Kaguya-sama: Love Is War (anime)/Characters
Characters from Kaguya-sama: Love Is War include:
Shuchiin Academy Student Council
A prestigious school needs the appropriate students to run it. The members of the student council represent the best of the already excellent students. Only the president of the club is elected, with the president appointing the other members. After serving a term, the president gets two letters of recommendation, which almost guarantees entry into every university throughout the world.
Initially, we are only introduced to Miyuki Shirogane and Kaguya Shinomiya, with Chika Fujiwara not introduced long after. Halfway through season 1, we see Yu Ishigami, who kept such a low profile we managed to go half the season without him. In season 2, during the election arc we are introduced to Miko Iino, a girl who believes in doing the right thing.
At the end of S3, the student council roles are as follows:
- Miyuki Shirogane: President
- Kaguya Shinomiya: Vice President
- Chika Fujiwara: Secretary
- Yu Ishigami: Treasurer
- Miko Iino: Auditor (only after the election arc)
The Main Two
Kaguya Shinomiya and Miyuki Shirogane.
- Big Damn Kiss: One that the entire series was building up to. Many seemingly standalone episodes are actually parts of the setup to this kiss. For example, Shirogane's plans was inspired by balloon art and by cosplay. At the top of the clock tower, near midnight on the second day of the cultural festival, surrounded by balloons in the shape of a heart, Miyuki Shirogane and Kaguya Shinomiya finally kissed. Despite this, they still didn't confess so the battle of love is technically still ongoing.
- Cat Eared Headband: In part A of S1E4, both Kaguya and Shirogane gets to wear one of those. Each other keeps remarking on how each other looks inside their Inner Monologues, which leads to the start of another intense battle.
- Colour-Coded Characters: Kaguya is mostly associated with red while Shirogane is mostly associated with blue. This is best seen in their eye colours. It's also quite prominent in the opening of season 1.
- Hair Contrast Duo: Hair (and eye) contrast duo. Check out the image from the S1 opening, conveniently at the top right of this section, to see.
- I Have This Friend: After the bed incident in S1E9, in part two of S1E10 both Kaguya and Shirogane ask for romantic advice. Kaguya's romantic advice is explicitly disguised as a request "for a friend", and this trope is implied to be used with Shirogane. Ishigami, when returning the advice, states that "if this chick were a character in a typical romantic comedy manga she would have dark hair and no boobs", and places the blame on Kaguya. Meanwhile, Kashiwagi, giving advice back to Kaguya, states that Shirogane is at fault.
- She Is Not My Girlfriend: Any time anyone suggests Shirogane and Kaguya are dating, their immediate response is this.
- Together Umbrella: It's a nice trope to demonstrate the essence of this show. In the last part of S1E5, Kaguya and Shirogane wants this trope to be used, except, as the title suggests, love is war. The first to confess is the one who loses, and offering to share an umbrella with the other couple is essentially the admission that you want to be with them, which is just another way to say "I love you". Plus, they are too busy distracting themselves with the promise of sharing an umbrella they both forgot to bring one in the first place. The two just removed the "Umbrella" from "Together Umbrella", and, although they would like to end up together, neither wants to be the first to confess. Except they have distracted each other distracting each other because the two of them did both bring an umbrella, but is just waiting for the other person to offer up their umbrella because that makes them lose the love game. The two are seemingly locked in a stalemate when Fujiwara comes out with an umbrella, saving the day.
Miyuki Shirogane
The president of the student council at Shuchiin Academy, who always, with exception, gets his name on the top of any exam. He's also obsessed with studying and work, rarely getting a moment to himself.
Likes the fictional Momo Can't Think Straight manga.
- Exact Words: Shirogane brags he has never been rejected by any girl. This is indeed true, as it is quite hard to get rejected when you haven't asked anyone out.
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Narrator: He isn't lying, but that's cause he's never asked anyone out. |
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- Student Council President: Of the not-so-absurdly-powerful Shuchiin Academy student council.
- Take a Third Option: In the first part of S1E9, Shirogane chooses to take a third option. His two options: call a taxi and pay too much money, or hitch a ride with Kaguya (this is essentially a fancy confession of love, which is bad). His response? Speed ride his bike home in pouring rain while yelling really, really loud with determination.
Kaguya Shinomiya
A girl who has some quite impressive achievements. We'll let the narrator do the talking.
