Nisekoi

Nisekoi is a romantic-comedy anime adaptation of a Weekly Shonen Jump manga of the same name. I admit I was reluctant to watch this because I'm not usually into the romance genre, but I'm glad I watched this to the end.

The story is pretty straightforward. The main character, Raku Ichijou, is a teenage student and is part of a Yakuza family. He carries around a lock, from a promise he made with a girl a decade ago, who holds a key to the lock. However, he's unsure (and doesn't remember) who exactly this girl was. He currently has a crush on a deredere, but then ... suddenly a tsundere enters his life, and under some circumstance, he has to pretend to be in a relationship with her. The anime eventually becomes a harem, with more -deres entering Ichijou's life.

The pacing of the anime is fine, and it has no filler episodes. The humour is where the anime truly shines. It's amusing to watch Ichijou and Chitoge Kirisaki arguing with each other, and throwing insults. However, the anime does have its serious/dramatic moments, but nothing that'd make you depressed or anything. Even though the anime has some predictable twists, the story is overall executed well.

The ending doesn't wrap things up. Even though it doesn't end on a cliffhanger, the anime looks open to have a second season. The final episode, though unique, just felt like another episode of Nisekoi.

The anime was produced by SHAFT, so if you enjoyed other avant-garde anime produced by SHAFT, like Bakemonogatari and Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica, then you should enjoy the artstyle of Nisekoi's. Basically, studio SHAFT anime use bizarre artstyles with the anime they produce, and this anime is no exception.

SHAFT really brought the anime to life, and I cannot imagine how generic this anime would've looked if another studio had produced it. The quality of the animation stays consistent throughout. Because it's studio SHAFT, the backgrounds look like wallpaper, and other stuff looks like it had been cut out from sugar paper.

The characters have nice designs, and there's a lot of blushing from the main characters throughout the anime. I feel that the female leads' clothing look too similar to each others, but they're school uniforms and a lot of anime consists of characters wearing school uniforms, therefore having similar appearances.

The voice-acting is superb. Nao Touyama in particular gives an excellent performance as Kirisaki, and fits the role perfectly. The background music is minimal and isn't distracting, and suitable music is played at the right moments. A lot of usage of the accordion. The openings and endings are your typical upbeat J-pop. The first opening is quite memorable.

The male lead is shown to be caring and thoughtful, but tends to hold a grudge. I wouldn't call him a dumb harem protagonist. The female characters reinforce their -dere stereotypes. Typical for gag anime, there's a lot of shouting and silly-looking facial expressions from the characters, which I find funny. There is some character development here and there. The supporting cast appear when they need to. The tsundere (Chitoge Kirisaki) is the character I'd remember the most from Nisekoi in the future.

I think people who like harem anime will enjoy this the most, because of the cute girls in it and a particular episode that has sexual fanservice in it. I mostly enjoyed it because of the comedy. For people who have never watched an anime before, this works well as a gateway anime. But like most anime set in high school, it's more of an otaku anime, and will never be a mainstream one.

The series will be memorable because of Chitoge Kirisaki. The artstyle made it unique, and I had fun watching it.

I didn't look for any review of Nisekoi nor looking for information of it, recommended by my cousin who loves anime too (without any spoil), so I began to watch this show. Each episodes are fine, pacing are good, balance in both of romance and comedy. At the first I do not think it would be as funny as it, but it turns out vice versa.

For the chara design, it's all good, I like them. And I think their expressions was exceptional, truly amaze, if you have seen this show, you'll get what I thought, but I don't like the idea of "sprinkling" part, it ... kind of weird for me.

What makes it better is there's Hanazawa Kana-san as one of MC seiyuu. I like her voice that sounds really lovely. As ussual, she fitted well with the chara voice. Other's seiyuu was not bad too.

A bit disappointed at the ending (final eps), cause I think the story isn't near to the end at all. But when I found out the 2nd season will soon be aired, it makes me a little relieved. I can't wait for it.

Overall I like this anime because it tells humorous school live romance, you should watch this show if you like comedy romance genres, I bet you'll be crazy about it.

