Tag: Kaguya-sama: Love is War!

Posted on in anime, Let's Watch

Let’s Watch KAGUYA-SAMA: LOVE IS WAR -ULTRA ROMANTIC- Episode 4

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

Yuu Ishigami has a conundrum. He, with all of his nerdy insecurities, is harboring a crush on one of Shuchiin Academy’s Popular Girls ™. Our boy is distraught by this in a manner not rare for internet natives of his age. He sees the object of his affection, cheer vice-captain Tsubame Koyasu (Haruka Fukuhara) as untouchable and perfect; somebody who lives in a different world than him and is forever beyond his reach.

He has plain black hair. She has quirky anime hair complete with a two-color gradient. It could never work between them!

Ishigami’s situation would be unenviable even in a normal school. Obviously, he’s not entitled to Tsubame, and what she thinks of him we don’t currently know. But the unspoken, yet, obvious, underline here is that Ishigami’s biggest obstacle to getting Tsubame to consider him as a romantic option is actually himself. Namely his own lack of self-confidence, not any inherent difference between them. Were he in any other high school on Earth, he might get advice that actually reflects that reality. But, he is a member of Shuchiin Academy’s student council. And the person who first pries the knowledge of this crush out of him is none other than our title lead, Kaguya Shinomiya.

Kaguya, I genuinely believe, has nothing but the best of intentions when she tells Ishigami that women are attracted to power, so his first step should be to gain “clout” of some kind. (She suggests gunning for a Top-50 placement in the upcoming exams.) Now, Kaguya may not entirely be wrong in suggesting this course of action—it certainly will attract peoples’ notice if one of the school’s worst students is suddenly out-scoring most of his grade on exams—but anything she says should be taken with a grain of salt. We know, but Ishigami unfortunately does not, that Kaguya comes from a deeply broken home. The Shinomiya Family has drilled into her the importance of regarding others only as tools for self-advancement. And while it’s true that she’s shed much of that programming by this point in the series, the roots of such a dog-eat-dog hypercompetitive mentality are hard to pull out. She’s still approaching this from the wrong point of view by encouraging Ishigami to change himself rather than simply be honest. (Of course, as the series itself humorously points out, that’s as much a reflection as her own unwillingness to be honest as anything else.) Regardless of what happens next, we should keep Kaguya’s upbringing, and how it informs this advice of hers, in mind. Although it is worth noting that she does realize that he needs to do something, or else….well.

At least she’s self-aware.

She does, at least, wisely shoot down Ishigami’s ideas for “ultra romantic” confession gestures, including such bizarre notions as leaving themed flowers on Tsubame’s desk every day for a week and presenting her with a half-empty photo album and expressing a desire to “fill it up with pictures of us together.” That much is probably the right call.

Now, let’s be clear here. Regardless of any romantic intentions, Ishigami improving his grades would hardly be a bad thing. He spends the second third of the episode studying, and it’s explicitly pointed out to us that it’s not the thought of wooing Tsubame so much as simply the fact that Kaguya actually believes he can improve that motivates him to try his hardest. Recall that not many people have ever expressed even that much faith in Ishigami before.

But, in a recurring theme for Love is War!—and honestly, Aka Akasaka‘s work in general—simply wanting something is not enough. Despite his best efforts, Ishigami places only around the 150 mark. An improvement, to be sure, but a far cry from his attempted coup of the grade rankings. He is absolutely devastated. (“So bitter that blood might as well shoot out of his eyes”, in the words of the Narrator (Yutaka Aoyama).)

But, of course, failure is not the end. Kaguya confronts Ishigami, getting him to admit that he is torn up about this, and he will try his damnedest to do better next time. Kaguya approves, although (jokingly?) warns him that the “kid gloves” of her study help are coming off.

It is interesting to me, in a series that is very firmly in the romance genre, how well Kaguya and Ishagami’s relationship is written. They’re certainly not romantic partners—and many romance anime neglect to depict friendship as much more than a steppingstone to love at all—and honestly, they don’t seem terribly close as friends in the typical way one imagines such a relationship. But they clearly care for each other; Kaguya would not spend as much time trying to push him as she does if she didn’t. Ishigami, in turn, would not care about those attempts if he didn’t on some level like and respect Kaguya. It’s an interesting, tangly relationship, which makes it feel very real. The two have come along way from Ishigami frequently suspecting that Kaguya was trying to kill him back in season one to a true kouhai / senpai pair.

