Kaguya-sama: Love is War (2017)

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Volume 6

Kaguya-sama: Love is War - Volume 6 (2017)

Author/Artist: Aka Akasaka
Publisher: Young Jump Comics

Synopsis:
Kashiwagi provides an outsider's perspective on the interactions between Shirogane and Shinomiya.

Story/Characters:
We open with a chapter from Kashiwagi's POV which highlights just how obvious our protagonists are (as if we didn't already know). Next is a shopping trip where Shinomiya joins Kei, Chika and Chika's little sister Moeha. I really like the budding relationship between Shinomiya and Kei and would like to see more of it. Moeha is definitely interesting, but a character like her may be best in small doses. Next we have Shinomiya put her plans for Shirogane's birthday into action, only for her good sense to kick in at the last minute. This leads to the debut of Shinomiya's mental courtroom, particularly with her icy and foolish sides pitted against each other. I'd describe Fool!Kaguya as the id and Ice!Kaguya as the super ego, but Ice!Kaguya has plenty of id to her too and it's hilarious. The follow-up is pretty fun too. Next up, we have Shinomiya tutoring Ishigami and this is a big step toward the development of their relationship (though terror remains the foundation of how Ishigami regards Shinomiya for now). The moon viewing party is almost on par with the fireworks two-part when it comes to romantic content (and it has similar fallout, which is great). After that, Fujiwara takes the student council on a trial run of the Table Game Club's latest creation, the Happy Life Game, which basically just a demented version of the Game of Life. We then have a spat between Shinomiya and Hayasaka lead to the latter attempting to make Shirogane fall for her. This sparked my interest in Shirogane and Hayasaka's relationship, not really with her as a serious romantic rival, but just how those two would interact as Hayasaka normally keeps him at a distance. We then close with a two-parter that covers the end of the student council's term that lets us both look back and look forward. The second half gives us a nice glimpse of how the gang interacts outside their usual roles, something Shinomiya struggles with, leading into the clincher. It nicely sets us up for the next phase in the story.

Art:
The strengths of the art continue to hold true here. Hayasaka looks really cute during her honey trap gambit. The weird potato monster from Chapter 59 was probably not featured in the anime to spare viewers from nightmares.

Other:
I love how in the stingers you have Shirogane and Kei in some sort of contest to show off to the other how close they're getting to Shinomiya.

Conclusion:
The hits keep on coming. In this volume we explore some new connections, have one of the series' big romantic moments, and then nicely tie up this segment of the story. You've probably figured it out by now, but this is one for the collection. Get it.

Rating:
Own It