Kaguya-sama: Love Is War

Kaguya Shinomiya (四宮 かぐや, Shinomiya Kaguya)

Voiced by: Aoi Koga[2] (Japanese); Alexis Tipton[3] (English)

The titular character of the series, Kaguya is the vice president of Shuchiin Academy's student council. She is known for her beauty, intelligence and wealth, her family owning one of the largest business conglomerates in Japan.^{Ch. 1} Due to being born into a high-class family, the manner Kaguya was raised caused her to be prideful, cold and calculating; but underneath her personality traits, she is really an innocent, kind and fair-minded teenage girl at heart. Her social status and upbringing also causes her emotional suffering due to loneliness and isolation. In spite of her intelligence and resources, she is surprisingly inept at utilizing social media and digital technology (although she excels at older, analog methods of input such as typewriter). She is also quite naïve when it comes to romance and sexuality, and had to be taught how to utilize fashion and femininity to her advantage. To make Miyuki confess his love directly or indirectly, she usually plans ahead to tilt the circumstances in her favour. Apart from engaging in student council work, she is in the Archery club.^{Ch. 28}

Akasaka said that he modeled Kaguya to be like Kaguya-hime in that both are princesses at the start, but have something deeper about their character later. He made both Kaguya and Miyuki to have similar personalities at first, both proud and intellectual but later revealing to be more like "goofy idiots" on the inside. He would later have the two diverge in tendencies, with Kaguya being more like a "bad girl". Akasaka also said that while Kaguya has a dark side to her, he didn't want people to hate her so he tries to keep the positive and negative emotions balanced.[4]

Miyuki Shirogane (白銀 御行, Shirogane Miyuki)

Voiced by: Makoto Furukawa[2] (Japanese); Aaron Dismuke[3] (English)

Miyuki is the student council president of Shuchiin Academy.^{Ch. 1} He is famed for being the top student of the school who has also placed second overall in national mock exams, attributed to his studying all the time, hence his messy hair, dark circles around his eyes, and glaring look.^{Ch. 4} Like Kaguya, he is inexperienced with romance and relationships. Miyuki struggles with physical sports involving skills and has a paralyzing fear of bugs, especially cockroaches.^{Ch. 7, 15} Because his father, formerly a factory owner, ^{Ch. 83} is unemployed and his mother – who left the family when he was a child – does not support them, he and his younger sister Kei often take part-time jobs. A running gag in the series is how he always imagines Kaguya looking down on him and saying "How cute." (お可愛いこと, Okawaii koto), and refrains to confess his feelings for her in fear of being rejected in such way.

Akasaka said that he initially thought about naming him Mikado, after the Emperor in the Kaguya-hime story, but found that he liked Otomo no Miyuki better. He developed Miyuki to begin like a twin in personality and character to Kaguya, and would later diverge to a "good boy". He likes that he can portray him as calm and composed on the outside, but his mind would be racing on the inside.[4]

Chika Fujiwara (藤原 千花, Fujiwara Chika)

Voiced by: Konomi Kohara[5] (Japanese); Jad Saxton[3] (English)

Chika is the student council secretary of Shuchiin Academy. She is a very cheerful and friendly girl with fair skin, shoulder-length silver hair (light pink in the anime adaptation), busty chest (compared to Kaguya's), and blue eyes; she wears a black bow on her bangs. She appears clueless to the romantic scheming between Kaguya and Miyuki, but has been friends with Kaguya since junior high.^{Vol. 1, Ch. 7 profile, Ch. 20} She comes from a notable political family: her great-grandfather was a prime minister, her uncle is a government official, and her mother is a diplomat. She is the second of three sisters in her family.^{Vol. 4} Her father is fairly strict, screening her from reading racy material such as shojo manga or playing video games. She also has a dog named Pesu.^{Ch. 8}

