Considered a genius, Miyuki Shirogane leads the student council in his prestigious school. Alongside his beautiful and wealthy vice president, Kaguya Shinomiya, the two are regarded as the perfect couple despite no romantic relationship. The truth is, however, they both have feelings for each other, but neither can confess. This is the battle of two people trying to get the other to confess first!
If you enjoyed this romantic battle of wits, but you are desperate for more, why not try some of these anime recommendations?
Anime Like Kaguya-sama: Love is War
For Fans of a Battle of Wits
Death Note
Light Yagami is a high school prodigy and genius. However, he has an ever-increasing boredom and disdain for the rotten violent world. One day, he happens upon a notebook, called a Death Note, which states that if you write a name in it, the person will die. To his surprise, the notebook’s claims turn out to be true. This Death Note, the property of the Shinigami gods of death, gives Light the power to change this world and he decides to become its new God by executing all criminals.
If you like the romantic game of wits played in Kaguya, but want something more serious as your next series, Death Note is a must-watch. It is a great game of two people trying to outsmart each other. While they end up as friends briefly, they are all still suspicious.
Skilled Teaser Takagi-San
For Nishikata, no one knows him better than Takagi-san. Unfortunately for him, she uses this knowledge to unrelentingly tease him on a daily basis. Nishikata vows to get revenge for all that blushing he has done, but is he good enough to overcome her skill?
Both shows are about two people that we can very clearly see that they love each other, but won’t admit it to each other. Instead, they show their affections through various ploys, but we all want them to just confess their feelings.
Kakegurui
Hyakkaou Private Academy is an institution for the elite of society with a very special curriculum. These students are the children of the wealthiest people in the world, but they won’t need athletic prowess or book smarts for a successful life, they will need to know the art of the deal and how to read people. So instead of traditional classes, this school features a curriculum of rigorous gambling where the winners live like kings and the losers suffer. However, they haven’t seen anything yet until they meet new student Yumeko Jabami.
While there is not much love here like in Kaguya, Kakegurui is all about using your intellect and outsmarting your opponent. If you like clever moves and counter moves, but want something more serious, this is the show for you.
For Fans of Silly Schemes
School Rumble
Sophomore high school student Tenma Tsukamoto is on a quest to confess her feelings to the boy she likes. Kenji Harima, a delinquent, is on the same quest. This is the story of the complicated world of one-sided romance.
Like Kaguya where they are trying to get each other to confess, School Rumble is a gigantic game of Senpai please notice me. One-sided romances abound, the comedy in this series comes from trying to get the other person to notice their feelings.
Asobi Asobase
One day, Olivia – blonde-haired, foreign-looking transfer student – lies to air-headed Hanako about her English skills. Despite her looks, she has actually lived in Japan almost all her life and can’t speak English very well, but succeeded in tricking Hanako. This bit of mischief sparked a series of small games in the classroom between them, annoying the nearby deadpan Kasumi who hates games after being teased mercilessly by her older sister for always losing. However, the mischief eventually draws all three of them into the Pastime Club, a club Hanako created just to goof off.
Did you enjoy silly schemes and random moments in Kaguya-sama? Well, this show is almost exclusively really silly games. Considering it is a comedy series about classmates that like to play silly games, you can guess what to expect.
Masamune-kun’s Revenge
As a child, Masamune Makabe confessed his love to the wealthy and beautiful Aki Adagaki. However, she brutally rejected him and nicknamed him “Piggy” due to his chubby appearance. Fleeing to his grandfather’s home in the country, Masamune toiled endlessly to become fit. Once he became skinny and handsome, he returns to his old neighborhood in order to wreak vengeance on the girl that wronged him. With the help of Aki’s maid, Masamune sets out to make her fall in love with him so that he can be the one to break her heart.
Although Masamune-kun’s Revenge has a more serious plot, it is also a show of silly schemes trying to make this girl fall in love with him so he can get his revenge. Of course, things do not go as planned. However, it is less comedy and more of a standard semi-serious romance later on.
For Fans of Hidden Feelings
Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun
Chiyo Sakura has fallen head over heels for the handsome and oblivious Umetarou Nozaki. However, when she confesses her love, he gives her an autograph. It turns out this stoic boy is actually a respected shoujo manga artist. After a series of misunderstandings, Chiyo winds up not as his girlfriend, but as his manga assistant.
Both shows are kind of trope reversals for the romance genre. However, they are also about a girl trying to attract the attention of a guy. While the guy returns her feelings in Kaguya, the comedy in Nozaki surrounds the male main just being incredibly dense to the girl’s efforts.
Your Lie in April
Although once a child prodigy in the music world, pianist Kousei Arima is left in a downward spiral after his mother’s death, unable to even hear the sound of his own piano. Even after two years, Arima has all but left the music world behind, disappointing fans and rivals alike, and living in a colorless world. Then one day that that all changes when he is introduced to the beautiful violinist Kaori Miyazono who brings color into his world once more.
While Kaguya is a comedy, Your Lie in April is definitely more of a serious drama. However, it revolves entirely around young romance and hidden feelings. Furthermore, it is not just the main couple, but the other friends have hidden feelings as well.
A Lull in the Sea
Long ago, all of humanity lived underwater. However, a portion of them soon left to live on the surface, losing the ability to breath underwater. With this gap between them, the two societies grew apart. A Lull in the Sea tells the story of a group of kids forced to attend school above the water where they come to terms with themselves and the discrimination against them.
Do you like love triangles that may or may not have resolution? While there was many triangles in Kaguya, A Lull in the Sea is practically built on them. You know what this means? So many people are dishonest with their feelings.
If you have more anime recommendations like Kaguya-sama: Love is War, let fans know in the comments section below.
