The Kaguya-sama Season 4 anime TV series is reportedly in production. Kaguya-sama: Love is War Season 4 will be a direct sequel to the Kaguya-sama: Love Is War movie that adapted The First Kiss Never Ends story arc from the manga series by creator Aka Akasaka.
But with the Kaguya-sama manga ending its final arc in November 2022, where does that leave the story of Kaguya-sama: Love is War Season 4? And when will Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai Season 4 come out?
On December 14, 2022, anime news leaker Sugoi LITE claimed that the production decision was made for Kaguya-sama Season 4. This probably means that the 2nd season is going to be publicly greenlit for production soon, although it’s probably already secretly entered the pre-production phase internally.
Keep in mind that no official sources or leaked pics were provided to substantiate the claim even though a 4th season was expected to be announced after the First Kiss movie premiered in Japan on December 17, 2022. As such, this info should be treated as a rumor and taken with a grain of salt even though Sugoi LITE has been reliable in the past.
Assuming that the rumor is true, Anime Geek is predicting that the Kaguya-sama Season 4 release date will be in 2024 depending on when the production decision was made by the producer. (Please see the Kaguya-sama: Love is War Season 4 release date predictions section below for more details.)
On June 24, 2022, the official Twitter account teased fans by stating, “A new animation will be produced.” Many fans assumed they were teasing Kaguya-sama: Love is War Season 4 since the final scene of Kaguya-sama Season 3 Episode 13 seemed to contain a secret message hidden in Kaguya’s eyes. Teasing Kaguya-sama Season 4 in this manner wouldn’t be surprising since the second season’s finale also contained a secret message that teased the eventual announcement of the third season.
However, on July 8, 2022, Newtype magazine announced a Kaguya-sama movie that is titled Kaguya-sama: Love is War -The First Kiss Never Ends- (Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai: First Kiss wa Owaranai).
The film adapted the 10-chapter Christmas-themed story arc of the same name, which meant it was a direct sequel to the third season, Ultra Romantic rather than an anime original story. Considering that the average anime episode adapted 3 to 5 manga chapters the First Kiss movie was the equivalent of a relatively short film or a long OVA episode.
On July 11, 2022, the official Twitter account announced that the Kaguya: First Kiss movie will be broadcast on Japanese TV stations after its special screenings at movie theaters. Thus, it wouldn’t be surprising if Crunchyroll will be streaming Kaguya-sama First Kiss in the future, as well.
Even though the anime-original end credits scene of the third season’s finale led people to believe the story was ending, the fourth season will continue the story now that Miyuki Shirogane and Shinomiya Kaguya are one step closer to openly confessing… and, perhaps, dating!?
But first, the fourth season will dive down into the dark secrets of Ai Hayasaka and the Shinomiya family…
Since the official English title for the third season was Kaguya-sama: Love is War – Ultra Romantic – (Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai?: Tensai-tachi no Renai Zunousen), it’s very likely that Kaguya-sama Season 4 will have a similarly romantic title.
The studio and main staff making Kaguya-sama: Love is War Season 4 hasn’t been announced yet.
The third season did not change the animation studio, so it’s very likely that Kaguya-sama Season 4 will be produced by Studio A-1 Pictures, which is best known for recent anime such as the 86 anime, Sword Art Online, and The Seven Deadly Sins (which switched to Studio DEEN starting with Season 3).
In 2022, A-1 Pictures also released anime original stories like the Engage Kiss anime and the Lycoris Recoil anime.
For the third season, Director Shinichi Omata once again returned to helm the anime project under the pseudonym Mamoru Hatakeyama. In the past, he directed popular anime such as Record of Grancrest War and was an episode director for Puella Magi Madoka Magica.
Writer Yasuhiro Nakanishi (Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun) created the series composition. Artist Yuuko Yahiro (Haikyuu!!) created the character designs and was the Chief Animation Director. Also on the project are sound director Jin Aketagawa and music composer Kei Haneoka.
The Kaguya-sama: Love is War Season 4 OP (opening) and ED (ending) theme song music haven’t been announced yet.
The Kaguya-sama: Love is War Season 3 OP “GIRI GIRI” was performed by Masayuki Suzuki while featuring Suu. The third season’s ED “Heart wa Oteage” was performed by Airi Suzuki. The special Kaguya-sama rap battle ED “My Nonfiction” was performed by Miyuki Shirogane (Makoto Furukawa) and Chika Fujiwara (Konomi Kohara).
