Let’s Watch is a weekly recap column where I follow an anime for the course of its entire runtime. Expect spoilers!

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“The countdown to farewell has already begun.”

It has been three years since I started covering Kaguya-sama: Love is War! In that time, I’ve read much of the original manga, so I knew this day was coming eventually. But hindsight has a way of snapping together things that seemed unrelated at first glance. Call it reading too much into pure coincidence, call it serendipity, call it the norns at work.

In its sixth episode, the show’s third season finally rounds the bend and gets serious. These more dramatic parts of Love is War! are what the series’ reputation is truly built on. I think it would still be beloved without them, but they help the story to feel larger than its constituent characters. Even for someone far removed from the rich kids’ club of Shuchiin Academy, it can reach out and touch a point in one’s own personal timeline, creating resonances both close and far. That is what this episode, and eventually, this entire arc, is all about. Which isn’t to say it’s a drag, (most of this episode is just as funny as the ones before it) but if there are any clocks ticking in your own life, expect to hear them ever louder as you watch it.

The catalyst here is fairly simple; a parent-teacher conference. A minor rite of passage / perfect-storm anxiety machine that every high schooler goes through a few times over the course of their education. Kaguya’s dad, notably, doesn’t show up to hers.

This is perhaps to be expected from her total piece of shit of a father. A man who is a walking bundle of rotten wood held together by petty spite and pure greed, a nearly elemental incarnation of the phrase “Rich Old Bastard.” A figure who, in the scant handful of lines he’s gotten in the series so far, manages to ooze a crochety, warped old-money unpleasantness that is sadly probably the single most realistic thing about this series. I really quite strongly dislike Mr. Shinomiya, if that’s not obvious.

In any case, the person who does show up is Hayasaka’s mother, Nao Hayasaka (Toa Yukinari), who pulls double duty by both attending her own daughter’s conference and Kaguya’s. We learn here that Hayasaka is a total mama’s girl, which is pretty cute. (If also a bit sad, since their exchange here implies that they spend very little time together.)

There’s also some great work from Shirogane’s dad (Takehito Koyasu), who makes a drop-in appearance for the first time in the season, back to his usual antics of being a total weirdo but genuinely good dude.

But the real important development here is what we hear from Shirogane himself, during his parent-teacher conference.

Yes, that Stanford.

Immediately, everything else that happens for the rest of the series has this particular Sword of Damocles hanging over it. Shirogane and Kaguya’s time together in actual close proximity is ending. Not just ending but ending fairly soon. The deadline is in sight.

Kaguya-sama is notable in that its central dynamic, the “geniuses’ war of love and brains” that gives it both its tagline and original Japanese title, has faded the farther we’ve gotten from the premiere of season one. It has always felt—I think as much to its own characters as to us—that Miyuki and Kaguya have had all the time in the world to muster up the strength to finally shoot straight with each other. So their occasional throwbacks to that early period have been charming, but not felt urgent. That is no longer the case. This isn’t a slice of life series; the everyday here is not endless, and time is running out.

Give him some credit, our man knows it’s do or die time.

As I’ve gotten older, it’s felt like I should probably be able to relate to these sorts of stories—high school tales of romance and all—less. But the sense of urgency that Love is War! begins to carry from this point forward is universal. I’m 28, many people who read this column are older or younger than I, but who doesn’t feel Father Time breathing down their neck, at least occasionally?

But as we wish Miyuki good fortune and godspeed, we transition into talking about the rest of the episode. Which is, I must note, still very good, but it’s also a lot more conventional for Love is War!, so there’s simply less to discuss. In the second segment, the urgency is alleviated by one of the aforementioned throwbacks to the show’s early days. Kaguya and Shirogane both manage to galaxy brain their way out of inviting the other to a different school’s cultural festival, happening nearby. Even so, you feel for them.

In the third, Shirogane asks for the girls of the student council to help him evaluate himself “objectively.” This is mostly an excuse for wacky misunderstandings, such as here where Miko thinks he’s asking her out.

And also, for Miko and Chika to say mean but admittedly funny things about him.

But Kaguya, who can’t find a single bad word to say, is who ultimately leaves the day’s biggest impact.

Reinvigorated, Shirogane recommits himself to his plan, and it is for us and time to see if it will work out or not. Godspeed, Miyuki, and good luck.

Bonus Hayasaka Screencap: Dare I say, I think this was also how probably at least some of you reacted when Nao Hayasaka made her on-screen appearance, here.

^{That’s right, readers. I know your bones.}

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