Hello friends, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re exploring the first episode of a show that only came out recently, and which actually aired its second season just this past spring – the much-loved romantic comedy Kaguya-sama: Love is War. I actually watched the episode we’ll be viewing today for Anime News Network’s preview guide, where I gave it three out of five stars. So, uh, there’s that.

My thoughts at the time were pretty straightforward. I’m a massive fan of the show’s director, Shinichi Omata – as one of the most talented ex-SHAFT directors, he’s combined the stylistic quirks of the SHAFT house style with many inventions of his own, elevating shows like Sankarea into thrilling visual theater. More recently, the two seasons of Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu collectively stand as one of the very best anime of the last ten years – but Rakugo was a thoughtfully written period drama, whereas Kaguya-sama is fundamentally a pretty standard romantic comedy. I find most anime comedies to be some combination of too repetitive and too simplistic in their jokes, and in spite of Omata’s welcome visual embellishments, he still wasn’t able to elevate Kaguya-sama into something I’d want to watch weekly. Even by the end of that first episode, I was basically just clamoring for the leads to confess to each other – my days of being satisfied by “will they or won’t they” drama are at this point years behind me.

Given that review, I was frankly a little surprised Kaguya-sama ended up getting funded for notes writeups. But I’m perfectly willing to give something a second chance, and with Omata at the helm, I’ll likely be well fed visually even if the show’s jokes don’t thrill me. Additionally, there’s frankly a pretty wide spectrum of media that is interesting or noteworthy enough that I’d like to have a solid opinion on it, but not so personally appealing to me that I end up watching it in my free time – and given Omata’s presence, I’d say Kaguya-sama falls pretty squarely within that space. With both Omata’s and my own history established, let’s take a second crack at Kaguya-sama: Love is War!

Episode 1

The very first shots demonstrate Omata’s SHAFT roots, as we open on playful typography announcing a confession scene. Deliberately embracing the artifice of animation seems like a natural choice for a satirical, melodramatic romantic comedy; the visual embellishments naturally echo the larger-than-life feelings of the characters

That sense of playful artifice carries through this opening vignette, as backgrounds are shifted behind these example lovers like the painted props of a stage show

And the goofy typography continues as well, with the “Love is War!” title illustrated like a propaganda film strip

Alright, so we’ve got our premise. Whoever admits their love first loses the advantage in the relationship, so each of them must force the other to confess first

Nice funky tune and use of lighting in this OP. The tone is more spies than war – the use of playing cards, shadows, and weaponry make it feel like a Bond film opening

Shuchiin Academy. Our first external shot is actually quite realistic, making a firm break from Omata’s SHAFT roots

It’s an elite school, and our leads are the student council president and vice president. Kaguya Shinomiya is the vice president, and heir to a vast corporate fortune

This cut of her standing against a sea of clouds looks like something from the Ef franchise

Neat visual trick here, with her billowing hair leading into the flowing line of the president’s eye

Miyuki Shirogane is the president, and a particularly diligent student

Hot damn, this spinning CG shot establishing the council room is wild. So much visual energy in this production

Lots of very intimate closeups for Kaguya handing Miyuki a cup of tea, implying how aware each of them are of the other’s physical presence. Nothing like extreme partial-body closeups to imply infatuation

More neat transitions that “morph” one of them into the other, as Miyuki’s profile fades into Kaguya’s blouse. The effect amplifies the sense of closeness between them, as if they’re visually finishing each other’s sentences

The ultimate effect feels similar to my first time through this, though – I respect the visual work they’re doing, but I still don’t find these jokes that funny

“I suppose I could train him to be a man who measures up to me.” Oh my god these two

Now we meet Chika, the secretary

Miyuki articulates half of an invitation to a movie before Chika announces that those who see this movie will become a couple. ENTRAPMENT!

