Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai? Tensai-tachi no Renai Zunousen

Kaguya sama wa kokurasetai season 2 is the disappointment of the season. It has its ups and downs, the ups being the final three episodes, and the downs being the rest of the season. Only the final three episodes provide any sense of progression, be it for the characters or for the plot. Ishigami’s long awaited character arc was freaking fantastic, but the same can’t be said about the other characters'. Even after 24 episodes have aired, many of the characters are as bland as they were in the first episode of the first season. I was able to overlook this in season 1, because Idon’t expect the author to be able to completely characterize and develop the personalities of four main characters in the span of 12 episodes, but I do expect that, or at least half of that, to happen within 24 episodes. If I don’t even know or understand the characters, and if I’m not even the least bit acquainted with them, how can you even expect me to give two shits about their romantic feelings for each other? All the female characters (and I do mean all) are basically reskinned versions of various “-deres”. Kaguya is a tsun-dere, Hayasaka is a kuu-dere, Iino Miko is a baka-dere and Chika is an annoying-dere. The female characters have no personalities of their own, but have inherited their dispositions, if you can even call them that, from stereotypes. Chika’s character is just to be “cute”; I prefer the phrase obnoxiously irritating but whatever. The entirety of Kaguya’s character revolves around Shirogane; if we were to remove Shirogane from her life all that would be left is an empty husk of a high school girl. Indeed, if this is what the anime intended for her character to be, then I would’ve had no qualms with that, but that is definitely not the case. She’s supposed to be one of the leads, and all we know about her is that she loves Miyuki and has daddy issues. Do we know what caused her daddy issues after two cours? Nope. Hayasaka has been Kaguya’s maid since her childhood, and that’s her character done for the series. I did feel myself liking Miko initially when she was introduced, because she was actually given a purpose, a purpose that wasn’t relied upon any other character, until that very purpose was daddy-daddy-dooed into oblivion. She was an interesting character and her struggles – public speaking and isolation – were well established. These are complications that I’m sure most of us could related to at some point in our lives. I was invested. I wanted a resolution for her character, not some sort of catharsis but something that would be satisfying and relatable, but all we got was a 5-minute scene where she overcomes it all through nakama power. I wish I was making this up. A small pep talk from Shirogane is all it takes for her to overbear her fear of public speaking, fear that has cultivated in her mind since her elementary school days, and all it takes for her to overcome it is a debate about why boys in their school should shave their heads in order to conform uniformity. Yeah, BS. That episode made me question something. Does this show want to be a comedy with serious moments, or does it want to be a serious show with comedic skits; because neither of the two seem to fit the show’s agenda, yet the show still tries its hardest to juggle the two topics. The comedy is more or less hit or miss. The jokes are predictable, 90% of them rely on some sort of misunderstanding between the characters, and frankly, though not a chore to watch, were a bit out of place at times. The joke about Shirogane being not very good at volleyball, and Chika having to teach him tirelessly worked in Season 1, but here that very same joke is repeated two different times; once with singing, and once with dancing. There would be a moment or two where it feels like the show is actually trying to progress the characters’ relations, but then out of nowhere S Y K E, nothing happens because someone walks in on them. I can’t go on berating the show as it does have some actual good humour. For example, my favorite in this season is when Kaguya, Ishigami and Shirogane are in a Shoujo manga parody. Now that was hilarious. Taking an already oversaturated genre and saturating it even more created some hysterical