Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai: Ultra Romantic

This season was definitely better than the first, but I don't think it was better than the second one. The animation style remained roughly the same while the pacing, at least to me, felt a bit slower. There were certainly some high highs, but also some low lows, and I ended up grading it as a 7.

I do have to say, the final episode was really fun. The buildup of the series felt worth it and I didn't have any issues with it. I think my complaints lie on the characterization of Kaguya. Shirogane says he fell for her for being pure and kind-hearted, but ... the series constantly shows her sincerely being the opposite - she even admits to it at the ending! I just hope they get to know each other deeply before the series concludes and those things aren't treated as gags or jokes.

Also, a shame that Fujiwara got less screen time and Ishigami didn't get a proper answer to his confession. However, their moments were still very good - and Hayasaka as well! She was cool in the previous seasons, but I think where she really shines in this one. She's probably my favorite character in the anime, together with Ishigami.

In the end, this is a satisfying conclusion to the series, and if you enjoyed the journey so far, you will certainly enjoy this.

Frankly, I expected more. The second season surpassed its prequel, so I expected an upward tendency in terms of writing. The focus of this season is what I think made it less appealing to me. In terms of animation and sound design the show remains very good.

I did not enjoy spending more time with Maki Shijo, who in the previous season was a recurring visual gag (a girl being left out of things). Learning about her beef with her best friend or that she is a cousin of Kaguya was deeply uninteresting. Her comedic shtick this time was that she is a mini-Kaguya, switching between ... despotic and sweet. However, it felt extremely tiring and out of character, as in the previous seasons she was set up to be timid and unable to put her foot down. The other joke is that she calls Kaguya “auntie” to make her look old, but that’s it. The conclusion to Maki’s arc is also inconsistent with the story, as she is approached by Nagisa, the “girlfriend character”, who tells her that Maki is the most important person to her. That sounds like a flat-out lie as it is not substantiated by anything we have seen in the last three seasons.

The main plot was fine I guess, though it was dragged out by filler. Yu and Iino keep developing in terms of character, which is nice.

"The first to fall in love loses!"

"If I go out with him, I'll probably fall in love!"

Never before have such pretentious phrases been uttered unironically...wait, this is anime. Never mind, happens all the time.

This season was by and large a massive disappointment. I have always believed 'Love is War' to be an overrated romcom, but nevertheless found the first two seasons serviceably decent. You can check my profile, if you don't believe me: I gave the first two seasons a 6/10. Although drenched in romantic tropes I despise, the comedy was consistent and the execution was at a very high level.

And yet this season falls ... flat on it's face, because it focuses on what has long been the weakest part of the series: it's drama.

Now granted, I have not read the manga (nor will I ever). But why does Kaguya/Shirogane's romance need to be dragged out so incessantly? Three seasons in (that's nearly 15 hours of your life, folks) and it takes until the very end for just the smallest amount of progress in that department. Why drag it out? The drama? The tension? Sorry, but who in their right mind thought these two were never going to get together? There is no tension. For the laughs maybe? The pair's tsundere schtick stopped being funny by the end of season 1. There are literally hundreds of tsundere couples in anime. That is not unique in the slightest.

Then there's this new Tsubame/Ishigami love thing going on. Now again, I have not read the manga. But the instant this Tsubame girl was introduced, I thought "There's no way this is going to work out." And yet that plot element gets dragged on, episode after episode. Just axe it already and stop wasting my time.

These are just a couple examples. When you have these tropey dramatic elements, they better conclude quickly, or I get bored and irritated. The older I get, the more these parts of anime have rubbed me the wrong way.

One of the stronger parts of this series is it's comedy and it's side-characters. The "Shirogane likes Herthaka, but Chika thinks Herthaka is a dude who likes other dudes and thus gives Chika a horny nosebleed" was one that genuinely made me laugh hard. It was a misunderstanding piled on top of another misunderstanding in a creative way that made sense.

But overall there is less comedy in this season, and for the first time I found some of it rather stale. Comedy in this series could be nonsensical at times, but it seems this season double-downed on it. For example, the coin game they play in one of the earlier episodes.

To summarize the coin game bluntly: group is putting coins under a sheet, using heads and tails to answer various questions truthfully ("Do you have a crush?" etc). No one knows who puts what coin under the sheet, and a lie detector is there in case anyone decides to lie.

Shirogane and Kaguya are both intimidated by the lie detector, so they tell the truth with their answers...why? They're both supposed to be super smart, so they should realize how incredibly unreliable those things are right? There's a reason lie detectors aren't generally admissible as evidence in court- they're notoriously unreliable.

Then Shirogane gets out of it anyway, by switching his coin with a 1981 coin in his pocket (because Kaguya was looking at the years of the coins to know who was answering)...how? How did he switch coins without Kaguya noticing? Why does he carry around a 1981 coin so conveniently? The suspension of belief is just too high for it to be either funny or dramatic.

The other part of this show that is one of it's stronger suits are it's side characters. Shirogane/Kaguya are a typical tsundere duo whom I've never much cared for, but I do have a soft spot for some of the others.

Ishigami's dramatic parts are the only good dramatic parts of the series. Even if it is tropey and predictable, I sympathize with his lack of confidence affecting aspects of his life. Just wish the romantic part of this was less predictable and less drawn-out. His comedic bits are on the weaker side too, but that's fine I suppose.

Chika is the show's most consistent comedy, but she's also the only one compeletely lacking in meaningful character development. One of the earlier seasons mentioned she has a family with a political background, which opens the door for soooo many possibilities given her personality. And yet nothing has come of it. Ditto for her younger sister, who was around for a short comedic part.

Hayasaka finally gets some decent character development here. She's cute and funny in a deadpan sort of way. But like Chika, I really wish there was something of more substance; give her a boy to pursue, or a hobby, or important friends...She needs something, anything. The entire point of her short arc at the beginning of this season was that she wanted to live her teenage life, instead of just being relegated to being Kaguya's maid...but then there's nothing. Some may say "wait until season 5" or something. Well, 3 seasons should be plenty. That's nearly 15 hours of show. Pick up the pace.

The art is colorful and gorgeous. The sound is...decent. I think that one track that reminds me of "You spin me round" by Dead or Alive was the best one. I don't know if that was intentional or not, but it got a chuckle out of me every time I heard it. The sub is great, although the english dub is kind of underwhelming unfortunately.

Given how season 3 ends, I'm guessing it's going to double down on the tsundere romantic parts, which is absolutely the weakest part of this show. Thus I'm undecided if I want to continue after this. I can understand why there are so many fans of this- even if it is a tropey romcom, the ideas are executed very well.

Bottom line, if you watched this show's first two seasons primarily for laughs, you may be disappointed with this one like I was. However if you want more ham-handed drama and tsundere, "misunderstanding" romance, you'll probably like this season more.