Kaguya-Sama: Love is War // Episode 1 Review

Episode 1: I Will Make You Invite Me to a Movie

Otaku Voice Staff

There is nothing wrong with falling in love, but in Kaguya-Sama: Love is War, it really is a battle of the sexes. Between our heroes Shinomiya Kaguya and Shirogane Miyuki, romance is budding. Or at least it is trying to.

Shinomiya Kaguya, our female lead, is the daughter of an ultra rich and powerful family. She is also a member of the student council at her high society high school. The best part about her is her deviousness. She clearly like Miyuki, but she won’t admit it. Her plan in the first half of the episode is to mail tickets to a movie to a friend who can’t use them and force Miyuki to ask her out with the tickets. Her plan is utter genius until it turns out there are more tickets available and both she and Miyuki cannot comprehend. This battle ends in a draw.

Shirogane Miyuki, our male lead, is just an extraordinary smart commoner. He is also student council president of the academy. He also is clearly infatuated with Kaguya and won’t admit it. Miyuki has some fantastic wits about him in his ongoing battles with Kaguya. He knows he has to play it cool in all situations without giving in or he will lose face. When Kaguya reveals a secret admirer he successfully defeats her attempts to meet with them.

Like Ross and Rachel, Will They or Won’t They?

The two main characters are the epitome of every romance and harem anime. Its pretty comical to make a whole show solely focus on two idiots fighting for each others affection without giving it up first. They are convinced that whoever is first is the loser in this war over love. It takes the love is war pretty literally. The back and forth between the main characters caught me off guard with how endearing it is. The wit between Kaguya and Miyuki is incredibly well written. Even the dunce character, Fujiwara Chika, plays an important role in mediating and arguably instigating the two potential lovebirds.

The underhanded attempts by Kaguya to put Miyuki in these awkward positions and having it backfire are incredibly hilarious. Hopefully this back and forth can feel fresh over the course of a dozen or so episodes throughout the rest of the season.

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