moments. The actual witty comedic timings of the first season were lost somewhere and almost all the comedic moments in this cour are either forced, or mountains made out of molehills. For example, Shirogane approaches Kaguya in front of her classmates and explicitly asks her to PREPARE A SPEECH FOR THE STUDENT COUNCIL PRESIDENT’S ELECTION, but somehow the absolute donuts in the supposedly prestigious school for elites, mistake that for a confession. The male main characters, are what carry the show because they actually have emotions and act like friends. The show WANTS us to believe that the main quad are friends but shows nothing to instate said relationship between the characters. Let me give you a rundown of how the characters treat each other – 1.Kauguya, with a)Shirogane – lovey dovey b)Ishigami – same joke about her being a cold af devil is repeated a million times c)Chika – considers her a cancer to society and then immediately does a 180 and suddenly she’s her bff Chika is the same with everyone because she’s got no personality. Shirogane and Ishigami are the only ones who show some sort of realism in their emotions. I know that it’s an anime and all and it doesn’t need to be that realistic, but what gets on my nerves is that the show tries to conceal the lack of depth in the characters and tries to swindle the viewer, using poorly constructed recurring jokes, into thinking that maybe the characters aren’t just ink droplets on a piece of paper. There’s a scene in this season where the Student Council is disbanded and the characters may never get to spend much time together, but the only thing I could think about is how much I don’t give a shit. The author tries to employ various techniques in order for the viewer to feel sad, which include but are not limited to – crying characters, other characters joining in on the crying, walking into the sunset and more crying. The characters also keep reiterating about how “nostalgic” the past year was as if to convince the viewer to feel the same. If you need to explicitly ask the viewer to have a poignant feeling during a scene, then you need to redo that entire part from scratch. Show, don’t tell. That’s one of the main philosophies in writing, but unfortunately the show believes in “Tell, don’t show”. We are TOLD that Kaguya worked the hardest to defend Ishigami, even though we are SHOWN that Shirogane was the one to pull Ishigami out of his “darkness”. We are TOLD how Kaguya planned something, but we’re never SHOWN how or when she did it. For example, we are told, through Hayasaka, that Kaguya planned for two of the students to go to different schools after they graduated from middle school, only for Kaguya to later state “masaka, I am not that cold”. Is this the author’s way of building up Kaguya? Or is this the author just trying to give Kaguya’s character some edginess? Because, neither of them particularly worked. The highlight of this season definitely was the handling of Ishigami’s character. The way his character arc was structured is praiseworthy. All the foreshadowing for his character, in Season 1 and the first half of this season, are finally compiled into two episodes and they were magnificent. The resolution was fantastic, the build up was fantastic, everything was fantastic. If only the author cared as much about the female cast as he does about the male counterpart. The animation is as fantastic as it was in the season prior to this one. There is a sense of fluidity in the characters’ movements which go hand in hand fantastically with the amazing lighting and directing of the skits. There is always something in motion, be it in the foreground or the background, and if we get a still shot it’s usually accompanied with ambient music and gorgeous lighting. In terms of animation, there are no corners cut and there is almost never a dull moment. The music is great. I like the new Opening and Ending songs this season, though I wasn’t particularly a fan of the previous season’s OP and ED. The rest of the OST is good. I said it at the start of the review, I’ll say it again, “Kaguya Sama wa Kokurasetai Season 2 is a disappointment”. It has its highs sure, but the time used up in the detours it takes and the meandering it does in order to reach said highs, could’ve and should’ve been used more deftly.

