Shinomiya | Animated Observations

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When I first started watching Kaguya-Sama, I was pretty immediately skeptical. It seemed like the type of show where the humor would run dry pretty quickly, and all that would be left are a bunch of stale characters with one dimensional personalities. Luckily, though, that wasn’t the case. Here are some of my final thoughts.

Kaguya-Sama’s Toxic Ideology

Love is a fairly complicated series of emotions, events, and interactions with other people, and can exist in a number of different forms. However, Romantic Love is arguably the most complex of them all. Romantic Love is something that also has different forms across cultures, and depending on the specifics customs and traditions that govern these cultures, can be born out in different ways.

In a much more conservative culture like Japan, and even to a certain extent in western countries like the U.S., the idea of admitting feelings first, or saying I love you first is, to put it lightly, a big deal. However, I also think this aspect of our culture is arguably the one of the most toxic elements of it. The reason I say this is because it often creates a situation where people have to live uncomfortably with their own emotions, and societal pressure keeps them from expressing how they feel for fear of being ridiculed.

This becomes even more prevalent in cultures, again like Japan and the U.S., where a hyper masculine ideal is still common, because in these cultures showing emotion becomes a sign of weakness. The reason I bring this up is because this cultural idea seems to be at the center of the show.

Now, in fairness, at least in Kaguya-Sama’s case, the comedic aspect of the show seems to playing this up as both of the main character’s weaknesses rather than their strength, showing that the two are much more miserable because of this type of pride, and that at least I can respect.

Comedic Greatness

Alright, but seriously though, this show is pretty funny. It has a lot of fantastic comedic elements that make it worth watching, even despite some level of toxicity. Probably one of my favorite parts of the show is when Kaguya locks Ishigami in a room in order to force him to study for their Mid-terms, because if he fails them he likely will have to repeat a year. One of the best eight minutes of the whole series.

How did you all feel about Kaguya-Sama? Let me know in the comments below. Also, if you would like to support The Aniwriter, or are just feeling generous, consider donating on ko-fi, or using one of the affiliate links down below: