Minor Spoilers below: the show barely has a plot, but just warning you!
The premise of two genius students, Kaguya and Shirogane, at an elite high school using psychological warfare to force the other to confess is so promising. And for the most part the first couple episodes deliver on this premise with dramatic narration, great comedic timing, and snappy animation. Taking the mental gymnastics present in Death Note, Kakegurui, and other "psychological" shows and applying them to something as mundane as high school romance seems like a brilliant commentary on teenage melodrama while providing an effective subtext about the importance of emotional vulnerability.
If the show had ended some 5 episodes in I might have given it an 8 honestly, but by the mid-point of the season this concept feels like beating a dead horse. The initial enjoyment and comedic spectacle of their relationship quickly loses its luster and side characters like Chika and Ishigami's one-note personalities can only go so far.
What were once battles of wit that involved thought on behalf of both our protagonists became just sloppy unclear conflicts. At the end of each section of an episode it seemed like the narrator just arbitrarily chose who won or even what the conflict was in the first place. The other issue this causes is that Kaguya and Shirogane begin the series seemingly aware that the other likes them and using these battles to encourage the other to confess. By the end of the season the two have been drained of all their confidence and now barely have faith that the other likes them.
Don't get me wrong I appreciate the subtext that these two characters are not actually confident about love, or flirting, or even comfortable with themselves as people. When all the subtlety of this concept is drained away and we see our protagonists crying in their rooms about each other it seems like we have completely abandoned anything that made this show unique or funny or intriguing. What began as a show about a battle of wits with a subtext of teenage insecurity ends as any other run of the mill romance anime that ends with all the characters coming together to watch the summer fireworks. If this were anymore cliché, we would have had the fireworks drowning out Shirogane's confession.
I really, really wanted to love this show I think the concept behind it and the subtext it creates are a brilliant idea, but at the end of the day the show leans so far into its subtext of repressed emotions that it just becomes a generic anime romcom. Why was it important that they go to an elite school? Why does it matter that Kaguya is extremely wealthy? How does Shirogane deal with the insecurity of being a "commoner?" All of these elements, including the show's selling point, that could have given the show and its comedy some depth are abandoned. At the end of the season we have Kaguya reaffirming her goal from the first episode to make Shirogane confess and it feels like groundhog day. This show has so much potential and it makes me sad to see it squandered. I really hope season 2 managed to turn things around.
