Kaguya-sama: Love Is War, Sub or Dub?
The official Japanese and English casts side by side, the season 3 substitution for Shirogane, and why the narrator is the real deciding factor.
All three Kaguya-sama: Love Is War seasons have English dubs credited in Anime News Network's encyclopedia, with the same leads throughout. Choose the dub if you would rather hear the narrator than read him. Choose Japanese if you want Aoi Koga and Makoto Furukawa as the leads. The series credits a narrator alongside the cast, and in English that voice is Ian Sinclair, so narration is the practical difference to test.
Who plays whom
The official US site for -Ultra Romantic- lists the Japanese and English casts side by side:
| Character | Japanese | English |
|---|---|---|
| Kaguya Shinomiya | Aoi Koga | Alexis Tipton |
| Miyuki Shirogane | Makoto Furukawa | Aaron Dismuke |
| Chika Fujiwara | Konomi Kohara | Jad Saxton |
| Yu Ishigami | Ryota Suzuki | Austin Tindle |
| Miko Iino | Miyu Tomita | Madeleine Morris |
| Ai Hayasaka | Yumiri Hanamori | AmaLee |
| Maki Shijo | Kana Ichinose | Hope Endrenyi |
| Narrator | Yutaka Aoyama | Ian Sinclair |
The same page credits A-1 Pictures with production and Mamoru Hatakeyama as director. Its English credits name Aaron Dismuke, Morgan Garrett and Michelle Rojas as ADR directors and Jessica Sluys as ADR script writer. ANN's encyclopedia lists Tipton, Dismuke and Saxton in the same roles for the first and second seasons, with Sinclair credited as narrator for season 2.
One substitution in season 3
When Crunchyroll announced the third season's dub, ANN reported a note in the cast list: Clifford Chapin would play Miyuki Shirogane until Dismuke was off vocal rest. If Shirogane sounds different in some -Ultra Romantic- episodes, that is the reason, not a recasting error. ANN's report also names Dismuke as one of the season's three dub directors, so the English Shirogane was also helping to direct the dub.
What to listen for
VIZ and the official anime introductions describe the premise as a contest of schemes: each lead plans to make the other confess first. A narrator commenting on those plans adds a second stream of speech to a scene. With subtitles, narration and dialogue both arrive as text, so a fast exchange can mean reading two things at once. With the dub, the narration arrives as sound and your eyes stay on the scene. That is our reasoning about the format, not a report on any particular episode.
None of this is a verdict on the performances. A cast list cannot tell you whether Tipton's Kaguya or Koga's lands better in a given scene. For a fair test, pick one episode, watch the same scheming exchange in both languages, and notice which version keeps the narration's timing intact for you.
The film and the 2025 special
ANN's encyclopedia lists Tipton, Dismuke, Saxton and other members of the series dub cast for The First Kiss That Never Ends, which opened in US and Canadian theaters on February 14, 2023. Its entry for the 2025 special Stairway to Adulthood lists a few English cast credits, among them Austin Tindle as Yu Ishigami, but none for Kaguya, Shirogane or the narrator, so we have not confirmed a full English dub. ANN reported that Crunchyroll began streaming the special in select regions on December 31, 2025. Check your service before assuming it is dubbed.
For the sequence of seasons, film and special, see the watch order. If you want the characters on the page instead, the manga catalog lists the complete VIZ run, and our study of Chika Fujiwara cites the official episode synopses.