I do fear I’ve perhaps made this entire part of the episode sound overly serious or even dour. In truth it’s not much more so than any episode of the season so far, but I think the character work here is interesting enough to devote the bulk of the column to. The gags are great throughout, here, of course, but that’s par for the course with Love is War! I particularly like this little nod to a fact we know about Shirogane; his tendency to shadowbox when psyched. Showcased here when he again scores the #1 spot on the exam rankings.

In any case, the final third of the episode is about Chika and Kaguya FaceTiming with Shirogane while sleep deprived.

There’s nothing particularly complicated about this segment, which brings the episode to a fun close that avoids being a trifle. Chika stays over at Kaguya’s place for a sleepover. She meets “Mr. Herthaka”, yet another of Hayasaka’s alter egos. This one has….quite the backstory, as we soon learn.

But really, the highlight of the evening comes when, through a series of convoluted misunderstandings, Chika gets the idea that Shirogane and “Mr. Herthaka” are romantically involved. In doing so, she resurrects a proud, ancient tradition perfected by her ancestors.

A completely unironic nosebleed gag in an anime in 2022? Nature really is healing.

The episode ends on a sweet note, though. Kaguya, very much past her usual bedtime and barely able to think straight, nearly tells Shirogane that she’s into him, only to pass out mid-sentence. A little frustrating? Maybe, but I can’t help but find it adorable. Will these two colossal nerds ever truly have the courage to own up to their feelings? Perhaps we’ll find out next time, Kaguya fans.

Oh, and before I forget, the Bonus Hayasaka Screencap. How about the chart of the many faces of our favorite blonde maid that we get at the episode’s end?

Like what you’re reading? Consider following Magic Planet Anime to get notified when new articles go live. If you’d like to talk to other Magic Planet Anime readers, consider joining my Discord server! Also consider following me on Twitter and supporting me on Ko-Fi or Patreon. If you want to read more of my work, consider heading over to the Directory to browse by category.

All views expressed on Magic Planet Anime are solely my own opinions and conclusions and should not be taken to reflect the opinions of any other persons, groups, or organizations. All text, excepting direct quotations, is owned by Magic Planet Anime. Do not duplicate without permission. All images are owned by their original copyright holders.

Posted on in anime, Let's Watch

Let’s Watch KAGUYA-SAMA: LOVE IS WAR -ULTRA ROMANTIC- Episode 3

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

Here’s the first line in this week’s episode of Kaguya-sama: Love is War -Ultra Romanic-.

Pretty bad, right? Of course, because this is this show, it quickly becomes obvious that Nagisa Kashiwagi (Momo Asakura), the short-haired girl there, is overreacting, and that her boyfriend, fellow C-String character Tsubasa Tanuma (Taku Yashiro) is not actually cheating on her. But he has been spending time with another female student, one Maki Shijo (Kana Ichinose), Kaguya’s distant relative and perpetual loser of the love games that the entire rest of Shuchiin Academy seems to be caught up in. And that’s suspicious enough for both Nagisa herself and for Kaguya. This leaves Miko to play the role of the straight man. Pity her.

As always, -Ultra Romantic- spices up what was a fairly straightforward scene in the manga with all kinds of weird audiovisual tricks. When Kaguya and Nagisa both immediately conclude Tsubasa is cheating, their halves of the table are “squished together,” and their voices are run through what sounds like a flutter filter. A pretty effective way to convey that Miko, the only reasonable voice at the table, feels like she’s losing her mind.

When the topic turns to the fact that the accused were recently at a karaoke booth together, Kaguya of course immediately changes her tune, only for Miko to agree that that is solid evidence of cheating, since “people often do indecent things at karaoke.”

The whole thing turns out to be a misunderstanding, of course. Maki and Tsubana had spent the day together because the latter wanted help picking out a six-month anniversary gift; an extremely cheap-looking heart necklace. All girls present—including Chika, who happens to arrive just as this is all happening—think it’s hopelessly tacky. But Nagisa loves it, so this particular sketch ends on a happy note. At least, for her. Not necessarily for everybody.