So I was skeptical when I started this show, I thought it would be a dumb harem show. Instead it left me pleasantly surpised, it was a show that just always made me smile.

The story in Nisekoi is not anything amazing as you expect, there is one but it progresses slowly. The main character Raku made a promise to a girl when he was younger that they would get married when they grew up. Raku had a lock and the girl had a key so they can verify each other's identities when they are older.

The Art and Audio of the show is great. I ... really like the art style and the music fits perfectly into scenes, no complaints here.

The characters are what makes Nisekoi. I really enjoyed seeing all the characters, and as a harem anime they fight for Raku. Now the two main girls are Chitoge and Onodera, they are both amazing in their own ways and I often don't know who to root for. I love them both!

Overall Nisekoi is really enjoyable, it has to be one of my favorite shows. If you haven't seen it yet you need to. You'll fall in love with the characters. I can't wait to see what they have store in season 2 in April!

Coming to this anime I didn't really knew what it is going to be about, but the first three episodes made it clear, that this is going to be a cliche harem anime. At first I was kind of dissapointed, but I decided to give it a shot, since the episodes that I saw, were enterntaining enough.

Story/Plot (2*6)
Plot is one the most important thing to me. This anime on the other hand were not very original with its plot, making it predictable for a harem anime. There are some plot holes, or purpose plot decisions, that the creator makes to get a certain situation and ... the viewer can clearly see them. Not to mention some unnecessary dialogue. However, it manages to sustain the tension, between main characters, which gives a fair evaluation of 6 to the plot.

Art/Animation (1*8)
When it comes to animation, you can clearly see, which scenes had a bigger budget, even certain episodes. Most of the animation was really good. There were comedic relief animation, that really brakes the tension, which some viewers might dislike it. One of the things that I disliked on my own, were a few scenes taken directly from manga, couloured, and put into anime, this really got me dissapointed, seeming that there was no effort put in those. Overall the art and the chosen artstyle was pretty good and it deservers an evaluation of 8.

Sound/Music (0,5*9)
Music can often create certain atmosphere, and set of emotions, which it really did in this anime. I've got no complaints for opening and ending sountracks, they were pretty decent. When it comes to sounds itself in the anime, you could say, that they were realistic enough and not disturbing. The one thing that might be discomfourtable is constant screaming of the main characters in some certain scenes. Though the music does pretty good job and gets a 9.

Characters (1,5*6)
In this anime we've got a bunch of characters, with different, though cliche personalities. Three main characters, that are dense, distrust in oneself, shy and other most predictable character traits. However, the main male character gets his development at the end of the series, and we could probably say about the two girls. If you are expecting something new, don't get your hopes too high, characters get only a 6, due to the predictability.

Enjoyment (2*9)
As for the whole anime, I must say it was pretty enjoyable. Funny situations, character expressions, stupid dialogues, made it all together, to create one heck of a ride. Even though, we didn't get so see which girl gets to be with the main male character, it is clrear that we'll have to wait for season 2. My rating of enjoyment is a strong 9.

Overall (7,35)
After the calculations, this anime gets a 7,35 out of 10. For this type of anime I think this is pretty high rate and it surely deserves it. There is that spark, that keeps wanting to know what is going to happen, which really sucks you into the show. It may be not good storywise or have some interesting character, but it really gets the job done, if you want to relax, not think about anything and just to watch anime.

I hope everyone's waiting for second season,
CHEERS!

This particular anime is getting on my nerve. what type of romantic comedy is this ? the main character always getting bitten by his false girlfriend. one hero and four heroine, i thought it would be fun to watch but what i saw was beyond horrible. let's look at the main characters -

1. Raku belongs to Yakuza family but doesn't have any fighting power, a complete hopeless guy with Amnesia and sympathy for girls.
2. Chitoge, this character is so annoying. have you seen any other anime where a girl in love beat the person she love on a regular basis ?? just how much ... enduring power Raku has ??
3. Kosaki, a girl with 0 will power. no matter how much support she get, there will be no confession for sure. For last 2 years she only said good morning and good bye, that's the only conversation she had with Raku. what is this ? hinata from naruto ??
4. Marika, this girl have some guts. not so disappointing, i'm actually happy to see a character who can do something to express her feeling.
5. supportive characters are way too good for main characters I must say. they are mature and logical while the main characters are childish.

