Kaguya-sama: Love Is War -The First Kiss That Never Ends-

"Romance can be a little melancholy."

2022 1h 36m JA

🙌

8.0

BANGER

⭐

8.5

IMDB

★8.0TMDB · 104★8.5IMDB · 4,128

AnimationComedyRomance

Synopsis

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After pining for one another and plotting for so long, Kaguya Shinomiya and Miyuki Shirogane finally have their climactic first kiss. However, they struggle to define their relationship. After all, how much of their true selves have they really shown to one another?

“Romance can be a little melancholy.”

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Cast

Makoto Furukawa
Miyuki Shirogane (voice)
Aoi Koga
Kaguya Shinomiya (voice)
Konomi Kohara
Chika Fujiwara (voice)
Ryota Suzuki
Yuu Ishigami (voice)
Miyu Tomita
Miko Iino (voice)
Yumiri Hanamori
Ai Hayasaka (voice)
Momo Asakura
Nagisa Kashiwagi (voice)
Rina Hidaka
Kobachi Osaragi (voice)

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Mamoru Hatakeyama
Writers: Masakazu Obara, Yasuhiro Nakanishi, Takashi Kawabata
Languages: Japanese
Countries: Japan

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 7

ERA

Did you know

Released 4 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Mamoru Hatakeyama, shot by Masaharu Okazaki. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Kei Haneoka. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Rie Matsubara shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 7

CAST

Did you know

Makoto Furukawa and Aoi Koga and Konomi Kohara carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 7

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Romance can be a little melancholy.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 7

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt23770418 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Mamoru Hatakeyama directs. Masaharu Okazaki behind the camera. Kei Haneoka scores. Rie Matsubara cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in Japan. Dialogue in Japanese.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Released 4 years ago.
2Directed by Mamoru Hatakeyama, shot by Masaharu Okazaki. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
3Original score by Kei Haneoka. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
4Editor Rie Matsubara shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
5Makoto Furukawa and Aoi Koga and Konomi Kohara carry the top of the cast.
6Marketing tagline: "Romance can be a little melancholy.".
7IMDB entry: tt23770418 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
8Classified under 9 themes, including "high school", "romcom", "sequel", "based on manga".
9Released under 10 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Masaharu Okazaki
Original score: Kei Haneoka
Editing: Rie Matsubara
Runtime: 96 min · 1h 36m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Box office: $440,441
Original language: JA
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: Kaguya-sama: Love Is War -The First Kiss That Never Ends- (2022)
IMDB rating: 8.5/10 · 4,128 votes

Awards

2 nominations total

Also by

Mamoru Hatakeyama

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Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2023-02-25
★ 7/10
First things first - what's with the ridiculously long title? Thereafter, though, this is quite a cleverly constructed teen romance that sees the student president "Shirogane" share a kiss with the adulatory "Kaguya" only for us to find that cementing that kiss into something more substantial proves quite a challenge. It seems that the young girl has multiple personalities vying for pre-eminance in her relationship with her (their?) beau. These characterisations vary from the young, lovestruck and naive to the young, cynical and suspicious. Poor old "Shirgane" has to deal with all three and is soon completely phased by the erratic, frequently quite funny, behaviour of the young woman who seems as likely to stab him between the eyes as to make love to him. On that last point, it is adult themed - and the writing reflects an honesty about teen adoration, but also about sex, lust and a dose of good, old fashioned, jealousy. It packs quite a lot of story into ninety minutes and raises quite a few smiles - of laughter and of appreciation (we've probably all been here, at some point, as we grew up and remember the intensity of that "first kiss") and is well worth a watch.

Production companies