This anime brought about an internet sensation; it was all over Reddit, and it was safe to say that everybody loved it. Before watching the anime, I’ve seen some scenes on YouTube, and know about the “Chika Chika Dance”, sick Kaguya, etc, all of which had turned into memes that the community keeps using.

I therefore decided, after its airing, to binge it and tell you what I think about each and every episode. If you have not watched Kaguya-Sama: Love Is War, please only read the summary, and come back afterwards to read the episode reactions!

Summary

Kaguya-Sama: Love Is War is a romance anime in a high-school setting, with the two parties involved hell-bent on maintaining their pride, refusing to display any signs of affection which may possibly be seen as a weakness.

Good points

Story-building, on some episodes. The story progression is typical for anime with this length, although there was a hint of rush towards the later episodes. Otherwise, the story makes sense and remains consistent throughout the anime.
Character Development, on some episodes. Other than some of the episodes that seem to serve no obvious purpose, every introduced character has some kind of development tied to them. I personally loved the character development for Kaguya; showing flashback scenes of her past personality really helped visualize the growth Kaguya had throughout the anime. What this anime excels at, unsurpirsingly, is the developing the relationships between the characters; even though its slow, the pace seem to be a logical conclusion of the character’s personality. This makes the anime tolerable to watch, and at times, enjoyable too.
Humor. The anime regularly puts out some light humorous scenes to smoothen the watchability of the anime, although I was expecting a little bit more considering “Comedy” is one of the anime’s genres on MyAnimeList. I would say though, the ending on Episode 3 is perfect.

Bad points

Stale, after a while. Despite the good character and relationship development, alongside the escalation of plot in some episodes, there were a distinct lack of plot thrills that would otherwise capture the attention of a viewer. I personally got bored after a while, and only stayed because I wanted to know how the anime ends.
Convenient context. Without explanation, some episodes contain flashbacks of the character to explain a subsequent action. While this is not bad story-telling, it personally urks me that there is one aspect of the character that was forcefully shoved down the viewer’s throat, with no way of rejecting it, because without the said explanation, the story wouldn’t make sense.

Rating

By weighing the above points, I’ve came up with an estimate of 7 out of 10 for the anime. There is no criteria, and this assessment is entirely based on my own opinions, so do watch it to find out if you like it!

Spoilers below this text.

Episode Reactions

Episode 1

Oh wow a custom opening for the anime!
Oh wow, “romantic battle of the geniuses”, huh?
Octopus Hotdogs!
Hey, the anime is living up to its name!

The two characters seem to already know each other’s romantic interests, but are battling it out to see who confesses first. With pride on the line, they implant strategies to get the other to confess to them, however, due to the intellect both side possesses, they catch most of the feigns and traps.

I predict that the both of them will confess to each other at the same time, with the takeaway being to disallow pride from getting in the way of desire.

Episode 2

Mountains. I’m too fat to be seen half-naked.
Yeah I can relate, self-confidence is an important weighing factor in any decision.
I think Chika will like psychological/supernatural anime.
Lesson learnt: Pride is damaging

This episode repeated some information that was seen in the previous episode, such as Kaguya’s wealth and accomplishments, the President’s hardworking nature, and the fact that they are seen as gods in the school. Also, both of them have pride the size of the sun.

My prediction remains largely the same.

Episode 3

Typical sheltered girl troupe.
Shirogane has some… special interests, huh…
Another typical sheltered girl troupe!
Ahahaha, can’t say I didn’t see that coming! (10 questions game)
Chika Chika Dance!

Character development episode; seems like the focus is on Kaguya. Prediction remains largely the same.

Episode 4

Chika is scary.
Their first call & text is about what I expected; pretty work-related.
They showed weakness to each other, huh? I guess that’s required in every relationship for it to work.

Story progression episode, with a touch of character development and world building; I’m intrigued by the “old” Kaguya. Prediction remains the same.

Episode 5

Romantic advice!
Ah, yes. The typical sharing an umbrella troupe.
Oh, who’s that after the ED?

Prediction remains the same. Other than the first half of the episode, it’s another story progression episode. We’re getting pretty close, I think.

Episode 6

Aye Ishigami is a data analytics engineer.
I relate to Ishigami 100%.
…
I relate to Ishigami 1000% (I want to die, so I’ll go home now).

Ishigami is an interesting introduction to the story. This guy is more work-oriented than the rest, and rarely participates in small talk like the rest of the Student Council. This kind of makes the dynamics within the Student Council a little more interesting, especially with his one-sided fear towards Kaguya. Can’t wait to see what this implies for the following episodes!

Prediction remains the same.

Episode 7

I relate to Ishigami 100%.
Kaguya likes dirty jokes. (Grade-school level ones, though)

I’m not sure what this episode was for. Maybe it’s calm before the storm?

Prediction remains the same.

Episode 8

IMOUTO APPEARED!
Finals week! The most anxiety inducing week that all students have to face before their lives are determined by a two (or if you’re really academically inclined, three) digit score!
I relate to Ishigami.
Is this why Kaguya lost?

Prediction remains the same. There was some character development for Ishigami, although it is not much. They actually drew Shirogane’s sister, I wonder if she’ll appear more in the subsequent episodes?

Episode 9

Grab is not a concept in this anime.
Chika is going to become an amazing politician.
Oh my god Kaguya is so cute

Major character development! The “romantic visit” arc probably expanded the story by a crazy amount; although it was pretty funny how Shirogane manages to fall asleep despite the situation. I wouldn’t blame him, however.

My prediction remains the same.

Episode 10

A fight!
I found a .gif to perfectly describe “floating away”:
I feel you man, Ishigami.

More character development! Judging from the episode count, is the next episode going to be that fateful episode where the confessions finally take place?

My prediction remains the same!

Episode 11

Another rich girl troupe, not being good at technology!
Their summer vacation looks fun. Yes, I’m referring to the fact they did nothing.
Chika is the ramen queen!
Damn, they missed each other!

I can feel it getting close. The story-building is reaching its climax; the next episode will decide everything.

Prediction: same.

Episode 12

Fireworks arc is over!
Looks like Kaguya’s love increased a few fold.
Oh, are they gonna do it?
ARE THEY GONNA SAY IT
OH COME ON

Final result: CodingIndex’s loss. Although in the scene at the end, it seems like Shirogane knows about Kaguya’s plan, and was giving out a smirk. What a tease, geez.

Well, that was fun. Overall, I wished I could see both Kaguya and Shirogane somehow working things out and producing a relationship from there. Also, I seem to relate to Ishigami too much; is he my carbon copy? A-1 Pictures, Season 2, please!

Happy Coding,

CodingIndex