Awesome / Kaguya-sama: Love Is War

As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.

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Main series

• Fujiwara training Shirogane, a complete noob in volleyball to such an extent he leads their team in the inter-college game, even being one of their top scorers in Episode 5/Chapter 23. Fujiwara's expression while she and Kaguya watch the match seals the deal.
• Pretty much everything Shirogane does during the fireworks festival in chapters 44 and 45 from the second he reads Kaguya's tweet all the way to him finding her crying in the alleyway. By the time it's all over, Kaguya can't even turn her eyes away from him.
• After Kaguya asks Shirogane to run for the position of Student Council President again in chapter 60, he reveals that he has already filled out an application despite having no intention of running again just in case she brought the subject up.
• During the debate, Iino proves that while she can be somewhat naive, she's anything but stupid. After Shirogane provokes her out of her Heroic BSoD, she actually manages to give evidence for her points, proving why Shuchi'in's reputation has suffered and how her somewhat extreme plans can actually help the school. She does well enough that despite having been dismissed as having no hope of victory, she almost wins the election.
• Papa Shirogane proves exactly where his kids got their smarts from in chapter 86 when he manages to troll Kaguya into revealing her feelings for his son in less than five minutes with a simple conversation. He has her so wound up that she's gushing about Miyuki Shirogane as if she were a proud girlfriend.
• Ishigami finally setting himself free from what happened back in middle school and talking back to Otomo when she continues to hold a grudge. Ishigami then manages to do an excellent job in the relay race; according to some of the cheer squad members, his team would probably have won if the other runners had done better.
  "Shut up, stupid."
• Kaguya did end up telling someone about Ishigami's incident— the ruthless VIPs mentioned earlier back in the series—and the narrative all but states Ogino transferred schools because of them. Looks like karma was delivered to the right person after all.
• The PV for Season 3 of the anime isn't just a trailer, but a full on 10-minute adaptation of Chapter 110 (which was written to promote the first season) with a few of the jokes modified for the occasion. Talk about going the extra mile!
• Episode 5 of Season 3 brings the rap battle to life as the voice actors bust out incredible rhymes backed by the soundtrack. Then, the ending goes above and beyond the call of duty with a music video! Even fans seem to agree that the dub actors did just an amazing job as the sub actors.
• Fujiwara tries to get her sister Moeha to give up on her crush on Shirogane. She gets him to juggle to show how bad he is at stuff. He instead reveals that he is good at juggling, and tops and yo-yos.
• Shirogane's Grand Romantic Gesture in the culture festival. He made sure to arrange the festival events to get Ishigami and Iino busy, set up a Gentleman Thief mystery to get Fujiwara out of the way, and stole all the heart balloons in the school. All so he could set up a shower of hearts for Kaguya and ask her out to Stanford together. What made this even more awesome is what Kaguya gave as her reply.
• Ishigami refusing his crush's offer of casual sex and holding firm to his beliefs that he wants his first time to be with someone who loves him back. Not a lot of teenagers could be wise enough to make that decision.
• Kaguya's older brother Unyo tries to force Hayasaka to work for him so he can get access all the blackmail she has on the rest of the family, even trying to demoralize her by revealing her status as The Mole to Kaguya. As he tries to leave, Kaguya sends him tumbling to the ground with a single punch.
  Kaguya: Excuse me!! Hayasaka was trying to explain herself!
• The shiritori game in chapter 188 deserves a special mention. Fujiwara pitted Ishigami against Iino in the game when the two first years quarreled before, having put a bet that whoever loses need to apologize. Iino almost won the game by placing words that eerily sounded like her demanding Ishigami's date with Tsubame, but the latter manages to counter at the last minute with all of Iino's irritating traits in line, finally ending with him as the victor. The cherry of the cake is that he gives Fujiwara a heavier punishment, but demanded a simple apology from Iino.
• Ishigami manages to go from being ranked 152nd among the first years to 36th during the final exams in chapter 198. Made even more impressive when you remember that he started the school year ranked 197th (out of 199).
• Kaguya manages to be the main hero in an IshiMiko moment by bringing an outfit for Ishigami who disappointed Miko coming to the dance in school uniform.
