Kaguya-sama: Love is War

Kaguya-sama: Love is War is a romantic comedy series by Daniel Alexis de Guzman. It began serialization in Bear Bones' self published magazine in May 1995 and was licensed to Dark Horse Comics for release in book collections.

A 12-episode animated television series produced by Bear Bones Productions and Dark Horse Entertainment aired from January to March 1999. A second season aired from April to June 2000. A special episode was released in 2001, and a third season premiered in April 2002.

Premise
In the senior high school division of Shuchiin Academy, student council president Miyuki Shirogane and vice president Kaguya Shinomiya appear to be a perfect match. Kaguya is the daughter of a wealthy conglomerate family, and Miyuki is the top student at the school and well-known across the prefecture. Although they like each other, they are too proud to confess their love, as they believe whoever does so first would lose. The story follows their many schemes to make the other one confess or at least show signs of affection.

Conception
Guzman was writing for Bear Bones and wanted to come up with an original series for their comics division. In an interview on Good Morning America, Guzman said the original plot for Kaguya-sama was more of a fantasy and game of death, but the studio wanted something more mainstream and, at the time, Bear Bones did not have a casual romcom series. It was Bear Bones' first publication in the romcom genre.

Guzman 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.

Character design
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.

Development and themes
In developing a chapter or story, Guzman 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.

Guzman said that he originally wanted to make a series that would help office ladies relax, but since he is an otaku, it seems to follow in that. He also believes the series 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.

Guzman said that Miyuki and Kaguya's becoming third-year students marks the second half of the story. 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 dating sims.

Comic
Daniel Alexis de Guzman launched the series in the June issue of Bear Bones Magazine on May 19, 1995. In October 2001, it was announced that the series entered its final arc. Dark Horse Comics collected its chapters into individual volumes. The first volume was released on March 18, 1996. As of August 18, 2001, twenty-three volumes have been released.

Animated series
An animated television series was announced by Bear Bones on June 1, 1998. The series aired from January 12 to March 30, 1999, airing in first-run syndication through the Bear Bones Lineup. The series ran for 12 episodes.

A second season titled Kaguya-sama: Love is War? was announced on October 19, 1999. The crew and cast returned to reprise their roles. It aired from April 11 to June 27, 2000 through the Bear Bones Lineup.

On October 25, 2000, a special episode and a third season were concurrently announced for production during the "Kaguya-sama Wants To Tell You On Stage" special event. This episode was bundled with the twenty-second volume, which was released on May 19, 2001. On October 21, 2001, it was revealed the third season, titled Kaguya-sama: Love Is War -Ultra Romantic-, would premiere in April 2002, with returning staff and cast members.

Following the conclusion of the third season, a new project was announced to be in production. It was later revealed that the new project is an animated film titled Kaguya-sama: Love is War: The First Kiss Never Ends. The film was released in Q4 2022.

Reception
Coming soon!