It was revealed on December 31st that a final episode of the anime "Kaguya-sama: Love is War," based on Aka Akasaka's popular romantic comedy manga serialized in "Weekly Young Jump" (Shueisha), will be produced. The anime will be based on a completely original story written by the original author, Akasaka, who commented, "It's new, yet nostalgic. I hope to be able to deliver this completely new, and surely final, Kaguya-sama."
Akasaka explained how the final installment came to be produced, saying, "Kaguya-sama was created by many people, and it was a work that gave me the opportunity to realize the joy of creating things with other people. Everyone on the animation team and I had always wanted to create a completely new work that no one had ever seen before, rather than just making it into an anime, and when we talked about it, the people on the production team said, 'Let's do it.' That was about four years ago."
"Ever since then, I've been thinking about what kind of story would be good. What kind of unnecessary additions I could add to a story that had once been closed. It was a time that was both incredibly scary and fun. Then one day, an idea came to mind. At that moment, I knew this was it. At the same time, I thought, wow, this will be tough for the animation team. They've been working on Kaguya-sama: Love is War for about eight years, and now they've been given this challenge, so I'm sure everyone is scratching their heads, but well, it's probably the last, so I believe they'll forgive me if I ask for something a little out of the blue. I have that much trust in this team. It's new, but nostalgic. I hope to be able to deliver a completely new, and surely the last, Kaguya-sama."
The new TV special of the same work, "Kaguya-sama: Love is War - The Stairway to Adulthood," was broadcast on TOKYO MX and other channels on December 31st, and the production of the final episode was announced, and a special trailer was also released.
The new TV special will feature Suzuki Masayuki and Aoi Koga, the voice actress for the main character, Aoi Koga, performing the opening theme song "Abunai Kioku" as "Suzuki Masayuki feat. Aoi Koga." Kaguya Shinomiya, played by Koga, will perform the ending theme song "Red and Blue."
Koga commented, "I'm so grateful to have been able to be involved in the ending as well as the opening...! I thought carefully about what it meant for Kaguya to sing here and worked on it. When I first heard the song, I was impressed by the gentle, enveloping melody, and I wondered what it would be like for Kaguya to sing it. When I was explained the purpose of the song, I was told that they wanted to show a Kaguya that was a little different from before, so with the idea of it being an "adult" in mind, I sang it as if I were turning the pages of an album or looking back on memories. I hope you will listen to it a lot and reminisce about your memories of Kaguya with me. Thank you."
"Kaguya-sama: Love is War" is set in Shuchiin Academy, a school for talented students, and depicts the student council vice president Kaguya Shinomiya and student council president Miyuki Shirogane, who are both proud and believe that "if they confess first, they will lose," as they scheming to get the other to confess. It was serialized in "Weekly Young Jump" from May 2015 to November 2022.
The first season of the TV anime aired from January to March 2019, the second season from April to June 2020, and the third season from April to June 2022. The release of a live-action movie starring Sho Hirano and Kanna Hashimoto also attracted attention.