Chika's hobbies include German strategy board games, puzzles, and "subculture" (non-mainstream) activities.^{Ch. 7 profile} At school she is a member of the traditional games club, which plays tabletop games,^{Ch. 28} and she is also gifted in music, having won piano competitions when she was younger, and directing the class song.^{Ch. 33} There are several stories where Chika has intensively coached Miyuki in skills that he lacks, such as volleyball, singing, overcoming squeamishness, and traditional dancing. After each session, she vows not to teach him anymore, but succumbs to his pleas that call her a dependable friend or the only one who can help.^{Ch. 23, 33, 49, 84} Ai Hayasaka considers her a formidable rival due to her unpredictable behavior.^{Ch. 29} Academically she ranks in the middle of her batch; her grades have dropped because of all the time she spends dealing with Miyuki and Kaguya.^{Ch. 30}

Akasaka said that Chika is there mainly as a foil to Kaguya and Miyuki, popping up in the middle of their scheming and sowing chaos. He describes Chika as exactly who she is, so he hasn't had to give her any monologues. He says he draws Chika like she's everyone's heroine.[4] When asked about whether he resembles any of his characters, he said that he is like Chika in that he loves board games, and that he feels like her and has her personality when friends and family visit.[6]

Yu Ishigami (石上 優, Ishigami Yū)

Voiced by: Ryōta Suzuki[5] (Japanese); Austin Tindle[3] (English)

Yu is Shuchiin Academy's student council treasurer and an underclassman to the other members.^{Ch. 24} He is a dark-haired boy with an emo-looking haircut with bangs covering one of his eyes. The second son of a small toy manufacturer, he only attended school because his father forced him to, and was a truant until Miyuki recruited him to be treasurer. He usually keeps to himself and wears headphones while playing video games out of his portable game console, however, he is a keen observer of people, noticing things that other do not wish to reveal, but occasionally getting in trouble for pointing out those things.^{Ch. 28, profile} He is afraid Kaguya might kill him because Kaguya tends to give him threatening glares and comments.^{Vol. 3} Chika will also occasionally beat him up for making inappropriate comments.^{Vol. 3}

As the story goes on, Yu becomes more open with the council, particularly with Kaguya who begins to enjoy his presence as a junior, as he's shown to be very honest and sincere of others to the point where he will damage his own reputation in order to save others from being hurt. A background story reveals that in junior high, he tried to protect a classmate from her potentially abusive boyfriend, but got suspended and was then shunned by her and his classmates. Miyuki and the student council discover and support him. Yu eventually overcomes his trauma, and is able to move on.^{Ch. 85-90} He starts to like Tsubame, his senpai and the vice-captain of the cheer squad that he had randomly joined. During the school festival, he casually gives Tsubame a heart-shaped gift, but is unaware that it symbolized that he was confessing to her. Although he is rejected, he resolves to better himself so that she can come to like him.^{Ch. 155–156}

Akasaka said that he designed Yu's character as to not interfere with the relationship among Kaguya, Miyuki and Chika. He describes Yu as taciturn and has little presence, and can come and go at any time, which has become useful as a recurring gag.[4] When asked whether he resembles any of his characters, he said that he is also like Yu in that he has some negative thoughts, and that in high school he also had a crush on a senior girl.[6]

Miko Ino (伊井野 ミコ, Iino Miko)

Voiced by: Miyu Tomita[7] (Japanese); Madeleine Morris (English)

Miko is a first-year student and a classmate of Yu. A member of the discipline committee, she first appears at the end of Miyuki's first student council term, where she runs as a competing candidate for the next student council president. She wishes to impose more orderly and proper behavior on the students, with rules such as making guys have crew cuts, having girls wear long skirts, and forbidding relationships. Despite being outspoken and strongly opinionated, she is very shy and fearful of public speaking. She is only able to speak her mind at the candidate speeches when Miyuki changes the situation into a one-on-one conversation and debate. Although she loses the election, she gets a sizable number of votes; her peers, who had made fun of her previous pathetic turnouts, begin to respect and admire her. She then joins the student council as an financial auditor.^{Vol. 7}

Miko comes from a family of skilled attorneys. Academically she is at the top of her class. She admires Chika for her music skills as a pianist, but loathes Yu for being lazy and not taking schoolwork seriously. She occasionally thinks of Miyuki and Kaguya to be a massive playboy or sadistically evil respectively, as she has often caught them in inappropriate romantic situations.^{Vol. 7} She listens to messages that boost her self-esteem.^{Ch. 95} She supports Yu in his pursuit of Tsubame as a girlfriend, but realizes she has harbored feelings for him.^{Ch. 190}

