Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai: Ultra Romantic

The elite members of Shuchiin Academy's student council continue their competitive day-to-day antics. Council president Miyuki Shirogane clashes daily against vice-president Kaguya Shinomiya, each fighting tooth and nail to trick the other into confessing their romantic love. Kaguya struggles within the strict confines of her wealthy, uptight family, rebelling against her cold default demeanor as she warms to Shirogane and the rest of her friends.

Meanwhile, council treasurer Yuu Ishigami suffers under the weight of his hopeless crush on Tsubame Koyasu, a popular upperclassman who helps to instill a new confidence in him. Miko Iino, the newest student council member, grows closer to the rule-breaking Ishigami while striving to overcome her own authoritarian moral code.

As love further blooms at Shuchiin Academy, the student council officers drag their outsider friends into increasingly comedic conflicts.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Shinomiya, Kaguya Main

Koga, Aoi Japanese

Ishigami, Yuu Main

Suzuki, Ryouta Japanese

Fujiwara, Chika Main

Kohara, Konomi Japanese

Shirogane, Miyuki Main

Furukawa, Makoto Japanese

Iino, Miko Main

Tomita, Miyu Japanese

Hayasaka, Ai Supporting

Hanamori, Yumiri Japanese

Shirogane, Kei Supporting

Suzushiro, Sayumi Japanese

Shirogane, Father Supporting

Koyasu, Takehito Japanese

Narrator Supporting

Aoyama, Yutaka Japanese

Shijou, Maki Supporting

Ichinose, Kana Japanese

Maeda, Toshihiro Producer

Ishikawa, Tatsuya Producer

Negishi, Genki Producer

Kikuchi, Yuuichirou Producer

Reviews

Jul 1, 2024

Shirogari

Recommended

This is a pretty good third season for Kaguya-sama: Love is War.

The story continues where it previously left off, the entire school exploding when that huge balloon popped. After that there's around five more episodes of the previous great pacing before the anime changes a bit. For the rest of the anime time moves slower because of the large amount of events that happen during the culture festival and more characters are added without too much of a background. In this part there's a bit less humour and a bit more story but it's still pretty nice to watch.

The characters are okay, there's ... character development but the anime mostly makes use of character traits previously introduced. There's also some new characters that we barely know anything about yet.

The art, sound and voice acting are all similar or the same as the previous two seasons.

Overall this is a good third season and you're likely to enjoy it even despite the change in pacing.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Nov 20, 2023

MxS7HGS

Mixed Feelings

This season carries on from the second with a familiar theme. It's a blend of comedy and character drama, but the tone is somewhat gentler than before.

The latest installment of Love is War will, at last, reach its climax, and the real name part of the story will be unveiled. This is the significant plot twist that many have eagerly anticipated since the first season. The season concludes with the protagonists' usual running gags, and the humor is more evenly dispersed than before. However, the relationship war in the finale could have been improved.

The plot finally takes the turn many have been waiting for at ... the end, and the characters confront their feelings and fears. The characters remain outstanding and complement their peculiar personalities. However, there is nothing noteworthy to mention in terms of background and depth.

The intro has a similar style but doesn't quite match the quality of the previous two seasons. The outros are surprisingly captivating, even though half of the references are unclear. The OSTs still shine, and the censored versions of the songs, as well as "Take on Me," were delightful to discover.

Love is War is a simple yet amusing romantic comedy with many quirks. The show didn't introduce much of its own and attempted to adapt existing scenarios as best as possible. With a more original setting, this series could have been even better. However, it's fun and convincing enough to be considered one of the best RomCom series available.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Jul 4, 2022

BStrifeSword114

Not Recommended

"The first to fall in love loses!"

"If I go out with him, I'll probably fall in love!"

Never before have such pretentious phrases been uttered unironically...wait, this is anime. Never mind, happens all the time.

This season was by and large a massive disappointment. I have always believed 'Love is War' to be an overrated romcom, but nevertheless found the first two seasons serviceably decent. You can check my profile, if you don't believe me: I gave the first two seasons a 6/10. Although drenched in romantic tropes I despise, the comedy was consistent and the execution was at a very high level.

And yet this season falls ... flat on it's face, because it focuses on what has long been the weakest part of the series: it's drama.

Now granted, I have not read the manga (nor will I ever). But why does Kaguya/Shirogane's romance need to be dragged out so incessantly? Three seasons in (that's nearly 15 hours of your life, folks) and it takes until the very end for just the smallest amount of progress in that department. Why drag it out? The drama? The tension? Sorry, but who in their right mind thought these two were never going to get together? There is no tension. For the laughs maybe? The pair's tsundere schtick stopped being funny by the end of season 1. There are literally hundreds of tsundere couples in anime. That is not unique in the slightest.

