I often find myself wondering what the future classics will be from media in our time. Doubtless there are works of art, music, or movies that seem mainstream or commonplace to us now that will someday be looked back on as the pinnacle of entertainment from this year, decade, or generation. In most areas, it can be hard to tell what is on track to attain this coveted status, as certain trends will come and go and public opinion will sway drastically before these works are finally evaluated under the lens of "back then, things were different." That being said, one of the best ways to try and get ahead of the curve on future classics, is to gauge something by its cultural impact.
And what an impact Kaguya-sama has had. I have become somewhat disillusioned with the direction that rom-coms are heading lately, with hype-saturated seasonals dominating the charts only to result in the same middling reviews once the excitement passes. It seems that each new adaptation either forgets to write jokes that are funny only to be carried by their art, or forgoes comedy entirely to try and measure up to the psychological romance greats of yesteryear, only to inevitably fall short.
The interesting thing about Kaguya-sama is that it does both, but neither to quite such a large degree, finding a nice middle ground and flexing its muscles in equal parts rom and com. The show's main characters are largely based on tropes or personality templates, but instead of trying to rectify this later in the season when the need for plot development arises, they stick to their guns, double down, and imagine their characters in all kinds of wacky situations, where misunderstandings ensue.
What makes this writing bearable is that it is because of the one-sided nature of the cast's personalities that most of these episodes work, not in spite of them. To put this more simply, instead of adding personality traits, the writing asks, "what would a character with these few traits do if they were..." insert at a sports festival, asked to dance, joined a club, etc. That being said, the show also knows when its cast is overstaying their welcome, and does a great job of pivoting between plotlines for side characters for just long enough before the viewer grows disinterested and wants to check back on the main couple(s).
This is all presented in a manner absolutely dripping with style and flavor, from the playfully seductive voice acting, to the openings reminiscent of crooner jazz, to the many facial expressions of Kaguya that are so agonizingly detailed that it pains me to imagine how much time and budget went into these fleeting shots. The only thing holding this show back from excellence for two and a half seasons, in my opinion, was the episodic plot structure.
You see, the subtitle for this series being Love Is War, it fits that each encounter is staged as a battle between whichever characters are participating, with the "winner" being chosen based on who navigates the day's antics with the most poise and (usually) least embarrassment. This is exhibited in no greater fashion than by the main duo, student council Vice President Kaguya Shinomiya and President Miyuki Shirogane. Each is not-so-secretly crushing on the other, but in order to preserve some misplaced sense of dignity, each refuses to confess to the other and instead tries all sorts of mind games to get the other to admit their feelings first.
While this was an interesting concept well-suited for the first two seasons, it only worked as well as it did because of this persistence in sticking to each character's tried and true motivations and quirks. This brings me to my inspiration to write a review of the third season while I felt that the first two were fairly self-explanatory. This season particularly focused on the main duo and raised the stakes significantly from a traditionally endless year of anime high school by placing a time limit: Miyuki will be traveling overseas after the year ends, forcing one to break and confess to the other or risk losing them forever.
I was very excited during the culture festival arc because a show this popular, this successful at being formulaic to the point that several mini-episodes were practically reskins of each other was stepping out of its comfort zone and establishing real stakes for itself. The last three episodes were absolutely fantastic at building tension up to this big moment, expertly weaving each character's goals for the season into Miyuki's master plan to meet with Kaguya and wring a confession out of her once and for all. It really felt deserved to see them standing on the rooftop together at the end, and I felt genuinely happy for the duo in that they got to find a true ending, like so few romcoms have the boldness to do.
(This next paragraph addresses the ending)
This was the reason I felt that Kaguya-sama was held back from greatness this season. It is such a rare sight in anime these days to have a romantic encounter be truly deserved, to feel like both characters really worked to get there. Love is War gets all the credit for building up to that point but not having the will to execute it. In the name of future seasons, I suppose, they can't just stop doing the same battle system that has carried them this far and won them so much goodwill with the community.
I still stand by that this show will become a future classic. It has shown us that a romcom in its purest form can still exist, without an overdependence on dry humor and eye-popping art, although Kaguya-sama has both of these in ample amounts. But I hope that in some form or another, whether it be a future season or another show that picks up the mantle, we get a romcom that escalates the stakes this high, explores simple characters this thoroughly, and has the courage left to stick the landing. Because without a real ending, I have to admit I'm left a bit empty.
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