Are you ready to be graced by the charming Kaguya that we all got to know? Want about how much Miyuki has grown since the first season? Want to know how much love this season 2 gives to the fans? I got good news for you because Kaguya-sama Season 2 leaves no shortage for high expectations. You came to this sequel so be prepare for enlightenment by a show that reaches even greater heightss. The alluring appeal of Kaguya-sama comes from an exquisite colorful cast of characters. From the start, we should know this isn’t just a typical rom-com with lovey-dovey episodes. Rather than just producingromance, Kaguya-sama is known for its psychological warfare, or as in some people calls it, ‘love is war’. After all, we have a story about how Kaguya and Miyuki are both in a mental battle with each to see who will confess to the other first. That’s the core of the premise anyways. Season 2 draws in more storytelling involving the election for the Student Council, Miyuki’s birthday celebration, and a hallmark of new drama. Similar to the previous season, each episode is divided into multiple segments. Some of these segments are connecting storylines together formulated into a sitcom-style plot while others are standalones with various themes. From the very first episode, we are reintroduced to the show’s familiar storytelling style through the character personalities. Most of the main cast lacks experience with relationships so it’s not surprising to see their fallout in the field. Chika once again serves as major comic relief and in the season’s opening episode debuts her Happy Life Game. Such a board game unites the characters together through their natural chemistry between each other. While the segment itself can be considered to be a sitcom comedy, it’s important to see the dynamic connection between all the main cast. This franchise may not have a large character cast but it has an ensemble to keep everyone relevant. It’s the quality that matters over the quantity. Furthermore, let’s not forget some of the supporting members such as Kei, Hayasaka, or Kobachi. They may not get as much as the core cast but when they do, it’s always appealing. Let’s take Ai Hayasaka for instance. She makes a sensational debut in a cat-burglar style outfit while staying in character. Kei, Miyuki’s sister, retains pride personality although it’s obvious she cares about her brother. Meanwhile, there’s Kobachi Osaragi, a member of the Public Morals Committee, which I don’t see people talk often about. Taking on the role of a stereotypical committee member, she is of the more observant type who often observes others than taking direct action. In one particular episode, we see how the narrative perspective of this public morals committee member. But perhaps most noticeably, we meet Miko Iino this season. Setting the gold standard as a committee member, she has an absolute ambition to seek justice at her school. It doesn’t take long for her to butt heads with characters and due to her personality causes some uneasy drama. But fans should also know that Kaguya-sama is more known for its charismatic drama. It balances its emotional appeal and ties it together with its unorthodox humor. Sometimes, it even adds a bit of psychology through character behaviors and its dialogue usage. Most noticeably, this includes character personality changes such as with Kaguya and Hayasaka. Miko Iino in this case is perhaps one of the most human and realistic characters in the show. She follows her school standards and honestly reminds me of the type of student council that I used to see at my own school. During the mid-season episodes, Miko is involved with the student council election and goes up against her rival, Miyuki. It sells the plot’s drama perfectly as we witness both sides clash. And let’s not forget Yu Ishigami. Perhaps being the breakout character this season, he is the introverted boy with a depressing outlook on life. If you ask me, he is like the antithesis of Chika. Instead of being bubbly and energetic, Ishigami suffers from an inferiority complex and often makes sarcastic comments without much thought. He serves as a perfect example as a character foil to also Kaguya and Miyuki. People tend to misjudge Ishigami but deep down, he is a decent person as his action speaks louder than words this season. In one of the episodes late in this season, you’ll see exactly why. Never count out Ishigami when he takes the stage. Like with the previous season, A-1 Pictures endorses this sequel with its colorful artwork and choreography. Some people may not trust the studio to handle adaptations but for this time around, there’s no need to worry. We are once again enlightened by the flamboyant nature of character drama. With the eccentric character expressions, it sells at every characters’ personalities to the fullest. Titular character Kaguya is the best example with every interaction she has with others, especially Miyuki. It doesn’t stop there either as Chika, Ishigami, and others inject energy into this season. And let’s also not forget the opening theme song. Performed by Masayuki Suzuki, it has a similar tune as the first season but contains a very creative tune with some colorful storytelling within. You’ll be surprised at how much that song fits for this particular show. It only took about half a year for the announcement of the sequel since the first season finished airing. And a few months later, we are at the end again. Like most fans of the franchise, I came into Kaguya-sama with high expectations because there was so much more left to see from the manga. In this season, we are once again entertained by the brainchild of the franchise, Aka Asasaka. Now bring on season 3 so we can see more of this love war.

