Kaguya-sama: Love is War Volume 7 (Review)
By: EyeSpyeAlex
Another day, another volume of Kaguya-sama: Love is War to sink my teeth into! Need to catch up? Check out my previous review here!
The Story
Kaguya and Miyuki desperately miss each other, but neither wants to make the first move! Things come to a head when Miyuki decides he wants Kaguya to endorse him as president. Word spreads like wildfire around the school that Miyuki has something to ask Kaguya. With all eyes on them, Miyuki suddenly realizes that the rest of the class thinks this is a love confession! Acting quickly, he quietly whispers his request to Kaguya. In a surprising moment of vulnerability, Kaguya tells him that whatever he asks, her answer will be yes.
We are SO close to a love confession it’s not even funny! Luckily, with the two sharing an elective we can hope the promised day will be her soon. When Kaguya and Miyuki end up paired together to draw portraits they both pour their feelings into their work. Miyuki takes his portrait very seriously, drawing Kaguya as he sees her without worrying about revealing how he feels. Kaguya on the other hand does her best to hide how handsome she thinks Miyuki is. This results in wildly different portraits.
With the election rapidly approaching Miyuki meets up with a contender for school president: first year Miko Ino. She’s fierce and infallible when it comes to her ideals. After failing to take Kaguya’s bribe to forfeit, Miko prepares for her face off against Miyuki at the election speech ceremony. There, the students are treated to the real Miko: a shy girl with stage fright. Not wanting the students to make fun of Miko, Ishigami asks Miyuki to intervene. He steps up to the plate and plays devil’s advocate to all of Miko’s points. With her attention focused only on Miyuki, Miko is able to get her point across with passion, which doesn’t go unnoticed by the student body.
Election Day comes and goes and luckily Miyuki wins. Despite losing, Miko garners a lot of popular attention from her fellow classmates, many of whom express that they voted for her!
Things begin looking up for Miko when Miyuki requests that she join the student council. Miko accepts, assuming the discussions will be purely bureaucratic. What she doesn’t anticipate is how romantically awkward Kaguya and Miyuki are when in the same room.
She is made aware of how awkward the two can be when Kaguya decides to ask Miyuki what kind of underwear he prefers. Specifically what type of underwear he likes to wear. She drops it in casual conversation, making Miyuki think that she wants to know what kind he likes on women. Through some hilarious miscommunication, Miyuki reveals that he likes black panties and now Miko thinks he’s a weirdo. In the end, it’s just another normal day for the student council.
The Review
Volume 7 of Kaguya-sama: Love is War is incredibly well-rounded. We see some progress towards Kaguya and Miyuki admitting their feelings for each other. In a way it’s adorable and hilarious how the two are so oblivious to the other person’s feelings. Meanwhile the whole school is aware of it. This is made especially clear when Kaguya goes to Kashiwagi for relationship advice. Asking for a friend (which Kashiwagi sees right through) Kaguya wonders if her feelings of love are valid as she doesn’t like how well-rested Miyuki looks. In an effort to spare Kaguya’s feelings, Kashiwagi plays right along and provides Kaguya’s “friend” with some really solid advice.
This volume also treats us to a lot of focus on Chika, which is so needed. Having watched the anime first, Chika has been a favorite of mine from the get go and I feel like she doesn’t always get the attention she deserves. Luckily for me (and everyone else) Miko comes along and points out all the great things that make Chika who she is. Not only does this highlight Chika as an MVP to the readers, it showcases her attributes to Kaguya and Miyuki, who often view her as clueless. I am hoping this Chika spotlight is a step towards her character progression. She deserves so much more than just being comedic relief.
Speaking of comedic relief, this volume provides us with some hilarious reaction faces. Aka Akasaka is amazing at emphasizing how each character feels through their expressions. My all time favorite is when Kaguya asks Miyuki about the type of underwear he prefers.
A close runner up is Miyuki and Kaguya’s portraits of each other:
To make a long review short, I highly recommend picking up Volume 7 of Kaguya-sama: Love is War. The manga is packed with comedy and heartfelt moments, as well as great character development and art. Fans looking to add this to their manga collection can find out purchasing information here from Viz Media.