This review is going to talk in terms of anime when talking about story and characters because I’m not (still) into manga. Also note I’m not native English speaker, so sorry about that.

At first, I didn’t think that Kaguya-sama series was gonna be something very special or something I would really enjoy. I started watching the anime like 4 months ago, like 2 years after the anime aired. Then, amazed by its characters and premise (along with the animation, but for the manga it’s not relevant) I decided to read the manga, starting from volume 1.

Kaguya-sama is a pretty solid, enjoyable and well-written romcom (from my experience, the best I’ve watched until this very moment) created by Aka Akasaka. As it can be easily guessed by my anime score, I liked it pretty much but I’ve not given it a 10 despite of all what I said, in contrast with the 10 I’m gonna give the manga.

Evolution

The real strength that makes this manga (in my opinion) a masterpiece is the fact that it evolves much more than any of its genre but not only this; it evolves more than “serious” anime that tries to make you think and to look interesting (at least, what people say about those anime). At first it seems like a not-so-special romcom with a cool premise, a lot of comedy into it and enjoyable characters. That’s the image this manga is selling you at the very beginning, but it’s when you dive into it that you get to know its real nature: a lot more mature look at the themes that were based previously.

Let’s start talking about some particular points, I cannot promise to not spoil anything, but I’ll try to make it as spoiler-free as I can.

Characters

First of all, characters. Characters is one of the strongest points in this manga: they’re mostly enjoyable and have a lot of development from beginning to end. At first you think it only have two tsunderes that have fallen in love with each other (Kaguya and Miyuki), nothing that new. It’s with time and patience when those apparently so closed characters have a so-real evolution that you can’t barely notice until you look it with some perspective.

On the first hand, Miyuki looks like a tsundere, perfect and hard-working student just because he is that way. But that’s only a persona he builds to try to make Kaguya fall in love with him (although they later tell that it’s only fear, and inferiority complex).
On the other hand, Kaguya is pretty much the same but trying to look kind and a good person, the total opposite of what his family has educated her. She also builds that mask to make Shirogane fall in love, but also to hide his worst side. Those behaviours are in fact really human, imperfect and relatable, not some idealistic ways of being, like some other characters have in many other stories. They feel just like real humans having real interactions.

Now talking about side characters, lot of them are not just side characters in the way that “it’s not really important what happens to them”. In fact, they are really important in the way they evolve just as the two main protagonists, but also the interpersonal network that is created among all of the characters in the manga. It just looks so natural and relatable (always having in mind this is fiction). The peak of that is probably Ishigami, evolving quite a lot not only in the Sports Festival Arc, but all the time after it. And as I mentioned Ishigami, I could mention a lot more: Hayasaka, Nagisa, Iino, Tsubame and many others.
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Story

And if we talk about the story, well, it’s not a story full of plot twists, fights and brain-squeezing time travel, but it’s just the story of two students with two different origins but the same objective: make the other fall in love. If I have to highlight something about the story It’s that Akasaka has no fear to write about how the characters feel and how do they deal with it. Adolescents think of sex, love, studies, friends and many more, and it’s (to me) perfectly descripted. The story also helps a lot the characters to develop and show their real selfs.
Now I’m gonna make critical spoilers so stay ahead if you don’t want to read it:

Spoiler, click to view

The peak moments in the story like the fireworks scene, the kissing scene on the cultural festival or the post-sex scene between the two mains in the last chapter (220) are just incredibly well-driven to me. They seem just real. They are just so emotive and well-written that I can’t do anything else but to clap. I've enjoyed all of them and many more like a kid.

Art and enjoyment

And before finishing, I’m gonna comment a little on the art and enjoyment. Little to say about art, it evolves and gets better and improved all along the manga, transforming into a cleaner and more expressive art. Another spoiler, so stay ahead:

Spoiler, click to view

After Kaguya goes in mental breakdown for what happened with Shirogane (the kiss on cultural festival) I can tell her drawing (the way Akasaka draws her) becomes slightly different, showing the evolution she had because of these events. It’s like her 2 most important personalitites (Ice Kaguya and “normal” Kaguya) merged and the result of it is “real” Kaguya, the real version of her being.

I have no need to talk about the enjoyment, it’s a perfect score for this manga. I’ve laughed a lot, I’ve been very nervous and I cried like a baby in some parts. There’s nothing I can hate about this manga, only the fact that I cannot continue reading it daily but weekly. This manga gave me the most intense post-anime/manga depression ever, just because it’s a masterpiece. To me it’s my actual top 2 on anime/manga, close to Steins;Gate which I love very much.

I hope you liked my messy review, it’s just a bunch of ideas that came when writing it. Feel free to comment me anything about it!