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

I'm confused, I knew this show was good but what in the hell is it doing with a 9.15? I've seem some recency bias before but this is on a whole another level. Kaguya was a solid 6-7/10 rom com for me so seeing these reviews/ratings caught me off guard. Even when Season 1 and 2 concluded the overhyping wasn't this bad. I see people in the comments calling this the best rom com ever made which baffles me as well. Anyways, lets begin. Story: 6 The story... exists? This show is definitely more on the character side of the entertainment aspect I'll say that. The storyitself of Kaguya is pretty 1 dimensional with 2 people trying to make each confess. The series follows an episodic format of comedy skits which is why I question it being called a rom com and not 'mostly comedy with tid bits of romance every couple of episodes' In my opinion this show was pretty much a comedy up until the last 4 episodes of Season 3. And uh, how do I say this nicely? I wasn't exactly on the floor dying of laughter from Kaguya-sama's comedy. This show's comedy was just more lighthearted gags that you smile at and not really... comedy. But yeah the actual romance of this show takes a backseat for pretty much 3 entire seasons. The only time its ever brought up it gets instantly terminated by some comedic relief before it can get serious. So when you have a show that doesn't reveal its romance nearly as much as its comedy and the comedy itself isn't funny, what do you get? Boredom.

Art: 8

Very solid adaptation. The animation is very fluid and you can visually see just how much the people working on the show actually care for it.

Sound: 8

The opening is as good as ever and the sound tracks are great.

Characters: 6

You have a bunch of typical rom com archetypes present in Kaguya and do they do anything different with them? No. You got the big boobed dumb aloof girl, you got the easily flustered MC, you got the flat chested tsundere. Need I continue? The only character in the show that I actually found compelling was Ishigami. He seemed to be the only one in the Student Council Cast that actually developed as a person and didn't stick to the boundaries of his 1 dimensional character archetype. I loved the way he slowly gains confidence and even though life doesn't go his way, he gets a few strokes of luck that slowly develop him into a nicer and more open person. Other than that though the rest of the Student Council are the same exact character as when they were introduced. I said at the beginning of the show that this series is more character driven rather than story and I do think this cast can carry a show. The problem is, is that they can carry a nice solid 6-7/10 rom com that you watch on the weekend to relax... Not a 9.15, highest rated anime, perfect 10's, best rom com of all time type show, ya know? Hopefully once the recency bias of Season 3's conclusion goes away so will the inflation of 10's.

Enjoyment: 6

Like I said before, when the show presents its comedy to be its front runner genre and you don't think that the show is funny, you get boredom as the end result. I don't particularly view comedy in anime as funny if I'm gonna be honest, maybe its because I'm not Japanese and I don't relate to their style of humor. Only a select few shows even get a giggle out of me and it certainly wasn't Kaguya. If this show actually cut the episodic comedy skit bullshit I would've been more hooked to the show. But because of it, I never really took the main romance between Kaguya and Shirogane seriously. And when that romance finally gets serious I still don't take it seriously cause the show itself never did either for 3 whole seasons. They used their romance as the main center of the comedy so I view their whole relationship in a comedic fashion, not romantically. So when they try to make their relationship genuinely romantic.. its an awkward combination lets say that. Overall, I think this show has a good premise for a solid rom com that people watch and then forget about until the next season comes out, not whatever these reviews are saying.

Overall: 6

I've said what I needed to, good show but that's it, just good. Lets keep it at that shall we?

TL;DR: Toradora >