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Obligatory spoiler warning: Might contain spoilers of various degrees, from literal to out-of/with-context. For those who are planning to watch this anime, feel free to read only the first paragraph of this review.

A great step-up to the popular Winter 2019 anime, Kaguya-sama: Love is War? leaves its largely episodic format with a more stable storyline. Comedy is spot-on as always, character dynamics are great. Its first episode is one of the strongest first episode this year that I have seen so far.

STORY

Compared to the first season, this season is much stronger.

The series continued its usual episodic format in the early episodes. Comedy is, amazing. What more I can say? I mean, right off the start, the first episode features a scene so comedic, that future watchers might not even recall that this is one of those notable shows that withstand the wave of reschedules.

The first couple of episodes lays down some good Checkhov's guns. Notable examples are a ballpen and a phone later on. It also features some of the best scenes of the series overall.

After that, the series took their first "proper" arc and introduce another character that setups nicely for the arc that is a serious contender for "best arcs of the season" (if that is a thing). That second arc felt right at home for me, and possibly for most of its watchers.

However, on the other side of the spectrum, I feel that the arc revolving around Kaguya dropped. The episodes featuring Kaguya and the "war for confession" thing contributed only bits (if not nothing) in moving the central theme of the show, hence I feel that the title features a question mark in itself, not to mention the peculiar scene right at the very first scene of the season.

ANIMATION/ART

The same for the first season.

The first season boasts some of the unique shots and compositions I have seen in a while. Camera movements to portray the mind tactics of the two, the over-the-top frames, the happy-go-lucky scenes of Chika to portray her airheadedness. you get the picture.

Kaguya-sama's second season also features them, but it didn't push the art to its limits. The animation for the opening is meh for me (notably, that weird frame where Chika is walking towards the camera while the arrow passes onto her), though ED's animation is very well done and well-animated.

Animation and composition are getting bland and somewhat repetitive (notably the backgrounds). except for this season's main arc, the Ishigami arc. I think the staff focuses much on that arc based on the quality of animation and composition they made compared to the other ones.

However, it's still good though, as much care was made onto the comedic scenes. I applaud them for their great use of timing.

SOUND/MUSIC

For a comedy-centered anime, it's very well done.

The series' score (or background music, whatever you like to call it), while featured less, is good. The use of sound effects is great. SFX is very important to comedy series, as this can greatly enhance the comedy even further, and Kaguya-sama did that very well.

Song-wise, the series' opening, "DADDY! DADDY! DO!" by the same guy who did "Love Dramatic" (the first season's opening), Masayuki Suzuki, is catchy enough to exceed the first one. It's good, it's great. Heck, the song opened with a nice series of really catchy handclaps, which I love. Too bad that the animation accompanied it fell flat compared to the first one.

"Kaze ni Fukarete" (lit. Blown by the Wind), the second season's ED, is hands-down great. While it is not as catchy as Chika did last season, it exceeds the first season's ED in all aspects - animation, composition, and music. They even managed to use a thing so trivial throughout the series that you wouldn't even mind it honestly. The 3D for it is good. How it portrayed the central theme is very good. Need more praise?

CHARACTERS

Didn't see that one coming.

Arguably, the main character for this season is neither Kaguya nor Miyuki - it's Ishigami. While I was prepared to see some level of backstory for him due to how he is portrayed in the first season. I didn't expect that close-to-home, well-written arc of his. I even liked how the supposedly "extras" (you know, the faceless beings in pretty much any anime) aren't just extras, but a metaphor for his personality. Hands down.

But before that, a new character is introduced. You can expect her coming since she is the notable one whose face is not shown for most of the opening and the ending (before her introduction). Honestly, it's good, though they used some overused tropes. Her debate with Miyuki is one of the best scenes in the series overall, along with almost the whole of Ishigami's arc. I liked how they use her introductory arc to setup Ishigami's later arc. That was brilliantly well done.

As for the other main characters, Chika is still Chika, the main couple continues their ongoing war for confession, and the side characters, while prominent in the early episodes, are just left in the sides, even shelved for some (I expected that since comedy tends to portray an ever-growing cast of characters). Honestly, I feel that the overarching plot involving a war between Miyuki and Kaguya is set to have a status quo ending, as portrayed much to the series. Based on the series itself, it seems that Kaguya is on her way to give up and just confess her feelings to Miyuki (notably, the brilliant scene where Kaguya's chibi personalities debated on how they should celebrate Miyuki's birthday), but I doubt that.

Do note that, as of this writing, I haven't seen the manga yet, so I might be wrong.

Overall, Kaguya-sama is a great anime. I can see that this series can stand against the test of time due to its unique portrayal of love and how popular it is today. Its final episode features a heartfelt half and a comedic ending that features the dynamics of the main characters at its finest (most comedy anime that has a status quo ending have bland to worse to even irritably cliffhanged).

Staying true to myself, my favorite character is the Narrator. For someone who's not on the screen, his commentary on the antics of the characters is great, toppling even the main characters themselves. Without him and his remarkable voice carrying the series, this one would be a 6 or a 7.

Recommended for those who have watched the first season, and those who are seeking for a "psychological" slice-of-life romcom anime.

EDIT: (8/6) Fixed grammar and spelling mistakes, formatting.