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

This is a quick review and not comprehensive by any means. Might contain spoilers. Kaguya Sama is a masterpiece, probably not a timeless one though. It is filled with witty humor, relatable references, and creative situations meshed along with an impeccable cast. It naturally seamlessly weaves bizarre situations on the characters, creating a perfect environment for comedy and character growth. Ridiculous premise, an act of a couple of tsundere to make the other confess to each other leading to over-the-top psychological drama - except it turns into comedy instead of being something like a death note. In a hypothetical scene, you would see both of themarguing frivolously over the subject at hand (with romantic undertones) while having exorbitant monologues, embellished with the other characters chiming in with their distinct personalities - creating a perfect environment for humorous situations. The formula is simple, but the execution is literal perfection. The creativity is insane and the jokes are relatable as hell with all the pop-culture references scattered throughout the show. It nails the timing and the predictability is near to none.

Serving as the climax of the series - Kaguya Sama Ultra Romantic has the peak moment of the story. The premise of the show gets a proper closer, as the main duo we have seen across the three seasons finally confess in a very grandiose way, staying true to the narrative style. We have seen Kaguya and Shirogane grow across the three seasons, both as characters, but also in the relationship and dynamics between both of them, which made the eventual confession a thousand times better (stating the obvious) while not endlessly stretching the plot.
To add, Kaguya Sama is a character-driven story. Therefore, the characters are important. Kaguya Sama: Love is War shines in this department, with an ensemble cast. Quirky characters with distinct personalities of their own. Each of them has their individual stories lined up alongside the main plot of the show. Something like Iino’s shoujo dream or Ishigami’s gamer attitude or Chika’s board game craze perfectly swathes with the narrative. Aka, for some reason, brings in the best of their personalities into whatever he wants to draw. My personal favorite character in the show is Shirogane. He is an embodiment of the “chad” meme self inserted into the show. He might not be buff, but he is the manliest guy on the show. I am thankful that Kaguya has the most acceptable reasons in any rom-com to like Shirogane.

The voice acting further adds to the experience. I usually don’t specifically praise anime voice acting since for a very competitive industry, it is almost every time fantastic, but in Kaguya Sama - it really brings a lot of life to the characters. Especially the weirdly toned “huh” or “hein” embedded (perfectly) between a conversation. It adds another level of expressiveness to the conversation - that might be the only reason I am still restraining myself from getting into the manga. The color palette is perfect, the composite of the show is absolutely gorgeous and the storyboarding/direction makes the show immersive as hell.

To summarize, I love Kaguya Sama: Love is War. I love almost every character - Shirogane, Kaguya, Ishigami, Iino, Hayasaka. This show makes me euphoric and I have my utmost gratitude for it for that.