Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai – 07

We’re back in love advice mode for the third time this week, with Kashiwagi’s still-nameless boyfriend asking Shirogane for advice on how to hold her hand. Kaguya-sama has mostly avoided the prudish territory in which a lot of high school romcoms drown themselves, so I was relieved when Fujiwara busted down the door and pointed out that holding hands isn’t really that big a deal. Apart from a neat conclusion, this was the oddest of the three advice segments so far, since the president spends so much of it trying to coerce Mr. Boyfriend into getting a part-time job. I feel like something was missing from this chapter – was Shirogane supposed to get a bonus or some other benefit for recruiting a classmate? I know he values hard work and everything, but he pressed the issue so far that I thought there might have been a small omission regarding his motivation. On the other hand, the preposterous hand-holding prerequisites he dreamed up (such as renting a cruiser at sunset to establish the proper mood) somehow endeared him to Kaguya even more, which was cute.

Part two was all Ishigami, who’s still scared to death of Kaguya, though it’s a terror of his own making this time. Gossiping about your female classmates’ cup sizes is poor form, especially in a room where both girls (one of whom you believe to hold a grudge against you) are known to congregate. Ishigami doesn’t seem like the type to learn a lesson from Fujiwara’s paper fan smackdown or Kaguya’s threats, though, since he’s preoccupied with jealousy toward the popular guys in the soccer and other athletic clubs. His proposal of a happiness tax is especially funny given his role as treasurer, but it’s also kind of sad, since he’d clearly love to be well-liked with a girl on his arm. Though he rails against the pretenders among Shuchiin Academy’s club programs, he’d probably be happier if he became one. Honestly, my favorite part of this chapter was learning which clubs Fujiwara and Kaguya were in – an episode that splits its time between those two groups could be a lot of fun, even if they have to recycle the idea that they’re in competition for a chunk of the proposed budget.

Looks like this week’s post will be fairly short, as I have little to say about the wiener chapter. The show explains the joke: in the course of researching the birds and the bees, Kaguya has entered the phase where such terms make her laugh uncontrollably, and many wiener-related outbursts follow. I’m not against sophomoric humor in the least, but with a concept like this, it either makes you laugh or it doesn’t, and I fell into the latter camp. The 80s new wave track that played midway through this bit was a direct rip-off of Dead or Alive’s “You Spin Me Round (Like a Record),” so that’s neat, I guess? This whole segment was a dud for me, but I’m happy to write it off and look forward to next week, instead.

3 thoughts on “Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai – 07

  1. Same. The chapter selection for ep7 was a bit lackluster in my eyes – though I knew that I would love the fan scene.

    What I found remarkable was that _many_ people were literally rolling on the floor about the weiner joke. It’s like you said. Either it is awesome to you or it completely falls flat. The latter for me, too.

    On the plus side: We’re now reaching golden territory. Episode 8 will be great, and the show will gradually turn a little bit more serious/substantial.

    1. I found it funny because you would not expect a cute girl like Chika to say something like that. And the reaction of Kaguya was priceless. I found her reaction pretty funny.

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