Nisekoi

Raku Ichijou, a first-year student at Bonyari High School, is the sole heir to an intimidating yakuza family. Ten years ago, Raku made a promise to his childhood friend. Now, all he has to go on is a pendant with a lock, which can only be unlocked with the key which the girl took with her when they parted.

Now, years later, Raku has grown into a typical teenager, and all he wants is to remain as uninvolved in his yakuza background as possible while spending his school days alongside his middle school crush Kosaki Onodera. However, when the American Bee Hive Gang invades his family's turf, Raku's idyllic romantic dreams are sent for a toss as he is dragged into a frustrating conflict: Raku is to pretend that he is in a romantic relationship with Chitoge Kirisaki, the beautiful daughter of the Bee Hive's chief, so as to reduce the friction between the two groups. Unfortunately, reality could not be farther from this whopping lie—Raku and Chitoge fall in hate at first sight, as the girl is convinced he is a pathetic pushover, and in Raku's eyes, Chitoge is about as attractive as a savage gorilla.

Nisekoi follows the daily antics of this mismatched couple who have been forced to get along for the sake of maintaining the city's peace. With many more girls popping up his life, all involved with Raku's past somehow, his search for the girl who holds his heart and his promise leads him in more unexpected directions than he expects.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Kirisaki, Chitoge Main

Touyama, Nao Japanese

Onodera, Kosaki Main

Hanazawa, Kana Japanese

Ichijou, Raku Main

Uchiyama, Kouki Japanese

Tsugumi, Seishirou ing

Komatsu, Mikako Japanese

Tachibana, Marika ing

Asumi, Kana Japanese

Maiko, Shuu ing

Kaji, Yuuki Japanese

Miyamoto, Ruri ing

Uchiyama, Yumi Japanese

Sasaki, Ryuunosuke ing

Hiyama, Nobuyuki Japanese

Onodera, Nanako ing

Ohara, Sayaka Japanese

Ringheart, Claude ing

Koyasu, Takehito Japanese

Iwakami, Atsuhiro Producer

Kubota, Mitsutoshi Producer

Maruyama, Hiroo Producer

Kananiwa, Kozue Assistant Producer

Reviews

May 24, 2014

Suratu

Recommended

Is it possible to like something that is completely unoriginal? According to Nisekoi, yes, it is.

When Nisekoi was slated for an anime production by studio Shaft, the fans of the manga were torn between elation that it was actually being adapted and complete terror that Shaft would be doing it. If you’re not aware with the common stereotypes of anime studios, a frank description of Shaft would be, “They do whatever they want.” Shaft has never been shy of putting their own... unique spin on their adaptions. And, hey, whatta ya know, it actually works.

The Shaft visuals are capable of turning a ... few heads, but they’re never overpowering as they are in many of their other shows, and the story and setting have an inexplicable charm to them despite the fact that literally every character and literally every situation has been done before.

Story: 6/10
The story of Nisekoi is not one of its strong points. I don't think anybody but the most diehard fans would even bother offering any sort of rebuttal here. It plays on almost every cliché in the book, from the childhood promise, to the fated encounter, to the downright absurd misunderstandings, even to the freaking beach episode, that I can’t help but think that this is all some elaborate parody of the harem genre. If it is, then the author did a damn good job because it certainly feels like one.

If you're looking for something believable, you won't find anything of the sort here. I realize that this is fiction, but there is a line up to where I'm willing to suspend my disbelief and Nisekoi clearly crosses it. I understand that we don't that much from our childhood, but do you really expect me to believe that a person would completely forget nearly every friend he had—not just their faces and names, but their actual existence? Is this where the “main character gets amnesia from an injury” cliché comes in?

I know every harem can get a little ridiculous, and I'm going to criticize it every time.

Art & Animation: 9/10
Typically there's not a whole lot of action going on in high school romantic comedies and harems, so the “Art & Animation” category is really just an “Art & Waifus” rating. Are the girls waifu material? (Alternatively, are the boys husbando material?) If so, 10/10, anime of the year, etc. Jokes aside, it's true that there really isn't much to say other than the art is pleasant. Everything is just solid and complement the scenes well.

