Kagya Sama Love Is War is a very popular and fairly new anime that was released in 2019 it had quite an interesting story to start off with but the second season started to get stale and this effects in terms of how the main narrative and different episodes corresponded. The story centres around 2 students who are in love with the other, but too afraid to confess it to each other.
This makes for quite an interesting story at the beginning as the two characters employ different tactics to draw the other out into confessing their love. This is so they do not have to confess their love themself. So is kauya Sama worth watching? As well as this article formatting itself as a review I’ll also be going over in detail a list of reasons that Kaguya Sama is worth watching and reasons Kagya Sama is not worth watching and I’ll only be covering seasons 1 & 2.
Overview – Is Kaguya Sama Love Is War Worth Watching?
Kagya Sama Love Is War’s story is very straight forward and it is pretty simple to say the least. Unfortunately this could and does lead to some problems later on that I’ll be getting into. The series relies mainly on the ploys and tactics which each characters (only the two main characters) use, and this is where most of the narrative and dynamics come into play. Kaguya Shinomiya & Miyuki Shirogane both are (no surprise) in the student council, Shirogane being the councils president.
It’s revealed in the first episode that Shirogane is in love with Shinomiya and vice versa. In fact there is a literal narration (if I remember correctly) which basically sets out the whole story in about the first 2 minutes of the season. I don’t understand why they did this personally, it would have made more sense to have the tension and relationship build up between Shinomiya & Shirogane and then them both realize that the other in love with them, but for some reason they decided not to go down this road, mainly because the anime adaption probably had to squeeze in all the material and they didn’t have time (I haven’t read it (manga).
Main narrative – Is Kaguya Sama Love Is War Worth Watching?
The story starts off with our two protagonists/antagonists, Shirogane & Shinomiya who are both in the student council, Shirogane being the president and Shinomiya being the VP. From this point on there isn’t much in an addition narrative or any other plot devices to make the story go on parallel paths with other characters, maybe Fujiwara & Ishigami for example which I thought would have been a good dynamic since they’re so different.
For some reason, in the first season there were only four members on the council, including Shirogane & Shinomiya. Even though I grew up in England where the education system and school life in general is drastically different from Japan, I felt that there should have been more characters on the council. I think the reason there was so few was because of the fact that too many additional characters would ruin and cause problems for the dynamic between Shirogane & Shinomiya, maybe that’s just me though.
The narrative structure is important in finding out if Kaguya Sama is worth watching or not and it revolves mainly around the methods or tactics in which both Shinomiya & Shirogane use to try (not succeed) to get the other to confess. There are some pretty interesting methods they both use and as well as this there are also moments were each character tries to better themselves for an up and coming event in which they will be viewed and judged by the one they are in love with. This takes forms such as the cultural festival and sports day.
There are other moments in the story which also add to the story overall such as Shinomiya’s father being the CEO of a toy making company which later plays into her character as she sees herself mainly above others because of her vast wealth which she will later inherit from her family. Other than this there is not much to add and if I was too it would spoil the content that you may watch in season 1 & 2. Therefore I’m going to try and stick mostly to the reasons you should and should not watch Kaguya Sama Love Is War
Main characters – Is Kaguya Sama Love Is War Worth Watching?
Although there were only four main characters in Kaguya Sama they did their job pretty well. I didn’t really have a problem with any of them (apart from Fujiwara) and they seemed pretty unique and well thought out. In fact I though the choice of characters was pretty well thought out, considering that they are very different from one another. Consider the dynamic between Fujiwara and Ishigami, they are very different and this makes them very fun to watch together.
First we have Miyuki Shirogane who is the president of the council, where Shinomiya is also a student. He is tall, handsome with blue eyes and blond hair. He tries to act cool and confident but normally fails in the process.
This, in my opinion makes for a good character, as his outer shell or appearance clashes with his inner self, creating a good dynamic in the process. He wears the student council black uniform.
Next we have Kaguya Shinomiya, the vice president. She acts in very much the same way as Shirogane, trying to keep a fake composure of confidence and coolness whilst fighting their inner self. She is normally quite formal but also shy at the same time, being the inheritance to a missive fortune anyway, her smug nature sometimes seeps through.
She normally tries to downplay her wealth as well, trying to hide it sometimes. She has black hair which is kept behind her head using a band, she has red eyes and wears the normal student council black uniform.
3rd is Chika Fujiwara another member of the student council. If I remember correctly she was secretary of the student council. One thing I know for sure is I’d never have her as my secretary. She has an annoying voice, pink hair and blue eyes. She is of average height and build for a typical Highschool student.
Other than that I think she can sing and dance and that’s about all I could remember of her. She also teaches Shirogane how to play volleyball and how to sing in some episodes, giving her character some depth and importance, which was strongly needed.
Finally we have Yū Ishigami, who fulfills the quiet emo kid character trope which I disliked along with him from the start. He has a pretty shallow character which isn’t really expanded upon or given any sort of depth until the later episodes in season 2.
He is quite tall, with long black hair which covers one of his eyes. As well as this he always seems to have some headphones around his neck, apart from that there really isn’t that much to say about him. His character is made to conflict with Fujiwara while the Shirogane and Shinomiya dynamic is operating.
Sub characters
The sub characters in Kaguya Sama Love Is War all did their job pretty well and there isn’t that much I can say bad about them. They all do what they’re supposed to do and none of them felt out of the ordinally. With that said, they weren’t too interesting either, nothing special but that’s not really the main focus of the show anyway, hence their name.
Reasons Kaguya Sama is worth watching
Original story (partly) – Is Kaguya Sama worth watching?
