All’s Fair In Love, War, And Welcoming Parties

Kaguya-Sama Love Is War Episode 4 Review

The French are coming, or at least French students, for reasons unexplained and unimportant given this is literally just the most recent backdrop for the antics of the student council in Kaguya-Sama Love is War. I actually kind of liked that all of the skits kind of connected this week in this overall story even if we were still decidedly in the set-up and deliver punch-line kind of format we’ve come to expect from this anime.

The first skit was cute. Not actually funny, but it had both Shinomiya and Shirogane in cat ears at one point and both desperately trying not to admit that the other was cute and to be honest it was adorable to watch. Ultimately completely pointless given the conclusion of this is that no one in the student council is allowed to wear cat ears anymore but there are worse things than seeing anime characters in cat ears for a few minutes.

We then move on to a game to decide who will go shopping for the gifts for the students at the party. Shirogane determines to lose to Fujiwara but beat Shinomiya so that he and Shinomiya will go shopping but he won’t lose to her. It works out that way but more because Fujiwara actually outwits the both of them. Again, I didn’t find this section particularly amusing, but I definitely appreciated Fujiwara’s character more after it.

What follows is Shinomiya wanting to message the President but getting all worked up about the first person to text. This section kind of annoyed me. It is like watching someone play the ‘You hang up first’ game where the only solution is to walk over and snatch the phone out of their hand and hang up – or flee the country, whichever seems less problematic at the time. Though, the punchline here isn’t exactly expected so I kind of had to give it points for that.

The highlight of the episode though is the party itself where clearly the guy pulling the Student Council strings is playing his own games and sics the French vice-president on Shirogane. He, however, doesn’t understand French so her insults more or less roll over him like water off a duck’s back. They don’t however pass Shinomiya without raising her ire and seeing her genuinely defending Shirogane may be the best moment she’s had yet in this series.

I will say this is my favourite episode so far. No annoying narration at the beginning setting my teeth on edge with its warped philosophy on love. Limited narration during the skits. An overarching plot loosely tying the segments together. Then Shinomiya actually acting on emotion rather than calculated planning. So yeah, best episode yet. Still not a huge fan but if it continued on like this I’ll probably end up low-key enjoying this series each week.

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Kaguya-sama: Love Is War, Vol. 2

• Episode 1: A Comedy About A Broken Philosophy on Love and Romance
• Episode 2: The Tools of War – Phones, Vacations and Love Advice
• Episode 3: Solid Visuals, Great Music, Average Most Everything Else
• Episode 4: All’s Fair In Love, War, And Welcoming Parties
• Episode 5: The Battleground of Love Advice, Volleyball and Umbrellas
• Episode 6: It Isn’t Paranoia When She’s Really Threatening To Kill You
• Episode 7 and 8: The Love War Flat-Lined
• Episode 9: Is It Terrible If I Call This Episode ‘The Cold War’?
• Episode 10: Passing the Olive Branch
• Episode 11: No Love, No War, No Real Interest
• Episode 12: Heartfelt Moment Undermined by ‘Humorous’ Conclusion
• Series Review
• Images from: Kaguya Sama: Love Is War. Dir. S Omata. A-1 Pictures. 2019.