However, I think this section deserves more discussion however simply due to the fact that Shaft is at work. As I've stated, many fans of the manga were worried that Shaft would take their style too far and that it would detract heavily from the source material, which many believe to be too inherently “normal” to be deflowered by Shaft's hands, but fortunately that was not the case here. Sure, you've got Shinbo's signature camera angles and a few strangely elaborate backgrounds (and some intentionally simple ones), but these don't define the show as they might have in Bakemonogatari or Madoka Magica.

Nisekoi is a Shaft show, sure, but it is not definitively so, which comes as a great relief to many, I'd imagine.

Sound: 7/10
The voices are perfect. That's all that needs to be said. There was not a single voice that didn't fit a character to the tee.

The soundtrack is neither great nor distracting. To be honest, I can't really pick out more than one song that I'd actually being played, and I usually am a huge fan of background music and pay a lot of attention to it. It all sort of blended in, and I'm frankly not sure whether that's a good or bad thing.

My only genuine complaint is that the opening and ending songs are just so generic. Though, now that I think about it, maybe that was the whole point. Regardless, I didn't really find myself liking any of them. ClariS didn't really try to make their tracks stand out from any of their others, and some harsher critics might say that none of theirs are ever original-sounding. As for the character songs: it's always nice to hear the characters sing, but the songs just weren't that great.

Characters: 7/10
If the story is cliché and generic, could it be possible that the characters rise to the occasion and present themselves as deep, fleshed out vessels complete with compelling motivations and relatable desires and realistic decisions?

Nope.

The tsundere main girl? Check. The “good girl” (a.k.a. the Yamato nadeshiko)? Check. The perverted best friend that gets his ass handed to him every episode? Check. There is literally no character that isn't a practically a carbon copy of a past character or at the very least a blending of two. On top of that, the main characters are dense as dense can be, which makes it so easy for the ridiculous misunderstandings to manifest.

So why would I give this an acceptable score of 7/10? See the next section.

Enjoyment: 9/10
All of my complaining might actually convince someone that I dislike this anime because of how generic it is. On the contrary; I find all of the enjoyment in reveling in just how cliché nearly every moment is. If you've seen even 2 or 3 harems (and I've probably seen dozens), you can call out just about everything that is going to happen in each episode and in each scene. It's that predictable. Yet, there is an inexplicable charm which pervades the series. Yes, I was literally facepalming at nearly every scene in the show, but underneath that palm was a gigantic smile that I just couldn't hold back.

Overall: 7/10
Nisekoi is not a groundbreaking anime by any means, but if it has proven one thing, it’s that originality is extremely overrated. All you need is a little charm, solid execution, and, of course, waifus. There's a reason that this story and these characters have been done before, and that's because they're enjoyable. Perhaps some of us are just in denial.

Here's for the inevitable season 2.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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May 29, 2014

StyleF1re

Mixed Feelings

Updated: 13, July 2016


I regret initially writing off Nisekoi as another run-of-the-mill romance-comedy. Though preposterous and frantic at its core, Shaft knew exactly how to exploit the source material using trademark visual and directional cues. The results boast of vivid color and heavenly charm, most evidently in the heat of moments between Raku and Chitoge. Venture beyond the surface of dense personalities and logical fallacies, and what remains to be seen underneath is a love-hate spectacular in its purest state.

Treading back on my mention of density and fallacies, both detriments were loud and clear for much of the run. Ramifications dimmed the lights on ... what could have been a blockbuster showcase between premier rivals. Whenever Chitoge or Kosaki would garner momentum to close in on Raku, the most timely of occurrences or character appearances would quickly separate the participants as a boxing referee would. The ing were irrelevant outside of interfering with Raku, Chitoge, or Kosaki, or distracting the audience by means of cheesy punchlines, retorts, and archetypal behaviors.

