Nisekoi Manga Review
No matter how many girls join this harem, it still turns out interesting somehow.
PRODUCTION INFO
Nisekoi was both written and illustrated by Naoshi Komi. It first started as a one-shot manga, but later became its own series which was published in the Weekly Shounen Jump. It was first released in manga form in 2011, and it's still currently ongoing. Nisekoi has spawned two seasons of anime, a novel series titled Nisekoi: Urabana, and a game for the PSVita. The anime is available to watch in English on Crunchyroll.
STORY
Nisekoi is the story of a boy and his childhood promise to a girl. When Raku Ichijo was very small, he told a girl that they would get married when they see each other again. Now he is in high school and he has his own crush-- Kosaki Onodera. But could she be the one he made his promise to? It’s hard to find out, especially when his yakuza family has him pretending to be in love with the daughter of another gang leader!
WHAT TO EXPECT
This is a love triangle, and as the story progresses, it becomes more of a dramatic harem. Nisekoi contains tsundere aspects as well as gentle, more lax characters, and characters that want to kill Raku half the time. If you’ve seen the anime, the manga is a lot less ecchi, although it does have its moments...
MAIN CHARACTERS
Raku Ichijo is the supposed heir to a yakuza gang, but he denies that he will ever have anything to do with it. Instead, he wants to live a basic life as a civil servant. When he is forcedly paired up with Chitoge Kirisaki by his father, he starts to struggle with his daily life, even at school, and finds it difficult to meet with his crush, Kosaki Onodera. Chitoge actually met Raku before they were forced to fake dating by their parents, but they didn’t get off to a great start, and immediately began hating each other’s guts, making the pretend love an even greater misery.
OPINIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS
I picked up Nisekoi by chance at my library. They only had the first volume available, but I was instantly glued to it! I put every other volume they had on hold and I couldn’t stop reading until I had read all of them. I thought it was going to be bad at first, with the typical childhood promise to get married. Not only that, but it turned out to be a love triangle! That usually spells disaster for dramas! And it even became a harem! Yet, somehow, they managed to make this shounen romance a really good one. The characters are mostly fun, even if they don’t seem enjoyable at first. My favourite character is Kosaki, though. She’s so adorable and gentle, I can really understand how Raku feels about her. Even Chitoge turns out to be a cute tsundere character, though. As the story progresses, more characters are introduced and the love triangle gets a little haremy. Regardless, the manga is very story-oriented and never wavers in that category. I was actually a bit disappointed with the anime, since it was more focused on visuals than story, and it didn’t seem like the plot was getting the treatment it deserved. Neither medium was bad, though. It’s enjoyable either way.
RATING
8/10