Akasaka designed Miko to have a contrasting personality as well where she first appears as a serious Discipline Committee member, but is inwardly lewd; or a serious honor student but who lets her guard down too easily when a boy is nice to her. Miko was also useful as a punch line to close off a chapter where she would run into the student council room and remark on the embarrassing situation.[4]

Ai Hayasaka (早坂 愛, Hayasaka Ai)

Voiced by: Yumiri Hanamori[5] (Japanese); Amanda Lee[3] (English)

Ai is Kaguya's personal assistant and childhood friend; her father is Kaguya's godfather, and her mother was Kaguya's wet-nurse. The two girls were raised together until the age of two, when Kaguya was moved to the Shinomiya main house; on their reunion aged seven, their official master/servant relationship was established.^{Vol. 2, Ch. 29 profile} Her family has been serving the Shinomiyas for generations; once prominent and rivaling the Shinomiyas, they were subsequently absorbed into the Shinomiya family in recognition of their fine bloodline.^{Ch. 19} She has short strawberry blond hair and is one-quarter Irish.^{Ch. 29 profile} At school, she acts like a popular fashionable girl who wears her skirt short, a loose collar, fancy nails, and accessories, all of which push the dress code.^{Ch. 25, 29} She keeps her association with Kaguya a secret from Miyuki and Chika. When Miyuki visits, she dresses as a maid named Smithee A. Herthaka (スミシー・A・ハーサカ, Sumishī A Hāsaka),^{Ch. 35,Ep. 9} who attends an all-girls school and who flirts with Miyuki.^{Ch. 58} When Chika visits, she dresses as a male butler. Ai is more socially aware than Kaguya, and can be calculative at times, but is also very sensitive as she too longs for a normal high school life and a boyfriend, which results in her teasing Kaguya frequently.^{Ch. 42} She eventually tells Miyuki who she really is and becomes his friend, while teasing Kaguya that friendship is the first step to a relationship.^{Ch. 108} She later resigns from her position as assistant, revealing that she had been working for Kaguya's brother all these years to keep tabs on Kaguya. When Kaguya forgives her, she returns to the school and they can now interact as equals.^{Ch. 179–187}

Akasaka said that he designed Ai's character with the intent of having her become friends with Miyuki from the beginning. He said that she is mysterious and that he might bring out her "true personality" later.[lower-alpha 2] She was not intended to be a heroine, although some of the readers think of her as such.[4]

Nagisa Kashiwagi (柏木 渚, Kashiwagi Nagisa)

Voiced by: Momo Asakura[8] (Japanese); Bryn Apprill[3] (English)

Nagisa is a classmate who occasionally asks Kaguya about what to do in her relationships.^{Ch. 16, 48} She has short dark hair and wears a double-banded hairpin on one side. Early in the series, she is confessed to by a classmate, and ends up accepting.^{Ch. 6} The daughter in a wealthy shipbuilding family,[9] she academically ranks in the top ten of the class.^{Ch. 30} She later observes that perhaps Kaguya and Miyuki do like each other.^{Ch. 52} Nagisa exhibits many girlfriend behaviors such as talking a lot, being moody, or even jealousy to the point where she hires a private detective to spy on her boyfriend to see if he is having an affair, later making up with him by being very physically bold and passionate, and later sexually active.^{Ch. 76, 96} She is one of the few people that Kaguya confides in when she faces romantic issues, and vice versa.