[Minor "spoilers" might be included here: they're not too important and merely references, just a warning for people who don't want to know absolutely anything] Kaguya-sama: Love is War is an anime that came out during Winter 2019 and since then, it has become quite a very popular and well-received series. I'm not going to lie, I liked the first season a lot when it first came out, but my tastes towards anime and things as a whole has changed a lot since that period, in fact I don't like the first season that much anymore, so my negative perspective towards this new one would probablyapply to the first season too if I re-watched it. Or perhaps, Kaguya-sama just outstayed its welcome. As I said before, I'm not sure I'd like the first season if I re-watched it, but I'm dead sure that it would be more enjoyable than watching this one. Kaguya seemed a lot fresher back in 2019 because it brought a kind of unique way to portray a comical romcom anime, using a "psychological" approach through the two protagonists trying to be confessed to each other without doing it directly. Well, the main problem is that this season brings little to no difference whatsoever, using the same over the top and exaggerated formula, which results in this season being a chore to watch. In fact, I NEVER laughed during this whole season. Not at all. Zero. I chuckled so few times that I can count them on the fingers of one hand. In fact, this repetition might have exposed what was unnoticed to my eyes because of the novelty that I thought was there. The "Huh we're in love but we cannot say it so we're going to do everything stupid" gimmick still remains and it's basically unchanged with the apparent progress in the relationship being just a comical factor. I'm sick of it, because it gets annoying after a while. My problem with Kaguya-sama is the fact that it tries SO HARD to be funny in every way possible through supposedly "strange and original" gimmicks. This is the problem: it's overthought to the point of not being funny anymore. An example is its use of a narrator that says "a character is walking" while the anime shows that a characters is, indeed, walking. What's the point when the anime doesn't need any? That's overdoing it and makes it more unfunny than it already is. Additional unfunny and stretched things are the overuse of the so-called "psychological" stuff: over the top mental trips that have no meaning, its use repetition that in some anime is funny but in this case it simply isn't. How many times did Iino Miko walk inside the room and find Kaguya & Shirogane doing misunderstandable things? This reaches to the point where I can predict what's going to happen in a lot of moments and that's a terrible thing for a comic anime that relies on taking the viewer by surprise. Another thing I hated in this season is the fact that some moments looked like they were never supposed to be funny. An example is the election moment. What am I supposed to get out of it when it's an anime that's supposed to be comical? The atmosphere was tense for absolutely no reason and made me question: "What the hell is this supposed to be?" - The same goes for some other moments that I'm not going to write about. Anyways: I'm not going to feel like I have to take seriously this one, when it had one moment where Kaguya fainted, they brought her to the hospital, to be visited by a DOCTOR and... HUH it's a "sickness" that makes your heart beat when Shirogane is around. Yeah. When they were talking about it, while I thought "well, this will probably turn out to be some stupid joke too", on the other hand it might've been some serious stuff. Turns out it wasn't, so every time this will happen in the next events, I'm not going to take it seriously, regardless of it being a joke or not and this damages any good intentions that the series might've had to tackle greater themes. Speaking of which, in episode 11 they decided to talk about ISHIGAMI'S DIFFICULT PAST out of the blue, but I'll focus on it in the next section... Story and characters? Well... there's not much to talk about. The story is still the same: Kaguya and Shirogane are in love but because the writer said so they're never going to confess until this series stops being profitable and its fans get sick of it (never). As I said before, there's basically no progress in their relationship and everything that happens between them is taken as a joke so... nothing there. I wouldn't mind a dumb nonexistent story if the anime was actually funny, but since it's NOT, well, I'm looking for anything to grab hold of. Characters? Oh well - they haven't changed at all since the last season, they remain the exact same cliches and they're just bounded to their own gags, perhaps they're even more ridiculed: Kaguya doesn't want to confess, Shirogane doesn't want to confess, Chika is Chika, Ishigami is still an incel nerd and isn't the character the makes me laugh out loud anymore, Hayasaka Ai says "haha me secretly crazy am I cool yet am I cool yet", the new "character" Iino Miko is as deep as a glass of water and all we know about her is that she walks inside the room and find Kaguya & Shirogane doing misunderstandable things. As I mentioned before, they decided