Kaguya-sama Love is War | Nefarious Reviews

Japanese Title: Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai?: Tensai-tachi no Renai Zunousen

Similar: Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun

Ouran High School Host Club

Watched in: Japanese

Genre: Comedy Romance

Length: 12 episodes

Positives:

Even better than season 1
Perfect match of humour, character, and teenage romance
New characters are a great addition
Another brilliant OP

Negatives:

Where is season 3?

(Request an anime for review here.)

Kaguya-sama: Love is War returns for its second season. We get to hang out with one of the most delightful casts of high school characters for another 12 episodes! A student council election, a sports festival, stargazing, and shopping trips are but a few of the adventures Miyuki and Kaguya will go on in their mission to break the other into a confession of love.

What an excellent follow up to the introductory season. Comedy is the most difficult genre to review. Explaining the joke is the death of comedy. There are only so many ways I can say, “It’s hilarious,” (or “It’s just not funny,” for a bad comedy). However, I can pinpoint why this anime comedy hit the mark with me, as a few have done in the past.

The secret is in the characters more than the humour.

I’m sure if you thought for a moment, you would recall several anime/films/TV shows that made you laugh at the time, yet didn’t stick with you. Hell, you may remember laughing but not what made you laugh.

For me, what makes a comedy have a lasting impression is my liking of the characters and how well the humour uses them to craft and deliver jokes. More specifically, the humour needs to fit the characters. When Sagara blows up a classroom in Full Metal Panic because he suspects a student’s backpack is a bomb, it works because it fits his personality. It’s what he would do. And that’s hilarious. So when Miyuki and Kaguya sit down to play the game of life – as created by Fujiwara – with the rest of the student council, it makes sense that Kaguya would have a mental breakdown after Miyuki draws the marriage card, which ties him to Fujiwara. It’s only a game. Not to Kaguya though.

And that’s hilarious.

Combing complex characters with humour derived from their personalities is the magic formula to a great comedy. Certainly, you want a sharp script and perfect timing as well.

For the inverse, think about those dime-a-dozen harem comedies. Characters there have no real personality. They’re clichés of the genre. When the pervy guy cracks a pervy joke, you don’t see him making you [possibly] laugh. The cliché of his character type makes the joke. If you can transplant all humour from Harem Protagonist X to Harem Protagonists A through W, then you don’t have a real character. Just a mouthpiece for jokes. There’s a reason nobody can tells Bill Burr’s stories better than Bill Burr can. It’s all in the personality that informs the humour.

Ever notice how the anime clichés like the tripping over, the boob grab, the punch to the face of misunderstanding, etc. is rarely funny, and yet there is the occasional instance where it kills you into breathless laughter? It’s the same joke, but that slight shift in shaping it to fit the characters – fit the scene – makes all the difference. Actual thought went into the joke and it wasn’t included simply because it’s an anime and all anime must have these same five jokes. Konosuba is a good case of taking the typical and making it novel.

A simple example that encapsulates all of what I’m saying is in the first episode’s coffee scene of Love is War 2. Kaguya, with the help of her faithful assistant, gives Miyuki decaffeinated coffee to have him fall asleep. He’s that sleep deprived from all his work as the best student and council president that he falls asleep instantly without his coffee on the dot. Great moment. Replace him with any other character in the show for this situation and the joke is no longer funny – it’s “lol random”. When his head falls onto her shoulder, blushing her into paralysis and halting her plan, the joke works because it’s Kaguya. Swap her with Fujiwara and you’d be left asking, “Where did that come from?” instead of laughing.

I hope I have managed to convey why I find certain comedies better than others.

Beyond the humour, Love is War is a triumph in visual creativity and acting. Too many high school comedies are flatly shot with standard high school environments and framing, as if generated by AI. Love is War is so much fun to watch. A delight to listen to as well. The dynamic range of these actors, able to switch from friendly to arctic in one sentence is perfect. And of course, I cannot forget to mention the inclusion of another great OP, which in itself is a mini episode.

I said in my review for season 1 that Love is War needed just a little more to elevate itself to the ranks of all-time anime comedy greats. It has succeeded.

Overall Quality – Very High

Recommendation: Watch it. Kaguya-sama: Love is War only got better with season 2 and has established itself as an all-time great of anime comedy.

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Awards: (hover over each award to see descriptions; click award for more recipients)

Positive:

Negative: None

Japanese Title: Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai: Tensai-tachi no Renai Zunousen

Similar: Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun

Maid-sama

Skilled Teaser Takagi

Watched in: Japanese

Genre: Romance Comedy

Length: 12 episodes

Positives:

All characters are great fun
Visual creativity makes paying attention worthwhile
Defies genre norms
Top tier opening song and sequence

Negatives:

Lacks a strong finish, even for a season

(Request an anime for review here.)

Kaguya-sama Love is War is the perfect antidote anime to watch after Naruto’s Great Ninja War. What an uplifting show. Contrary to the violent title, Love is War fills one with joy at the comedic antics of these lovers in denial. It follows two students so competitive in nature that neither is willing to make the first move in their relationship, a relationship they aren’t even aware of.

