Kaguya-sama: Love is War (2016)

[かぐや様は告らせたい ～天才たちの恋愛頭脳戦～]

Volume 3

Author/Artist: Aka Akasaka
Publisher: Young Jump Comics

Synopsis:
Shirogane and Shinomiya plot to get the other to offer to share an umbrella once a storm rolls in.

Story/Characters:
This volume has some of my favorite moments in the entire series. We get the debut of Ishigami, the first entry in Mama Chika's raising our boy Shirogane, the hilarious "chinchin" chapter, and the memetic "uso de aru" finals chapter. While the dynamic of the Shirogane-Shinomiya-Fujiwara trio is strong, so much gets added when we include Ishigami for the quartet. Ishigami's deathly fear of Shinomiya and his glorious habit of sticking his foot in his mouth is great. (Looking toward the future, he's got loads of great character development that may well make him my favorite character in the series.) Chika training Shirogane becomes a running gag which is always fun whenever it comes up. We see more of Hayasaka's efforts to support Kaguya and the latest round of Shirogane's romantic advice (with special appearance by Love Detective Chika).

Art:
The strengths of the art continue to shine. I particularly like the horror shots from Ishigami's introduction and it's always great to see the faces when either Shirogane or Shinomiya get an edge on the other. Then there's Shirogane's amazing volleyball skills. I'm sure many people will appreciate Hayasaka in a spy catsuit.

Other:
We get a translation for the French in Chapter 20, which I'm sure is welcome for people who don't parlez the français. We also get profiles for Ishigami and Hayasaka.

Conclusion:
This volume brings great comedy and rounds out our core cast. We have plenty of fun here but also set things up for more fun to come. This is another volume well worth having.

Rating:
Own It