If you’re next thought, for some reason, is “but what about Maki?” Do not fret, Love is War has you covered. As mentioned, Maki is the loser of Kaguya-sama‘s cast. She, as we learn here, has been crushing on Tsubasa for months, maybe years, and is all burnt up about Nagisa hooking up with him, so seeks out the Student Council’s advice on the matter. Specifically, that of Shirogane and Ishigami. (Irony of ironies, you may remember Nagisa and Tsubasa only got together in the first place because of Shirogane’s advice, way back in season one. If you don’t, the show explicitly calls attention to it, so no worries.)

Maki is a somewhat pitiable character. She’s basically Kaguya herself minus the charisma and most of the status—she takes a lot of pride in being a member of a minor branch family of house Shinomiya—down to the fact that they have similar mannerisms. This segment of the episode is less heavy on the wonky visuals, although there are still certainly some. Especially when the series needs to draw comparisons between Maki and Kaguya.

Ishigami has an interesting role here. He completely cuts through all of Maki’s anime trope defenses, eventually getting her to drop the tsundere act, but also making her pretty sad in the process when he outlines how being someone’s second girlfriend is different than being their first.

But eventually, the two do convince Maki to at least make an earnest attempt at telling her crush how she feels. She also does explicitly say that even just talking to someone about this makes her feel a bit better. I’ve never been entirely able to love the Maki mini-arc, maybe because she reminds me too much of a few people I’ve met over the course of my life whereas most of the other romantic misunderstandings in Kaguya are firmly in goofier territory. Nonetheless, she does get a last laugh here, as she’s about to leave (and as Kaguya enters), this happens.

Of course, to keep the show’s main plot going, Shirogane can’t exactly just say that it’s because Maki reminds him of Kaguya.

The third and final segment of the episode is a classic “Chika sets up a game” sketch.

The series has done these since near the start of season one, and they’re always fun, so I’m happy to see them make a return. Chika’s grand plan for this particular round is to play a common group date game. (Called the “Ten Yen Coin Game.” It’s basically group truth or dare without the “dare” part and restricted to Yes/No questions.)

Chika has never struck me as all that interested in romance, quite unlike the entire rest of the cast. Indeed, a throwaway line in the manga seems to imply she’s aromantic, whether or not she was deliberately written as such. But she does love games, especially if she can use them to fuck around with people, and that is precisely what she does here. She even brought a lie detector along, just to make sure no one tells any fibs.

The questions quickly take a turn for the heavy as soon as it’s Ishigami’s turn to ask. This is, of course, played for comedy. But damn dude, asking people if they secretly hate you is not generally a great strategy toward making sure they don’t. (One person answers yes anyway, probably Miko. Ishigami promptly breaks down in happy tears that it’s only one person.)

Miko isn’t much better, asking if they really need her around. And when no one answers no, she’s also absolutely ecstatic.

Ishigami tells her that she shouldn’t go on group dates because she’s so easily swayed by flattery that she’d be an easy mark. It’s a little rude maybe, but honestly, it’s solid advice.

As for Kaguya and Shirogane, you can probably guess that they use the game to convolutedly try to scheme into getting the other to confess their feelings. It does not work out, although both leave the game on a positive note. As they clean up, Shirogane feels the need to make it clear to Kaguya that nothing, you know, happened during that whole karaoke incident. Kaguya believes him, though she doesn’t make that totally clear.

The episode ends on a sweet note, then. But I can imagine that some of you might be hungry for this plot to move along a little faster. I can’t say when, but I do have a hunch that more substantial developments are on the horizon. There’s only one real way to find out if that’s true though, so to that end, I’ll see you next Friday, Kaguya fans.

Bonus Hayasaka Screencap: This one was hard. Hayasaka isn’t actually in this episode at all other than a brief flashback scene (and I feel like that doesn’t really count.) So instead, have a shot of her appearance in this season’s ED, a wonderful fantasia where Shirogane and Kaguya are star-crossed lovers on opposite sides of a war in a faraway steampunk kingdom. The whole thing is just Shirogane’s dream, of course, but he does have quite the imagination, doesn’t he? Anyway, Hayasaka sells the soldier look quite well.

Like what you’re reading? Consider following Magic Planet Anime to get notified when new articles go live. If you’d like to talk to other Magic Planet Anime readers, consider joining my Discord server! Also consider following me on Twitter and supporting me on Ko-Fi or Patreon. If you want to read more of my work, consider heading over to the Directory to browse by category.

