Does Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai Deserve All The Praise It’s Getting?

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Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai first impressions is part of my Ultimate Guide for the 2019 Anime Winter Season. A guide with more than 100 pages with a first impressions to every Anime coming out in the Winter Season. You can get your own here (it’s free!).

Title: Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai: Tensai-Tachi no Renai Zunousen (MAL Page)

English Title: Kaguya-sama: Love is War

MAL Score: 8.10

Genres: Comedy, Romance, School

Number of Episodes: 12

Broadcast: Saturdays (JST)

Studios: A-1 Pictures

Source: Manga

Duration: 25 min. per ep.

Rating: PG-13

Synopsis

Miyuki Shirogane is a genius and the Student council leader of the prestigious High School Shuchiin Academy. Kaguya Shinomiya is the vice-president and his right arm. Both have one thing in common, they believe that all relationships have a leader and a follower. Moreover, that role starts the moment when someone confesses their feelings to the other. In other words, the first confessing his love will forever have the underhand on the relationship.

Being that said, Miyuki and Kaguya are in love with each other. However, since both have strong personalities and want to be on top, they try everything in their power to make the other to confess.

Story

If you have read the synopsis above, then that’s it! There is really not much more to the story than that… At least for the moment.

The concept is somewhat funny and interesting to watch. Most of the episodes have two different events and it’s always about the two main characters having rational battles against each other to see if they are able to make the other confess. Although the topic of the arguments changes, that’s the gist of it.

Most of the times, the result is that nobody wins. Chika Fujiwara, a second character who ends up being the star of the show, always end up butting in with her naive self and make the argument stop in some kind of way. To be honest, although it’s been a pleasant ride so far, I’m not really sure if it’s going to be interesting to see the same concept happening over and over again without feeling old.

Characters

I can’t say I have deep feelings for either of the characters in Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai. In fact, I couldn’t care less who ends up confessing first… It’s about the journey and not the goal line… I guess.

However, I think the main characters work well with each other. To be honest, I think that’s the only way to make this kind of plot interesting.

Though, I have to say that it’s actually funny to see that, Chika, a second character, is, in fact, the star of the show. I don’t know if you knew, but her dance on the end of episode 3 (I think it’s in the third episode?) has been uploaded on Youtube and has almost one million views lolol

So, yeah… I still haven’t connected to any of the characters. Even Chika, who is adorable to watch, (probably the reason for her popularity) hasn’t created a connection with me.

Animation

The character design is good. Although I don’t really like Miyuki design that much. But, both Kaguya and Chika are pretty cute!

I also think they did a good job with the animation movement when both characters are having an argument. I mean, an Anime where the full episode is just 2 characters talking with each other, always in the same room, could become boring very fast. This way, having a fast-paced animation, such as changing from character to character and show them in their own monologues, makes a huge difference.

When it comes to the background, it’s also very well done. However, since we only get to watch the student council room most of the time, I don’t really have much to say.

Audio

The voice acting is on point. Something that the creators had to make sure of it. It’s one of those Anime shows that, without good voice acting, the show would just fall apart. I mean, what another way could they do fast-paced arguments where the ball is thrown back and forward dozens of times?

I also like the intro music. Not that the music is really that great, just because it has a different vibe than what we normally get from Anime intros. It’s hard to explain in words, but it has this western (and older) vibe to me. Nevertheless, it’s catchy and nice to listen.

Final Verdict

In the end, I think Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai is a nice Anime to watch if you are looking for some relaxing time. However, I don’t think it’s worthy of the praise is getting… I mean, yeah it’s somewhat funny and we can see that there was a lot of money invested in the production of this. However, at the same moment, I feel the characters are not good enough to actually make me love this Anime. And, although I understand the concept of the Anime, I mean, I even discussed it some weeks ago, I’m pretty sure that, sooner or later, I’ll be screaming to my computer saying “Just confess already!”… Probably sooner than later xD

If you like comedic romances, then you should try this one out! It’s not the best I’ve seen, but if you have already watched the most popular ones then it’s a nice one to try out!

Now, if you need something more than have the same concept playing over and over, this is probably not for you. It’s true that it can change with time, but the first 3 episodes did not really change much.

Final Score: Above Average!