Kaguya-sama: Love is War

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Dec 9, 2018
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The anime made me try reading this manga,,.
Then no longer than 24 hours..
I didn't realized i already finished reading till ch.137... 😂😂
Now i can't wait for 138 onwards.. It's time for Ishigami to shine 😎😎
 
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Everyone aboard the Miko train. Non stop until the endgame!
Also Kaguya-chan is lewd. Lewd! Obscene! Pervert! Perorist!
 
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Before I start to read, can anyone tell me if this manga is almost finished storywise? The title of the latest chapters seems to indicate that the main plot of the story is at its peak unless of course there are the usual misunderstandings.

If it's not close to finishing, do you guys have any idea about how close it is i.e. mid-way through/near the end, etc?

Thanks.
 
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Notice how at the end of this chapter, there's no (Character)'s victory/loss. Nice subtle way of showing progression in the relationship
 

siu

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Jun 17, 2018
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@darknesspker looks like atleast one more arc after this i doubt it will go on for too much longer but still seems like it has a bit to go. unless the author somehow prolongs it even more
 
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Who wants to talk about our best bro Ishigami! I know I do.

Honestly the biggest thing that has been on my mind is the chapter title's for him. "Thus, Yu Ishigami Closed His Eyes".

If we can expect anything from Akasaka-sensei, its that his chapter titles are always on point. If everyone remembers the "I can't hear the fireworks" title drop, we know what Sensei is capable of. Now considering that, I wonder what will be in store for the final part of the Ishigami arc.

I believe this might have something to do with who he is going to get with between Tsubame-senpai and Iino san. Somehow the "closing his eyes" part really gets to me. What does that mean? To close ones eye would be to either
1. Look away from what's in front of you
2. To accept whatever outcome that is beyond one's control.

Now, i personally believe Iino and Ishigami will get together. From this I hypothesize that the closing of Ishigami's eyes might be: him turning away from his feelings towards Tsubame-senpai and ending the "romance" between them in favor of helping Iino.

The other idea would be the opposite. To close one eyes towards the budding feelings Iino has towards him and continue to chase after Tsubame-senpai (I want him to be with Iino so I prefer this to not happen)

I would like to hear about what other people think about this.
 
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@zeffiez
The "Thus Yu Ishigami Closed His Eyes", arc covers his past. Specifically, it makes emphasis on his habit of doing nice things in secret without wanting compensation (chapters 80, 88), and the consequences of such acts (55 and 88 again) Such actions aren't portrayed as good or bad, but as immature, being the root of his own suffering, regardless of the outcome. Would Miko antagonize Ishigami so much if he had openly supported her in middle school instead of writing an anonymous letter? Would he have been suspended had he shown the evidence to Kyouko Ootomo instead of facing her boyfriend like some sort of protector in the dark? Probably not. And it's immaturity because while Ishigami does attribute his acts to nobility, they also show an unwillingness to compromise in his beliefs and a fear of standing in the spotlight. As cringy as his ideas to woo Tsubame were, they were also indirect as hell, showing that he's still unwilling to take responsibility for his own feelings. He's afraid, and who can blame him after what he went through. I think that's Ishigami's main issue and what "closing his eyes" refers to. Not being afraid of facing others, but of facing the effect that his own actions have in other people, be it good or bad. That's why he didn't notice Tsubame's reaction to his "confession".

And what does it have to do with his romantic prospects?. On one hand we have Tsubame. Open minded, beautiful, smart, cheerful and somehow still single, which makes her a very enticing target for a boy his age. She was also the first one outside of his circle of SC friends that openly supported him. An inverse case of what many harem haters like to say, "he fell for her because she was nice". And that's exactly the problem with her. His feelings for her are shallow, since he doesn't know her besides that. An argument may be made that Kaguya's feelings for Shirogane also have their roots in him being nice, but the circumstances are completely different, since Ice Princess Kaguya, out of paranoia, took her time to know everything about him down to his birth weight and was won over slowly. There's also the fact that he has needed support in order to improve himself and try to confess. Which by itself would be fine and dandy, but the problem lies that his motivation for pushing forward wasn't his love for her, but his resolve to not disappoint Kaguya. There's where the "closed eyes" come to play. Except for the "confession" every action Ishigami has done regarding Tsubame was to appeal to her. He never tried to open his eyes and see the person in front of him. She's as distant as an idol to him.

Regarding Miko things change a lot. For better or for worse, her existence is something that Ishigami simply can't ignore. Even if hostile, she has forced him to look directly at her, thus he has been forced to learn about both her good and bad sides. He recognizes her naivete, which in a weird way mirrors his own immaturity, and unlike with Tsubame, he faces her, even if what he says only ends up angering her. They don't get along precisely because they have actually bothered to learn about each other. Miko can't completely lash out against him because she knows what he has been through. She knows him enough to trust that he's not a stalker, despite very incriminatory evidence. And he can't help but be worried about her because he knows how straightforward and stubborn she is. There's also a bit of gratitude there for openly facing him while the rest of his classmates avoided and badmouthed him behind his back. Their relationship makes a better parallel to Shirogane and Kaguya, hostile due being apparently incompatible, yet there's that spark of brilliance in both Kaguya and Miko that both Shirogane and Ishigami can't help but admire.

