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Kaguya-sama: MAL is War! Fans Claim Review Bombing as Series Hits #1


Kaguya-sama: MAL is War 1
Credit: A-1 Pictures

Few romance anime shows make it to the first page of MyAnimeList's top anime, and even fewer surpass shonen titles that have enjoyed steady popularity for years. Yet, Kaguya-sama: Love Is War Season 3 - Ultra Romantic - did just that, reaching #1 and dethroning Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood.

Kaguya-sama: MAL is War!

Kaguya-sama: MAL is War 1
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Credit: A-1 Pictures

In the awesome double-episode finale Kaguya and Miyuki end up together after failing to make each other confess for three full seasons.

Long-time Kaguya-sama fans are beyond pleased with the school romance's rise to #1 and consider it well-deserved.

While overanalysing a show's rating isn't considered a great practice in general the third season's sudden rise to number #1 has given rise to a wealth of forum posts.

Many welcome the outcome. Others doubt its authenticity; they believe that Kaguya-sama: Love Is War would never organically surpass fan favorites like Fullmetal: Alchemist Brotherhood and Steins; Gate and claim it only got there because of review bombing.

The recent creation of a number of underdeveloped MAL accounts that give Kaguya-sama Season 3 a score of 10, and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood a score of 1 doesn't help much.

Creating an account simply to make sure a favorite show scores higher at another's expense is immature behavior, though, of course, so is hating a show for surpassing another all-time favorite.

Making forum posts that do not foster fruitful and civil conversation, such as rants, or posts that question a show's rating in bad faith is against MAL rules.

Still, some fans feel that Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood has all the elements that make an anime great and they're vocal about their disappointment that Kaguya-sama surpassed it, even if just for a while.

Will Kaguya-sama: Love Is War Season 3 Remain #1?

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Credit: A-1 Pictures

Romance anime have traditionally ranked lower than their shonen counterparts. The fact that Kaguya-sama: Love Is War Season 3 made it to the top of MAL - causing a MAL war in the process - shows just how beloved the show and its characters are.

The creation of a few fake accounts doesn't cancel the numerous authentic good reviews Kaguya-sama: Love Is War Season 3 deservedly received.

Does this mean that Kaguya-sama will keep its position in the MAL ranks? While it's hard to predict, we doubt it.

Summer 2021 saw a similar pattern after the ending of Fruits Basket Season 3, with the shoujo anime making at the very top of MAL's anime, only for Brotherhood to prevail once again.

Many of the most popular anime get their best-ever ratings shortly after the end of their original run, as, up to that point, they are watched weekly by their most loyal fans.

Post-completion, audiences who have no patience for the weekly format are likely to pick up these shows, and some of them are bound to decide they're not for them, causing ratings to drop a little.

Related: Will There Be a Season 4 of Kaguya-sama: Love Is War?

This might well be the case with Kaguya-sama Season 3, but, then again, few anime have surpassed Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, even briefly, so the seinen anime achieved no small feat!

At the end of the day, ratings shouldn't be treated as the most important thing in any show. They're simply an indicator that many people love a particular show, but there are plenty of hidden gems in the MAL's lowers scores as well, and, ultimately people should feel free to watch what they enjoy without worrying too much about scores.

For more articles like this, take a look at our Anime, Trending, and Kaguya-sama: Love is War pages.