The third season premiered on April 9, 2022. Previous seasons were streaming exclusively on Funimation, but after Sony acquired both Funimation and Crunchyroll the third season became available on both platforms in addition to VRV (but not Netflix, Hulu, HIDIVE, or Amazon Prime Video).
The finale, Kaguya-sama: Love is War Season 3 Episode 12, was released on June 24, 2022. The finale episode will be a one-hour special so the second half is the equivalent of Kaguya-sama: Love is War Season 3 Episode 13.
- Updated December 21, 2022: Added Kaguya-sama Season 4 production decision rumor. Manga surpasses 22 million copies in circulation.
- Updated November 21, 2022: Added main Kaguya-sama movie trailer and USA theater info.
- Updated October 30, 2022: Added Kaguya-sama movie release date and Anime NYC 2022 info.
- Updated October 14, 2022: Kaguya-sama manga ending in November 2022.
- Updated July 8, 2022: Kaguya-sama First Kiss movie confirmed.
- Updated June 24, 2022: New anime production confirmed.
- Updated June 17, 2022: S3 finale is a 1-hour special. Adjusted comparison. Manga reaches 18 million copies in circulation.
This article provides everything that is known about Kaguya-sama: Love is War Season 4 (Kaguya-sama Season 4 / Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai?: Tensai-tachi no Renai Zunousen Season 4) and all related news. As such, this article will be updated over time with news, rumors, and analysis. Meanwhile, let’s delve down into what is known for certain.
Kaguya-sama Season 4 release date predictions: Is 2024 likely?
As of the last update, Studio A-1 Pictures, Aniplex, Shueisha, or any company related to the production of the anime has not officially confirmed the Kaguya Season 4 release date. However, the production of a movie sequel was announced on June 24, 2022.
Once the news is officially confirmed this article will be updated with the relevant information.
In the meantime, it’s possible to speculate about when, or if, the Kaguya-sama Season 4 release date will occur in the future.
Kaguya Season 4 seemed inevitable considering its ongoing popularity. While the third season was overshadowed by the SPY x FAMILY Part 1 anime and The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 2, the Kaguya Season 3 anime was regularly near the top on Crunchyroll’s most popular anime list.
On the negative side, the Kaguya-sama anime’s third season didn’t give a huge boost to the manga sales in April 2022 since the series didn’t make the Top 20 Oricon list. While it was predictable that the SPY x FAMILY manga would dominate the charts along with Jujutsu Kaisen and Tokyo Revengers, the manga boost provided by other Spring 2022 anime notably was enough to put the Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie manga (#20) and the Komi Can’t Communicate manga (#12) into the Top 20.
Still, the Kaguya-sama: Love is War anime reviews have only grown better each season. In fact, the Ultra Romantic season topped Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood on MyAnimeList in popularity for a time.
It helps that the Ultra Romantic story arc is one of the peak hype arcs in the manga series thanks to Chapter 136, although there are other big moments (manga Chapters 160 and 220) that will generate buzz in the anime fandom when they eventually hit our TV screens.
The third season was teased by a secret message hidden in an image. Apparently, they decided to do the same with Kaguya Season 4 despite continuing the main story with a movie.
There are good reasons to think the fourth season will be definitively announced after the end credits roll for the Kaguya First Kiss movie. Besides being well-reviewed by both critics and audiences, FUNimation even paid extra money to make the second season an exclusive, a change from the first season, which streamed on (then) competitor platforms like Crunchyroll and Hulu. Likewise, the third season was exclusive to Crunchyroll, Funimation, and VRV, which are all now owned by Sony.
Although the third season was officially greenlit for production back in 2020, anime fans ended up waiting two years. It’s possible there was a delay caused by the COVID pandemic since many studios transitioned to working remotely during that time period, which came at the cost of efficiency. (Notably, Studio A-1 Pictures delayed the release of the final episodes of 86 Season 2 by months, although some have blamed producer Aniplex for poor production scheduling.)
Now that the manga is ending the producers will likely start planning out a long-term schedule for the anime since it also continues to be popular as a standalone product. Presumably, the dust from the COVID pandemic has begun to settle and animation production is resuming at a more normal pace.