Does that mean Miko is Ishigami's endgame? Hell yes. Does that mean his confession to Tsubame is doomed? Not really. Even if based in a misunderstanding, Ishigami also has Tsubame's attention, for very similar reasons. He did something that nobody else did. She's rather curious as well, so they may start dating at some point in time, but it likely won't last long. On the other hand Miko's character is still underdeveloped. That shows in her lack of interactions with the second years in the SC despite being a member herself. She's also immature, but for very different reasons to Ishigami, which at least would be a couple of paragraphs more so I won't delve into it. That Kobachi is finally letting go of her hand means that it's finally her turn in the spotlight. Miko arc is coming, and after that we'll see how things develop, but all evidence points to her realizing Ishigami was her flower prince all along. It's hard to tell if this will solve organically or devolve into the usual harem bloodbath, but let's have faith in Aka.

P.D. To those who ship him with Onodera, unless we get more material to work with, she's the equivalent of that girl who sat besides you by pure coincidence and now you can't help but wonder if she likes you. To those who still ship him with Fujiwara or Hayasaka... let's give up... okay?
 
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@Isekaijin Nice, nice! I like the analysis.

Adding to the point of Miko being underdeveloped and finally getting her own arc, we also learned relatively recently of Miko's own personal arc title: "Miko Iino cannot love"

I wonder if this has something to do with knowing that Ishigami is going for Tsubame-senpai. There is also the fact that Iino isn't aware of the fact that the person who encouraged her back in Middle School was Ishigami. Perhaps its going go along the lines of learning about what Ishigami has done and her internal conflict because of it. Iino doesn't particularly like Ishigami as to her, he is basically everything she hates: a slacker, crude, "emo", timid. She also knows of his good points as you so nicely pointed.

From last weeks chapter we saw Ishigami hand over a heart keychain (It's the one Kaguya wanted to give to Shirogane but ended up dropping it somewhere) to Iino because of reasons unrelated to love. Those who receive a heart during the festival will be granted eternal love. I feel that it is going to foreshadow alot of turmoil that will happen later on. It may even have to do with Iino's arc title too.

"Thus Yu Ishigami Closed His Eyes"
"Miko Iino cannot love"

I wholeheartedly hope these two chapters titles will have some sort of fusion for their finale.

Side Note: Miko Iino is my favorite character. I want her to have a happy ending.
 
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@zeffiez That's funny, because Ishigami also embodies his ideal man. Someone who always looks out for her (chapters 85, 113), understands how she feels (chapter 95) and comes to her rescue whenever she's in distress (chapter 130) He even kinda looks like the idol she likes, down to the bangs.

The thing with Miko is that she also carries a very heavy baggage, and while not at the same level as Kaguya, her issues also stem from her family. Both parents are absent since she was small because they're supposedly workaholics. That put her in a very peculiar situation, where she doesn't know how being in a relationship is like, since she doesn't see her parents interact with each other. Since both are absent because of work, she also idealizes their dedication to their jobs. But she does that to an abnormal degree, to the point of becoming as inflexible and stubborn as she is. Would that happen had she come from a normal household? It's very unlikely. That, coupled with her almost childish views on justice can only mean either her parents are disturbingly idealistic as well, or they've neglected her, which is sadly more plausible and would make her diligence and stubbornness just a coping mechanism to justify her parents "They're doing a great job out there, that's why they can't spend time with me", and the early Miko chapters kinda support this. She seems to draw a lot of inspiration from the image she has of her parents, and acts accordingly.

Her own description says it. She's immature, since she only acts as how she believes she should, not because of any real conviction of hers and is very stubborn about it. The bonfire was the first time we see her acting in order to get something she really wanted, but she lacked the drive to suggest it herself, as we later would learn that it was Shirogane who put the suggestion. For better or for worse, her image of how she, as a child of her parents should act, triumphs over her own desires, as she willingly removes herself from the festival in order to make it a thing. And as Shirogane and Kaguya have shown us time and time again, being passive regarding love is a big no-no. That very same stubbornness prevents her from looking at Ishigami for who he truly is. In her head, everything is either black or white, and Ishigami has done nothing but to be at his worst whenever he's near her. Her relationship chart with the rest of the SC had her classifying them as either good or bad people, but that's really not how things are, as her misplaced adoration of Fujiwara shows. Assuming that she is actually being neglected, her forgiving everything from people who are nice to her and being incredibly weak against pick up lines would also make sense. She can't love because she herself doesn't understand what love is due to never having been loved like a normal child would.

But the problem is that life is yet to punish her for such a misguided mindset. So far all the reactions to her behavior have been as she expected. "I study hard and don't cause trouble, of course I'm going to be a model student", "I try to enforce the rules, of course my classmates won't like me." But with love things are very different. You can put all the effort in the world and still fail. She's going to start appreciating Ishigami's good points at some point. Hell the seeds may have already been planted in the end of the festival. But let's assume that Ishigami starts going out with Tsubame. And let's assume that by then Miko has seen more of his good side, and she figures out who was the guy who gave her the encouraging letter in middle school, just to find him in a relationship already... Yeah, ouch.

The heart in the festival was more of a symbolic thing, like the festival in Bokuben, the bell in Gotoubun or the stupid, stupid locket in Nisekoi. But Aka ships Miko and Ishigami hard. It won't go full drama for a while though. Probably the next arc will be Miko realizing that Ishigami has no idea he has just confessed, and trying to call him out on this. That after the whole bomb regarding Kaguya and Shirogane of course.
 
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@siu It probably will continue for a long time. The author has said in interviews that he plans to keep going as long as he can and he likes series that have the confession in the first half, and said he might even write arcs in college and beyond (although that just before Stanford was first mentioned, so who knows how he would do it?).
 

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