Kaguya-Sama: Love is War Volume 12 manga review

Kaguya-sama: Love is War Graphic Novel Volume 12 cover image

There are two high school students from eminent families who are both of good character.  Kaguya Shinomiya, a well-bred lady and an heir, is Student Council Vice-President at Shuchin Academy, a school for the children of the rich and famous and for future leaders.  Miyuki Shirogane is the strong, silent type who has a singular focus on his studies, and he is President of the Student Council.  Kaguya and Miyuki are two geniuses, each in love with the other.  But love is war, so which one will confess love to the other when the one who first confesses his... or her love loses.

As Kaguya-sama: Love is War, Vol. 12 (Chapters 112 to 121) opens, it is time for Shuchin Academy's school festival, known as “The Hoshin Cultural Festival.”  When she begins to try on costumes for the festival, Kaguya decides that this is the perfect time to get Miyuki to admit that he loves her by asking his opinion on each costume.  But it won't be that easy.

This year, the festival will run two days, and Miyuki has taken on more work to make sure that the festival is a success.  However, his hard work may mean that he will have to admit that he has a seemingly infinite lack of nonacademic talents.  Plus, the students will learn a number of things (1) the legend of the Hoshin Cultural Festival, (2) how to make balloon animals and (3) the art of arm wrestling.  Also, in a flashback episode, see how Miyuki first encountered Kaguya.

[This volume includes bonus material.]

THE LOWDOWN:  The Kaguya-sama: Love is War manga tells readers that love is war, and that war may be psychological.  Most stories in this series are single-chapter affairs, although plot points and story elements carry over, and this current volume is an example of that.

Kaguya-sama: Love is War Graphic Novel Volume 12 focuses on a school cultural festival, with every chapter depicting some kind of preparation for the festival.  Creator Aka Akasaka takes his manga to a plot that is familiar in any manga set at a school.  Akasaka uses the preparation for a school festival as a way to delve into his characters' personalities and into their interpersonal relationships.  Thus, Vol. 12 becomes one of the series' best volumes simply because we get to see these characters reveal themselves while under stress, and we get some back story.

Tomoko Kimura's translation and Annette Roman's English adaptation make for a delightful read which prepares us for the festival.  Oh, that is a kind of spoiler, dear readers.  Vol. 12 focuses on the preparation for the school festival; if we want to experience the inevitable craziness of the festival, we have to come back for Vol. 13

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of sitcom-type manga will want to read the Shonen Jump title, Kaguya-sama: Love is War.

A
8 out of 10