Posted on in Uncategorized

Let’s Watch KAGUYA-SAMA: LOVE IS WAR -ULTRA ROMANTIC- Episode 2

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

With its first short, Kayua-sama: Love is War -Ultra Romantic- foreshadows a pattern. Like last week’s premiere, this week’s episode starts with a short focusing on Ishigami and Miko. It’s too early to say for sure if this pattern will continue, but the routine as established here is certainly fruitful ground for comedy, so personally I hope it does. Even just Ishigami and Miko’s self-aggrandizing alone is pretty funny.

It does not take a terribly deep reader to understand that Ishigami and Miko don’t get along terribly well. The student council—as well as Miko’s own friend / “handler” Kobachi Osaragi (Rina Hidaka)—are naturally concerned about this. It hurts the student council’s image if its members are seen bickering, and beyond that there’s a general agreement that life would be easier if these two would just stop being at each others’ throats all the time.

The question, of course, is how to get them to get along. To that, both Osaragi and Our Protagonist Miyuki Shirogane have some ideas, and it’s this particular round of harebrained schemes that drives the first short. The visual style is great here; much of this segment is animated almost as if the characters were still models on popsicle sticks. Elsewhere, when the plan to reconcile the two is explained, we get this particularly cutesy illustration to demonstrate.

The first idea here is for the two to complement each other on their good points. Ishigami can pull that off just fine, though not without effort. Miko, though? Well.

The suggestion to have the two clean each other’s ears (ew) is similarly ill-fated. The position Miko and Ishigami end up in while doing this simply cannot be described in words. Not by me, anyway.

It’s like he’s changing the world’s crankiest lightbulb.

Eventually, it’s Osaragi who figures out the solution (or at least, something resembling one) when she points out that it’s fairly common for teenagers to pretend to dislike someone if they’re actually harboring a crush on them. This causes Miko and Ishigami to be style-shifted into something that, to me, evokes a horror manga page that’s been colored in and then left out in the rain. The two promptly turn into autotuned, canned phrase-repeating robots to complete the transformation.

As with any comedy, relaying this kinda kills it, but it’s really funny to watch, and it’s also a nice reminder of what Love is War! can pull off, stylistically, when it wants to, even in service of something very goofy.

Most people will not be talking about the first segment of the episode, though, I imagine. Because the second and third are combined to make a single longer story, and it is a doozy.

Before we get into why, it’s helpful to briefly discuss Ai Hayasaka, probably Love is War!‘s most important supporting character, frequent recipient of fandom “best girl” awards, and perhaps most prestigiously of all, subject of the Bonus Hayasaka Screencap segment on this column. Hayasaka is an interesting and useful character for many reasons. She’s Kaguya’s right-hand woman and is frequently pulled into her schemes. She’s something of a stand-in for the segment of the audience who got sick of the actual “love is war” gimmick of the manga a long time ago. And, increasingly, she’s a touch bitter about her life situation.

Hayasaka, as we all know, is Kaguya’s maid. Kaguya, being a rich mostly-shut-in from an abusive family, lives a life that was quite unhappy until recently, in-show, but it is still a privileged life, regardless of that. And Hayasaka’s entire situation is a manifestation of that privilege. She has little say in her own day to day activities. In many previous episodes, Kaguya has come up with some ridiculous idea that she thinks will make Miyuki confess his deep-held feelings for her, and Hayasaka has been used as a tool in those ideas. She’s even adapted an entire alternate identity in service of Kaguya’s scheming. Kaguya, it’s important to note, does not heap these responsibilities on Hayasaka out of malice, really. She’s simply ignorant—willfully or not is hard to say—of the nature of the extreme power imbalance in their relationship.

All of this means that in this episode, when one of those schemes is a bridge too far and Hayasaka acts out entirely of her own free will, it’s completely understandable, even if you don’t dislike either her or Kaguya. (And just speaking for myself, I’m very fond of both characters.)

The premise is pretty simple. Miyuki gets invited to a karaoke mixer without entirely understanding what he’s getting into. Kaguya is paranoid that he’ll get whisked away by some bombshell before the two of them ever have a chance to hook up, so she orders Hayasaka to slip into the mixer as well. Incognito as her alternate identity, following up on the fourth episode of last season. She is less than thrilled about this.

