English Dub Review: Kaguya-sama: Love is War “Yu Ishigami Closes His Eyes, Part 2 / Kaguya Wants to Touch / Kaguya Doesn’t Say No”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

On the heels of last week’s episode, Miko Iino is determined to quit the student council. There’s been more than a few misunderstandings, and it’s not quite what she expected it to be. But after talking to her friend, she realizes that she’s the one who’s been misunderstanding things.

Later on, Ishigami decides to try and step out of his shell and join the cheerleading squad. He’s very much a fish out of water with the normies, and he’s even more nervous once the group decides that everyone should wear the opposite genders clothing. Luckily, he runs into Kaguya and after hearing about his situation, she agrees to lend him her uniform.

Our Take:

This week’s episode of Kaguya-sama spends a lot of time away from the main couple, but it still manages to hang together. In fact, it turns out to be one of the more entertaining episodes of the season so far. Getting a chance to focus on Yu and his struggle to find his place in a school club full of more popular kids makes for a unique half hour that we haven’t gotten an opportunity to watch previously.

But the episode begins with more of Miko IIno. As I mentioned last week, I’m never opposed to more Miko — her lovable blend of naivety mixed with rock solid morality is fun to see. But it is wearing a little bit thin after hammering her type A personality home in the last few episodes in a row. This week does get her out of her usual box a bit, as she almost quits the council. Her imagination casts herself as the main character in an old fashioned anime series, and it’s one of the highlights of the episode for sure.

The last part of the episode lets us spend more time with Yu. We’ve never spent this much time on him so far, to my remembrance. Usually he hangs around as comedic relief in the background, so letting him take over the spotlight is a cool turn of events, especially when the setting the show places him in is so wacky. Seeing Yu among a bunch of cheerleaders actually makes him seem like the more normal with the way everyone else is coordinating catchphrases and planning gender-swapping dress codes. Him running into Kaguya and letting her do his makeup is a great bonding moment, and the way she ends up tricking him is a perfect bookend on one of the more entertaining plots this season.

There’s a brief bit about Kaguya learning a sort of meditation technique for dealing with the president’s advances, but it’s not very noteworthy sandwiched between the other two more unique and interesting storylines.

As we approach the final few episodes of Kaguya-sama’s second season, it’s clear that there’s still plenty of life left in this series. Yu and Miko have excellent storylines this episode, and I still feel like the show is barely cracking the surface of these two. There are just so many people to explore that it’s sad to think things will be wrapping up in just a handful of episodes more.