Therefore, assuming that pre-production has already secretly begun for the fourth season, it’s possible the Kaguya-sama: Love is War Season 4 release date will be in 2024.
Kaguya-sama: Love is War Season 4 English dub release date predictions
The first season of the anime TV series initially didn’t have an English dub by Funimation. In 2020, Funimation announced the Kaguya-sama English dub by stating that they would dub the first two seasons at the same time and then release them at a later date.
By contrast, Crunchyroll’s Kaguya-sama: Love is War Season 3 English dub release date was on April 22, 2022, which was only several weeks behind the series premiere on April 8, 2022.
Here was the Kaguya-sama dub cast:
- Alexis Tipton as Kaguya Shinomiya
- Aaron Dismuke as Miyuki Shirogane
- Jad Saxton as Chika Fujiwara
- Bryn Apprill as Nagisa Kashiwagi
- Austin Tindle as Yū Ishigami
- Heather Walker as Kei Shirogane
- Amanda Lee as Ai Hayasaka
- Madeleine Morris as Miko Iino
- Leah Clark as Kobachi Osaragi
- Tia Ballard as Tsubame Koyasu
- Hope Endrenyi as Maki Shijo
- Ian Sinclair as the Narrator
Presumably, now that Funimation is being phased out by Sony, Crunchyroll’s Kaguya-sama: Love is War Season 4 English dub release date will be announced in the future after the series has first premiered with Japanese audio and English subtitles.
Hopefully, future English dubbing will be faster once the COVID pandemic winds down and becomes endemic. Many English dubbing houses have experienced delays since voice actors often travel to the recording studio. In order to protect voice actors from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, they were forced to temporarily pause production or take extra safety precautions that resulted in slowed work.
Kaguya-sama: Love is War manga ending in Volume 28: The Final Arc ended in November 2022
The anime series is based on the Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai?: Tensai-tachi no Renai Zunousen manga series by creator Aka Akasaka. When the Japanese title for the Kaguya-sama manga is translated into English it literally means “Kaguya Wants To Be Confessed To: The Geniuses’ War Of Hearts And Minds”
Serialized in Shueisha’s Weekly Young Jump magazine since May 2015, the manga series was up to Kaguya-sama Volume 27 as of October 19, 2022. The final volume was Kaguya-sama Volume 28, which came out on December 19, 2022.
In 2018 the Kaguya-sama manga received two spin-offs. The first is a Dojin Edition by Shinta Sakayama. The second, by G3 Ida, is called We Want To Talk About Kaguya (Kaguya-sama o Kataritai). That story follows girls in a newspaper club who idolize the student council but don’t really know what’s going on behind its closed doors. This spin-off manga was also ended in November 2022.
North American publisher VIZ Media is publishing the official Kaguya-sama manga’s English translation. As of August 2, 2022, it is up to Volume 23.
In mid-November 2020, Akasaka revealed during a live stream that he has been paid 100,000 yen in royalties per anime episode. Based on the current exchange rates, that means the original creator only makes about $11,550 USD per anime season.
As of June 2022, the manga series reportedly had 18 million copies in circulation, a half-a-million increase from March 2022 when the series had 17.5 million copies in circulation. As a comparison, the SPY x FAMILY anime caused its respective manga series’ circulation to reach 18 million copies by May 2022.
On December 19, 2022, publisher Shueisha revealed that the Kaguya-sama manga had 22 million copies in circulation worldwide. That was the day that Kaguya-sama Volume 28, the final manga volume, was released in Japan along with the last official manga fan book.
Warning: The following paragraph contains spoilers! Certain events are vaguely worded.
After the events of Kaguya-sama Chapter 160 in Volume 16, Miyuki and Kaguya officially moved their relationship to the next level. The final arc is definitely setting up an ending to coincide with the classmates’ final days at the elite academy. Miyuki and Kaguya’s graduation from high school is coming up in the official timeline so the clock is ticking.
In 2020, it was confirmed in an interview that the manga was about two-thirds complete. In early October 2021, Weekly Young Jump Issue 45, 2021 announced that the Kaguya-sama manga’s ending is coming up since the series had entered its final arc. Creator Akasaka even took a hiatus back in May 2021 in order to plan out the manga’s final act. In October, Akasaka took another break for Issue 46, and then the final story arc began in Issue 47 on October 21, 2021.
