But like any teenager, these two have areas where they have no confidence or experience, and their relationship is about as far out into uncharted territory as they’ve ever been. Both are at the top of their class, at the top of the school. Miyuki and Kaguya’s elaborate schemes and battles of the mind, all designed to get the other to confess their love first, are simply a way of avoiding the pain of rejection and preserving their pride. The show, adapted from the equally beloved manga by Aka Asakasa, quickly removes the veneer surrounding this sentiment. The show eventually resolves that plot - but now a full-length feature, The First Kiss That Never Ends, takes them on to the next skirmish in their long romantic battle.

Across three seasons of scheming, Miyuki Shirogane and Kaguya Shinomiya, president and vice president of the student council at the prestigious Shuchiin Academy, move from phony aloofness to more open intimacy as they realize the self-defeating nature of their game: Each wants to make the other confess their crush first. It’s a statement meant to reflect the teenage protagonists’ warped views on romance.

“Love is war! The person who falls in love loses!” a narrator yells in the first episode of the hit anime series Kaguya-sama: Love Is War.

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