Kaguya-sama: Love is War is the romantic version of Death Note

This article contains spoiler for Kaguya-sama: Love is War manga series, if you are not up to date with the manga, we recommend you not read it.

Shonen series don't always focus on epic fights or scales of power. In addition to the popular battle genre, which includes series like Dragon Ball and Hunter x Hunter, there are a few other shonen series that don't have this theme, such as the romantic comedy Kaguya-sama: Love is War. In addition, there are other very interesting types of shonen, which are not from battles but have the same atmosphere, such as Haikyuu! and Shokugeki no Souma. While one is a sports anime and the other is about cooking, they both feel pretty much like a battle shonen, as the protagonist aims to achieve a certain level of power (skill) in order to defeat his enemies. Instead of beating their opponents through a physical fight, they do so through competitive means such as cooking, volleyball, or even mind games.

And the latter are strongly represented by manga like Yakusoku no Neverland and Death Note. In Death Note, there are no epic battle scenes, making it a shonen with no battles; However, there is a great battle that takes place in the series, and this occurs through the minds and strategies of the characters. The constant battles of intellect between L and Light are designed to make them feel like a shonen battle without really being one. Each character's intellectual movement feels like psychological bumps, and are wisely used to hold the reader's attention. But Death Note is not the only manga that uses this technique.

Here comes the Kaguya-sama: Love is War series, which at first glance bears no similarity to Death Note. It is a romantic comedy about two characters who are too shy and proud to declare their love for each other. But underneath the appearances, Kaguya-sama: Love is War uses exactly the same Death Note tricks to create exciting scenes. In essence, neither of the two protagonists (Miyuki Shirogane and Kaguya Shinomiya) want to be the first to declare their love for the other and, instead, seek to make the other do it, using multiple mind games, cheating and plot twists. In a way, the couple's efforts are similar to the intellectual “battles” between Light and L, which makes Kaguya-sama: Love is War feel like a battle shonen without really being it (at least this was until finally one of the two declared, since currently all this has been left aside).

And this is where both series diverge dramatically. While Death Note is clearly written to be a psychological shonen that needs to be taken seriously, Kaguya-sama: Love is War is not. The latter is, in fact, a comedy series with lots of fun moments, and this clever use of strategic and psychological moments ends up being a great tool for telling such a burned-out and cliched story as the series plot (two people who they like each other but don't dare confess it). This is how the same psychological techniques Death Note used work quite well in Kaguya-sama's romantic comedy setting: Love is War, and it's probably one of his plus points for which he's so popular.

Often in Kaguya-sama: Love is War, viewers watch as one character tries to execute his plans only to have the other figure out and start a counter-strategy when a third character suddenly intervenes in battle. psychological and creates an unforeseen event for both strategies. This generally continues with one of the characters trying to adapt his plan to the new situation, with all the previous elements generating an atmosphere of quite comical and chain moments. This, in the process, is considered a battle shonen without actually having a battle, but is simply a conventional love story.

While Kaguya-sama: Love is War is not really a story about how a protagonist manages to defeat the antagonist in battle, he does use the competitive nature of Kaguya and Shirogane to tell a story about two individuals struggling to uncover each other's weaknesses. , generate a strategy, and finally bend it to be the first to declare itself. Although it is a completely different tone, it is clearly a parody of a "psychological battles" shonen like Death Note, while at the same time it is also a series on romance, making it unique and quite satisfying to read.

In conclusion, Kaguya-sama: Love is War manages to create moments beyond imagination or what is common in stories on this theme, combining psychological techniques for a fairly original presentation of the story (or at least it was, since This aspect has been lost in the last arches, since they have already declared their love and there is no longer a need to maintain the concept).