THIS DRIP DON'T QUIT
("Shirogane's sense of drip WAS STUNTED BACK IN 8TH GRADE")
Maki: BURN. MAY THE FIRE CONSUME YOU ALL.
I forgot that her loose end going on with Kashigawa and Tsubasa was somewhat tied up. Kashigawa tells her that she is just as close a friend to her as her boyfriend is to her, or perhaps even closer. I thought that was nice.
But I loved even more is the pity you have to give to Iino, who is alone patrolling the outer ground alone... and then the warmth in your heart that you feel when Ishigami shows up looking for her, and even giving her a taste of the joy which she was the one to bring about. She watches the video which Ishigami took for her, and smiles; and Ishigami looks at her smiling, and smiles himself. I'm not a manga reader so I really know nothing of what happens post-ice-queen-arc. But from what it looks like, they are setting up Ishigami and Iino. I feel like something is going to happen with Tsubame, that it's not going to work out. I personally never thought it was going to work out either. Maybe for awhile, but not for long. I believe that eventually, Ishigami and Iino will see that the ones that they really love, are each other. Maybe. They did kind of set it up in that episode this season early on when Iino's friends state that those who insult each other so much are probably destined to be lovers. Whatever the case is, I don't want either of these two to be alone. Low-key this is my favourite scene of the episode, trumping even the confession (or, no confession?) scene, and is one my favourite scenes of the whole season.... if not my favourite. I'm invested just as much into these two as our two main leads.
Now as for the main event, Shirogane in his own mind states why he wants Kaguya to confess first. It's for a selfish reason, but not the one that you might think. It's one to make him feel like he deserves Kaguya, to close the gap that is between them. In Kaguya's mind however, she also sees a gap, but one that is far different. She is wondering if someone as kind as him would love someone as cold-hearted as her. They both think that the other is too good for them. It goes on for a bit, but ultimately it's all ended with a kiss. With tongue, at that. Nice. The question I have though is: didn't SHIROGANE kind of confess first, with the "these are my feelings for you"? But then Kaguya says the same thing, and then we see later her saying that none of them have actually confessed to the other yet (Hayasaka bewildered wondering why that kiss with tongue wouldn't count). So I guess, until we get the words "I Love You" straight up, there is no actual confession? Alright then. I like how they have evolved from thinking how simply asking for a phone number (an episode from the first season, I think) would count as a confession. Now, a grand gesture that took so much planning, and even asking someone to study abroad with them, doesn't quite count. You need the exact words: "I Love You." Still a bit puzzled, but fair enough, so be it.
With expectations in check instead of through the roof, I enjoyed it quite a bit more this time. Plus I think it was way nicer to binge watch rather than wait week after week. Definitely thought it was funnier this time around. Maybe the first time I was so focused on looking forward to the romance parts that I ignored the humour, which is still top notch. I still think I favour season 2 just a bit more over this one though, as a whole. And season one's "I can't hear the fireworks" ending moment is still my favourite moment of all. Maybe despite all the heart balloons flying in the sky, I still wished for even more impact from a confession that all eyes were looking forward to all this time. But that's just me. It was still done, really freaking well. Will raise my rating from an 8 to a 9. A-1 pictures could only have Kaguya-sama and 86 as their 2 good (really damn good) adaptions have all their other stuff be utter crap, and I'd still love them as an anime studio.)
Watched this in dub from episode 5 and onward, and I recommend you do the same if you choose to re-watch this someday, but right from the start of course. Ian Sinclair's passion as the narrator made it so worth it, along with a lot of other small moments which boosted the humour quite a bit. Will definitely be re-watching it dubbed, if I choose to re-watch from season 1 for a 3rd time, which I probably will. That is, shortly before when and if a season 4 gets announced and starts airing. Does the story go downhill from there? Does Akasaka not know what to do post-confession? Granted, a lot of romance anime don't proceed post-confession, so I'll give him some slack. At least the following ice-queen arc (called the first kiss movie or something like that) is actually really really good, somehow tearing it all down but building it back up stronger, and for me made for a satisfying conclusion should the adaptions end there. Whatever the case, we can be thankful that we got THREE seasons and one movie (or 4 episodes, however you like to see it) of pure and utter class.
9.3/10 |