He, Miyuki, is of a poor background and notoriously stingy, but is also the top student in school and holds the position of council president. She, Kaguya, is of a family so wealthy that it rains money on their estate and she’s an excellent student, though still second to him. They are the perfect couple. Everyone knows it except for them.

What starts as a heated rivalry, where both parties do everything in their power to force the other side to make the first move in any minor dispute, soon turns into a stubborn romance. These two lock horns more than competing bighorn rams. Remember that thing you used to do as a kid where you and another kid are holding something, and you refuse to let go because it means you lose. Lose what exactly? Nothing. Letting go first means you lose, and losing is unacceptable. These two are like that about everything. And I love them for it.

I had low expectations going into Love is War. A high school rom-com about a couple that refuses to communicate? Conflict created by a lack of communication in romance is one of the worst tropes. However, taking that trope to a comical extreme morphs the conflict from eye gouging stupidity to sidesplitting hilarity.

One episode has them arguing over where the council should go for an excursion: beach or mountains. He insists on the camping in the mountains – much more romantic (the astronomic wordplay in his fantasy of how she will finally break and confess is priceless). She insists on the beach – he will see her in a swimsuit and confess immediately! Back and forth, back and forth they go, refusing to budge. Then he’s reminded of bugs, something he can’t stand, and is about to change sides when Fujiwara, student council secretary, airily mentions that if they are to go to the beach, she will need a new swimsuit since she has grown in the last year. This reminds Kaguya of her own flat chest – of course Miyuki will fall for those bouncing fun bags! Change of plan: Kaguya is now pro-mountain! They swap sides and the stalemate continues.

It’s just great. Every episode had me laughing. Furthermore, the structure of having three scenarios per episode keeps the pace moving at a clip where no joke drags. If this had been adapted a decade ago, they would have stretched a scene per episode and killed the humour. This is the ideal format.

Speaking of Fujiwara earlier, she is another defiance of the genre. Well before a dear reader requested Love is War for review, I had seen memes about this character as well as her ending dance. Didn’t know which anime she came from. My impression was of that overly cutesy but actually annoying side character from every high school anime. Turns out the fan content didn’t do her justice. To my surprise, she is a fun lovable character within that archetype. She’s the version done correctly. The side story where a ramen snob takes her for some ramen normie because of her ditzy countenance is perfect. Never has eating ramen been such serious business. I loved her within one episode.

I can say as much about any of the main trio. On paper, they are the clichés you have seen many times before, yet they are almost the opposite of one’s expectations in practice.

A key ingredient in making this simple premise work so well is the relatability of the characters’ personal conflicts. He has many jokes related to being poor; she has plenty related to a rich and sheltered upbringing. For instance, she had such a sanitised childhood that children’s slang for penis, like “wiener”, has her rolling on the floor as the most vulgar thing she’s ever heard. I used to be like that (I wasn’t rich – just raised in a different society), though one wouldn’t know it looking at me now. As outlandish as these scenes are, there is a relatable core to each of them. You can witness their turmoil and say, “That’s like me!” or “I have a friend like that.” These characters have genuine weaknesses that work to the theme and fun conflict of the narrative.

Love is War is an anime type of anime but doesn’t simply throw whatever random nonsense at you in the hopes that something sticks, relying on you going, “It’s random, but that’s just crazy Japan, I guess, so it must be genius.”

If I have to give you a flaw in this series, it would be the ending. It near falls into that trap seen in 90% of anime romantic comedies. The serious final episode. You know what I’m talking about. The series so far has been comedy every minute of the way untroubled by serious drama, but then as if to inject depth (which it never needs), the comedy loses all humour in favour of drama that tries to make you feel something. Most anime comedies that avoid this do so by having no ending at all. Not ideal either. Love is War, thankfully, doesn’t go full drama. Episode 12 is still funny. But it breaks structure for a dramatic narrative that doesn’t even pay off. It offers no progression, as it needs to keep the battle going. A bloody fake out. We end on the weakest episode.

There is another season on the way in 2020, which, if it is the end, hopefully delivers a better conclusion. There is every chance that this next season could bump Kaguya-sama Love is War to my highest rating tier. I find plenty to love here. The characters, including the supporting cast, the humour, the romance, the conflict, and the visual flair are all so much fun!

Art – High

On premise, this sort of anime would sport bland visuals, as seen in My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU. Having no fantastical elements often results in a series with nothing worth looking at. Love is War is the opposite. It employs creative visual compositions and techniques to keep your eyes on the screen.

Sound – Very High

Fantastic script. Fantastic acting. The main three in particular play so well off each other. Love the narrator too. They even managed to hire someone who can speak good French to play a French character. Miracle! And as if that wasn’t enough, Love is War has quite likely my favourite opening song of 2019.

Story – High

Two students that like each other refuse to be the first to admit their feelings. A fun ride throughout that only lacks a strong finish, which the next season may fix.