Divisive components meshed together to form a predictable, cyclic scheme sapping this series of its true potential. Developments were overly reliant on genre stereotypes and misunderstandings. It really is a shame, considering how intimate conversations involving Raku and the main heroines were meaningful, sensible, and even nostalgic in my case. These are all moments that mark a fine reminder to what falling in love should be about.


SPOILERS onward (based on final impressions).


The lock-and-key mystery should have been resolved with more urgency or geared with fascinating implications in the long run. Snapping the key after all that commotion was downright cruel, a wasteful hype charade with little substance or significance. And why keep the clingy and shallow Marika in the dark for so long? Her facile presence lacked sincerity, while her grounds of adhering to events well in the past were baseless.

Although the cake itself was unsatisfactory, the finale brought its own complimentary spread of flavorful toppings. Tragic for all the wrong reasons, this unconventional spin on a legendary epic fell right into the series’ wheelhouse of comic relief and execution on-the-fly. How sweet it was to watch Raku and Kosaki give the script a second go! The invigorating inclusion really sent this spectacle out with a bang, one that could very well pay dividends in the future.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Jun 15, 2015

VainderMuffin

Not Recommended

With harem series we have a few rules:
1: The Main character must be dense
2: The side characters are better than the heroines
3: No romatic conclusion
Nisekoi strikes the nail on the head when it comes to being generic in most aspects.
Like a doctor I will first deliver the good news then the bad news.

The art in Nisekoi was quite beautiful. I love it when an anime is as colorful and liberal (in changing art style) as Nisekoi is. My only issue is that the girls are in constant blush.


Audio was good. Didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. I do like ... Click the OP.


Characters:
Raku- Basic harem MC (dense as a neutron star)
Chitoge- Basic Tsundere
Onodera- Basic suck-up character (like Saukura in Fate/stay night, the Fate and UBW routes)
Onodera's sister- Already forgot her name. Don't care anymore really.
Marie- Not enough screen time and was rushed in at the lend of first season. Is actually pretty cool in a perverted manipulitive manner.
Chitoge's slave- Unnesesary big boobs
That's all I can

Story:
Prepare for the bad news.
Nisekoi would have been good if it hadn't tried to force a backstory. You know the one. The one with the locket and stuff. For the uninformed plebs, Nisekoi's backstory goes into how Raku and his playmate from his childhood made a promise to marry. The promise is sealed with a key (literally) as the girl locked a locket with a key and gave it to raku as a means for them to find eachother again. 10 years later he's a teenager in highschool. Like most adolesent males he's thinking about girls. The girl he particularly has his eyes on is Onodera. The two had flirted all through middle school and were preping to do the same in high school. That is, untill transfer student Chitoge slammed her way into his life and due to certain family circumstances they are forced to pretend to date. Then to add even more feul to the fire of potential they both have keys. This raises so many questions: Which key is the right one? Is he going to start to love Chitoge or will his flirtationship with Onodera stop him? Is he going to remain true to his promise he made as a kid or will he move on and date who he loves? The anime slowly feeds these questions with dates with both of the girls and signals that both of the girls like him. Then at a climax the show has Chitoge try the locket to see if she's the girl. The locket breaks leaving the questions the show gives us on hold untill the locket is repaired (which doesn't really happen). This would be no problem to me if the show didn't end the way it did. Instead of bringing he locket back for a great climatic finale that resolves all of the questions invokes upon us the ending features Raku reconciling with Harem Girl A, Chitoge after a fight. This climax has nothing to do with the sideplot whatsoever. Then in the second season the show finally hammers the nail into the coffin by telling us the locket will never be fixed.

Enjoyment:
If it wern't obvoius from the rant above, watching nisekoi was not enjoyable. I would have enjoyed it better if they hadn't included the backstory subplot and just focused on the Romatic Comedy section. Also if they just had all of the girls in the begining intead of adding them every 3-4 episodes that would be great. And every girl doesn't need a key.

**Disclaimer**
**Nisekoi is kinda a show without spoilers cause harems never have a proper conclusion so don't get your panties in a twist with the plot events that I've mentioned.**

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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