Those with sharp memories might recall that the last time Miyuki and Hayasaka met, Hayasaka was on a dare to win him over, if she could. The details of this have become a bit foggy since I last saw the episode, but Hayasaka seems to have taken the fact that she couldn’t do it pretty hard. (That much was evident even at the time, but perhaps how hard wasn’t totally clear.) When they meet again here, Hayasaka awkwardly refers to their past meeting as Miyuki having “dumped her.” In general, she’s pretty cold to him for a minute, here. (It’s hard not to have some real sympathy for Miyuki during all this, in fact.)

It’s notable that when Hayasaka’s turn at karaoke comes up, she picks a forlorn love song to sing. A galloping, Eurobeat-y monster of a thing that she sings the utter hell out of. (I don’t know if Hayasaka’s regular voice actress Yumiri Hanamori is doing the vocals or if it’s someone else. Either way, I must say I hope the dub covers the song as well, given that Hayasaka’s dub actress Amanda “AmaLee” Lee is an accomplished singer with a real talent for belting.) The show briefly becomes a pastiche of the kind of heartbroken, theatrical nonsense that the videos for this sort of song specialize in.

Miyuki and Hayasaka also get into a long talk about honesty, in one of the more revealing character moments for the both of them. Miyuki puts forward that Hayasaka always seems like she’s putting on an act (and, indeed, in the context of the two’s interactions, he’s entirely right.) The camera is close to his face, and the background goes solid white as Hayasaka asks if he could really show people his true, honest self. But even more tellingly, a bit before that, the camera “pulls back,” peeking into the karaoke room through a cracked door, and she says this.

Yeesh.

Between this and her thinly-veiled complaining about her “little sister’s” terrible personality (she admits she’s gotten better recently, but it feels like an afterthought on her part), it is pretty obvious that Hayasaka is dealing with some serious headsnakes, and not dealing with them well.

And then, as Miyuki goes to leave this—admittedly, incredibly awkward—situation, pondering perhaps if he should start being more honest with some people in particular, a weird, leery creep starts harassing Hayasaka. Nothing actually happens, thankfully, and Miyuki is able to make up a quick excuse to get her out of the room.

Here though, things take another turn. Hayasaka’s particular mix of feelings; a genuine crush on Miyuki, her resentment over how Kaguya keeps treating her, and perhaps just a general sense of being fed up with how her night is going, convinces the Shuchiin Academy student council president to slip away with her into a different karaoke room. One she just booked. For the two of them. Alone.

She’s not shy about relaying exactly what she’s doing to her boss, either, with the magic of tiny transmitter earrings. (One of many, essentially, spy gadgets, that’s Hayasaka’s been given by Kaguya over the years.) After all, she says, it was Kaguya who first came up with the “try to seduce Miyuki” dare in the first place. What is Hayasaka doing but trying again?

Kaguya then takes a moment to realize that she has created the exact problem she was looking to prevent.

A crueler show would either stop the episode dead here or, even worse, twist this into a major rift between the characters. We don’t get that here, instead, Kaguya has the rather sudden realization that Hayasaka has been very angry this entire time.

Nothing gets past this one.

But, as she often does, Kaguya cooks up a scheme. This one involving her very own secret weapon.

Kaguya’s plan to have Chika barge into the room Hayasaka and Miyuki are in is not exactly sophisticated, but there’s no reason to believe it wouldn’t work. Before Chika even gets there though, Kaguya makes the mistake of trying to eavesdrop. The tension of the prior 10 or so minutes unravels in an instant thanks to a string of frankly hysterical misunderstandings. All you really need to know is that Miyuki was singing, and then rapping (itself a recurring gag.) To Kaguya, it sounds as though Hayasaka is talking about….something else. Things get even worse when Kaguya actually barges into the room (conveniently, while Miyuki is using the restroom and thus isn’t present.)

The misunderstanding cleared up as it possibly could be, Kaguya escorts Hayasaka out. With Miyuki still in absentia, the poor guy.

By the time Chika finally shows up, the mere mention of the president’s legendarily awful vocal abilities—which she knows more about than anyone else, mind—is enough to get her to turn on her heels and immediately leave.

And in case you were wondering what lesson Miyuki took from all this?

