Miyuki Shirogane is the male protagonist of Aka Akasaka's manga Kaguya-sama: Love is War. He is generally seen by the anime/manga fandom as one of the greatest, best-written romantic comedy male leads, and is labeled terms such as "gigachad", "king", and "based" due to his monstrous intellect, confident attitude, and success in pursuing romance with his "way out of his league" crush Kaguya Shinomiya.
The series' wildfire success following the 2019 anime release has also made Miyuki a very popular MC in recent times, which has eventually resulted in him winning several notable character tournaments in just a few years after his anime debut, making him one of the most successful males in saimoe history. Shirogane's best known achievements include winning the International Saimoe League in 2020, and r/anime's Best Guy 7 in early 2021, making history on the former by becoming the first newcomer to complete a perfect season.
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Profile[]
Miyuki Shirogane is the male protagonist of Aka Akasaka's romantic comedy manga and anime series Kaguya-sama: Love is War. The series' premise is about Shirogane and Kaguya being in love with each other, but neither does not want to admit it, so they play "the war of love and brains" to make the other confess. In the story, Miyuki is the student council president of the prestigious Shuchiin Academy who is known for his monstrous intellect and shrewd management skills. He has prominent eyebags, which gives him a perpetually serious look. This is caused by his addiction to hard work, where he forgoes sleep to grind on studies and schoolwork; because of this habit he has developed a dependence on caffeine and will crash if he doesn't get his coffee. According to one of the manga's afterwords, Shirogane is of full Japanese ethnicity, and his yellow hair is a stylistic choice by the mangaka.
It is later revealed that Shirogane comes from a relatively poor household, and his drive to become the top student was motivated by his desire to stand on equal footing alongside Kaguya, who is also one of the best students. The main couple's relationship is a core facet of the series, and its in-depth exploration of their love story compared to other rom-com mangas has won the hearts of many audiences.
When it comes to popularity within the Kaguya-sama fandom, Miyuki pales in comparison to main waifu Kaguya, memelord cute girl Chika, relatable /ourguy/ Ishigami, and Hayasaka simps. This is just speculation as there is no official popularity poll held yet. But in the saimoe contests, Shirogane is monstrously popular because of his anime's success. Even though some of his traits have in common with the typical "nice guy" anime protagonist, he is touted by fans as one of the best-written lead males in romcom mangas, compared to many other guys who serve as "self-inserts". Miyuki also possesses the "protagonist buff", a tendency for main characters to perform better than the supporting cast, making him a safe and easy bet to vote for.
ISML record[]
| ISML Profile Flavor Text | |||||||||||||||||||
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| (written by Momento10)
In order to relieve his family of monetary issues, Miyuki studied diligently, entering the most prestigious high school meant for aristocrats with only his grades. But, he did not stop there. After proving that he is the top student of his school in academics, Miyuki was nominated and elected as student council president, proving that hard work always pays off. Unfortunately, no amount of academic knowledge can help him figure out the complex equation that is love. Every plan he has created is sound on paper; yet, every time he tries to implement it, outside variables prevent him from executing it perfectly. An oblivious secretary, an anti-romance treasurer, and a servant in disguise are just some of the infinite number of reasons why his plans go south. Despite all the things that can make his strategies run amok, Miyuki is stubborn to a fault. He will never give up. He will come up with new ways to try and accommodate each and every variable, all to make a certain girl admit that she has feelings for him. If he can just realize that he is overthinking this entire ordeal, then maybe he will realize that the solution to the convoluted love problem can be as simple as sharing an umbrella under the rain, taking care of her while she is ill, or discussing the stars with her. But, that would be too easy, right? | |||||||||||||||||||
Debuting in the Winter 2019 season, Shirogane first appeared in ISML 2019's couples / ships exhibition with Kaguya and won the contest after beating Hyouka's Oreki and Chitanda in the final.
The president made his proper debut in ISML 2020's main tournament and dominated the tournament from the very beginning. Supported by the massive Shinomiya conglomerate Kaguya-sama voting block and the recent airing of the anime's second season, Miyuki attained the most nomination votes and the highest pot seeding in Split 1, thereby making him the outright favorite to win the Scepter. Only Ishigami, Sakuta, and Riku can rival him in terms of strength. Envisioning the Royal Road ahead of him, Shirogane laid the path's foundations through winning all 35 regular season matches, and was also the first male to break that year's several vote milestones, having earned more than 4000 and 5000 votes in two separate matches. Although he only placed third in the Aquamarine pendant round (won by Riku), he immediately struck back by winning the Topaz pendant, the gem that best matches his hair color.
In the playoffs, Miyuki defeated Taki Tachibana, Kazuma Satou, and fellow cast member Yu Ishigami in the first three rounds, then fought a neck-and-neck final against last year's runner-up Sakuta, which ended with him winning the Scepter by 30 votes, the closest final ever fought in ISML's male division. With this victory, Miyuki cemented his place in ISML history by becoming the first contestant to complete a perfect season in his first eligible Main Tournament appearance.
