English Dub Review: Kaguya-sama Love is War “Chika Fujiwara Wants to Beat a Rhythm / Ai Hayasaka Wants to Talk / Maki Shijo Wants Some Help”

Overview:

Shirogane couldn’t tell Ms. Herthaka that sometimes humans need to expose their weaknesses and endeavors to practice rapping which should be able to convey that. But his rapping skills are catastrophic. Fujiwara, who previously taught him singing and dancing, tags along for practice. But she’s a total amateur when it comes to rap that she’s on the level where she’s convinced it’s all simple-minded puns. So Fujiwara begins special training. With the advice from Shirogane who has overflowing knowledge of rap music, she rapidly improves… But something is still missing!

Our Take:

This might have been the single greatest episode of television I have watched. I may be slightly exaggerating but only slightly. What isn’t an exaggeration is that it WAS the best episode of Kaguya-sama to date. When I was reading the manga years ago I got to this part and I hoped it would get enough seasons to animate this part. I was not left disappointed, this episode was so fantastic I am probably going to run out of adjectives.

The greatest part about this episode is that we got to hear Clifford Chapin, Jad Saxton, Alexis Tipton, and Amanda Lee all rap. It was so great getting to hear them rap their feelings out and there was even a “Mom’s spaghetti” reference. I was dying with laughter this whole episode and it actually had some meaningful character development as well for practically everyone involved.

One other awesome thing was the ending sequence for this episode was special. Just like the Chika one in the first season we got one this season as well. I can’t remember if there was one in the second season but that’s what rewatches are for. The animation for it was crisp and amazing. The voice actors for Shirogane and Fujiwara both did the rapping for it. To be clear it’s the Japanese voice actors, not the English ones but they are amazingly talented as well so it was still a huge treat. Just go watch the episode!