“Practice makes perfect!”
When hearing that quote for the first time, one would feel motivated. As for the second time, one would probably feel motivated. As for the third time and so on, one would probably not feel motivated- though some exception here and then, as someone like “Ishigami” would probably deny it from the first hearing, or nevermind.
“Kaguya Sama Season 2” suffers the second-season-of-comedy-anime syndrome. Or in simple terms: “The overused/repetitive jokes from the first season or the unnecessary arrival of serious tone”. Or in Anime terms: The repetitive humor of nose-bleeding in Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu Ni!, or the pointless drama of
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Ayumu’s killer in Kore wa Zombie Desu ka? But how exactly? In vague terms, “Kaguya Sama Season 2” fails to innovate new jokes, due to the fact that they didn’t feel the need to expand their “plot-choices”.
When you look at the characterization of each characters in the show, it’s clear that they have little to no depth, however it’s fine for a comedy anime, such as this, that excels on the brilliantly directed comedy and witty remarks(sometimes), as the concept of “forcing the other to confess their love” is good enough to naturally grow, and endlessly be funny. But that’s not the case, as it goes on and are used again and again, such concept shares the same fate as the quote “Practice makes perfect!”, but then why does a show like Konosuba works? Well, Konosuba doesn’t have any characterization too, but what truly makes it funny is the natural, fun character interactions between Kazuma and the gang. And something as universal as good character interactions, have infinite plot-choices, that is able to infinitely grow and create something truly unique every time. The thing to point out is that, there are no, one specific joke at all, but it's their character dynamics and chemistry that makes it funny, however those things are not pre-determined, rather naturally created. As for the case of “Kaguya Sama Season 2”, although still having good directing, the “outwitting” concept can only go so far. As for the season goes, the comedy is 80% executed through a misunderstanding, whether it be through Kaguya’s boomer knowledge of the world, or Miko’s bad timing, followed by Kaguya and Shirogane doing “things”. Then another 15% is thrown into the old, repetitive exploits of the characters’ traits, whether it be the interactions, such as Ishigami thinks Kaguya is a devil, or just Chika being “Cute”. While, the remaining 5% goes towards actual fresh, funny humor, such as the manga parody or the balloon scene. One thing to note is, that indeed comedy is subjective, but it’s scientifically proven that the same jokes repeated over and over won’t cut it, and I don’t mean the nature of “misunderstanding” as a whole, as it can be executed in brilliant ways multiple times, but “Kaguya Sama” cannot do this. Not because it doesn’t execute it brilliantly, even if it did, it can’t, because the plot-choices are very limited, in fact the comedy can only happen in the student council room and only to the bland members of the student council. This happens because of the lack of new settings, or bad usage of new characters, or just the lack of characterizations, etc. (Unlike in Season 1, with the Kashiwagi Consultation Arc, or the introduction of Ishigami, and the fact that the concept of the show was still fresh and new)
At episode 6, a glimpse of hope arrived, as a new character is introduced, which’s Miko Iino, a girl who seemed to be a “stickler”. But what surprised me the most, is the change in tone from a fun, lighthearted comedy, into a serious character backstory. This sudden change, causes a huge reveal in what the writer is trying to do, expand plot-choices, indicating that perhaps “Kaguya Sama Season 2”, is willing to characterize more characters- well unfortunately it didn’t end up that way. Although the backstory was believable, and explained Miko’s character to an acceptable level, the show decided to use Shirogane’s magic- I know what you’re thinking, what is Shirogane’s “magic”, well in fact it doesn’t exist, but anyways through the “magic”, Miko is able to overcome her anxiety when it comes to public speaking. Yeah, it’s pretty bullshit, because it is bullshit. Aside from the terrible development, what disappointed me the most is the character usage of Miko. Introducing a new character is good news, if used correctly to make the comedy better, as it allows more plot-choices to happen- but no, instead of using her “stickler” character to develop the already existing concept of “outwitting”, she barely got any screen time. Even when she did, she was only there as a punchline to a certain joke (they did her really dirty), an example is when she walked in to “Kaguya giving Shirogane a massage”, hence creating a misunderstanding by her.