You could argue that the narrative of Kaguya Sama is pretty original, although I’ve seen lots of anime centred around the “Student Council” element before so it really wasn’t anything that refreshing. However, the love dynamic is what sets it apart from other similar anime I’ve seen. This factor does obviously play a part in if Kaguya Sama Is Worth Watching. The fact that it follows the story of two characters who are both in love with each other but do not want to confess that love because they are afraid of rejection, using different tactics and ploys to draw the other out did peak my curiosity.
Original, funny and memorable characters – Is Kaguya Sama worth watching?
I’d be lying if I stated that the main characters in Love Is War weren’t any of the above, because they were. Although I didn’t really like many of them, (Fujiwara in particular) I still thought they were pretty good and authentic. This did make the series a lot more enjoyable and it defined (for me) wether or not Kaguya Sama is worth watching.
Pretty amusing – Is Kaguya Sama worth watching?
The comedy element of Kaugya Sama was appealing and I did find myself cracking up at time because of some of the scenes. Unsurprisingly, most of these scenes involved Fujiwara and Shirogane, the ramen restaurant scene was pretty tense but also amusing at the same time and this made me enjoy the series a lot more than I thought I would.
Narrative remains un-stale – Is Kaguya Sama worth watching?
The story of Kaguya Sama is pretty fleshed out when you think about it. Even though the narrative seems to be centred around the same thing and even though all the different scenes all go towards that same goal, (Shirogane & Shinomiya trying to get each other to confess) it ploughs on rarely getting stale and I thought this was pretty impressive in my opinion.
Different sub plots – Is Kaguya Sama worth watching?
It may surprise you if you have not already watched Kaguya Sama Love Is War but the anime or manga does make different attempts to pursue alternative sub plots which differ from the original main narrative. What I mean by this is that the anime does dive into different sub plots which stray from the original narrative involving the 4 main characters and the dyanmic between Shirogane & Shinomiya. An example of this would be the sudent council election between Shirogane and Mino lino.
Compelling original soundtracks
As a final thing to add and something that did catch my attention was the original soundtrack for Kaguya Sama Love Is War which I very much enjoyed. It was evident that a lot of work had been put into the soundtracks of Kaguya Sama Love Is war and they were very good in my opinion. Much like Scums Wish (read our article on a season 2 for that here), they almost felt too good to be involved with Kaguya Sama Love Is War and it was quite jarring at times. Nevertheless they still did a great job in creating atmosphere through these tracks and they made the series much more enjoyable for me.
Reasons Kaguya Sama Isn’t Worth Watching
The story can get boring at times – Is Kaguya Sama worth watching?
Don’t get me wrong, I liked the dynamic between Shirogane & Shinomiya however when you have the same outline story in every episode it can get boring. Let me elaborate, it’s both the overall narrative but more to do with the general conclusion of some episodes. Let’s take the ending of season 1 & 2 for example, I obvisouly predicted that would it end in this cliff hanger style leaving the love story between the two, a kind of what will happen next thing, drawing us into the next season.
However, by the end of season 2 I was getting pretty tired of it. I’m sure we all wanted them to get together and this stupid sexual tension type dynamic we all wanted to see gone. I’m sure if season 3 doesn’t conclude with one of them confessing then the ratings will start to go down because unless the writers have something great in mind I will be very tired of the same dynamic being used again and again. Does this have have an effect on if Kaguya Sama isn’t worth watching alone? Most likely not, but it’s an important aspect to consider.
Annoying characters (at times) – Is Kaguya Sama worth watching?
I found the characters from Kaguya Sama love is war pretty unique compelling, however there were times when they did get on my nerves. If you’ve watched both seasons you’ll know what I’m on about. Characters such as Fujiwara did get on my nerves some times and this made it hard for me to focus and enjoy it. I wouldn’t want you to avoid Kaguya Sama for this reason alone but if you’re similar to me you may want to give it a thought and weigh up the other reasons it Kaguya Sama isn’t worth watching.
Poor dialogue – Is Kaguya Sama worth watching?
The dialogue in Kaguya Sama Love Is War can be pretty bizarre at times and I know it’s fiction but I really can’t imagine anyone talking or thinking the way some of the characters such as Shirogane & Shinomiya talk/think for example. The way they have those mental schemes in their heads was very illogical (although it did add to the comedy aspect a lot) and this does add into the looming question of is Kaguya Sama worth watching? So therefore I had to include it.
Tiresome episode conclusions – Is Kaguya Sama worth watching?
I’m 90% sure this is linked to the manga (I haven’t read it) and the anime adaption was just doing its job but I found the score board feature at the end of each episode extremely exasperating and it got on my nerves every time I saw it at the end of each episode. I mean do they really need to remind us who came out on top in this episodes battle of who can get the other to confess their love to the other one even though they both love each other anyway? Just seemed a bit pointless and wearing to me but I this is just to make the list more even and it shouldn’t really have an impact on is Kaguya Sama isn’t worth watching on its own.
Conclusion – Is Kaguya Sama Love Is War Worth Watching?
In my opinion, if you haven’t already watched Kaguya Sama yet and you have read all the reasons above I would say it’s worth watching, the comedy aspect is pretty appealing not to mention the unique and funny character choices that make each episode more interesting and engaging than the last. Althouh there are some reasons why Kaguya Sama Love Is War Isn’t worth watching the reasons Kaguya Sama Love Is War is worth warching overwrigh them.
If you’ve read this article and looked at all the reasons and still can’t decide we would advise you to watch our new video on the series coming soon to our YouTube channel. As of now we hope this article will help you decide for yourself and we tried to include as much detail as we could as we’ve seen other articles similar to this one which offer a tiny laughable paragraph saying “yes it’s worth watching” with no context or anything else to back their reasoning up. We tried to avoid that and were happy if this article has helped you.