Anime Review #2: Nisekoi

Nisekoi (False Love)

adapted from Nisekoi by Komi Naoshi

Raku Ichijou is an average high school student. He also happens to be the sole heir to the head of a Yakuza Family called the Shuei-gumi. Ten years ago, Raku made a promise... a secret promise with a girl he met. They promised one another that they will "get married when they reunite." Since then, Raku never let go of the pendant the girl gave him.

Then one day, a beautiful girl named Chitoge Kirisaki transfers into Raku's class. Their chemistry was more than off. There was not a moment where they were not fighting. But by a weird turn of events, Raku and Chitoge agree to become fake lovers. Although his heart is really interested in his classmate Kosaki Onodera, Raku must continue pretending to be Chitoge's boyfriend.

Episodes: 20
Status: Finished Airing
Airing Date: January 11, 2014 to May 24, 2014
Producers: Aniplex, Shaft, Aniplex of America
Genres: Comedy, Romance, Shounen, Harem



The Review

My review might seem a bit off, but overall, I really enjoyed Nisekoi. It is really funny and entertaining, and there is no boring episode. Sort of.

The Story: 1/5

• Nisekoi's plot is rather unexceptional. It is one of the typical, cliched rom-com shows. It deals with a boy who made a promise of marriage to a girl 10 years ago, and now he can't remember her face or her name. Okay, so who exactly would make a life-changing promise like that to a person whom you'll eventually forget?
• The episodes are rather far from attention-catching. There is nothing new. The typical anime episodes are there like the festivals, beach, school plays, etc.
• The storyline should be interesting because why would you watch something that's already cliche? That would just ruin the fun. And it could be a waste of time, too.
• The promise. So, Raku made a promise to a girl right? And this girl owns a key that could open his locket. There were so many girls in this anime, and out of all those girls, there were 3 possible owners of this key. The plot twists were literally twists. They made me dizzy. Haha.
• The ending. The ending didn't really justify the story. There were so many holes. For one, what happened to the locket that he gave to a repair man? Another hole would be, who exactly is the owner of the key that could open the locket? It wasn't really stated whether it was Tachibana, Onodera, or Kirisaki. I mean, yes, Raku and Tachibana have a picture together with Tachibana holding a key, and Raku is holding his locket. But, in my opinion, that doesn't really prove anything. Kirisaki and Onodera also made promises to a boy 10 years ago, just like what happened to Raku. There were so many twists and omg I just don't know anymore.
• The plot is very, very slow in progression and I almost wanted to drop the anime, but it was so entertaining, I just kept going.

The Art: 5/5

• No words. The art was really amazing. There wasn't an episode that would lack in art. Purely amazing.
• If you judge an anime by its art, Nisekoi would probably be one of your best picks.

Characters: 3/5

• Raku Ichijo. He is the main character. At the beginning of the story, he seems to be the dense type. Well, he sort of is. He is exceptionally good in cooking, and he's very friendly. His actions don't really justify the plot and idk the plot is just too weak, and its weakness affected the character strengths.
• Chitoge Kirisaki. The female lead. Sort of. She is strong-willed, and she fears dark and tight spaces. She's loud, annoying, obnoxious, and all other adjectives synonymous to those. She's pretty, by the way. So she's basically the typical tsundere. She isn't the annoying type of tsundere, though. As the story progresses, (measured in episodes) she becomes likable.
• Kosaki Onodera. She's very shy and timid. She doens't have the strength to confess to Raku. She has a very loyal friend, Ruri, who always pushes her to confess. Whenever she tries to confess to Raku, inevitable circumstances come in. This is, again, a shortcoming of the plot and this isn't Onodera's fault. Haha. She's very cute and pretty, too.
• The other remaining characters like Tsugumi, Tachibana, Ruri, Maiko, etc. just serve as spice to the love triangle of those 3.

Sound: 5/5

• The OST is very catchy and cute and yay it's so enjoyable.
• "CLICK" by ClariS
• "STEP" by ClariS

Overall: 3/5

Recommendations

• Kaichou wa Maid-sama!: both of the animes are in the rom-com genre, and both of their leading ladies keep on denying their love for the main guy. The main guy in both of the animes are also heartthrobs in their school, somehow. There are also a lot of typical anime episode scenes in both animes: the beach, the school play, and the festival.
• Toradora!: both of the animes have a scary-looking main guy who is actually nice, and both of them also have a tsundere main girl.

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PS. I just made my banner "Moonlight Nostalgia" to mirror my URL. I still want to keep the "A Cloud of Euphoria" for my signatures because it just seems cute. (jk, i'm just really lazy to edit things lol)