Kashiwagi's boyfriend (Tsubasa) (柏木の彼氏 (翼), Kashiwagi no kareshi (Tsubasa))

Voiced by: Taku Yashiro[8] (Japanese); Brandon McInnis[3] (English)

Tsubasa Tanuma (田沼 翼, Tanuma Tsubasa),^{Ch. 180} initially known merely as Kashiwagi's boyfriend,[8] is a classmate who regularly asks Miyuki for love advice near the beginning of the series. When Miyuki recommends he boldly confess to Kashiwagi, he does so, and they become a couple. He is the son of a hospital director. His cluelessness about sharing details about his successful relationship annoys the council members.^{Ch. 48}

Maki Shijo (四条 眞妃, Shijō Maki)

Voiced by: Kana Ichinose

Maki is a classmate and bestfriend of Nagisa. She has short hair styled in short pigtails. She is friends with Nagisa and is secretly jealous of Nagisa's relationship with her boyfriend, as she too liked Kashiwagi's boyfriend, but could not confess before. She first appears early in the series^{Ch. 6} but until later on ^Ch.61 only appears in the background, seemingly stalking Kashiwagi and Tsubasa with a distraught look on her face. As a branch member of the Shinomiya clan, she is Kaguya's second cousin twice removed so she sometimes refers to Kaguya as "Auntie," much to Kaguya's displeasure. Their coldness towards each other is suggested to be due to tensions between the main family and branch families.^{Ch. 98} Miyuki and Yu observe she acts very tsundere (cold on the outside but wanting to be affectionate), and similar to Kaguya in personality.^{Ch. 98} She declares Yu and Miyuki as her friends, due to their support in helping her process her failed romance, much to Kaguya's horror (since it would mean that Miyuki has another female friend). ^{Ch. 109} However, over time, Kaguya and Maki relationship is shown to improve slightly.

Kei Shirogane (白銀 圭, Shirogane Kei)

Voiced by: Sayumi Suzushiro[8] (Japanese); Heather Walker (English)

Kei is Miyuki's younger sister who is the student council treasurer in the junior high of Shuchiin. Kaguya admires her because she is much like her brother as she is fairly serious; that being with her is like being with Miyuki.^{Ch. 39, 52} She is rebellious when it comes to interacting with her brother, finding him to be annoying and not fashionable, but still cares for him and ensures that he presents a good image when he is in front of her classmates. She is good friends with the Fujiwaras both her classmate Moeha, and Chika. Despite not interacting with Kaguya much, Kei tries to get to know Kaguya better and is happy when she makes little breakthroughs.^{Ch. 52}

Papa Shirogane (白銀 父, Shirogane Chichi)

Voiced by: Takehito Koyasu (Japanese); Tyson Rinehart (English)

Miyuki and Kei's father. He tends to tease and make fun of people while keeping on a straight face. A former factory owner, he spends most of the time unemployed and doing random activities such as fortunetelling and giving advice.^{Ch. 83} He later parlays that into a successful livestreamer, to the shock of both his children.^{Ch. 191} He is currently separated from Kei and Miyuki's mother, who left the family several years ago after his factory shut down, but refused to sign the divorce papers.^{Ch. 83}

Moeha Fujiwara (藤原 萌葉, Fujiwara Moeha)

Voiced by: Ari Ozawa (Japanese); Kara Edwards (English)

Moeha is Chika's little sister who is the student council vice-president in junior high of Shuchiin and a classmate of Kei.^{Ch. 39, 52} She admires Miyuki as well and hopes to confess someday. She has a habit of voicing dark ideas, which unnerve Kaguya a great deal.^{Ch. 52}

Kobachi Osaragi (大仏 こばち, Osaragi Kobachi)

Voiced by: Rina Hidaka[7] (Japanese); Leah Clark (English)

Kobachi is Miko's classmate with the glasses and a member of the disciplinary committee.^{Ch. 85} She has been looking after Miko for over ten years, in a very literal sense due to Miko's gullible nature.^{Ch. 103} She later starts to date the Captain of the Cheer Club, but eventually separates from them.^{Ch. 122} Her parents were television celebrities, and she was on her way to becoming a child star until scandal hit her family, and thus she has kept a low profile since middle school.^{Ch. 192}

Tsubame Koyasu (子安 つばめ, Koyasu Tsubame)

Voiced by: Haruka Fukuhara (Japanese); Tia Ballard (English)