As for Kaguya and Hayasaka, the earlier subtext of the episode is brought directly to the front. Hayasaka straight up says she’s jealous of how happy Kaguya’s been lately. The two more-or-less reconcile here, at least for now, but—very, very minor manga spoiler here—this is not the last time this is going to come up, as we’ll eventually see. Love is War! has a way of looping back on itself with regard to things like this.

All told, this is probably the strongest second episode of anything that’s yet gotten one so far this season. If anything it’s actually better than the premiere, which was also quite good but was squarely comedic.

Now, for the moment you’ve all been waiting for. It feels a little odd to put a Bonus Hayasaka Screencap in a writeup for an episode almost entirely about her, given how many other Hayasaka Screencaps I’ve already shared with you today. Still, I do have a pair that I couldn’t otherwise find a place for. Enjoy this from-behind shot where Hayasaka engages what I call her “trolling mode,” as she “explains” what karaoke clubs are like to Kaguya, and the art style shifts to accommodate.

Like what you’re reading? Consider following Magic Planet Anime to get notified when new articles go live. If you’d like to talk to other Magic Planet Anime readers, consider joining my Discord server! Also consider following me on Twitter and supporting me on Ko-Fi or Patreon. If you want to read more of my work, consider heading over to the Directory to browse by category.

All views expressed on Magic Planet Anime are solely my own opinions and conclusions and should not be taken to reflect the opinions of any other persons, groups, or organizations. All text, excepting direct quotations, is owned by Magic Planet Anime. Do not duplicate without permission. All images are owned by their original copyright holders.

Posted on in anime, Let's Watch

Let’s Watch KAGUYA-SAMA: LOVE IS WAR -ULTRA ROMANTIC- Episode 1

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

Kaguya-sama: Love is War! returns like it never left at all. Mercifully, unlike the second season, 2020’s Love is War?, the third is marked by an actual, distinct subtitle: -Ultra Romantic-. The first episode is, of course, excellent, and we’ll get to the how’s and why’s of that momentarily. First though, it feels right to simply appreciate the familiarity, here. Speaking just for myself, with as much of a gamble that any given anime season can be, it’s nice to have one or two things that you’re pretty damn sure are going to be great.

Eventually, this season will likely delve into the more dramatic parts of Kaguya-sama‘s storyline to an even greater degree than the second season did. I’m not sure what the reception will be–like many popular romcoms, Kaguya‘s wide popularity does not always shield it from backlash–but for now, it’s simply nice to have it around again. Since the second season concluded, the only real drop of Love is War! we’ve gotten was a short OVA from last year, which, frankly, is best left unremembered.

It’s natural to wonder, all this in mind, how something this widely anticipated marks its dramatic return, and the answer is very simple.

One of the characters completely embarrasses herself in a very funny way.

Keep an eye on the camel, it will be relevant momentarily.

Miko Iino (Miyu Tomita) and Yuu Ishigami (Ryouta Suzuki) are perhaps Love is War!‘s second-most important pair of characters, after the leads. -Ultra Romantic- chooses to open on a somewhat lowkey note by focusing on the two of them for the episode’s first “short.” (If you’ve forgotten; Kaguya-sama tends to divide its episodes, with only rare exceptions, into three “chunks” of about equal length.) The core premise with this one is very simple. Have you ever accidentally left your headphones slightly unplugged? Especially while listening to music you don’t necessarily want others to know you listen to? No? Just watch this short, then. It encapsulates the feeling of total, day-ruining embarrassment perfectly.

Miko sits down to study after chewing Ishigami out for not doing the same. Her case here is actually worse, because what she’s listening to isn’t music at all. It’s ambient sounds. First, fairly normal (soft rain noises). Then, somewhat odd (the sounds of a construction site). Then definitely odd (the loud braying calls of a camel). And finally, outright embarrassing (ASMR recordings of a bunch of “heartthrobs” telling the listener that she’s a good girl and is doing her best).

Dissecting humor like this tends to kill it, so it’s not nearly as funny in the retelling. But Love is War!‘s ability to simply ramp up a joke like this is easy to underappreciate. The final blow comes when the rest of the student council returns. Ishigami–in-line with his habit of falling on the sword for others, no matter how trivial the reason–then deliberately leaves his music leaking for all to hear. (The track must be heard to be believed. Its lyrics consist entirely of “moe moe kyun kyun.”) Only for Miko to then scold him, talk about how embarrassed she is for him, and then promptly not realize that her phone is also still leaking audio.

