Kaguya-sama: Love is War (2019)
[ใใใๆงใฏๅใใใใ ๏ฝๅคฉๆใใกใฎๆๆ้ ญ่ณๆฆ๏ฝ]
Volume 13
Author/Artist: Aka Akasaka
Publisher: Young Jump Comics
Synopsis:
Romance is in the air at Shuuchi'in Academy as students are looking to make the most of the magic of the culture festival.
Story/Characters:
As befits the hectic environment of a culture festival, there's a lot going on here. A number of plotlines are all twisting and turning to keep you hopping. The A plot of Shirogane and Shinomiya reaching their confession has an interesting contrast between the two, with Shirogane rather resolved while Shinomiya is far more timid and doubtful. We get a fun breather with Shinomiya working in her class' cafe where she encounters two of the Ramen Kings. (Their connoisseur sensibilities aren't just limited to ramen, we learn.) As Ishigami agonizes over how to approach Tsubame-sempai, he gets some help from Maki, leading us into the haunted house experience. We see Shinomiya and Maki go through said experience while we're shown how they got the recording by tormenting Iino. Next we have Fujiwara showing Moeha around the office, where Moeha admits her crush on Shirogane. Fujiwara desperately tries to put the kibosh on it, which is fun to watch. We then have Ishigami make an unwitting confession to Tsubame-sempai and the rest of the student council rushes in for damage control (with misunderstandings all around). Next is some downtime with Shinomiya attempting a classic-style plot to get Shirogane to have some Cupid Takoyaki, with about as much success as all her previous plots. The cliffhanger reveals that on the last day of the festival, all the heart balloons have been stolen. This opens up the phantom thief plot that'll lead to the climax of this arc. In the meantime, Shinomiya tries to indirectly coax Shirogane into making a heart-shaped balloon animal for her. We then pick up the B plot with Ishigami and Tsubame-sempai, where the latter seeks out Shinomiya for advice. We then have Shirogane invite Shinomiya to make the rounds together, leading up to the big cliffhanger that'll keep us hanging until the next volume.
Art:
The art is as good as ever. I particularly like how Shinomiya and Maki's expressions are matched to Iino's in the haunted house section. Ishigami's unwitting confession yields really cute results.
Conclusion:
In some stories, the middle of an arc can sag a bit as everything is getting set up for the climax, but that isn't the case here. We've got a lot going on and it's all quite good. There's a good ebb and flow of following the romantic developments of our two main couples with comedic breathers to keep it from being overwhelming. If you're at all invested in these characters, you're definitely going to want this for your collection.
Rating:
Own It