Kaguya Shinomiya and Miyuki Shirogane are two geniuses who stand atop their prestigious academy’s student council, making them the elite among elite. But it’s lonely at the top and each has fallen for the other. There’s just one huge problem standing in the way of lovey-dovey bliss—they’re both too prideful to be the first to confess their romantic feelings and thus become the “loser” in the competition of love. – ANN
Streaming: Crunchyroll, Funimation, and Hulu
Episodes: 12
Source: Manga
Episode Summary: Kaguya and Miyuki are a perfect match for one-another. Kaguya is the pinnacle of old wealth who approaches life with a regal point-of-view. Miyuki comes from more modest origins, but makes up for that with his top-tier intelligence. Together they’d make a stunning romantic couple, but in an environment where confessing one’s feelings translates to revealing one’s weakness, love is much less a complicated dance than it is an all-out competition of strategic wit and cunning.
The student council office at Shuchiin Academy is the battle ground for these student leaders, who both have feelings for each-other but refuse to show their hand. Their tactics to catch each-other expressing their true feelings range from trickery, to manipulation, to outright desperation. But will this stubbornness ultimately result in unrequited feelings on both sides?
First Impressions: This series wasn’t quite on my radar before the new anime season took off. While I’m often a fan of stories in which smart people use their wits to continually one-up each-other, there’s a point at which self-important, near-endless dialog without some kind of accompanying action component or meaty character development starts to lose my interest. There are even plenty of cases where the stars align and I still find myself unable to maintain my interest (see: the Monogatari series). In this case, the verbal one-upmanship between the characters is helped along in great part by some inventive visual direction courtesy of SHAFT alum Mamoru Hatakeyama (Shinichi Omata).
If you’re like me and enjoyed many of the Studio SHAFT series produced between Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei and Puella Magi Madoka Magica, you’ll be familiar with the common (or perhaps more appropriately, uncommon) visual branding that set the studio’s productions apart. It’s difficult to explain it in short, but to me what always stood out were the avant-garde, blended-media visuals, bright blocks of color, and iconic Shaft “head tilt” (once you see it, you’ll never forget it). Love or hate their productions, their output definitely had (and still has) a visual cohesiveness that most studios don’t bother with (for several very good reasons).
Though this series was animated at a completely different studio, the director’s prior life is still evident in many of the episode’s unusual visuals. The episode (and I assume, the series) relies a lot on the characters’ internal monologues, which come with them some opportunities to visually separate them from their external dialog. I think my favorite of these effects is one which mimics the look of a VHS cassette as played on an old CRT television (am I revealing my age?). Whether that’s meant to be a commentary on the characters’ thought processes, or just a fun effect, it does the job of providing some variation.
It’s also worth mentioning that the majority of the action in this episode takes place in one room – the student council office. Without the luxury of other locales for variety, there’s almost an implied duty on the part of the staff to manufacture some sort of visual interest in one way or another. Motion-filled, patterned backgrounds and some 360 degree camera movement (courtesy of the fact that the room is rendered in 3DCG) give the setting more life than it might have as a static (and honestly pretty sparse and boring) meeting space. Add in some interesting character framing, and the episode comes out the other end feeling lively rather than stagnant or stuffy.
What’s less appealing about this episode is the overbearing narration that explains almost every plot occurrence in excruciating detail. I know we often fall back on the adage “show, don’t tell” when it comes to storytelling, though as an anime fan I find that there are a lot of anime series I enjoy that frequently break that rule. For me it’s not hard-and-fast, but rather a suggestion on one way to tell a story. However, in a series like this that seems to rely directly on the characters’ inner thought processes, I’d rather be “told” what I need to know directly by the characters instead of by a bellowing off-screen male voice. In my opinion, this is probably the episode’s biggest misstep and I hope it gets toned-down in subsequent episodes.
I also question how sustainable the premise of this series is over the long haul. While this episode is amusing due to the ludicrous nature of its characters’ conflict and the increasing levels of craftiness and mental chess-playing that come into use, the maintenance of this brand of silliness requires a deft hand and a good sense for escalation, of which not all anime comedies have the benefit. This type of comedy can work; I thought Haven’t You Heard? I’m Sakamoto (the story of a high school kid who manages to finagle his way out of any situation) struck the right tone and managed to transcend reality via Sakamoto’s antics in a successful way. This series seems more reliant on the appeal of its characters, and it remains to be seen whether that will pan out in the long term.
In spite of some lingering criticisms, I thought that this episode was pretty entertaining. It definitely has a different look to it than most other series this season, which lends it a certain appeal. Someone whose opinions I hold in pretty high regard has often made the claim to me that anime series with offbeat visuals are often “better,” simply due to the fact that someone on staff cared enough to make sure it looked a little bit different from its contemporaries. I don’t always agree with that, but in this case I at least get the feeling that someone had a little fun in constructing this anime’s distinctive look. It’s a comedic first outing that will hopefully be able to maintain its momentum.
Pros: Visually interesting in a multitude of ways. Comedic set-up and amusing characters.
Cons: Features overbearing (and unnecessary) narration.
Grade: B-