Tsubame is a third-year student who is vice-captain of the cheer squad and a rhythmic gymnast. She is very popular. She encourages Yu in the cheering activities. Later on Yu inadvertently confesses to her, much to her and everyone else's shock. While she initially intends to reject him gently, Kaguya convinces her to think on it, and learn more about Yu before deciding. She decides to respond to his confession later, without realizing that he does not even know he has confessed; and eventually turns him down. Yu in turn vows to improve himself so he might be worthy of her affection, which she supports.^{Ch. 156} She is the daughter of a restaurateur and bartender.^{Ch. 154} Eventually, at the time of her graduation, she turns down Yu's confession but wants to remain friends, after having orchestrated a rumor through the entire school to dispel the false accusations on him and restore his reputation.^{Ch. 201-204}

Akasaka has shared that he liked a senior girl when he was in high school as well.[6] That she was graduating would also make for an interesting storyline for Yu.[4]

Karen Kino (紀 かれん, Kino Karen) and Erika Kose (巨瀬 エリカ, Kose Erika)

Voiced by: Madoka Asahina (Karen) and Ayaka Asai (Erika) (Japanese); Lindsey Seidel (Karen) and Kristen McGuire (Erika) (English)

Kaguya's schoolmates in the mass media club who are the subject of the spinoff series Kaguya-sama o Kataritai. They idolize the student council but have no real clue what they do. Karen has light brown straight hair and is the daughter of the CEO of a major publishing company; She spends a great deal of time fantasizing about Miyuki and Kaguya along with writing fan-manga about them, which she has only shown to a few select people.^{Ch. 12} Erika has black hair styled in a ponytail and the daughter of a family that makes miso.^{Ch. 15} Erika's obsession is completely focused on Kaguya.

Akasaka was writing the manga Instant Bullets for Young Jump and wanted to come up with another series. In an interview on Livedoor News, Akasaka said the original plot for Kaguya-sama was more of a fantasy and game of death, but his editor wanted something more mainstream and, at the time, Young Jump did not have a casual romcom series. It was Akasaka's first manga in the romcom genre.

Akasaka set the series in high school as it was a time when he did not have much experience with dating and romance himself. He was thinking of high school relationships while smoking some food, and came up with the concept of wanting to reclaim some of his emotions of his youth in a fantasy. He envisioned "two tsunderes who like each other having battles of the mind". He thought that was a very common concept, but was surprised to find that readers were telling him that his premise was innovative. Also at first, he wanted to do more intellectual battles like Death Note but the theme changed more to "clashing of romantic emotions".[4]

The characters' names were from The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter. He liked princess stories, and Kaguya-hime was one of the most famous princess stories. In developing the characters, he said that Kaguya and Miyuki initially have the same personality and thought process, like twins, which made their exposition to the reader easier to understand. He then developed more divergence between the two. Other characters were developed in the same manner, starting as shallow and template-like, but being filled with realistic feelings and drawn from the experience of the author and of others he knew. He especially liked contrasting characters whose internal personalities differ from their external portrayal.[4]

In developing a chapter or story, Akasaka would think about emotions first and then write about experiencing the emotions, such as what Kaguya would feel if she were jealous. He would then arrange the characters and events around that emotion. When he thinks of some emotion that he hasn't developed into a story yet, he writes it on a sticky note or notebook to be used later.[4]

Akasaka said that he originally wanted to make a manga that would help office ladies relax, but since he is an otaku, it seems to follow in that. He also believes the manga is more about providing the reader with something exciting and conveying meaningful messages about human relationships rather than to showcase a number of character gags and reactions.[4]

Akasaka said that Miyuki and Kaguya's becoming third-year students marks the second half of the story.[4][6] When asked about the ending, he said he does not know whether he will go with the bad ending as with Kaguya-hime, but wouldn't mind if it did. He is also considering giving each character a curtain call chapter like they do in the dating sims.[4]

Aka Akasaka launched the series in the June issue of Shueisha's Miracle Jump magazine on May 19, 2015.[10] The series last chapter in Miracle Jump was published in its February 2016 issue on January 19, 2016.[11] The manga was then switched to the publisher's seinen manga magazine Weekly Young Jump on March 24, 2016.[12][13] A special chapter ran in the debut issue of Young Jump Gold on May 18, 2017.[14]