Main Tournament[]
| ISML 2020 | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominations: 203 votes, 1st | |||||||||||||||||||
| Seedings R1: 33,522.4, seed 1 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Stage | Rd | Opponent | Score | ||||||||||||||||
| Split 1 Group A 5-0, 1st |
Aqua 1 |  Rentarou Satomi
|
2793 - 897 | ||||||||||||||||
| Aqua 2 |  Taihei Doma
|
3650 - 1097 | |||||||||||||||||
| Aqua 3 |  Masamune Izumi
|
3301 - 1820 | |||||||||||||||||
| Aqua 4 |  Eren Yeager
|
4785 - 1385 | |||||||||||||||||
| Aqua 5 |  Kusuo Saiki
|
2922 - 1375 | |||||||||||||||||
| Split 2 Group A 15-0, 1st |
Tpz 1 |  Shidou Itsuka
|
2321 - 1237 | ||||||||||||||||
| Tpz 2 |  Merlin (F/GO)
|
2591 - 1045 | |||||||||||||||||
| Tpz 3 | Kusuo Saiki (x2)
|
2952 - 1627 | |||||||||||||||||
| Tpz 4 |  Zenitsu Agatsuma
|
3303 - 1214 | |||||||||||||||||
| Tpz 5 |  Tanjirou Kamado
|
3286 - 1935 | |||||||||||||||||
| Amet 1 |  Naruto Uzumaki
|
3273 - 988 | |||||||||||||||||
| Amet 2 |  Kiritsugu Emiya
|
2343 - 1189 | |||||||||||||||||
| Amet 3 |  Yuzuru Otonashi
|
3798 - 1632 | |||||||||||||||||
| Amet 4 |  Yato
|
3087 - 1408 | |||||||||||||||||
| Amet 5 |  Subaru Natsuki
|
3799 - 2411 | |||||||||||||||||
| Sapp 1 |  Giyuu Tomioka
|
4243 - 2344 | |||||||||||||||||
| Sapp 2 |  Shirou Emiya
|
3160 - 2599 | |||||||||||||||||
| Sapp 3 |  Ainz Ooal Gown
|
4610 - 2104 | |||||||||||||||||
| Sapp 4 |  Joseph Joestar
|
4702 - 2321 | |||||||||||||||||
| Sapp 5 |  Kiyotaka Ayanokouji
|
3238 - 2186 | |||||||||||||||||
| Split 3 Group A 15-0, 1st | |||||||||||||||||||
| Eme 1 |  Yuu Otosaka
|
4833 - 3312 | |||||||||||||||||
| Eme 2 |  Saitama
|
3400 - 1913 | |||||||||||||||||
| Eme 3 |  Rintarou Okabe
|
3706 - 2954 | |||||||||||||||||
| Eme 4 |  Edward Elric
|
4134 - 2049 | |||||||||||||||||
| Eme 5 |  Levi Ackerman
|
4237 - 2811 | |||||||||||||||||
| Ruby 1 | Shirou Emiya (x2)
|
3923 - 2767 | |||||||||||||||||
| Ruby 2 |  Sorata Kanda
|
3874 - 2293 | |||||||||||||||||
| Ruby 3 | Kiritsugu Emiya (x2)
|
4261 - 2503 | |||||||||||||||||
| Ruby 4 | Shidou Itsuka (x2)
|
4904 - 2130 | |||||||||||||||||
| Ruby 5 |  Touma Kamijou
|
4837 - 2729 | |||||||||||||||||
| Dia 1 |  Kazuma Satou
|
4080 - 2847 | |||||||||||||||||
| Dia 2 | Subaru Natsuki (x2)
|
4276 - 2694 | |||||||||||||||||
| Dia 3 |  Takashi Natsume
|
4321 - 2063 | |||||||||||||||||
| Dia 4 | Yato (x2)
|
5077 - 2630 | |||||||||||||||||
| Dia 5 |  Riku Dola
|
4569 - 3239 | |||||||||||||||||
| Playoffs Seed A1 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Ro16 | (B8)  Taki Tachibana
|
6388 - 3752 | |||||||||||||||||
| QF | (A5) Kazuma Satou
|
6947 - 3999 | |||||||||||||||||
| SF | (B3)  Yuu Ishigami
|
8107 - 5307 | |||||||||||||||||
| Final | (B1)  Sakuta Azusagawa
|
8474 - 8444 | |||||||||||||||||
| Final position: CHAMPION | |||||||||||||||||||
Gem Record:
- Appearances: 2
- 2021: Aquamarine (3rd), Topaz (Winner)
Other[]
Tournament of Champions
While Shirogane had a historic ISML championship run, in his first tournament of champions appearance in 2021 he was finally handed his first-ever loss in the second group round by Rimuru Tempest, whose show Slime Isekai was currently airing its second season. He also lost to eventual 3-time finalists Oreki and Hachiman, and defeated the remaining contestants, finishing with a 4-3 record and tying the slime for 3rd place.
He will attempt to challenge his claim for the ToC title in 2022, using his own anime's 3rd season as leverage.
