Kaguja-sama wa kokurasetai: Tensaitači no ren'ai zunósen

[Season 1] The Japanese have gotta be Olympic champions when it comes to (not) professing their love. While many Western romances deal with trappings such as how to reach the chosen one on the other side of the hemisphere or how to pry her from the clutches of a malevolent entity, in anime the "final boss" of obstacles is often something insurmountable like... holding hands. Here, for 12 episodes, we witness our secretly in love couple trying to kick the other one out of the way so they don't damage their inflated egos. We got to see a very similar fighting style and almost copied character template in Masamune-kun's Revenge, but at least Kaguya fires funnier ammunition, doesn't need as much fan service, and tries to dodge the already heavily-trodden pond of genre clichés. Despite the initial freshness of the point and the amusing hyperactivity of sidekick drone Chika, the anime noticeably runs out of steam towards the end, and the lovelorn rivals not only start to overreact, but tediously mirror each other, inventing, wondering, shuddering, only to finally attempt some tears and then immediately return everything to the default beginning. Leaving out the unambiguous rational question "A year down the line, is it still worth it to you?" and concentrating on the decent gags, it's pretty good fun, but don't look for much depth. Fingers crossed for Kaguya and Miyuki, but they won't get more than a better 3 stars from me. Uso! (2021.03.30)