That One Manga Blog
What It’s About: High school student, Raku Ichijo, just wants to leave his yakuza family behind. However, an impending gang war between his father’s yakuza gang and another group of thugs, the Beehive gang, forces him to pretend to be in love with the annoying new transfer student and daughter of the Beehive gang leader, Chitoge Kirisaki, in order to keep the peace. Raku’s life just got much more complicated. Can he keep up the charade? And will he ever be able to confess his true feelings to the girl he actually likes, Kosaki Onodera?
The Good: Naoshi Komi is a fantastic artist. I checked out a previously canceled series by Komi, called Double Arts, and the villain design in that one legitimately scared me. The art is clean and polished. Most importantly, the characters don’t look like aliens. While I never laughed out loud, I do admit to smiling a couple of times. I think that this series could be a serious mood-brightener if the synopsis sounds interesting enough to you. I certainly had a fun time reading it. The whole thing almost has the feel of a 4-koma series. It’s a fun little gag manga. In terms of characters, they are fine I guess. Chitoge in particular has the potential to be really interesting, yet also really annoying. I do believe this to be on purpose though. The series was based off of a one-shot that Naoshi Komi did in January of 2011, and if you enjoyed this volume, I highly recommend checking it out, because it is adorable.
The Bad: While I did enjoy this volume, I’m having a bit of trouble recalling anything about it, and I just finished it yesterday. Yeah, Nisekoi is kind of forgettable, and it’s not exactly going to rock your world with originality. This is a harem series, and just about everything in it has been done before. The series has a sweetness to it that I quite like, but I’m dreading the appearance of the rest of the harem. I think that the dynamic between Raku, Chitoge, and Kosaki is very amusing, and I worry about how other girls being introduced will throw off that dynamic. I also have to say that I find a certain storyline, which involves a pendant, to be face-palmingly ridiculous. Really Raku, she was the most important girl to you ever and you can’t remember her face or name, really?!
Availability: Nisekoi is available from Viz in both digital and print forms. A highly anticipated anime adaptation of the series is going to start airing on January 11, 2014, and will be streaming on Aniplex USA.