An Anime Review of 'Kaguya-Sama: Love is War Season 2'

In retrospect, my thoughts on season one were quite harsh, as I marinated on the show a lot more as the days passed. My appreciation for season one had increased quite a bit, and now that season two has finished airing, I can only say that I enjoyed this show far more than most other shows that aired in the spring of 2020 put together. This season was some of the best material I have seen come from a romantic comedy in a long time. Heavy emphasis on both romance, and comedy.

The show maintains its unique brand of comedy, and what is great about the show is that the comedy does not come at the expense of the characters that we are following, instead, it is used to enhance the characters themselves. While there is a narrative through line that carries this show, it is very much events that takes place in the daily lives of the student council, takes to a ludicrous extreme, both in the scale of events, and the emotional reactions that they have.

The first season gave a lot of time towards the development of Shirogane, Fujiwara, and Kaguya, with Yuu being left by the wayside. However, there is a significant portion of the season that is solely devoted to developing Yuu, and it is some of the most emotional and heartfelt writing that I have experienced in a rom-com in a very long time. Not only did it have emotional moments that led to the development of the character and his behaviour in a meaningful way, it also propelled Yuu, to being one of my favourite characters in the entire show. Another character that got a lot of development is Kaguya herself, there is an emotional depth to her that was revealed in this season that was endearing to watch, and seeing her grow was an absolute delight, especially when she is interacting with her companion Hayasaka. Even the new character Miko got a fair amount of development in this season, which added a new dynamic to the student council.

I have spent a lot of time on the characters so far in this piece, and the reason why is because the characters are the reason why the show thrives. From the core premise of the show where it is simply Shirogane and Kaguya trying their best to get the other to confess, the shenanigans that occur are a result of the characters emotional reactions to the rest of the cast. It portrays love as battlefield wonderfully, in a comedic way, that is simultaneously hilarious, and heartfelt. Seeing the characters grow, and change as a result of the time that they spend together in the student council room is without a doubt the highlight of the show. Considering you have an ensemble cast in a single room for a majority of the shows runtime is something that is very difficult to pull off, and yet, this show exceeds all expectations, and made me look forward to each episode more than almost every other show that was airing.

This is an incredibly wholesome show that is incredibly earnest in its presentation. With the end of this season, and third season teased, though a release date has not been announced (at the time of this writing), I am very much looking forward to seeing more of these characters, and from what was teased, I can expect this to be the final season altogether. If they land the ending half as well as they have executed the rest of the show, it could be one of my all time favourite shows.

Do I recommend you watch it? Yes absolutely, the show is available to watch on Funimation. Go watch it now.