to talk about ISHIGAMI'S DIFFICULT PAST in episode 11, but what's the point of it being there? The two leads are parodies of themselves, the apparent progress is not taken seriously, so why would an episode about his past make someone a real character? The series is joke-oriented and comical, so it's not like, say, this character is very sad all the time in this drama series and now that we know more about him we can empathize and feel his sadness. No, since the rest of the series is just jokes, the characters are just going to be ridiculous for the rest of the series, so it's completely pointless. The real purpose is just trying to make the series SEEM actually deep behind its comical mask with layers of depressing background. Yeah, seem, because it's just empty, after all. The art is cool, nothing that blows my mind but it's definitely not bad too look at. Other than that, of course Kaguya-sama stretches and tries to put random writings, colours and styles of drawing, just to be exaggerated and try to be ridiculous in every aspect possible (Teen Titans GO-core). About sound, there is not much to say about it: it's background music to add up to the "atmosphere" and nothing to listen outside of it. OP is sung by the same dude who sung the first one, so it's something I'd never listen to seriously, the ED is nothing out of the ordinary too. Well, I don't mind these two aspects that much. All in all, this season was repetitive, it outstayed its welcome and it was an unfunny journey all along. Don't think of me as a pretentious guy who wants DEEP PHILOSOPHY in every bit of anime, in fact I really enjoyed other comical anime; what I mean is: when I watch simple non-comical anime with a bit of slice of life, there are plenty of times in which I smile or chuckle, because I don't pretend THAT much, I prefer simple things than "overdone and overthought to the point of unfunny" gags that try too hard. Well, it looks like I'm the minority here, since this season has a busted 8.93 mean score.

This show is like my migraines. This is one of those anime which is so shallow as to be describable by a single word, and in this case, that word is “noise.” Never before has there been an anime which does so much visually which is this artistically lifeless and falls into this many archetypical trappings. Despite all the cutesy little nods and prods found in its (largely unanimated) on-screen jokes and jabs, every visual detail it overwhelms you with can hardly be called thoughtful and invariably boils down to a bunch of visual noise meaning nothing because nothing is actually happening intellectually, thematically, or—if youask me—comedically, and the references it thinks itself so cultured and smart for including are never done artfully enough to appear as anything more than utterly pandering. And the fact the directorial tact on display throughout the entirety of this slideshow is that of a ten year old spastic with Tourettes doesn’t make it any easier to digest, it just takes your usual A-1 Pictures PowerPoint and adds those hideously garish .gif transitions to make it look as if any more thought than usual was actually pitched in. I’m sure this show is, indeed, funny to people, but even should you put a gun to my head, I could not tell you their reasoning for finding it so, because everything about it is so milquetoast, juvenile, and watered down. From the time when I was a kid to my time in college—which is where I’m assuming all the fans of this show lie—I was always so perplexed by adults’ inability to empathize with younger generations, myself at the time included. From where I was standing, me not understanding their likes and dislikes was completely realistic, seeing as I had yet to live a life wrought with the level of experience they had, but them not understanding my likes and dislikes seemed totally unreasonable, because even if they’d grown out of it, they themselves were actually teenagers and college kids at some point in their lives. Was it so hard for them to recall what it was like to be me? Yes. No matter how harshly I whip my long-term memory into submission, it will not remind me why I or any who shared my age would ever find this endearing, funny, or even basically entertaining at all. Despite its renown as a solid comedy with a heart of gold, I can never help but find its entire gimmick completely disingenuous. I’m not so daft as to think you’re actually meant to take the whole love-is-literally-war concept that seriously, but I also can’t help but seek meaning in a show this directionless, and what I find is discomforting all the same. From the concept to the execution, this show sounded like and ended up being two insufferable douchebags who I wouldn’t want to see succeed at anything—let alone romance—drowning in their own embarrassing egos, but opinions aside, to find the dynamic portrayed in this show to be anything other than destructively competitive and socially unstable, you’d either have to be old enough to have your own children and immensely optimistic enough to take the misunderstandings and awkwardness of youth to be nostalgic as opposed to infuriating or you’d just have to be of that age and ignorant enough to think a relationship this