Under the names of Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai, Kaguya Wants to be Confessed To or simply as Kaguya-sama: Love is War 2, director Mamoru Hatakeyama returns to action with his incredible team inside the A-1 Pictures studio to produce a new 12-episode season based on the eponymous manga written and illustrated by the artist Aka Akasaka, which was one of the few series that did not see its premiere time interrupted in the period of April and June of this year. This series had the same production team as in the first season.
Shuchi'in Academy is one of the most prestigious schools in all of Japan, mostly attended by only the children of the wealthiest and most influential families in the nation. Our protagonists are the members of the student council of this school. The vice president, Kaguya Shinomiya, comes from a family that owns one of the largest companies in Japan. Together with the president, Miyuki Shirogane, who by common birth, managed to position himself as a teenage genius with one of the highest degrees in the country. In the time that these two young people have spent together, they have slowly fallen in love with each other but because of their pride they are unable to be the one who takes the step of starting a relationship. In this way both continue with their "mental games" so that the other is the one who confesses his feelings first.
Being a continuation of the series whose main idea is that "lovers are nothing more than adorable idiots" the mind games and the appearance of an episodic series focused on humorous gags are still present in all its exaggerated glory, but at the same time the series between each joke it subtly spins the story about the insecurities, aspirations and the day-to-day life of its characters.
With a subtlety that can make many small details go unnoticed by those who do not pay attention, this is a series that has fun playing with the usual tropes of the medium but at the same time shows love for what they can achieve when they are well implemented, always trying of maintaining a balance between these to allow being ridiculous and dramatic in equal measure, making the scenes and conflicts feel natural, while the situations vary according to the context delivered turning small recurring jokes into cornerstones after some of its most dramatic moments.
If the first season was already a delight to behold thanks to the experiences of Mamoru Hatakeyama (director of Rakugo Shinjuu and responsible for the storyboards of series such as Hidamari Sketch, Madoka Magica or Arakawa Under the Bridge) and his team in what is the visual humor, we are facing a sequel that while respecting the quality of the base material has found enormous confidence to expand the jokes to hilarious levels, what were previously simple minor additions have now passed to complete segments where animation techniques and styles are used to play with the story to the point of being one of the most colorful shows so far this year.
For its part, the soundtrack, although not as striking at first as the incredible visual direction, but it is still an essential element of the enjoyment of this series. Voices, background sounds and in general everything you hear serves to give life to each moment, the series is allowed to use from the usual sweet romantic melodies of a romcom to themes that would not clash in an action story, and there are even moments in where the soundtrack thinks it belongs to the horror genre, all this playing in favor of the humor and charm of the whole experience. Regarding the opening and closing themes, we have the return of the Japanese king of romantic songs, Masayuki Suzuki at the time of giving a memorable opening with "DADDY! DADDY! DO!" which ends in an even more catchy and energetic piece than Love Dramatic already was in season one. For its part, the ending is "Kaze ni Fukarete" by the singer Haruka Fukuhara, which gives a quiet melody with which to end each episode.
Whether or not you are a fan of romantic comedies, Kaguya-sama: Love is War, both as anime or manga seems to me a good way to approach these kinds of stories by mixing recurring elements in a quite funny, light but quite emotional way when it has to be. But speaking of this sequel, we are looking at what it means to be a good sequel. Overflowing with creative passion which manages to put it together with the most ambitious productions of the year without any problem. This is one of those works that I can fully recommend and without any hint of doubts, one of the best romantic comedies of recent times.
