Kaguya-sama: Love Is War – The First Kiss That Never Ends review

“Love is war! The person who falls in love loses!” a narrator yells in the first episode of the hit anime series Kaguyasama – Love Is War. It’s a statement meant to reflect the teenage protagonists’ warped views on romance. In three episodes of plotting, Miyuki Schirogane (president) and Kaguya Shonomiya (“vice president”), respectively, transition from being petty aloof to open intimacies as they discover the deceitful nature of their game. Each want to get the other to admit their feelings. The show eventually resolves that plot — but now a full-length feature, The First Kiss That Will Never StopThey continue their romantic struggle with each other until they meet again.

This sentiment is quickly removed by the show’s adaptation from Aka Asakasa’s beloved manga. Miyuki and Kaguya’s elaborate schemes and battles of the mind, all designed to get the other to confess their love first, are simply a way of avoiding the pain of rejection and preserving their pride. They are both at the top in their classes, and at the top at school. But like any teenager, these two have areas where they have no confidence or experience, and their relationship is about as far out into uncharted territory as they’ve ever been.

Kaguyasama: Love Is War, The First Kiss That Never Stops (a subtitle length Asakasa has poked fun at in his manga) is a culmination of the first part of their story, though it’s far from the end. The closing credits are like the final highlight reel of the show. They feature a compilation of all their best moments, set to an original Masayuki-Suzuki song, which has been a favorite in every opening season.

Image: Aniplex of America/A-1 Pictures

After three seasons tsundere subterfuge and will-they-won’t-they near misses, the two finally kiss in a climatic moment of romantic drama. Many animated rom-coms would be happy to end the story and move on to the wedding. What sets the series and its feature-length follow-up apart is the fascination with the aftermath, and the acknowledgment that romance isn’t neatly wrapped up when two people confess their feelings for each other.

Kaguyasama – Love Is WarHe is not interested in tidy ideaslism but the chaos and joy of courtship. So the couple’s big kiss only muddles things further as the holiday season goes on. It was a satisfying ending to the season, but the film adds that the kiss turned out more intense than Miyuki and Kaguya anticipated, thanks to some misappropriated advice from Kaguya’s friend Kashiwagi (the only cast member in a couple, labeled a “war criminal” for PDA). The couple is also pummeled by the idea of them attending college together.

Film follows them for about a week, in December. The reality sets in and the teens are both shaken by it. With their stalemate broken, it’s even less clear than usual where they stand. Holiday-season romance is now in full swing.

The rules of engagement for their war changed because of their intimate kiss. Previously, they’d each refused to admit to themselves that they were in love with the other, let alone admit it to anyone else. These two clueless geniuses must figure out how they can move on. At the same time, Miyuki’s constant exhaustion and overworking comes to a head, and Kaguya reckons with how her family has denied her normalcy through a strict and myopic upbringing conditioned by the ruthlessness of nobility, which leaves no room for friendship. A briefly shown side plot with the usually gloomy Yu Ishigami, who unwittingly confessed to his crush in season 3, shows a different dimension to the issues of admitting those feelings: His love interest, Tsubame, doesn’t seem to share his feelings.

Image: Aniplex of America/A-1 Pictures

Then, even with your first kiss over the line, you can still enjoy the Kaguyasama – Love Is War movie still has plenty of ground to cover regarding the characters’ many insecurities about themselves. In a more complicated way, the impulse that drove Miyuki to their cold war against provocation is revealed again. For different but interlocking reasons, they’re proud people, and they can’t let themselves be vulnerable. The writers discuss how to take the next step in a relationship.

Funny and sweet. The First Kiss That Will Never Stop is, it isn’t a jumping-on point for someone interested in trying Love Is WarThis is the first time it has been done. The feature begins with characters not acting like themselves, and there’s a lot of context missing beyond that. Though many of the gags and romantic moments work well even without the background of the series, most of the movie would only appear strange to those jumping in at what’s essentially the finale of the series’ first act. The humor also relies heavily on character development: This makes it a lot more funny.

However, the audience invested already and the fans will be able to see the best of the show in this movie. Music production adds more absurd references. It all is tied together by the aggressive narrator. She highlights the suspense and treats awkward encounters with the gravity that life and death. Aoi Kooga is a master of voice performance. A scene that involves multiple Kaguya persons arguing about each other in court is a fantastic, long opportunity for her to display her talent. It’s also an incredibly romantic film, as it evokes the tension of the moment before a kiss, or simply in being in close proximity to your crush. Mamoru Hatakeyama, the director (a pseudonym of Shinichi Omata, director) Descending Stories: Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju) The animation team and staff stress the importance of sharing touch with other senses.