unhealthy would actually be fun because you know more about screen-written people than you do real ones. When I was little, I knew this couple who lived next door who were just like this. I was close friends with their two children, and since my parents were always the communal types anyway, they became family friends as fast as their kids did. They were the kind of couple to play pranks on each other, and while they were always at each other’s throats, they were never uncomfortably so. At parties, they reminded me of the delightful class clowns I’d see at school, and my parents and family treated them as such: two funny little lovers who’s attitudes fostered this kind of playfulness. About twelve years later though, I heard they got divorced, and while my parents were pretty torn up about it, I couldn’t help but find it a matter of course. While I think using a single case to make a generalization about a whole is stupid, I also think they’re a perfect exemplar of why no normal human being with emotions could maintain a relationship like this for an extended amount of time. The second life gets real, the jokes will stop being funny, competition will become vendettas, and the competitiveness therein will become contempt. For a show which is supposed to be about two people outsmarting each other, the logic at hand isn’t unique enough to have personality or twisted enough to be engaging on face value since the battle of geniuses which is supposed to be going on isn’t and no tactics are actually being put on display, and while this is just another factor to bore you to tears, the fact people aren’t bored to tears and actually find themselves laughing points to probably the biggest element of despondence I have towards this show: what in the world is the joke? Nothing that happens is over-the-top or compelling, but the narration and the aforementioned presentation is constantly trying to convince you anything is, so if the joke is just supposed to be how bombastically they’re depicting something mundane with overblown narration, then the joke honestly is not funny and really just leaves it all feeling like a stock standard romantic comedy which just happens to have ridiculous music and firecracker visual effects—all of which you want to stop—sprinkled overtop as if their addition added anything of value, which they did not. Granted, if this is the joke after all—and I’m still not laughing—then the obvious subtext you can find therein is actually something which I can call worthwhile, no matter how brain-numbingly sophomoric it is in contemplation. The message is the characters are stupid, vain, and preoccupied with appearances to the point of being interpersonal failures, and as a viewer, you should take their self-inflicted headaches as a cautionary tale and just stop being a child and be honest with your feelings. But by that logic—the logic which argues on behalf of the validity of the show and states the show actually has something of critical value to offer—you shouldn’t even be watching the show beyond getting the point, because all you’d bear witness to after said point was made is a broken relationship you shouldn’t even be watching more of having already been taught why you should never emulate, entertain, or respect it in any way, shape, or form because it is legitimately unhealthy. And if the obnoxious dynamic of two uncharismatic narcissists is entertainment to you and worth staying around for beyond the theme, then the point is already lost on you. If the argument is the show is a normal romantic comedy which just happens to have a suffocating amount of audio/visual gags which themselves were never really meant to be the point no matter how forcefully the director shoves them in your face, then that begs the question, why even watch it? Because if your gig is typical romcoms, and the argument is this show is too and people like me are silly for having overthought it in the first place seeing as the only real distinction between it and its contemporaries is said audio/visual noise, then would you not just want to watch a show without the noise so you can enjoy the thing you enjoy in its purest form? And asking this, it hit me: you people like the noise. You see a hideously rotoscoped ending theme dance sequence and start foaming at the mouth with mindless joy, reposting gifs of it on social media whilst the salivation still has yet to cease, and you accept its calculated pandering as a free source of internet memes and reaction images and validate your indulgence with the manufactured opinions of e-celebrities leeching their livelihoods off your clicks, surging with Google AdSense. This is a completely irrelevant talking point seeing as this season is exactly the same as the first, if just a bit uglier, but I still wanted to just give mention to how MAL users have this ridiculous propensity to give sequel installments exactly the same score as they gave the prior before even testing the waters. This show earned itself high standing after one episode not because such a feeble episode deserved such acclaim, but because your excuse to kill time had come screeching back on. Thank you for reading.

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