Shadow’s Impressions:
Kaguya-sama is back and I feel like I’m just THRIVING. While I’ve been reading a bit into the manga, I was actually worried of whether the anime would continue to give the series justice… and they delivered. I always know when a series hits me right in the funny bone whenever I have to pause the episode to laugh. And I did that SEVERAL TIMES throughout this episode. I have to hand it to A-1, they’re still doing great. Not to mention the animation is just so good than it has any right to be.
Though I think the thing that surprised me the most in this first episode was how likeable Ishigami was. I didn’t dislike him, but I wasn’t that into him in the first season. Almost every scene with him in it had me cackling. When he immediately turned around after Hayasaka told him that Kaguya is in a murderous mood made me laugh pretty hard. Especially since he actually CAME BACK a little later. My immediate response was: SHE HAS TO DEAL WITH YOU AGAIN?! Whatever he forgot in there must have been important enough to try and brave Kaguya’s supposed foul mood. I also loved how he absolutely lost it when Nagisa’s boyfriend apparently just came to brag about his love life to them. Where did he even get that roll of toilet paper? Did he just have it on his person??? Also I absolutely LOST IT when he turned into freaking Thomas the Train and lost it even harder when everyone just turned into freaking trains… I legit started tearing up because I was laughing so hard. Maybe the fact that Ishigami seems to have developed a backbone instead of immediately running away whenever someone bad mouths him made him more fun to watch. Through out this first episode, he basically gave so many dead pan deliveries without even cracking once. Also the fact that Ishigami isn’t contemplating death every moment is probably why I find him more fun this time around, even going as far as to say “This game is crap” with the straightest face. Ishigami has suddenly become such a delight this season, it’s great.
I also really like his and Shirogane’s dynamic. They’re such bros and I love it. They bounce off each other really well and when one starts getting unreasonable, the other tries to bring them back down. It was fun seeing them trade off on getting emotional and being the reasonable one.
And then there’s Hayasaka… poor Hayasaka having to deal with Kaguya’s crap once again. This girl puts in so much work to follow through with Kaguya’s unreasonable requests. I was giggling pretty hard at literally everything she did to prevent anyone from entering the student council room. And in the end, Kaguya didn’t even set out what she wanted to do in that time frame since she was frozen when a caffeineless Shirogane fell asleep on her shoulder. I don’t even know what she was even trying to accomplish lol. A pretty heavy Hayasaka loss if you ask me.
I also like that this episode wasn’t entirely focused on pitting Shirogane and Kaguya against each other in a battle of whits like it usually does. A lot of the time, the two were just reacting to the shenanigans happening around them and it just felt fun. Like when they were trying to figure out if Nagisa and her boyfriend (who had a massive glow up if I may add) did it or not. Kaguya was just getting more and more worked out upon hearing what Shirogane’s thoughts were on a developing relationship and she ends up just freaking faceplanting on the floor. I could not at that moment and just lost it. I love Kaguya so much XD. I also appreciate that it wasn’t just the boys or girls freaking out about the whole ordeal. Instead it was the entire body of the Student Council and it was wonderful. There’s just something about seeing them all freak out together that makes it so much fun to watch. And in the end, Nagisa and her boyfriend gets the last laugh after a bit of teasing and they leave it a bit ambiguous on whether or not they did the deed or not over summer break. Rip the student council.
The third story was probably my favorite with Chika introducing them all to a new board game that she and her Board Game Club developed. I really liked the interaction between Chika and Ishigami here. On one hand, I do ship them, but unfortunately I don’t think they’ve been set up romantically. And then on the other, the fact that Ishigami now combats Chika’s rather rude remarks with straightman lines just hits my funny bone so hard. Also… ARE WE JUST GOING TO IGNORE THE FACT THAT ISHIGAMI SAID CHIKA HAS A BEATABLE BODY??? WHAT THE HECK?! I legit couldn’t believe he said that and just died, not to mention NO ONE reacted to that statement. Which probably made it even more funny to me.
Don’t worry, he meant it in an argumentative way, not physically.
But man, Kaguya is such a drama queen and I love it. She got so upset over Shirogane and Chika having married in the game and I legit lost it when Kaguya actually got out her actual money. I even threw off my headphones and laughed and then laughed harder when she did it AGAIN and Ishigami told her to “please put away her real money.” I was also dying over the fact that they were playing such sorrowful music while Kaguya was winning the game. She may have been winning the game, but she was losing her mind lol. The game became way too real for Kaguya, so much that both her and Shirogane never wanted to play it again. They’re probably scarred from how things played out with Kaguya being rich and lonely and Shirogane just living in debt.
That whole scene just had me giggling the entire time. Especially when Chika ended up having a baby after marrying Kaguya in game. Kaguya’s reaction was basically mine: HOW??? Also Ishigami saying that he actually enjoyed the game despite literally dying first turn killed me: YOU DIDN’T EVEN PLAY YOU LOSER.
The final segment will probably be concluded in the next episode since it’s about Shirogane’s birthday. Kaguya wants to do something for Shirogane for his birthday (regretting being so cold to him in the past over his birthday) and Shirogane just being super uncooperative since he doesn’t see his birthday as anything special… which is pretty sad when you think about it. She just wants him to take part in birthday fun. We also find out that Chika and Ishigami and me share the same birthday and Chika just grrring at Ishigami was adorable. But man, no wonder Shirogane just straight up refused to check his birthday on that fortune telling app since it showed his relationship with Kaguya would be iffy… which I guess isn’t necessarily wrong considering where they’re at right now lol. Though I do admit he’s just being a big baby about the whole thing. Poor Kaguya XD. Though I guess it turned out fine since she somehow latched onto the idea that Shirogane just wants to spend his birthday alone with her and she ended up floating away in bliss. All’s well that ends well???
The start of this season was just such a delight that I felt so tired afterwards due to all the laughing. Which is a good thing! I’m definitely going to enjoy this season and I look forward to seeing certain arcs animated. I’m not sure if I’ll be blogging about this one since it is a little hard to talk about comedy series in a narrative sense as I just tend to spout all the moments that made me laugh. But we’ll see.
Also, the opening for this series continues to be a bop. While it’s not as interestingly choreographed like the first, it’s still entertaining and showing off it’s rather impressive animation.
Possibility of Watching: Guaranteed
Possibility of Blogging: Moderate