ISML 2019 Couples / Ships Tournament (w/ 
Kaguya Shinomiya):
- TBD
Poster gallery[]
r/anime[]
Miyuki debuted in r/anime's Best Guy 6, held during the Winter 2020 season, as the #6 seed. This placed him in the second half of Group D together with #11 seed Yu Ishigami; their rivalry match in the round of 16 was hotly anticipated by users. However, this match-up was spoiled by #22 seed Sakuta kicking the treasurer out in the round of 32. In an apparent act of revenge, Shirogane defeated the rascal to reach the Elite Eight for the first time. In the quarter-finals, he lost to a reawakened #3 seed All Might, who was coming off a key role in My Hero Academia season 4.
The president then secured the top seed of Best Character 5 and cruised to the elite eight, but lost to eventual champion Edward Elric in the quarter-finals. A few months later, Shirogane would finally win Best Guy 7 as a #3 seed due to his series' general popularity among r/anime users. His final match pitted him against Ishigami, which was met with apathy as the result is obvious.
After winning Best Guy 7, Shirogane joins Lelouch and Koro-sensei as the third male character who became champion in both ISML and an r/anime major tournament.
Best Guy 6 - seed 6
(507) Zeref Dragneel @ Fairy Tail -- 900 - 84- (262) Yuki Souma @ Fruits Basket -- 972 - 169
- (134) Yusuke Urameshi @ Yu Yu Hakusho -- 762 - 301
- (59) James @ Pokemon -- 928 - 382
- (38) Teruki Hanazawa @ Mob Psycho 100 -- 928 - 550
- (22) Sakuta Azusagawa @ Seishun Buta Yarou -- 842 - 715
- (3) All Might @ My Hero Academia - 1053 -- 1246
Best Guy 7 - seed 3
- (510) Jukai @ Dororo - 612 - 79
- (254) Kazuma Souma @ Fruits Basket -- 551 - 121
- (126) Souma Yukihira @ Shokugeki no Souma -- 737 - 223
- (67) Rei Kiriyama @ 3-gatsu no Lion -- 427 - 335
- (30) Shouto Todoroki @ My Hero Academia -- 1104 - 328
- (14) Alphonse Elric @ Fullmetal Alchemist -- 979 - 436
- (6) Kazuma Satou @ Konosuba -- 1176 - 686
- (7) Reigen Arataka @ Mob Psycho 100 -- 920 - 752
- (9) Yu Ishigami @ Kaguya-sama -- 960 - 385
Best Character 5 - seed 1
- (512) Kouko Kaga @ Golden Time -- 823 - 136
- (256) Tohru Honda @ Fruits Basket -- 942 - 385
- (129) Thorfinn @ Vinland Saga -- 955 - 437
- (65) Asuka Langley Soryu @ Evangelion -- 784 - 524
- (33) Winry Rockbell @ Fullmetal Alchemist -- 885 - 543
- (16) Ryuko Matoi @ Kill la Kill -- 777 - 682
- (8) Edward Elric @ Fullmetal Alchemist -- 703 - 1154
Honours[]
Best Guy 7 - Winner
Contest Wins[]
Total Wins (6) - (
)
- ISML 2020 Lapis Scepter ★
- Best Guy 7 ★
- Animebracket Best Boy of 2019 [1]
- Anitwitter Awards 2020 Spring [2]
- Mangahelpers Best Couple 2021 (ft. Kaguya Shinomiya) [3]
- MyanimeList Best Boy of the Year 2019 [4]
Non-Contest Honours[]
- Crunchyroll Anime Awards Best Couple 2020 (ft. Kaguya Shinomiya) [5]
External links[]
Beware of spoilers and pop-ups.
- Kaguya-sama Wikia
- MyAnimeList
- Baike Baidu (Chinese)
- Moegirl (Chinese)
- NamuWiki (Korean)
| ISML Pendant Winners | |
|---|---|
| First year of pendant win only. Crowns from 2015 are included. | |
| 2015 |  8man • Otonashi •  Archer •  Koyomi •  Sora •  Accelerator •  Lelouch
|
| 2016 |  Koro-sensei • Kiritsugu
|
| 2017 |  Nagisa S. • Levi •  Souma • Touma
|
| 2018 | Okabe • Taki •  Willem
|
| 2019 |  Slime • Riku • Sakuta • Kiyotaka •  Tomoya •  Yuuta
|
| 2020 |  Shirogane • Ishigami •  Gilgamesh
|
| 2021 | Sorata •  Kirito
|
| International Saimoe League Champions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Heavenly Tiara | ||
 Fate Testarossa •  Hinagiku Katsura •  Mio Akiyama •  Mikoto Misaka •  Kanade Tachibana •  Ruri Gokou •  Kotori Itsuka •  Eru Chitanda •  Shana •  Megumi Katou •  Rem •  Violet Evergarden •  Yukino Yukinoshita •  Elaina • 2022
| ||
| Lapis Scepter | ||
Lelouch LamperougeEx • Kazuto KirigayaEx •  Houtarou OrekiEx •  Hideyoshi KinoshitaEx • Accelerator • Sora • Koro-sensei • Hachiman Hikigaya • Rimuru Tempest • Miyuki Shirogane • Sakuta Azusagawa • 2022
| ||
| Ex - Exhibition tournament: Counted as official winners, but not recognized on the ISML website's main page | ||
