Reviews

かぐや様は告らせたい ～天才たちの恋愛頭脳戦～ 15 by Aka Akasaka

danicashelflove's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

razrow's review against another edition

emotional funny lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

TLDR: It is definitely funny and enjoyable to read, but a bit of a drop off from the previous few volumes.

Spoiler Review:

The volume isn't bad, and the stories are funny, but I just didn't enjoy reading about ice Kaguya as much. It was just a little tough in the opening story because I felt like she was being really mean to Shirogane. The second story with the perfume was pretty funny though. Then the story where Shirogane asks Maki for advice was funny too. Like the second the story opens up with the callback to Shirogane and Ishigami under the tree, but this time it is Maki was just hilarious. The story with the food was pretty funny too. Kaguya trying to get the octopus. Then the callback with the doctor was funny. To see Shirogane break down felt a little over the top, but I feel it really helped to flush out his character a little more. I also like all the cut backs to first year Shirogane.

bluehairedreads's review against another edition

4.0

4 stars.

I really love seeing more of the characters' inner turmoils and why they are the way they are. It was rough seeing Kaguya being so mean and rough with Shirogane though. And seeing Shirogane being so down on himself, plus the reveal of his room.... dude. Their second kiss was very sweet and I like that they are a couple (even though technically neither of them confessed their feelings)

ellythehuman's review against another edition

4.0

Right off the bat, I loved this volume! It is very specifically focusing on Kaguya and Shirogane’s relationship with not as much attention given to the side characters, but for good reason! I feel like I am constantly being impressed by the mangaka.

Be aware! This review will have spoilers for previous volumes. You have been warned…

If you do not know anything about Kaguya-sama: Love is War, here is a quick summary: This series follows our two genius protagonists, Kaguya and Shirogane, as they try to get the other to confess their love. In addition, there are side characters with their own romance struggles and goals. It's a sweet romcom manga that I think is able to play with traditional tropes while also subverting them. It's very good.

Okay. So, let’s get into it.

Volume 14 covers the Ice Kaguya arc. I have always heard the reddit peeps saying this is one of the best arcs of the series, and I gotta say that I totally see that. It is also a really good follow up to the culture festival arc. In this volume we see that there is something going on with Kaguya. She has seemingly regressed to her previous personality nicknamed Ice Kaguya. Shirogane has no idea how to approach her, what their relationship status is, or what she wants. However, there is a reason for Ice Kaguya’s reappearance that will push the couple relationship further and make it stronger.

In the beginning, Ice Kaguya felt very jarring because I did not know what she was trying to accomplish. I was right there with Shirogane in confusion. However, as the volume goes on, we begin to see Kaguya’s inner thoughts which really helped clear things up. The central issue or theme here is all about revealing one’s true self. Kaguya and Shirogane have to different ideas about it. One wants to reveal so the two parties can accept one another, flaws and all. But, the other one is insistent on maintain a façade because they are scared their true self will only cause the other to be uninterested. Seeing how this gets resolved in the volume was really nice and developed. Plus, it felt very shojo manga-esque and cute.

Overall, I am really happy to see the progress Kaguya and Shirogane are making with one another. I gave this volume a rating of 4.1.

miscsh's review against another edition

just marking the series as read(ing) bc it’s too much to mark manually 

rhythmofryn's review against another edition

funny hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

ruthsic's review against another edition

5.0

From the stress of her basically-a-confession and agreeing to go with Miyuki to college, Kaguya sort of broke down and we see the emergence of Ice Kaguya - who is, well, cold and calculating, while also very conflicted about her feelings for Miyuki. And poor Miyuki - he can't figure out what is going on with her, and why is she playing mind games with him (more openly, than the subtle ones they had before), denying that their kiss meant anything but also wanting him to kiss her. In this book, we get to explore Kaguya's and Miyuki's pasts and how it shaped them, their stakes in this relationship, and their reasons for their decisions going forth now.

For Kaguya's part, we see her much younger version, who has friends because their parents are close to her parents, but herself not knowing how to deal with human emotions because they have been trained out of her. Only knowing how to be perfect at everything, and evaluate people, she causes a lot of hurt to her friends, which makes her retreat into her icy persona, to keep from hurting more people. Now, when she has real friends, she is once again afraid of inadvertently hurting them. Miyuki, meanwhile, has a complex about appearing strong and a winner - so much so, that his whole personality as the student council president is a persona he wears (which we knew, but now we know why); as we have seen before, and see again in this book, he hates it being known how hard he works to look accomplished. Even now, with Kaguya, he doesn't want to look too earnest and too hard-working, like it should come easy to him because he is supposed to be a genius, but she is also asking him to be vulnerable to her.

While there were a problematic statement or two during this whole mess, I feel that expanding upon their relationship and what love would mean for them, as well as what 'healthy' means in their context was a nice arc for this book. Besides these, there were also Christmas parties! We get to see how the party is at Chika's house - a weird mix of Japanese and Western elements that confuses the heck out of the Shiroganes and Kaguya. Overall: it was quite different from the regular battles the two have, but I loved the more serious nature of this book; it really felt it was due for some.

Received an advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review from Viz Media LLC, via Edelweiss.