quite good. In a previous review I used words like 'perfect' or great. But upon a second rewatch and trying to be more analytical about it. It's not really perfect.

There are things to consider. Although it was advertised as a movie. The animation quality is more like a continuation of what you'd seen in the later episodes of season 3. Not bad at all but not exactly what you'd expect in a silver screen release. This is more of a case of the advertising being confusing. As there are parts of the marketing material that really avoid saying the word 'movie'. The more accurate promotions describe it as a "special advance screening before the TV release".

Another aspect is the pace. These are some of the most content-dense chapters and 96 minutes is a rather tight limit. You could say that as such the number of scenes skipped or shortened is understandable. I don't agree with it. I don't think it needed to be released as a movie, and I certainly don't think it needed to be released as a 96-minute movie that also spends too much time teasing another arc between secondary characteres that was not actually going to be properly developed in the movie. There were many ways to adapt this arc differently and avoid these pacing issues.

But the source content is still incredible and there are still many situations where A1 went above and beyond in the adaption. The two main characters are facing their worst inner demons and have to help each other out in order to continue their romantic story. The previous paragraphs were mostly nitpicks, although really the intention is to fight the common claim that this part is 'perfect' and deserves the highest score.

As for the most troublesome part of this movie, after the main arc is finished, the animation production made the bizare decision of adapting a much-later chapter. The transition from the end of the movie's arc to the later chapter is really jarring. And in order to have some context it has to show scenes from skipped chapters as flashbacks or as short moments. All of this is done in less than 5 minutes. This was simply not the correct way to adapt this chapter. Specially because it is a really pivotal chapter in the manga. From what I could see out of anime-onlies, they either missed that there was a strong message there and would instead focus on the better part of the movie or got completely confused by this scene.

So, "mixed feelings". I think most Kaguya-sama fans will enjoy the way the main arc was adapted and will get their fee fees kicked into overdrive and I can recommend that part. As for the end, my recommendation is to not pay a lot of attention to it if you are anime-only and if you are a manga reader, you might like to leave the theater. We can hope that maybe this is a result of time availability issues and that this thing will be corrected as part of re-cutting this release for TV.

A different cut, either making use of a lot more screen time and giving all the arcs adapted justice or sticking to 96 minutes but avoiding wasting time in parts that don't belong to the main arc would have been truly worthy of 9/10. Add Movie-quality animation to that and we would have a good 11/10.

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Dec 17, 2023

Adnash

Not Recommended

After completing "Kaguya-sama: Love is War - Ultra Romantic", known also as Kaguya-sama: Love is War Season 3, I decided to drop the series. Not that I didn't like through and through. I thought it was okay. I just ceased to be interested in this show enough to continue watching. And yet, months later, after hearing so many times utterly positive opinions about that one arc featured in the movie this spoiler-free review is about, I decided to pick it up and see for myself. It wasn't a wise decision and I sincerely admit I fell into the trap set up by extremely devoted fans ... overhyping their favourite manga's anime adaptation as if it was 8th Wonder of the World.

Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai: First Kiss wa Owaranai fails so hard as a movie. That's the biggest con of it. It's more like a mix of several stories put together, with one or two themes receiving more attention than the others, but not as huge to leave an impression of this movie being actually a movie. Episodic version of this movie is somewhat bearable, even if it feels so much like a set of four special episodes, serving as an extension of the previous season. But hey, this version was created later, no? If I decide to review a movie, I need to treat it as such, because the show that's being reviewed was intended at first to be experienced in that particular format. As I said earlier, this movie fails in encapsulating pretty much most of the elements you'd expect to see while watching a movie.

As for production quality, it was decent. The previous anime adaptations presented already pleasant quality. The movie was no different in this aspect. One would point out that it should've received better animation, because movies, due to various reasons, tend to have animation representing a higher level than regular TV series. That's true, however, TV series already looked alright and all previous seasons were mostly carried by fancy direction and vibrant colours used in the art style. I think it'd be necessary for a movie to go a different route for the sake of being different and going somehow against technical tropes already enjoyed by the majority of Kaguya-sama anime fans.

With similar quality to the previous Kaguya-sama franchise's anime installments come as much positive, as negative things. This movie had everything I disliked about Season 1. Repetitive corny jokes; characters yelling and squeaking most of the time while talking with each other; narrator ruining the flow of this movie even during its objectively best scenes. Yes, I know these elements appear in Seasons 1-3 as well, but at least they present bigger variety and hmm... mature? I think it's a good way to word it. The same joke evolving over the time is alright, but devolution of it, in consequence, resulting in the decrease of overall comedy quality, is something I'm really not a fan of.

So, in conclusion, I did not enjoy watching this movie. It's sad to say, but "The First Kiss That Never Ends" can't be really perceived as a good movie by viewers like me. I'm not a manga reader and I didn't like the previous seasons that much. I expected to watch at least a decent, solid, proper movie. Too bad my expectations weren't met, and I think that as long as you are not a devoted fan of this series, your experience has rather a huge chance to be most likely similar. Maybe a little better, maybe a little worse, but still underwhelming by a huge margin. With having everything written earlier in mind, I just can't recommend it. Not for people who are not devoted fans of this franchise, or who simply wanted to see a cute movie sequel to a series they were once watching. That being said, if you are already a huge fan of this franchise, dear reader, which is of course fine, then I think there's a huge chance that you're gonna actually like it. No matter whether you will decide to watch it in the original, movie format, or in the episodic one. Sadly, I'm not a huge fan of Kaguya-sama series. Not a hater as well. I'm just a regular enjoyer of this series. And I just wanted to see a good movie.

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So is there gonna be any new season after this Rnonsenseguy - Apr 2, 2023	19 replies	by Zynnnsss »» Today, 9:49 AM
Poll: Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai: First Kiss wa Owaranai Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ) Usopp8000 - Dec 18, 2022	216 replies	by watawatashi »» Apr 13, 2:06 PM
A little disappointed official_brown - Oct 17, 2023	32 replies	by Cedric2498 »» Apr 11, 12:02 AM
A good end of the story but was it really? BunnySenpaiii1 - Jan 22	24 replies	by Lockensocke »» Feb 24, 10:21 PM
Ice Kaguya ruins character developement? (movie spoilers) realfifi - Apr 8, 2023	35 replies	by Gator »» Jan 14, 1:25 PM

Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai: First Kiss wa Owaranai

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Shirogane, Father

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