Kaguya-sama: Love Is War - Ultra Romantic is the third season, coming in at thirteen episodes long. It follows Shirogane Miyuki and Shinomiya Kaguya, both of whom has affections for each other. However, they are too proudful to be the first to confess. Thus in their everyday interactions, they scheme to try and to get the other to confess first. this leads to hilarious moments, especially when the pair has to fight against their emotions. Joining the pair are the rest of the student council members, Fujiwara who is an airhead, Ishigami who likes to keep to himself, and Miko, who lives by the book.
Surprisingly, the beginning of the season touches upon the ridiculous and over the top ending of the previous season. It’s nothing too clever, yet still a nice touch to reference that odd (and funny) moment. Then it moves onto Shinomiya and her dismal knowledge of technology (given her sheltered upbringing). She finally got her first smartphone, and it is funny when she learns about things that is common knowledge to everyone else. The way that she applies her vast existing knowledge to this piece of technology is not a stretch or leap of logic, it’s just that technology has advanced so fast now that she’s just completely wrong. So when the smartphone doesn’t behave to her expectations, it’s funny to see her get flustered and then try to find a way to cover up herself.
Most of the anime focuses on Shirogane and Shinomiya but the supporting characters gets their fair share of screentime. The best parts of the anime are definitely where it focuses on the main student council members. Fujiwara is always unpredictable, while Ishigami and Miko have their own charms. It’s on when some of the supporting characters get their own focus, can it feel that the story arcs are weakened. It’s a catch-22, since those supporting characters aren’t as fleshed out and developed so you don’t care about them nor do you want to watch them, but they can’t get fleshed out and developed unless time is spent on them.
One thing the anime does not shy away from is showing how times continues to move on. It’s getting to the point where the opportunities for Shirogane and Shinomiya to be together are starting to decrease. They are getting ever closer to being able to express their feelings, it’s not even just a matter of pride anymore. Rather, it’s finding the courage and the right opportunity for them to come out and say it. It’s endearing and fun to watch because with every small step of success, you feel happy for them. The thing that makes it so funny is that the characters are fully self-aware of what they need to do, and they can give that same advice to others, but just cannot execute it themselves.
The pair is so infatuated with each other, they are ready to go and confess. However, every single time, even when it seemed surefire that the confession would come out, something always comes up so that they fall short right before the pivotal moment. Usually, this would be something that would disappoint the viewer, especially when constantly teased like this. Yet somehow, these excuses don’t make you roll your eyes because the writing doesn’t feel cliched or lazy.
When the anime peaks, it really peaks, with some clever humor that just feels so matter of fact. It helps that the voice acting is top notch. They’re exaggerated yet filled with emotion and fits perfectly with those characters. Nearly all of the scenarios are great, with some of them going on for longer than they have ever gone. The animation quality is still on the iffier side, but it uses that to make it its own thing. There are the streaking backgrounds to increase the exaggeration of a character when they’re speaking, or they deform the characters, lowering the quality of the character moments for comedic effect. It works out well in the end.
The final arc of the season takes up most of the season and it is an important event, being the culture festival. It’s surprising how quickly this event came up, so time is really flying for the characters. It’s intense because now we not only have Shirogane and Shinomiya to root for, but also Ishigami. There are heaps of misunderstandings, as well as heaps of heartwarming moments, especially with Fujiwara and Ishigami. The former with her friendship and despite her questionable motives or actions, still helps out from the good of her heart. The latter with Ishigami mustering up the courage to find his own happiness.
The sweeter moments come when we’re reminded of just how much Shinomiya had changed. She had the moniker of ice queen before she had first joined the school, but now she is much more akin to a typical teenager with her first crush. You can’t help but expect with all the build up to the culture festival, it will surely only end in disappointment… but it doesn’t! It was a fantastic ending where it felt like all three seasons were leading up to this moment. It was a satisfying turnout, yet also leaving enough in the open for things to continue. You can’t help but smile and be happy for the characters.
Overall, Kaguya-sama: Love Is War - Ultra Romantic is brilliant and fantastic. While it may not have the same quantity of laughs than the second season, it is no slouch other with its own absolutely hilarious moments. The key theme this season is developing the characters and providing progress on their character arcs. Not only does the anime make us care about the main pair but Ishigami gets a lot of focus, in a good way. It builds up to a stunner of an ending, which was beautiful and amazing. The final scene truly bought back the feel that yes, these two protagonists are remarkably clever.
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