Kaguya-sama: Love is War -Ultra Romantic-

Episode 10

I have a sneaking suspicion that the writer of this manga or someone on the animation staff for this episode has an ear fetish – you don't animate those 3D audio recording scenes without at least some kind of deliberate imagination. Jokes aside, this episode was a lot of fun, but while there were more payoffs here compared to the last episode, I still couldn't help but feel that at least half of it could still be regarded as filler. The first skit was legitimately funny, putting Kaguya and Maki through the wringer and showing us that they are probably a lot more alike than either of them are willing to admit to each other. The punchline at the end about the couple making out in the locker room and indirectly screwing over Ishigami was funny, but when you combine that with the third skit, it really just makes me feel bad for this guy. Seriously, even when he's acting his best, he's the last person to read the room and realize just how nicely things might be going in his favor. I do have to give Kaguya-sama a lot of props for actually progressing the relationship between him and his senpai. Other shows would have used the misunderstanding with the heart-shaped gift to stretch out the romantic tension by not making her realize the potential romantic implications, but here Tsubame got flustered right away, and I am legitimately curious as to what her answer will be by the end of the season.

Really, the only skit I was not super fond of was the one in the middle about Chika's sister. I thought the first half of it was really funny as Chika tries to prove Shirogane is kind of a failure at very specific things. Her biggest mistake, though, was not picking a skill that was plot-important because outside of that, the president is actually pretty capable at most menial activities. Once Kaguya entered the room though, I realized I'm growing a bit tired of the old jokes revolving around her possessiveness over the president. Seeing her acting all murdery was somewhat funny in the first season, but now that we've seen all of this development from her and know that she's a lot more confident in her feelings, this just kind of comes off as character regression in some ways. I'm not saying she shouldn't be jealous of other people that have feelings for the president, but maybe her first instinct shouldn't be to kill on sight anymore? That's just a personal gripe though; I'm sure there are some people who will get a kick out of her going into Yandere mode, and the voice actress definitely sells that performance. Only a few episodes left to go so let's see how some of these situations will be salvaged and what new ones will arise during the final parts of this cultural festival arc.

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Kaguya-sama: Love is War Ultra Romantic is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.