In October 2022, it was officially confirmed that the manga was ending in Kaguya-sama Volume 28. It will contain the final chapter, Kaguya-sama 281.
The Kaguya-sama: Love is War manga’s ending was released in Fall 2022. Both the main manga series and the manga spin-off, Kaguya-sama o Kataritai, both ended in Weekly Young Jump Issue 49, 2022 on November 2, 2022.
And that’s why Kaguya-sama Season 4 is unlikely to be the final season of the anime TV series. By the end of the third season, only about half of the chapters will have been adapted into episodes. Since the adaptation pacing has averaged three chapters per episode, that means there should be several more seasons to go.
(Side note: In the year 2022, Kaguya-sama turned 18 years old and thus she’s a legal adult.)
Kaguya-sama: Love is War manga compared to the anime’s third season
The Kaguya-sama anime series is arguably one of the most well-executed adaptations of a rom-com manga series in recent years. But, like similar manga series, the chapters were adapted out of order and the story was condensed.
Notably, earlier manga chapters tended to have self-contained stories based on the Battle format while later manga volumes transitioned to focusing on short story arcs. In those cases, the anime adapted the related chapters in consecutive order. Arguably, the story improved once the emphasis was shifted away from the Battles.
The Kaguya-sama manga’s timeline isn’t necessarily based on the chapter order, either. Sometimes, later volumes provided big flashbacks back to the time before rumors about Kaguya and Miyuki dating began to spread.
The titles of each anime episode corresponded to the title of the chapters that the episode adapted. The following is a guide to skipped chapters and the order in which the anime episodes adapted the manga:
- Episode 1: Chapters 1, 12, 5
- Episode 2: Chapters 11, 7, 6
- Episode 3: Chapters 14, 8, 9
- Episode 4: Chapters 17, 18, 19, 20
- Episode 5: Chapters 16, 23, 21
- Episode 6: Chapters 24, 28, 25
- Episode 7: Chapters 26, 29, 27
- Episode 8: Chapters 39, 31, 55
- Episode 9: Chapters 33, 34, 35
- Episode 10: Chapters 37, 38, 40
- Episode 11: Chapters 42, 43, 41, 44
- Episode 12: Chapters 44, 45, 46
- Skipped Chapters: 2, 3, 4, 10, 13, 15, 22, 23, 30 (Season 2), 32, 36 (Season 2)
The first season of the anime ended on a high emotional note with the fireworks festival in Volume 5: Chapter 45, only to reset the relationship based on misunderstandings and the prideful desire to force the other to confess their love first.
- Season 2 Episode 1: Chapters 30, 48, 57, 51
- Season 2 Episode 2: Chapters 52, 53, 54
- Season 2 Episode 3: Chapters 56, 59, 60
- Season 2 Episode 4: Chapters 58, 61, 65
- Season 2 Episode 5: Chapters 63, 64, 36, 66
- Season 2 Episode 6: Chapters 67, 68, 69
- Season 2 Episode 7: Chapters 70, 71, 73, 74
- Season 2 Episode 8: Chapters 72, 78, 79
- Season 2 Episode 9: Chapters 80, 81, 82
- Season 2 Episode 10: Chapters 83, 84, 85, 86, 87
- Season 2 Episode 11: Chapters 87, 88, 89, 90
- Season 2 Episode 12: Chapters 100, 101, 91
- Skipped Chapters: 47, 49, 50, 62, 75, 76, 77
By the end of the second season, romance had begun to bloom on multiple levels if certain members of the student council would just allow it to blossom. Miyuki is seriously trying to assess whether Kaguya has feelings for him, so it wasn’t surprising when the third season was tagged as Ultra Romantic after the culture festival story arc.
- Season 3 Episode 1: Chapters 95, 102, 117
- Season 3 Episode 2: Chapters 103, 93, 94
- Season 3 Episode 3: Chapters 97, 98, 99
- Season 3 Episode 4: Chapters 104, 105, 106
- Season 3 Episode 5: Chapters 107, 108, 109
- Season 3 Episode 6: Chapters 111, 113, 114
- Season 3 Episode 7: Chapters 115, 116, 118
- Season 3 Episode 8: Chapters 119, 120, 122
- Season 3 Episode 9: Chapters 121, 123, 124
- Season 3 Episode 10: Chapters 125, 126, 127, 128
- Season 3 Episode 11: Chapters 129, 130, 131
- Season 3 Episode 12: Chapters 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 138 (partial), anime original
- Skipped Chapters: TBA (96, 110, 117?)