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This is Kaguay Shinomiya. VP of the student council. Her family owns the Shinomiya group, one of Japan's top business conglomerates with over a thousand subsidiaries worth two hundred trillion yen. She is the epidemy of well bred refinement. Her brilliant mind is befitting of her superior lineage, as are the achievements she's made in various fields such as traditional performance, music, and martial arts. That's who she is. |
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Favourite anime: Anne of Green Gables
- A-Cup Angst: She is flat, and the idea of going to the beach makes her afraid thanks to her being conscious of how much more physically attractive Chika will look in a swimsuit thanks to her breasts being partially exposed.
- Cannot Spit It Out: She just cannot utter the simple words "I love you".
- Death Glare: Often gives Fujiwara one, as Fujiwara has foiled her plans to confess.
- Exact Eavesdropping: In battle 3 of S1E2, Shinomiya walks in on Shirogane during the exact time he's handing out relationship advice. She figured she could weaponize her words against her.
- Heh Heh, You Said "X": The mention of the word "weiner" is enough to send her into a laughing fit. She has to control herself otherwise she'll taint the Shinomiya family name, but that is rather hard with other Student Council members around.
- Mistaken for Pedophile: She is a teenager, therefore not a child, so Shirogane and Fujiawara's horror at her possibly having sex with her newborn nephew counts as this. She was actually talking about "first kiss".
- Not Helping Your Case: An unintentional example. She mistakenly thinks the council is discussing first kisses, and talks about doing it with her newborn nephew, not knowing they were discussing sex. She describes it being filmed, that makes her even more depraved in Shirogane's eyes than she already was looking like.
- Photographic Memory: After seeing the picture of childhood Shirogane for around 2 seconds, the narrator states that Kaguya instantly memorised that picture in the first battle in S1E2.
- Tsundere: Rapidly alternates between assuming the position of a noble lady to being madly in love with the President, to the point where the English narrator straight up calls her a tsundere in S2E8.
- Shout-Out Theme Naming: Named after Princess Shinomiya from The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter.
- Victoria's Secret Compartment: In the first battle of S1E2, Shinomiya pulls a bottle of maiden tears from this secret compartment.
Others
Chika Fujiwara
The secretary of the student council, who often screws up the plans between Shinomiya and Shirogane.
Likes Studio Ghibli films, but she never explicitly states they are her favourite works.
- Gainaxing: In episode 2 of season 1, sequences depicting Fujiwara in a bathsuit features quite a bit of this. Kaguya gets insecure her ability to Gainax is lesser than that of Fujiwara, and immediately wishes to go to the mountain instead of the beach.
- Ms. Fanservice: In the are occasions where there is one, Fujiwara and her large bust and curvy body are there to provide, specially in the OVA.
Yu Ishigami
The treasurer of the student council who is really, really afraid of Kaguya. Ishigami isn't the best at school, placing an impressive 195 out of 197 in a school exam. That said, his impressive skills have landed him a job as an treasurer in the student council room. Ishigami is the quietest one in the student council, usually being reserved or caught up in some sort of computer work.
Favourite anime: Your Name. Ishigami is also a big fan of the fictional manga Momo Can't Think Straight.
- Backstory: S2E11 gives us a pretty heavy and emotional backstory dump to Ishigami.
- Closet Geek: He hides his obsession with the Momo Can't Think Straight manga, only sharing it with Shirogane. Shirogane gets dragged into his fandom, and has to make a choice about whether to become a Closet Geek or being Proud to Be a Geek.
- A Day in the Limelight: S2E11 is dedicated to him, explaining his backstory in a Flashback, and how he became himself.
- Otaku: He's into the traditionally "nerdy" stuff like anime, manga, and video games, to the point where he's often caught playing games during school. Iino isn't too happy about this, and often drags his game consoles away.
Miko Iino
A first year at Shuchiin Academy who was appointed to be the auditor of the student council. Iino is a big follower of the rules. She's passionate about doing the right thing, but can be shy in public. She's also a member of the disciplinary committee.
Favourite anime: Onegai My Melody.
- Brainy Brunette: She consistently has the top marks in her class.
Others
Ai Hayasaka
The Shinomiya family's valet, who attends school alongside Kaguya. Hayasaka is into building and assembling computers, as demonstrated in an episode in season 2.
Fun fact: Hayasaka is officially best girl, according to the English dub narrator.
- Hair of Gold: A blonde girl that is Kaguya's loyal servant and loves her like a sister despite hating her family.
- Manipulative Bastard: She's not usually manipulative... usually. However, she capable of manipulating Shirogane when she wants to, as demonstrated in part 1 of S2E4. Shirogane resists her seduction, however, stating he has another girl he likes. This happens at the same time as a shot of Shinomiya lifting her hands off her embarrassed face.
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