Kaguya-Sama Love is War Episode 5 Review
This episode of Kaguya-Sama Love is War was definitely being dominated by a certain Fujiwara. While the first segment focused initially on Shinomiya giving love advice, Fujiwara swiftly stole the show right out from under her. The same thing happened in segment two with Shirogane and the third segment was lame to begin with so I was kind of happy when Fujiwara put a premature ending to the foolishness.
It is odd for a support character to be so much more interesting and charismatic but thinking back Fujiwara has been the saving grace of many a plot in this anime so far and so episode 5 seemed to put all her charm on full display. She’s so energetic and charming. She also seems incredibly air-headed but pulls out some amazing insight and sometimes it is hard to know if she is stumbling over Shinomiya’s and Shirogane’s plots by accident or if she’s actually just messing with them.
I did actually like the first two segments. The absence of direct head-to-head between Shinomiya and Shirogane did both their characters some good. Shinomiya out of her depth and trying to give love advice, to the partner of the guy Shirogane gave advice to, was a nice bit of closure on that storyline to know that the two did end up dating but it wasn’t smooth sailing. Plus this one earned a genuine laugh when Fujiwara admitted she was out of breath because she’d overheard the start of the conversation and gone running to the drama room for a costume.
The second story actually did Shirogane some favours by having him having to learn a physical skill and having Fujiwara teaching him. The over-exaggeration of just how bad he was, hitting himself in the head while trying to serve a volleyball, was kind of fun and seeing him actually improve was lovely (though I think they pushed that a little far given his domination by the time he had to play in class).
So a fairly pleasant first couple of stories. The final story however did pit Shinomiya and Shirogane head-to-head again over who would admit they had an umbrella and invite the other to share it on the walk home. It was incredibly contrived and pretty bland and as I said in the beginning, Fujiwara handing them an umbrella and ending the drama was probable the best thing that could have happened as an outcome.
This anime is still incredibly hit and miss for me, but there are moments that are genuinely enjoyable and I am really coming to appreciate Fujiwara at least, so hopefully this will continue to have more pleasant than unpleasant moments at least.
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FIGMA NO.427 OVERWATCH: MERCY
- 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.