Then there's this new Tsubame/Ishigami love thing going on. Now again, I have not read the manga. But the instant this Tsubame girl was introduced, I thought "There's no way this is going to work out." And yet that plot element gets dragged on, episode after episode. Just axe it already and stop wasting my time.

These are just a couple examples. When you have these tropey dramatic elements, they better conclude quickly, or I get bored and irritated. The older I get, the more these parts of anime have rubbed me the wrong way.

One of the stronger parts of this series is it's comedy and it's side-characters. The "Shirogane likes Herthaka, but Chika thinks Herthaka is a dude who likes other dudes and thus gives Chika a horny nosebleed" was one that genuinely made me laugh hard. It was a misunderstanding piled on top of another misunderstanding in a creative way that made sense.

But overall there is less comedy in this season, and for the first time I found some of it rather stale. Comedy in this series could be nonsensical at times, but it seems this season double-downed on it. For example, the coin game they play in one of the earlier episodes.

To summarize the coin game bluntly: group is putting coins under a sheet, using heads and tails to answer various questions truthfully ("Do you have a crush?" etc). No one knows who puts what coin under the sheet, and a lie detector is there in case anyone decides to lie.

Shirogane and Kaguya are both intimidated by the lie detector, so they tell the truth with their answers...why? They're both supposed to be super smart, so they should realize how incredibly unreliable those things are right? There's a reason lie detectors aren't generally admissible as evidence in court- they're notoriously unreliable.

Then Shirogane gets out of it anyway, by switching his coin with a 1981 coin in his pocket (because Kaguya was looking at the years of the coins to know who was answering)...how? How did he switch coins without Kaguya noticing? Why does he carry around a 1981 coin so conveniently? The suspension of belief is just too high for it to be either funny or dramatic.

The other part of this show that is one of it's stronger suits are it's side characters. Shirogane/Kaguya are a typical tsundere duo whom I've never much cared for, but I do have a soft spot for some of the others.

Ishigami's dramatic parts are the only good dramatic parts of the series. Even if it is tropey and predictable, I sympathize with his lack of confidence affecting aspects of his life. Just wish the romantic part of this was less predictable and less drawn-out. His comedic bits are on the weaker side too, but that's fine I suppose.

Chika is the show's most consistent comedy, but she's also the only one compeletely lacking in meaningful character development. One of the earlier seasons mentioned she has a family with a political background, which opens the door for soooo many possibilities given her personality. And yet nothing has come of it. Ditto for her younger sister, who was around for a short comedic part.

Hayasaka finally gets some decent character development here. She's cute and funny in a deadpan sort of way. But like Chika, I really wish there was something of more substance; give her a boy to pursue, or a hobby, or important friends...She needs something, anything. The entire point of her short arc at the beginning of this season was that she wanted to live her teenage life, instead of just being relegated to being Kaguya's maid...but then there's nothing. Some may say "wait until season 5" or something. Well, 3 seasons should be plenty. That's nearly 15 hours of show. Pick up the pace.

The art is colorful and gorgeous. The sound is...decent. I think that one track that reminds me of "You spin me round" by Dead or Alive was the best one. I don't know if that was intentional or not, but it got a chuckle out of me every time I heard it. The sub is great, although the english dub is kind of underwhelming unfortunately.

Given how season 3 ends, I'm guessing it's going to double down on the tsundere romantic parts, which is absolutely the weakest part of this show. Thus I'm undecided if I want to continue after this. I can understand why there are so many fans of this- even if it is a tropey romcom, the ideas are executed very well.

Bottom line, if you watched this show's first two seasons primarily for laughs, you may be disappointed with this one like I was. However if you want more ham-handed drama and tsundere, "misunderstanding" romance, you'll probably like this season more.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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'Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai' Gets New Anime Project

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Jun 24, 2022 9:34 AM by DatRandomDude | Discuss (50 comments)

	Poll: Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai: Ultra Romantic Episode 5 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) Stark700 - May 6, 2022	411 replies	by ZoneAnimTime »» Dec 19, 6:05 AM
	Poll: Do you prefer Love is War's Dub or Sub ( 1 2 ) Lost_Hearts - Jan 17	85 replies	by dixoncider8142 »» Nov 28, 4:19 PM
	When is itt dropping thoooo? kingsley_017 - Sep 7	16 replies	by dixoncider8142 »» Nov 28, 4:17 PM
	Poll: Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai: Ultra Romantic Episode 13 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) LeilaFaeloria - Jun 25, 2022	522 replies	by patty_1996633 »» Nov 24, 6:55 PM
	Poll: Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai: Ultra Romantic Episode 6 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 ) Stark700 - May 13, 2022	171 replies	by Takeshi11 »» Oct 15, 8:54 AM