English Dub Review: Kaguya-sama: Love is War “Ai Hayasaka Wants Him to Fall for Her / Kaguya Wants to Be Confessed To / Miko Iino Wants to Set Things Right”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

With the student council disbanded until the new election takes place, Kaguya is in the doldrums. She hasn’t had any opportunities to interact with the president for three days, and even though she could make a move herself, her pride keeps her from taking action. Ai, her maid, tells her that it doesn’t need to be this hard, so she challenges her to win over Shirogane herself. She corners him at a store, and it very effective… until he says he likes someone else.

Later on, the student council elections are underway and there’s a new student campaigning. Miko Iino is a first-year who has a silver tongue and isn’t afraid to go up against the established elites. She hands out flyers while Shirogane watches and waits. They have a little confrontation, in which Miko asks Fujiwara to be her vice president when she’s elected.

Our Take:

The fourth episode of Kaguya-sama season two is a pretty solid one. The first half consists of the usual plot of Kaguya trying to trick the president in one way or another, while the second half sees things get more interesting with the introduction of a new character who seems poised to invade Shirogane’s territory and take over the student council for herself.

I really like the first opening sketch. Ai is a great character because she isn’t afraid to give Kaguya real talk. Not many people know the real Kaguya, and Ai is one of them. So when her maid tells her that “making a guy fall for you should not be that hard,” she’s inclined to listen. It winds up ending in a bet between them that sees Ai trying to win over the president while Kaguya watches from the sidelines. Ai has some success, and I hope this will make an impact on Kaguya’s future efforts, but in the end she can’t break past his barrier of infatuation for another person. It’s still a lot of fun to watch her try, though.

After this scene, there’s a little moment where Shirogane delivers a whispered message to Kaguya in the midst of the rest of the class. Though it’s merely a request for her help with his campaign, everyone else immediately  takes it as a sign of something more. Drama is how high school students get through the day, right? It’s a cute montage where we see how most people already think they’re together, but it drags on a bit too long and wears out its punchline.

The final storyline is my favorite from a plot standpoint. Rather than just more dancing around the “will they, won’t they” question, it sees the introduction of a potential threat to Shirogane’s presidency, and to Kaguya’s happiness as a result. Miko is exactly the type of person who would make a great student council president: smart, witty, and driven by her ideals. Shirogane comes up a bit short in awe of her presentation, but Fujiwara quickly tries to smooth things over… until Miko invites her to be her vice. It’s a moment that is played for laughs, but I can’t help but think that Miko has the right idea here by enlisting an underappreciated veteran to help her run things and ensure the rest of the school stays loyal.

This episode of Kaguya-sama had a lot of good things going for it. There was some of the usual romantic tension between the two leads, but presented in a new way through the lens of Ai the maid. And with Miko entering the race for the presidency in full throttle, things don’t seem like they’ll slow up anytime soon. I’m excited to see what next week brings for the election!