Basically every scene of this show is framed as the climax of a detective drama

Miyuki flips it by announcing he doesn’t care about rumors like that due to his maturity, thus putting it on Kaguya to accept or decline his invitation after already establishing herself as clearly putting faith in such rumors. An excellent counterplay

It turns out Kaguya herself fabricated this whole ticket winner scenario. I think the best part of this gag is Chika just obliviously celebrating halfway through Kaguya’s explanation

Kaguya has a good counter, though – lean into the idea that she’s a delicate, romance-minded maiden, and force Miyuki to invite her with more honest passion

The use of color in this show is excellent. The show leans heavily into Kaguya’s own color scheme, creating a dynamic red, white, and black palette that amplifies the sense of this being a noir or spy film

Also lots of neat use of screen partitioning, something Omata is fond of in all his productions. He’s taken the deliberate unreality of SHAFT’s base aesthetic in so many interesting directions

The narrator’s ominous “CHAOS THEORY” over Chika’s smiling face is excellent. It’s pretty clear already that Chika is the linchpin of this whole scenario

Once again, Chika’s commentary steals the show, as she quietly asks “is something wrong” under the theatrical narrator’s speech

Kaguya received a love letter! What a useful weapon; she can use this to basically take herself hostage, forcing an answer out of Miyuki before she lets herself be swept away by her new suitor

The shaky, grainy filter this show uses for moments of severe emotional distress is effective, and also echoes the show’s overall embracing of an old fashioned film aesthetic. The genre pastiches and intentional evocation of stuff like film grain feel like a natural evolution of Omata’s ostentatious visual style, while also neatly mirroring the narrative’s inherent melodrama

More neat film effects of a different type here – fraying lines filtering down the screen like we’re watching an over-rewound VHS tape

“Are there just flowers in her head instead of a brain?” Poor Chika, but also probably, yes

Miyuki’s counterplay is to threaten to tell the teacher, which the narrator immediately mocks him relentlessly for considering

When Kaguya gets fired up, the whole screen ends up swallowed by the red of her eyes

The soundtrack shifts are really key. When Miyuki says he “might confess, for the sake of argument,” this cheesy guitar track sells Kaguya’s reaction perfectly

Chika is a terrific, necessary addition to the dynamic. When the two of them get too deeply wound into plots and counterplots, Chika slices through like Alexander attacking the Gordian knot, loudly and uninhibitedly declaring that she doesn’t want Kaguya to be expelled

Welp, now Kaguya wants Miyuki to hand-feed her something. Good luck with that, Kaguya

Kaguya is entranced by Miyuki’s octopus wieners

This time Miyuki gets to torture Kaguya, by freely sharing his food with Chika

I feel like perhaps my biggest issue with this show’s premise is that it’s all about the “will they or won’t they” segment of romance, without any of the buildup that would tell us why these two like each other, or why they’d actually make a good couple. We don’t get to see their actual affection or chemistry much at all, which makes it hard for me to care about whether they get together or not. Great romances, even when it comes to romantic comedies, must be built out of strong character chemistry – and Kaguya-sama isn’t really showing me much of that, while also not excelling so much in terms of its comedy as to be carried entirely by its jokes, either

“I bet you didn’t know how good cold rice could be.” Kaguya-sama’s melodramatic, overly verbose style means it can segue naturally into a shonen cooking battle

Kaguya’s mental image of Miyuki is incredibly unflattering

Kaguya’s plan to shame Miyuki with an ultra-fancy lunch is foiled by Miyuki sharing another pleasant lunch with Chika. The nerve of that boy!

The two of them are both clever, but can never see anything but malicious intent in the other’s actions. A neat way of letting their intelligence actually turn into its own form of stupidity

And Done

Well, that still felt like a pretty reasonable episode the second time through! To be honest, my feelings weren’t really changed by this rewatch; I still found the show’s visual embellishments very compelling, but still also didn’t find the humor all that strong, and was most crucially disappointed by the lack of chemistry between the two leads. While I can see the appeal of their battle of wills, Kaguya-sama doesn’t seem all that interested in what makes romances satisfying in an emotional sense – and as a pure comedy, I feel like the show’s already kinda played out its one core joke. That said, I’ve still got at least another episode to watch through, so here’s hoping the show hooks me with the next one!

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