WYSW: Love is War
Kaguya-sama: Love is War is, imo, one of the best comedy anime besides Saiki K and Monthly Girl’s Nozaki-kun.
And yet, I also think it’s one of the best romance anime. As the viewer, you really get to understand why these two like each other and how their personalities complement each other.
I usually don’t get into the characters in WYSW reviews, but considering the entire premise of this anime surrounds the protagonists’ interactions with each other I figured it was the only way to do this.
Essentially, Shinomiya Kaguya (vice president of student council) and Miyuki Shirogane (president of student council) both have a huge crush on each other, but are both too stubborn/prideful/embarrassed to make the first move.
Kaguya tries to over-prepare for her interactions with the President, but it pretty much always backfires on her. Due to being extremely wealthy and from a well-established family, she has some anxieties about her image and how people perceive her, as her actions will undoubtedly reflect on her family as well. She is very calculating and cunning, but also tends to get very jealous/possessive.
Shirogane, in comparison, is pretty good at thinking on the fly but can also be very oblivious and lacks some emotional intelligence (we stan a dumbass king). He, too, has a lot of anxiety about his image, however it is due to the fact that he comes from a poor background and works very hard to be seen as ‘good enough’ by his wealthy and prominent classmates. He is very book smart and is at the top of their class.
Essentially, these two calculating and intelligent individuals play 4D-chess to try and influence the other into asking them out (because being the first to make a move signifies weakness, clearly). I’ve heard this anime being compared to Death Note in terms of the level of mind games.
Some of the mind games are obviously exaggerated for comedy, but honestly, a lot of their thoughts are like what normal overly-anxious high schoolers think about their crushes. “if I say that, she’s going to think I’m weird!” “If I ask him for his phone number first, he’s going to think I’m creepy!”
This one doesn’t really involve any calculating mind games, but one of my favorite scenes is when the secretary (Chika) makes Kaguya and Shirogane both wear cat ears for a costume event, and they freak out so much about how cute the other person looks that they start acting really standoffish to hide their pleasure. Eventually Chika gets disturbed by their odd behavior, and makes them take the cat ears off (to both of their disappointment).
While Shirogane and Shinomiya are definitely the stars of the show, the secretary and treasurer are great additions to the ensemble and add unknown variables to the president/vp’s interactions with each other.
Apparently, a second season is coming this year, which I am very excited about! Definitely watch Kaguya-sama: Love is War if you like romance, comedy, or if you just enjoy fun.