Fatality.

The second segment is more frantic and uptempo. Love is War! has repeatedly used a trick of directing comedic scenes revolving around misunderstandings–or the leads’ attempts to get each other to confess their feelings–like high-suspense thrillers. The approach makes its triumphant return here, as the technological inexperience of title character Kaguya Shinomiya (Aoi Koga) ensnares her in a trap laid by the greatest adversary of any modern woman. No, not her love interest / rival Miyuki Shirogane (Makoto Furukawa). I’m talking, of course, about read notifications. Kaguya leaves Miyuki on read because she’s just so happy to have gotten a text from him. Miyuki can see the notification but, obviously, not her reason for doing this. He is a bit panicked.

Another key part of Love is War!‘s appeal is that it understands how to involve the foibles of modern life in its scenarios. Many anime only touch on technology briefly, but this entire segment rests on a social stress stemming entirely from what is supposed to be a convenient feature of instant messaging platforms (LINE here, rather than iMessage itself) but, is more often than not, a total headache. On the character side of things, there’s also Kaguya’s far more tech-savvy maid Ai Hayasaka (Yumiri Hanamori), who could explain all this to Kaguya, but opts not to. Hayasaka has long served as something of a stand-in for the section of the audience that wishes Kaguya and Miyuki would just knock it off and kiss already. It’s hard to imagine that fact not playing some role in her decision to not bother here. Even so, for the second time in the episode, second-hand embarrassment plays a big role.

The whole thing is resolved with a lie and minimal social casualties, but not before Hayasaka gets hit with quite the death glare.

Continuing the escalation, the third segment is the goofiest of all. The impetus? An arm-wrestling tournament, started by Chika Fujiwara (Konomi Kohara), but certainly not ended by her.

This is probably the short with the least to talk about, which is a shame because in spite of the lack of any pesky things like “emotional resonance” or “forward narrative development”, it’s pretty fucking funny. It’s also the most visually engaging of the three, integrating a grab-bag of visual tropes from fighting games and shonen anime (especially Dragonball Z). Conceptually, rendering something ridiculous by welding it to shonen tropes is nothing new. (Hell, Birdie Wing did it only a couple days ago.) But as it has in prior seasons, what sets Love is War! apart is sheer commitment to the bit. We even get a battle shonen-esque vaguely plausible-sounding explanation for our protagonist’s extraordinary abilities. Kaguya wins the tournament. Why? Well, she’s in the archery club and bow drawstrings are heavy, helpfully illustrated by a cute callback to season two’s OP.

It’s hard to be too surprised when the entire thing caps off with what I’m fairly sure is a Cho Aniki reference after Kaguya wins. Why wouldn’t it? The show’s grip on reality is loose at the best of times, and when it goes headlong into full surreal comedy mode it feels like it can do just about anything and have it make sense. A giant pile of muscle men, why not?

Sadly, not everything is entirely smooth sailing. While the actual show remains as great to look at as ever, this is the second romcom this season to be afflicted by a pretty bad case of subpar typesetting. The translation is as good as it’s ever been, but there is enough text on screen that plain multi-tracking (one up top and the other on the bottom) just doesn’t cut it anymore. I will still be covering the anime weekly as it releases officially, but if the more patient among you were inclined to wait for fansubs I would completely understand.

As for this episode? It’s a solid return for the series. Some might take issue with the series not launching right back into The Heavy Stuff ™, but we’ll get there soon enough. In the meantime, I can again speak only for myself, but I’m happy to just be along for the ride.

Ah, and since I like to make a habit of including a small something extra for folks who make it all the way to the end of the column, please enjoy this Bonus Hayasaka Screencap. A recurring feature from this point forward.

I’m sure some of you will be looking forward to that.

Like what you’re reading? Consider following Magic Planet Anime to get notified when new articles go live. If you’d like to talk to other Magic Planet Anime readers, consider joining my Discord server! Also consider following me on Twitter and supporting me on Ko-Fi or Patreon. If you want to read more of my work, consider heading over to the Directory to browse by category.

All views expressed on Magic Planet Anime are solely my own opinions and conclusions and should not be taken to reflect the opinions of any other persons, groups, or organizations. All text, excepting direct quotations, is owned by Magic Planet Anime. Do not duplicate without permission. All images are owned by their original copyright holders.