Kaguya-sama: Love is War vols. 18 & 19

There’s lots of good stuff at the beginning of vol. 18 and towards the end of vol. 19.  Stuff like how the cast tries to figure out how to tie a cherry stem into a knot using only their tongues.  Or with Chika getting a case of PTSD when she offers to train Ishigami in volleyball and Shirogane shows up to try and do the same.  There’s also the shipping wars that erupt between Team Ishi/Tsuba and Ishi/Miko.  Best of all, however, may be the final chapter in vol. 19 as we find out that Shirogane’s Dad has become a popular streamer with his wealth of life experience.  Not only are the tropes of streaming gleefully satirized here but there’s also some surprising drama at the end as the new streamer gives some advice that’s going to have serious ramifications for one of the supporting cast.

It’s not surprising that the drama works in that story as the middle part of these two volumes is all about that.  The “School Trip” arc sees the students of Shuchiin heading to Kyoto for their class trip at the same time that Kaguya and Ai’s relationship has hit a very rough patch.  Kaguya’s friend and handmaid will be departing her latter duties after the trip and that alone would be enough to drive the narrative through this arc.  Except that Kaguya’s youngest, and reputedly “least worst,” brother has heard about this and figures that he can use Ai to force his younger sister into his camp to increase his standing in the Shinomiya family.

Unyo Shinomiya is ruthless enough to give the series the kind of dramatic stakes it hasn’t had before with his attempts at kidnapping and imprisonment.  Even if he and his impressively creepy character design threaten to overwhelm the story, mangaka Aka Akasaka never forgets that this series is first and foremost a comedy.  That he’s able to interject plenty of funny moments into the story without completely wrecking the drama is very impressive.  Yes, it’s disappointing that the antagonist crumbles when his plan encounters some adversity and the Miko/Ishigami business is moving at a glacial pace, but these are nitpicks and it should be telling that I’m having to bring them up at all to indicate that these volumes have at least some flaws to them.