Kaguya-sama S2 – 07-08

I might just do two more of these doubleheader posts to close out the season. The recent trend among Kaguya-sama episodes has been to combine three or four segments of similar enjoyability, whether they’re all great or all mediocre. When we hit one of the mediocre combinations, it leaves me with little to write about, so packaging my thoughts in bulk safeguards against weak standalone posts. That’s my justification for my forthcoming June laziness, anyway. Read on to see which chapter was my favorite during the second half of May (plus thoughts on all the other losers).

#7: Miyuki Shirogane Wants to Make Her Read (episode 7.3)
“This shoujo manga is so predictable, yet I can’t stop crying!”
“Doesn’t it, like, totally suck when people spoil manga endings?”
Sooooo relatable!
Next.

#6: Kaguya Wants to Make Him Let Go (episode 7.2)
Second verse, same as the first (more on the first verse below). Kaguya does something with Shirogane that enters mildly suggestive territory, then Iino barges in and freaks out at the student council’s loose moral conduct. One of the series’ most pressing duties right now is to absorb Iino into its overarching story, but giving her one and only one role (“the uptight one”) doesn’t advance that mission. I remember having a similar issue with Ishigami around the middle of season 1 (“the cowardly one”), but the show eventually moved past that, so I have faith that it will do the same with Iino. Until it does, we’ve got Hayasaka’s impressions of Kaguya to tide us over – she’s the MVP of this chapter, despite appearing in just a small part of it. Is there a Hayasaka spinoff manga that I ought to be aware of? Because I would totally read it.

#5: Kaguya Wants to Undress Him (episode 7.1)
If there’s any lesson to be learned from this episode opener, it’s that underpants-related misunderstandings aren’t the best way to kick off a new phase of your show. Having just joined the student council, Iino is horrified at the president’s out-of-context cries about black panties, but the joke lacks specificity. This is a broad story that could have been told at any time during the series’ run, so neither its newest character nor its other cast members were well-serviced by its gags – except for Ishigami. He singlehandedly saved this chapter with his initial indignation at the female students’ preference for boxer briefs, and subsequent concession when he realized it was a losing battle. Ishigami’s total failure to understand women gets even funnier when he resigns himself to the level of “if you can’t beat them, join them.” And hey, it even signals his interest in the opposite sex – maybe we’ll get a romantic subplot for Mr. Treasurer in the future?

#4: Kaguya ♡ Aquarium (episode 7.4)
My knowledge of otome games is virtually nonexistent, but even I had to admire the pains that Kaguya-sama took in mocking them. There were sparkly new character designs, saccharine music and sound effects, a miniature theme song highlighting how appealing the boys were, and of course, plenty of anime grunts to emphasize the characters’ dreaminess. Chika shattering the illusion made perfect sense, since that’s usually her role, but I kinda wish she’d functioned as the game’s villain, portrayed as a mean-spirited, sexed-up version of herself. I found this lengthy post-credits scene to be funnier in concept than execution, but that’s mostly owed to my lack of appreciation for the genre being parodied. Also, it was loosely tied to one of season 2’s worst offerings, which is far from a feather in its cap.

#3: Kaguya Wants to Be Examined (episode 8.3)
Both this chapter and the next one on the list have simple concepts that lean into romantic territory, so their order could easily be swapped depending on who’s watching. The reason I put the hospital visit at #3, though, was that its concept scales linearly, rather than using a cascading effect. Kaguya denies her attraction to Shirogane, then denies it louder, then louder still, and so on. The contrast between her character’s genius intellect and low romantic intelligence is funny as usual, but the situation doesn’t evolve – the medical tests just keep coming back negative, so she asks for more. It’s not as though the story was lacking in comedy, though. Hayasaka’s embarrassment at her mistress’s single-digit emotional IQ earned a smile from me, and the Dezaki-esque doctor’s solemnity was a great choice to ground the episode. Still, I prefer my sitcoms to feature escalating situations, not just escalating reactions.

#2: Kaguya Doesn’t Scare Easily (episode 8.2)
Here’s another bit that ends with Iino stumbling upon Kaguya and Shirogane in a compromising position. The difference: unlike her impulse to run screaming in episode 7, she sticks around to hug a frightened Kaguya and call the president a depraved animal. Same morally righteous attitude, different means of expression. Little stuff like this keeps me interested in both Kaguya-sama’s comedy and characters, since they keep me guessing despite a baseline of consistency. But Iino is only a small part of this segment – the real story is Kaguya and Shirogane’s, and it’s a good one. ‘Boy and girl locked in a room’ is a trope as old as time, but the show’s method of acknowledging it made the whole thing feel new. It’s only natural for them to assume that the other one had orchestrated the entire thing, since that’s how their own minds work. I felt that Koga and Furukawa approached the chapter with the right mindset, as well – dissolving into hysterics would have been an easy choice, but they let the characters’ insecurities play at the forefront of their voices.

#1: Miko Iino Wants to Control Herself (episode 8.1)
These might be my favorite seven minutes of the season thus far. I love ensemble comedies where every member of the cast is given a chance to shine. I also love character-driven stories, where people with distinct traits and viewpoints are placed in close proximity to one another and we get to watch the dominos fall. Smash those two things together and you get this chapter. It’s a little light on Shirogane’s perspective, but apart from that, it’s got everything I want from this show. It would take way too long to break down this story in my ordinary format, so here’s a list of interactions that the show somehow fit into such a compact size.

Iino → Kaguya: disapproval of PDA with Shirogane
Kaguya → Iino: approval of the assessment that Shirogane likes her (Kaguya in her own world)

Ishigami → Iino: feels her methods are counterproductive
Iino → Ishigami: coldly disregards advice

Chika → Iino: feels her methods are counterproductive
Iino → Chika: reluctantly accepts advice (Ishigami gets depressed at the contrast)

Ishigami → Iino: retaliates for earlier dismissal (feet on table, chips/soda, Marinekart)
Iino → Ishigami/Chika: barely tolerates rulebreaking (makes effort to see others’ perspectives)

Chika → Kaguya: wants her to become less self-conscious (silly Instagram picture)
Kaguya → Shirogane: wants to be seen as cute; gets revenge when her attempt fails (self-contained story in 60 seconds)

Iino → Chika: asks for copy of silly Instagram picture (payoff: absorbed into group despite their rulebreaking)

Just watching the episode is enough to see how character-focused it is, but when you lay it out this way, you realize what a balancing act it must have been for the director. Anime has to dedicate not only space, but also time to each scene, which is a dimension manga isn’t concerned with. Seeing this chapter come to life was like watching five magicians pull one rabbit each from a hat. You might know how the trick works, but the multiplicative effect puts it over the top.