Moving on to further emphasize the lack of characterization of the main gang, it’s easy to say that they’re all two dimensional, except of course Miko and Ishigami.(which I'll point out later), in fact, it’s very easy to describe their whole personality in one word: Kaguya is a tsundere, Chika is cute, and Shirogane is image-conscious. What makes it sad is the fact that the show tries to conceal this fact, through melodrama and the bright, orange color of sunset, as the characters cry while recalling all their activities in the student council, before leaving their last farewells. Yes, I'm talking about episode 3, where the gang bid their farewell to the student council. However, it just doesn’t work, as we don’t care about the characters, nor had the chance to even be attached to them in the first place. The lack of depths, made that whole scene to be summarized as “A wolf in sheep’s skin”.
“Kaguya Sama Season 2” continues to disappoint as it hints characterization here and then, yet it never commits to it. A good example is the romance progression that’s non-existent. There was this scene where Shirogane and Kaguya was stuck in a shed, and Kaguya accidentally fell to a perfectly safe matrass, however being madly in love, Shirogane tried to save her, as a result the two of them were in the position to kiss. Like any other people, they decided to kiss- well almost. Surprise, surprise Miko “walks in” on them and the whole scene became a comedy relief. Not only does that emphasize the bad usage of Miko, it also shows that the series can’t seem to balance between being “serious” and being “funny”. Although, I must give them props on how they handled Ishigami’s development. It was amazingly executed and it succeeded at making me, a person who dislikes the show, become attached to him. However, the timing of this development does no good to the whole season, as it was located at the last 3 episodes. What I mean by this, is indeed it expands the plot-choices, however the show ends after he developed, hence the comedy aspect can’t be affected by it this season. Then, it’s also very interesting that the show decided to develop Ishigami first, instead of Kaguya or Shirogane, logically the leads of the show needs to be developed first before the side characters, but looking at the nature of the show, and its concept of “outwitting” between the leads, a development in a sign that isn’t romance, wouldn’t affect much, in fact it may hurt the nature of the show, whether it be Kaguya maturing, or the other, even if it was only to add depths to her already-existing characteristics, it doesn’t allow more plot-choices to appear, as the show revolves around her and Shirogane’s “love”, trying to make the other “confess”. Unlike, Ishigami’s which would most definitely help a lot in the upcoming season, whether it be from character interactions or the comedy aspects. Speaking of the upcoming season, such development of Ishigami indicates that perhaps even more characterizations will happen, and the show will only benefit from this.
At the end, “Kaguya Sama Season 2” was disappointing, however by the end it seemed like it is finding its feet. Despite the constant criticisms I gave that leads back to the main point of: “expanding plot-choices", “Kaguya Sama” has the wonderful choice to just make amazing creative comedy, that takes a break from the whole “making the other confess” concept/theme. The show has proven that they’re capable on being a creative comedy as shown in several arcs in Season 1, such as the French exchange party and twice in Season 2, with the best being the manga parody in episode 7. With that being said, they can’t entirely escape the main concept, hence an expand in plot-choices is essential to “Kaguya Sama” right now. In fact, if a competent person, or someone looked up by others said: “Practice makes perfect!”, no matter how many times they say it to someone, that someone will always be motivated by it.
Jul 6, 2020
“Practice makes perfect!”
When hearing that quote for the first time, one would feel motivated. As for the second time, one would probably feel motivated. As for the third time and so on, one would probably not feel motivated- though some exception here and then, as someone like “Ishigami” would probably deny it from the first hearing, or nevermind. “Kaguya Sama Season 2” suffers the second-season-of-comedy-anime syndrome. Or in simple terms: “The overused/repetitive jokes from the first season or the unnecessary arrival of serious tone”. Or in Anime terms: The repetitive humor of nose-bleeding in Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu Ni!, or the pointless drama of ... |
