English Dub Review: Kaguya-sama: Love is War “I Don’t Want to Make Miko Iino Smile/I Want to Make Miko Iino Smile/Kaguya Isn’t Getting Called”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

The big day finally arrives and the student council elections are happening! There’s just one more event that has to take place: the speeches. Osaragi gets up and gives and impassioned speech promoting her friend Miko Iino, but she can’t quite compete with Kaguya and the gang, who jump through hoops to ensure Shirogane gets elected.

When Miko herself comes on to talk, she freezes, just like every other election she’s lost. But Shirogane can’t help himself: he goes up and helps her out by giving her someone to talk to rather than a sea of faces. She’s able to express her righteous ideals. Even though she doesn’t end up winning, she gets a seat on the council. And of course, Kaguya, Yu, and Chika are returning as well.

Our Take:

This was pretty much everything I wanted in the conclusion to the student council election cycle. We’ve gotten little bits of Miko Iino and her platform over the past few episodes, but entering her into what is basically a debate with ex-president Shirogane lets both the students and us viewers really see her ideas shine and the contrast between her future school and Shirogane’s.

The assembly is packed full of interesting moments that show off the difference having key allies can make. Miko might have Osaragi on her side, but Shirogane has three dedicated helpers with personality disorders who are willing to go to any lengths to get him re-elected. It’s almost unfair, really. Kaguya admits to tampering with the election, bullying clubs into voting, and making puppets of the election committee. Does she really deserve to get her desired result? Shirogane might be a good guy, but it’s clear that Miko cares more for the school because it’s basically all she has.

This episode could just be called a deep dive into the psyche of Miko Iino. Through a flashback narrated by Osaragi, we learn that Miko is such a rule-oriented righteous person because her parents were always away due to having to help put away bad people. A young Miko wishes everyone would just follow the rules, and this manifests itself in her worldview. She becomes the teacher’s pet, a neverending do-gooder who gets to class early and leaves late. It’s really good character work, and by the end of it, I’m rooting for Miko despite her backwards view of school policies. Even her little hand symbol ritual is adorable.

But the episode also doesn’t let us forget why Shirogane deserves to be president: he’s got great qualities of his own. When he sees his political opponent faltering on stage, he doesn’t just let her choke, like most would do. Instead, he gets up and does something about it. Knowing she’s better one on one, where she can proclaim her policies proudly, he gives her a singular enemy to focus on. And he’s able to do this confidently because he knows he’ll still win thanks to his supporting staff. Maybe Miko just needs to get a right hand woman capable of rigging the system like Kaguya?

Despite my mixed emotions about the rightful winner of the election, I did enjoy the episode. It would’ve been neat to see Miko win and the main characters have to fit into a new situation and storyline, but at least she’s accepted her seat on the council, so we should still get some fiery exchanges out of her yet. Kaguya was a bit of a whiny brat this week, so hopefully she’ll be less of a mess now that the election drama is ended.