This Week in Anime

Why Kaguya-sama is a Pitch-Perfect Romcom

Nick
Steve, a lot of things can change in a year. Especially these days where a month feels like a decade and last winter feels like a different lifetime. But there are a few constants in this world, and war...war never changes.

Teenagers being obtuse idiots when it comes to romance is also a constant of this world, and there's nothing quite as comforting as seeing these two supposedly genius dumbasses fumble their way towards holding hands.

Just do what I do and call it a bop:

I didn't think they could out-do the first season's OP but damn if they didn't manage it. And that's been a recurring theme with this second season: it's recognizably the same show and material, but like, MORE. But in a good way.

And that's saying something, since the first season was already a lavishly directed piece of comedy with razor-sharp timing. So now Kaguya-sama has evolved to the point where it sometimes blurs the line between anime sitcom and surrealist panic attack.

Typically anime comedies get by on strong timing and nailing punchlines, and Kaguya-sama does that. But it also has a near constant high level animation and boarding that all comes together to be wonderfully, charmingly extra.

He also worked on the venerable, critically acclaimed, all-time classic Sankarea: Undying Love so you know you're in good hands even if Kaguya couldn't hope to match that masterpiece.

Dude's got range, is my point, and that's fully on display this season as it mixes its familiar comedy beats with juuuuuust a tad more sentimentality. Like hey, congrats on getting me to feel for the anime girl equivalent of Randall from Recess.

Two terrible things in one. The girl's like a reverse peanut butter cup.

"Sexual" tension is a bit generous, yes. Though this season does help confirm Kaguya likes em tall, pale, and exhausted.

Turns out she's not picky about, so long as they've got a Never-Rested Bitch Face.

Chika needs to stop letting her sister surf anime image boards tbh. Like, things are not in a good state when Chika Fujiwara is the most functional member of a family.

Oh, they've all gotten collectively dumber for sure. Shirogane's maybe 2 steps away from being an actual political campaign adviser.

Shirogane's just lucky his opponent is secretly as big an idiot as he is.

For real though, it turns out Miko is just as much of an awkward doofus as the rest of our lovable cast (and also Ishigami) - she has actual reasons for her attitude besides being a busybody. Add a dash of her own proclivities and it goes a long way in humanizing her.

And heck it even makes Ishigami feel slightly less like a sack of garbage with a PS Vita stapled onto the front.

Let the record show that Ishigami is still The Worst, but in this particular instance he is slightly less Worse than usual. Baby steps.

Get this boy off of Reddit this instant.

But perhaps the best development this season has been Kaguya-sama finally letting its MVP take center stage a few times.

She does a fantastic job and deserves a pay raise. Like I don't know what kind of employment contract she signed where she has to NTR her boss at request but it clearly needs to be renegotiated.

How many other anime maids are gonna seduce their boss' not-boyfriend to show them how it's done? Girl deserves at least a month of annual vacation time.

For real though, Hayasaka is the shadow backbone of these losers. Without her Shirogane would be dead and Kaguya in a convent. When they finally confess and get married at age 85 they better put a personal thanks to her in their wedding vows.

ESPECIALLY with some of the stuff Kaguya's pulled this season. Like I said everyone's gotten dumber but girl's had her brain sucked dry by the Dumb-Dumb Flower.

Stretch her face out and she'll be a Hidamari Sketch character, with the dearth of brain cells that entails.

Afraid she's too busy being Shirogane's new Mom to take up the responsibility.

In a show built from the ground up on Face Game, she certainly has the advantage. Kaguya's no slouch though.

My personal fav is Kaguya's Defcon 1 Pout

That Chika is shaped like a friend.

If Chika wants to trip that flag she better not let Shirogane throw any more stargazing parties. Turns out that boy can upgrade his game on a dime.

Between this and what Kaguya pulled when she was sick last season, maybe I was wrong about these two. If the stars ever align maybe they'll maybe even move beyond hand holding.

Oh it's a long, long journey there. If we're talking getting to first base, these two are in the middle of applying for the zoning permit as a preliminary step towards preparing the contract to eventually build the baseball stadium. But by god I'm more than happy to watch them stumble through the red tape of applying for funding from the city legislature. OK that metaphor got away from me but the point is they should smooch.

Kaguya-sama is just a gut punch of happiness every week, and I'm going to savor for however long I can. It's a great comedy made greater by its adaptive staff, and even if the day never comes when these two goofuses confess to each other, it'll be worth it to see Shirogane get beat out by his own sister.