That closeness can just as easily turn into comedy, too, as it punctures the drama with adolescent embarrassments, like how Kaguya’s femme fatale-like manipulation of her fellow council member Miko Iino is shattered in an instant when Iino says Kaguya’s perfume smells like an old woman’s. But it’s also earnest and big-hearted, investing sincerely in its long romance. Even its jokes are expressions of the characters’ perspectives and experiences.

Image: Aniplex of America/A-1 Pictures

Yasuhiro Nakaishi, the writer for the series, creates humor out of the most serious and dramatic situations. This script shows how every moment can seem life-or-death in teenage romance, while also proving that it can turn into a joke. Miyuki’s lead-up to his confession, turning the school festival into a mystery to solve, is simultaneously dumb and adorable.

Both halves of the central couple are navigating territory they don’t fully understand: Another highlight of the show and the manga is their frankness about sexual relationships. Asakasa refuses to play coy about sex in the manga, while thoughtfully unpacking how impressionable characters approach it in first-time romance, when information doesn’t always equate to understanding. This story, which explores digital communication’s potential for new opportunities and new problems, feels credible even with its absurd premise.

The leap to feature length doesn’t change much visually from the anime — the production quality here is on a level with the show. But it’s no less creative with its imagery: Even scenes with limited movement are used to hammer jokes home. Love Is War is packed to the gills with clever little references and homages used to communicate its characters’ feelings, though as a director, Hatakeyama eases off this element a little, favoring more straightforward sight gags and physical comedy.

The character drawings are as funny as ever, from smaller details like the excessive bags under Miyuki’s eyes to more absurd imagery, like “Little Kaguya,” a visual representation of Kaguya’s state of mind brought on by “60% happiness, 40% denial and sleep deprivation.” As the students’ December becomes increasingly bewildering, the animators dance between surprise bursts of action and tender interactions, emulating the contrasting emotions its characters are going through.

Image: Aniplex of America/A-1 Pictures

Even with clever visual gags, and sudden bursts opulent animations, The First Kiss That Will Never Stop isn’t exactly cinematic. It maintains the show’s pacing, right down to the periodic eye-catches that come before and after ad breaks in the series. It’s clear where each installment would end and the next would begin if this were just a run of episodes. (And it isn’t hard to imagine it being edited into episodes, like the record-breaking Demon Slayer Film Mugen TrainIt did eventually happen. Familiarity with the show goes a long way to smoothing this dynamic over, but it doesn’t make for an essentially theatrical experience.

A feature is also a great way to show a significant turning point in a series. The First Kiss That Will Never Stop completes the series’ gradual tonal pivot from “What if Death Note was a meta rom-com?” to more straightforward but still satisfying relationship drama. The comedy of errors in romance will continue with the anime series, but the “battle” is effectively concluded, with two winners.

The First Kiss That Will Never StopFeels like a grand final, but what’s the best thing? Kaguya-sama It is the way it suggests that love is a continuous process, not just a matter of fate. Not all of its subsequent steps are perfect — some of its family-related melodrama isn’t as compelling as the smaller-scale problems — but Asakasa’s now-concluded series never lost its confidence as it explored the messiness of love with silliness and sincerity.

The end of an era means a beginning of a new one. As the characters learn to be vulnerable, it is a crucial step towards making their love work. “You fall in love, confess, and become a couple. Anyone would agree that’s a wonderful thing. But that notion is wrong,” the narrator states, in a reprise of the show’s opening monologue. With new clarity comes the truth. The First Kiss That Will Never Stop transforms that statement into a more realistic but uncynical point of view, reworking the show’s initial, absurd cynicism into something earnest, big-hearted, and — as the subtitle of season 3 dubbed it — ultra-romantic. This monologue makes it clear that this film is not the end. It’s just the beginning for something new, and a fight of a different sort.

Kaguyasama – Love Is War – The First Kiss That Will Never StopPlays in theatres on February 14th and 15 for limited theatrical release All three seasons are available at the moment Crunchyroll streamingSeason 1, and your season. streaming on Hulu. These are the first and second seasons. Available for Purchase on AmazonOther digital platforms.