Kaguya-sama: Love is War (2019)
[ใใใๆงใฏๅใใใใ ๏ฝๅคฉๆใใกใฎๆๆ้ ญ่ณๆฆ๏ฝ]
Volume 14
Author/Artist: Aka Akasaka
Publisher: Young Jump Comics
Synopsis:
Shirogane tells Shinomiya about his plans to go to Stanford and she has to make a decision about what she is going to do.
Story/Characters:
After Shirogane drops his bombshell on Shinomiya, she goes to Hayasaka for advice and this is where she gets herself squared away, much in contrast to how she was at the start of the previous volume. We then check in on Ishigami and Tsubame-sempai, who end up having two different conversations to the amusing effect such dialogs tend to have. We then move on to the payoff of the phantom thief plot. This is the big event and I don't want to spoil it, but let me just say that it's immensely satisfying and ties together a lot of what's been going on in the background ever since the start of this arc. A lot of work went into setting all this up and it's definitely worth it. As a denouement, we get to tie up some loose ends and check in on the rest of the cast.
At this point, we could easily wind things down over the course of another volume, but what could have been the ultimate climax of some romances is just the step up to the next level here. We deal with the fallout, which includes Shinomiya being subsumed by her foolish side. This leads to some hilarious antics and once that settles down, we have Tsubame-sempai drop in to invite Ishigami and Iino to a Christmas party. This is couched in a discussion about Shirogane and Ishigami's favorite manga getting a live action adaptation, which is a reference to the live action movie this series got, including some in-jokes about the casting. Next we cut to Shinomiya's internal courtroom, where Fool!Kaguya is on the block for her recent behavior. Ice!Kaguya reveals some very interesting things about herself and the whole thing is a fascinating exploration of Shinomiya's psychology. And that leads us to our cliffhanger.
Art:
Akasaka puts as much into the visual delivery of the climax of the Culture Festival Arc as he does into the writing. Hayasaka's reactions in the after-action chapter are great. SD Kaguya is adorable and the reveal that it's all non-diegetic is hilarious. Also, there's a lot of punch when Ice!Kaguya goes on her rampage in the courtroom. All good stuff.
Other:
The stinger at the end of Chapter 137 warns that we're switching back to comedy and that if you're in a romantic mood following the conclusion of the Culture Festival Arc, you need to just put down the book and come back to it after about three days. Heh.
Conclusion:
We've hit some strong notes before, but this one manages to outdo the ones that came before. I wasn't kidding when I said in many other stories we'd probably be wrapping up after this. I'd actually be okay if we closed things out around this point, but there's still story to tell. For now, enjoy the big payoff and absolutely get this for your collection.
Rating:
Own It