Indeed, Kaguya has some kind of magic which just makes it special. I returned to my second year of University completely dejected by the prospect of running as secretary for my university’s anime society – anime just didn’t interest me anymore. However I still got the chance to suggest an anime for us to watch, that anime was Kaguya.
Skip forward to semester two, and I’m at the back of a dark lecture theatre with my girlfriend, obligated to go as I have a role on the committee, sitting through dumb bad anime, completing work I’d rather do instead, while she too, plays phone games as we have the same taste.
Black Lagoon – bullshit. Utter trash action, no tension, nothing special in the story or animation and a completely disgustingly trivial take on what world war 2 was like.
Konosuba – A show that I once loved, now feels so far gone from what I liked. I just can’t laugh at it anymore – whether it’s after the disappointment of a weaker season 2 or that it’s not funny once you’ve heard the jokes twice or that it’s just not for me anymore.
Not to say that I was totally disappointed by this, I didn’t expect to suddenly like anime after many months of not watching it. I always have a lot of work to do anyway, be it for my University course or learning a language.
But then next was the anime I suggested. Kaguya Sama Love is War – something I wrote down in vague memory of a super eyepatch wolf video where he talked about a love contest where the goal was to make the other person confess. It sounded interesting.
So I put down what I was doing and watched. And well… loved it.
In stories, I tend to like the star the most. It’s quite helpful because if I am starting to watch something quite early, it’s pretty easy to tell whether I will also like it’s middle and end.
It’s start was quite simple, but based on two extremely interesting premises.
“They think Shinomiya and I are dating? The fools certainly do love talking about nonsensical love affairs. Although… If Shinomiya demanded that I go out with her, I suppose I would mull it over! And I’m certain she has feelings for me. Probably just a matter of time. She should just take off the mask of a perfect, pampered young lady and make her blushing appeal to me”
“The ignorant children with their common talk. Who do they think I am? I’m a member of the Shinomiya family, the heart of this country. How did they reach the conclusion that I would be dating a commoner? Well, I suppose there could be a very slight possibility. If he got on his knees offered up his body, soul and hometown, I suppose I could train him to be a man who measures up to me.”
These premises, with an extra time frame of 6 months, when they’re starting to go crazy because nobody’s made a move yet creates such good entertainment.
Then you enter into story after story, all of which are comedic and hilariously relatable. It’s honestly quite funny the situations they get themselves in.
I remember being young and relating to a lot of the things that the president thought and said, and honestly watching that with your girlfriend makes that experience so much more interesting, particularly because you can both feel lucky your not having to go through a single thing like that now, and also because of the interesting conversations it brings.
I shouldn’t need to explain why its funny. The process of seeing two people’s thoughts while head over heals in love with each other, yet seemingly trying as hard as they can not to get the secret out, but still expecting the other person to do it at the same time is just naturally funny.
I feel like it’s also an extremely beneficial anime to people who have personalities like this when it comes to love.
First of all, although I find it incredibly funny, theirs something entirely sad about it. I’m sure many people could relate to the idea of “if they were to only just be more honest, then they both could be much happier” – and this is no better demonstrated than at the end which was incredibly sad.
In addition, after the epic climax, where the moment was so perfect, it was so crushingly sad to see them go back to their old ways. Even when all the signs possible were there.
Of course, I’m looking forward to season 2, but doesn’t something so sad about this just scream out to you?
Overall, if you haven’t watched Kaguya yet, your missing out just as much as the two main characters are missing out on each other.
Incredibly funny, entertaining and emotional. You can all find it in this show.
And that’s the story of how my late afternoons at the anime society were made that much better.
Thank you very much for reading, I would love to hear your thoughts!
My Brain Is Completely Empty 