• Chapter 249: The series has finally reached its Darkest Hour. Just as Shirogane is reeling from his breakup with Kaguya, her brother Seiryu arrives on the scene to deliver 10 million yen as compensation. An infuriated Shirogane refuses such a paltry sum from a Fiction 500 family, and ups the price to 1 billion instead; Seiryu capitulates. Just as Hayasaka is lamenting that Shirogane's given up on Kaguya, he asks her one question: "Did I say I've given up on her?" Not only did he trick one of the wealthiest families in the world into giving him enough money to set him up for life, he's hellbent on using it all to get his girlfriend back. Complete with a brilliant Call-Back to the stargazing episode:
  Shirogane: [to Hayasaka] Shinomiya and I discussed this once. When Princess Kaguya returned home, she left a gift of immortality elixir behind. Her beloved tossed the elixir into a fire. I would never do that! I would drink the immortality elixir and follow her to the moon to get her back! They treated me like a fool because I'm not an adult. It's the Shinomiya family who are foolish! Now I have my war chest, so how shall I use this money to defeat them?
• Gan'an demonstrates why he held onto his business empire as long as he had in the final arc when he agrees to sign Oko's document agreeing to give him the majority of his company's assets when he dies, then has his secretary hide it in his room. He reveals as much to Shirogane when he comes to beg Gan'an to get Kaguya out of her current predicament, but unfortunately Oko had the room bugged so he heard the whole thing. However, Gan'an was aware of this and had the will hidden in his secret cabin, meaning Oko and his goons would have to search the entire mountain the estate is built on to find it. And he pulled all of this off while confined to his deathbed and suffering from dementia.
  • Oko attempts to order Hayasaka's father, Masato, to tell him where the cabin is. Masato calmly and politely tells him exactly where he can shove his orders:
    Oko: Hayasaka! You've been my old man's secretary for years now, haven't you? I'm sure you know about this secret cabin of his! Where is it?!
    Masato Hayasaka: Of course I know where it is. However, I am not at liberty to disclose that information to you.
    Oko: (grabs Masato's necktie) HUH?! YOU WORK FOR ME! WHY-
    Masato Hayasaka: (grabs Oko's arm) We only work for you insofar as your orders align with Gan'an-sama's intentions. However, the Hayasaka Family is loyal to Gan'an-sama, and him alone. In other words, you are not our master.
• Fujiwara and Hayasaka end up cornered by Seiryu and his men, so Fujiwara stays behind so that Hayasaka can go on ahead. Fujiwara then proceeds to blackmail Seiryu with exposing his long string of sex scandals to the public. When Seiryu claims that the Shinomiya family's control over the press will protect him and orders his men to apprehend Fujiwara anyway, she reveals that she's been talking with Iino over a wireless headset the entire time, and she's in contact with internet streamers who are more than willing to air Seiryu's scandals, on top of now having a recording of him threatening Fujiwara. When Seiryu realizes he's beaten and offers to pay them off, Iino has this to say:
  Iino: Look, I'm sure you think no matter what happens, you can just spend some money and make your problems go away. Who knows how many scandals you've already swept under the rug that way? But you're not special. Don't go thinking that you'll be safe forever.
• Chapter 261: By the end of the Final Arc, Shirogane completes something his literary counterpart never could; win Kaguya's heart, understand her gift's message, use it to go directly to her home, rescue her, and be together again.
  • Something that Shirogane figured out was that Kaguya had no intention to break up with him or blindly follow her family's wishes. Knowing full well that Shirogane would stop at nothing to save her, Kaguya gave him the money to aid him in saving her and ruin her family's plans for her, all under the guise of it being compensation for emotional damages.
  • Papa Shirogane deserves extra credit for knowing how to fly and operate a helicopter.
• Chapter 275: Iino manages to overcome her Performance Anxiety to deliver a good campaign speech. This, combined with a heartfelt speech from Osaragi about how much Iino has grown, results in Iino winning the race for Student Council President in a landslide— 561 votes vs. Nakano's 106 and Makihara's 8.
• Chapter 280: Shirogane reveals that he not only knew about the exam Mikado was going to present him, but answered them. Finally having one over Mikado after so many years of their rivalry.
• With Fujiwara's epilogue, she unknowingly did something that the series has played around with the whole time—winning the "whoever confesses first, loses" game by having Kaguya admit to her face that she'd miss her first friend if she left and got a boyfriend.