A main character who understand everything expect the fact girls have feeling for him, unimaginable overpowering heroine, hinata(from naruto) as kosaki, decent support character, plot that makes you sick for thinking too much - - we present NISEKOI !!!!

Nisekoi OVA 2 - This one is absurd. Raku get ravaged by 4 girls and he just passed out and didn't remember what actually happen. Isn't that refer to rape in general term ? losing victims memory, that's the best think author came up with ? instead of telling what happened and apologising, heroins tend to keep that a secret. wow.. is there anyone who think the story on right path ?

Adaptations are flawed by default. No adaptation will ever captivate the same way as its source material. With that said, they are not superior or inferior from the get-go, one clear example being the anime I'll be reviewing today. Ever wondered what would happen if you give a competent staff a bad source material? Well... Nisekoi happens.

This anime is, at its core, a lazy and generic romcom. The premise is a huge excuse to have a bunch of cute girls show up and form a harem. Whoever, despite being so generic, Shaft did an amazing job at this show's art direction and presentation. Needless ... to say it's the main reason why my grade is this high.

The story is weak to say the least, though that's expected from a show like Nisekoi. It's semi-episodic (with short stories taking no more than 3 episodes) starting with a simple excuse for the characters to meet, some kind of misunderstanding or conflict, rounded up by a romantic scene. It needed no more than that, but not much innovation either, very run-of-the-mill.

The characters are a mixed bag. Their designs are interesting and unique and some of them do get development over time. With that said, they are still very simple and stereotypical characters personality-wise. There’s the bland main character for teenagers like me to identify with him, the tsundere, the kind and cute girl, the perverted friend and the energetic girl. Not a single character is in fact original, which is a huge letdown.

The best part about the anime is its artistic approach to direction. Every shot is different, with its unique backgrounds, fluid animation and head turns, classic Shaft signature. It isn’t as absurd as Madoka or Monogatari, but that is a good thing in my opinion. Being a romantic comedy, I don’t think there is any space for that kind of absurd directing. The sound is OK, doesn’t really stand out all that much, though voice acting is on point, Kana Hanazawa’s voice always stands out.

Overall, Nisekoi has little going for it, but its great execution makes up for its flaws and was quite enjoyable thinking back. I recommend it to those who are fans of the genre, or feel like watching just for the waifu material. Either way, watch it purely for the entertainment, it’s not that great.

I chose to give Nisekoi a score a score of 6 because it fits my perception of the show: Fair.

I thought Nisekoi was simply okay. Every episode had its funny parts that made me smile or giggle audibly, but I felt it was just sorely lacking in in the overall story line and characters.

To preface: I do not have a problem straying from reality and adding fantasy and mystery to shows. Some of my favorite animes are Shinsekai Yori and Madoka. I do however get frustrated when the characters and their motivations are unrealistic, and this is the main reason that kept me ... from enjoying this how to its full extent.

The major plot point is a locket that symbolizes a promise Raku made to a girl when he was 5 or 6 years old. 5 or 6 years old. The fact that he thinks this promise holds any weight in his future love finding endeavors is just silly and entirely unrealistic. No one in their right mind would hold that to any real significance. The other members of the promise had the same issue for me.

Chitoge was an extremely tropic tsundere. She was nothing original and if you have seen any typical rom-com tsundere, you already have a full character bio on Chitoge and her attitude towards Raku. Not to mention the fact that another one dimensional tsundere is added a third the way into the series that adds little more to the situation.

Onedara had a bit more of a role to play as the folly to the fake relationship between Chitoge and Raku, but an opportunity was missed. She had the most potential to be a well developed character and strengthen the plot, but she ended up being very static and one dimensional.

The supporting cast was hit or miss. