By
yin -
Thursday, July 30, 2020
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During the circuit breaker period, I started feeling bored out my mind, so I thought I should probably start watching a light-hearted, comedy anime to feel better. My friend recommended Kaguya-sama: Love is War to me, mentioning that it made her laugh on multiple occasions, so I decided to give it a shot.
It immediately reminded me of The Disastrous Life of Saiki K, where the episodes were short, standalone skits featuring the main characters. It was immediately very dramatic, the way Shinomiya and Shirogane calculated their every move in order to avoid embarrassing situations that would expose them as being interested in each other.
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Shinomiya scheming and plotting against Shirogane |
From small things like what kind of birthday present to get for each other, to simply following each other online, the anime heavily dramatizes how each small action they take would lead to the other finding out about their crush.
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Shinomiya contemplating the very small decision of whether or not to go to the movies with Shorigane as if her life depended on it |
The anime is not as relatable as Saiki K, because Shuchiin Academy itself is full of elite students from rich families, or extremely talented and hardworking students like Shirogane.
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Shirogane flexing his perfect grades |
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Shinomiya standing humbly in front of a collage of her achievements |
Shinomiya, daughter of the esteemed Shinomiya Group, who has so many expectations pinned on her not only from her family, but also from the public, acts completely differently when she’s hanging out with the student council, or when she’s panicking over her feelings for Shirogane.
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Shinomiya secretly freaking out over Shirogane's cat ears |
That is what makes this anime quite amusing to watch, I think. While the two of them maintain composed and professional on the outside, their internal monologues are very relatable, and it is fun to see them have their own personalities outside of being the school’s model students.
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Shirogane doing an excellent job at hiding his feelings for Shinomiya |
Even Fujiwara, who many people find annoying because of her complete ignorance to the unspoken war between Shinomiya and Shirogane, started to grow on me throughout the series.
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Fujiwara dancing without a care while Shinomiya tries to talk to her |
She can be annoying at times, when her ignorance and naivety completely ruins the plans of both Shinomiya and Shirogane, but no one can deny the fact that she is absolutely adorable, and her ignorance is even endearing at times.
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Fujiwara looking cute while not knowing things |
A dance that she did for one of the ending songs went viral, and people all over the world reacted to the video and even shared their own covers of the dance. You can watch it here.
My favourite character of the series, however, is Ishigami. Originally, I didn’t really like his character design, because he just looks like a sleazy loser who plays video games and smells bad (which might actually be true), but I also found him the most relatable out of the main cast.
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A dramatic low-shot with cinematic lighting of Ishigami shamelessly declare his desire to play video games and nothing else |
He is lazy, unmotivated, and constantly has bad grades, which is something that I think a lot of us have experienced before. His outlook on life is also very depressing, which is something that I relate heavily to. It’s also funny sometimes how melodramatic he can be about things.
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Ishigami turning to death at the slightest inconvenience |
He does not care about things like reputation and appearance, but he gets the job done as the treasurer of the student council.
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Shinomiya and Fujiwara reacting to Ishigami's passionate speech about his opinion on men who wear boxer briefs |
During the sports festival arc, a major incident in his past is revealed, and it really confirmed for me that he is my favourite character in the anime. Despite his sluggish and gloomy behaviour, he has a strong sense of justice and will not back down when it comes to standing up for the right thing, which I think is really respectable.
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Ishigami speaking his truth, with not a single care in the world |
While there are some episodes that make me laugh, there were also episodes that tugged on my heartstrings and made me feel really emotional.
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The student council making it just in time to watch fireworks together |
Although this is considered a gag anime, I think it definitely has a lot more to offer as well, and I think it’s definitely worth a watch if you’re in the mood for something light-hearted and wholesome.
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The student council gathering to take a wholesome group picture
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