Kaguya-sama: Love is War -Ultra Romantic-

Episodes 1-2

Here it is everyone: the return of our socially-awkward teenagers who, after two seasons, still have little to no idea how to properly process their emotions. I will admit that when the show first came out a few years ago, I wasn't really on top of the hype. While I thought the humor was sufficiently strong and well-timed, I didn't really gravitate towards any of the character personalities and didn't really know where its gimmick was going. However, as the show started melding its humor with genuine character introspection and adolescent growth, it quickly ended up becoming one of my favorite shows of the past few years.

Based on that, I can definitely say I liked the second episode of this season quite a bit more than the premiere. The first skit of episode two focuses on Ishigami and Iino trying desperately to come together despite it being painfully obvious how much they subtly care about each other, which is really cute. I feel somewhat worse for Ishigami because his attempts at protecting Iino are arguably a bit more direct and obvious whereas Iino seems upset about actions that I don't know how Ishigami would reasonably notice. However, I think it's clear that Iino is supposed to be seen as someone who just expects everybody to be on the same program as her despite her being a million miles away from everybody else at times. It doesn't appear like a very healthy dynamic on the surface, but I like the subtle implication that they would make for a more organic couple than some of the other members of the cast, and the skit ending on that punchline felt self-aware in the best way possible.

That isn't to say that episode one didn't have some great comedic moments: Ishigami doing his best to protect Iino from embarassment and the read receipt bit in the middle are both highlights. The latter was definitely my favorite of episode one and I genuinely didn't know how Kaguya was going to recover from that situation. But I like the fact that her solution arguably made things worse for her in the long run if you think about it.

Obviously, the standout skit of these two episodes was the one at the end of episode two, focusing on Hayasaka and Shirogane's conversation about putting on acts. I like the fact that the skit called back to that whole situation in season two where Hayasaka was dared to try to seduce the president even though it's obvious nothing was going to happen between them. This feels like another instance where we kind of start seeing the façade these characters put on begin to crack a bit. Hayasaka always puts on a mask; she's basically always working and analyzing people, which often makes her both the most observant person in the room and the most oblivious to her own true feelings. It's the exact opposite problem that the rest of the cast has: Everyone is very in touch with their emotions but they care so much about how they present themselves to others, especially those that they have feelings for, that said disconnect ends up making life harder for them. I do genuinely believe that Shirogane thinks that not putting on an act is better, but it's a classic case of “you need to take your own advice”. As someone who's read a bit of the manga and is curious about how much material this season will cover, I am greatly looking forward to those cracks getting bigger down the road.

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