Review of Kaguya-sama: Love is War -Ultra Romantic-

Frankly, I expected more. The second season surpassed its prequel, so I expected an upward tendency in terms of writing. The focus of this season is what I think made it less appealing to me. In terms of animation and sound design the show remains very good. I did not enjoy spending more time with Maki Shijo, who in the previous season was a recurring visual gag (a girl being left out of things). Learning about her beef with her best friend or that she is a cousin of Kaguya was deeply uninteresting. Her comedic shtick this time was that she is a mini-Kaguya, switching betweendespotic and sweet. However, it felt extremely tiring and out of character, as in the previous seasons she was set up to be timid and unable to put her foot down. The other joke is that she calls Kaguya “auntie” to make her look old, but that’s it. The conclusion to Maki’s arc is also inconsistent with the story, as she is approached by Nagisa, the “girlfriend character”, who tells her that Maki is the most important person to her. That sounds like a flat-out lie as it is not substantiated by anything we have seen in the last three seasons.

The main plot was fine I guess, though it was dragged out by filler. Yu and Iino keep developing in terms of character, which is nice.