It’s expected that the Kaguya-sama: First Kiss movie will adapt manga Chapters 138 through 151.
All in all, the ending of the third season’s finale, Kaguya-sama: Love is War Season 3 Episode 12, found a stopping point corresponding to manga Volume 14: Chapter 138.
Ending with the culture festival arc is the best stopping point since a quasi-confession finally happens with Kaguya literally using her lips instead of words to tell Miyuki how she feels! But since she used a kiss rather than a spoken confession does that really mean she lost the war of love?
Ending with Chapter 138 rather than 137 allowed the anime to transition more naturally with the after-party rather than just ending abruptly on a cliffhanger. The after-credits scene was an anime-original ending that is probably confusing since it made the third season seem more conclusive than it really was.
Volume 16: Chapter 160 was also a good stopping point due to another major change in their relationship, but reaching that point would have required the third season to be two cours. It also takes place in the middle of a story arc. Thankfully, Kaguya-sama Season 4 will adapt that crucial development from Chapter 160.
The good news is that there is plenty of source material for immediately starting production on Kaguya-sama: Love is War Season 4 after the movie is released. And the manga’s ending will allow the anime production committee to plan out the remainder of the anime TV series.
English-only manga readers who wish to read ahead of the anime TV series can jump straight to Volume 14: Chapter 138. If you’ve already watched the Kaguya-sama movie, then you would start at Chapter 152.
Kaguya-sama movie spoilers (plot summary/synopsis)
The aftermath of the big kiss has both Kaguya and Miyuki hopelessly thinking lewd thoughts. It may be Christmas time but in their whirl of emotions, their heads are just full of nothing but indecent things!
Back at her house, Kaguya spills all the details to Ai Hayasaka about the School Council President asking her to apply to Stanford college in America with him and how that moment led her to kissing Miyuki. But Kaguya shocks Hayasaka by admitting that it was a full-on french kiss on their first kiss! (Hence the hearts covering the mouths.)
The ending of the third season contained this scene, and even showed Kaguya-chan, but not the discussion that immediately followed. Hayasaka claims, “It’s practically the same thing as having sex,” to which a confused Kaguya exclaims, “All I did was stick my tongue into his oral cavity!”
When Hayasaka sticks to her guns (and keeps repeating the word “sex” to Kaguya’s annoyance), Kaguya asks another girlfriend over the phone how quickly a relationship should develop toward actual physical intimacy after the first kiss.
At first, the response is two months, which Kaguya feels is plenty of time. But when Kaguya asks, “How about after French kissing?” the response changes to, “…40 seconds?” Kaguya is now mortified since she’s afraid the President might think her a “lecherous nymphomaniac” since she used tongue on the first kiss!
As for Miyuki, he can’t stop thinking of the intensity of the first kiss and what studying abroad will mean for their relationship. Are Shirogane and Shinomiya officially a boyfriend and girlfriend now? He’s uncertain since he fears Kaguya will mock him for thinking they are a couple just because of a single kiss.
Of course, it would be neglectful to not mention the Yuu Ishigami x Iino ship that began sailing with Chapter 137. But that ship seems to run afoul of an iceberg when Tsubame Koyasu invites Ishigami to her own house for an apparent Christmas date. (Chika Fujiwara can’t believe it, but everyone acknowledges that they’ve known since the sports festival that Ishigami likes Tsubame!)
All of these emerging couples will need to look inside and analyze their feelings. But will any of them start openly dating?
Kaguya-sama S4 spoilers (plot summary/synopsis)
In the aftermath of The First Kiss Never Ends story arc, Kaguya-sama Season 4 will catch up with what the other characters have been doing during the winter break. And then the second-year student’s class trip will begin!
But what’s surprising is that Kaguya’s servant Ai Hayasaka asks Miyuki for help in leaving the Shinoiya family! Why would Ai betray Kaguya in this manner?
It turns out that the third Shinomiya brother is plotting against Hayasaka for her decision to leave the family. This shocking turn of events will lead to Kaguya uncovering truths about her family. Will Hayasaka and Kaguya be able to remain friends?
Unfortunately, anime fans will have to wait until the Kaguya-sama: Love is War Season 4 release date to watch what happens next after the movie. Stay tuned!