North American publisher Viz Media announced their license to the series during their panel at San Diego Comic-Con International on July 20, 2017.[13]

A spin-off manga by Shinta Sakayama, titled Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai: Dōjin-ban (かぐや様は告らせたい 同人版, transl. "Kaguya Wants to be Confessed to - Dōjin Edition"), was launched on Shueisha's Tonari no Young Jump website on June 14, 2018, and it was serialized on the second and fourth Thursdays of the month.[15] The spin-off finished on June 25, 2020.[16] Shueisha released four tankōbon volumes between December 19, 2018 and July 17, 2020.[17]

A yonkoma spin-off, written by G3 Ida and titled Kaguya-sama o Kataritai (かぐや様を語りたい, transl. "We Want to Talk About Kaguya"), launched in Weekly Young Jump on July 26, 2018. The yonkoma focuses on two newspaper/press club girls who idolize Kaguya and the gang but have no clue what really goes on inside the student council.[15] Shueisha released the first collected tankōbon volume on March 19, 2019.[18] As of July 17, 2020, three volumes have been released.[19]

An anime television series adaptation was announced by Shueisha on June 1, 2018.[20] The series is directed by Shinichi Omata under the pseudonym Mamoru Hatakeyama and written by Yasuhiro Nakanishi, with animation by A-1 Pictures. Yuuko Yahiro is providing the character designs, while Jin Aketagawa is the sound director. Kei Haneoka is composing the series' music.[21] The series aired from January 12 to March 30, 2019, broadcasting on MBS, Tokyo MX, BS11, Gunma TV, Tochigi TV, Chukyo TV, and TV Niigata.[21][22] The series ran for 12 episodes.[23] Masayuki Suzuki, Rikka Ihara, and Yoshiki Mizuno performs the series' opening song "Love Dramatic feat. Ihara Rikka", while Halca performs the series' ending theme song "Sentimental Crisis".[5][24] Aniplex of America have acquired the series in North America, and streamed the series on Crunchyroll, Hulu, and FunimationNow.[25] In Australia and New Zealand, AnimeLab simulcasted the series within the region.[26] The series is licensed by Muse Communication and released on Netflix in Southeast Asia.

A second season titled Kaguya-sama: Love Is War? was announced on October 19, 2019. The staff and cast returned to reprise their roles.[27] It aired from April 11 to June 27, 2020 on the Tokyo MX, Gunma TV, Tochigi TV, BS11, Abema TV service, MBS and TV Niigata. The second season will feature Kaguya's character song "Kotae Awase" and a key visual with the new characters Miko and Osaragi as they join the returning main characters of the series.[28] Suzuki returned to perform the season's opening theme "Daddy! Daddy Do!" with Airi Suzuki, while Haruka Fukuhara's "Kaze ni Fukarete" ("Blown by the Wind") was used as the ending.[29] The season received its world premiere prior to Japanese broadcast at Anime Festival Sydney on March 8, 2020.[30] Funimation acquired exclusive streaming rights for the season in late March; the company began airing an English dub for the second season on July 25, with the first season dub releasing at a later date.[31][3] In Southeast Asia, Muse Communication released the season on Netflix.[32]

On October 25, 2020, an original video animation episode and a third season were concurrently announced for production during the “Kaguya-sama Wants To Tell You On Stage” special event.[33] There will be three episodes in the OVA bundled with the manga's twenty-second volume, which ships on May 19, 2021.[34]

The film premiered in Japan on September 6, 2019. Sho Hirano was announced for the role of Miyuki Shirogane, and Kanna Hashimoto was announced for the role of Kaguya Shinomiya. Hayato Kawai directed the film, Yūichi Tokunaga wrote the screenplay, and principal photography was conducted in March to April 2019.[35]

A sequel to the film was announced on January 6, 2021. It will be shown in Japanese cinemas on August 20, 2021. Hirano, Hasimoto, Nana Asakawa, and Hayato Sano, actors of Fujiwara and Ishigami respectively, are confirmed to return to reprise their roles. [36][37]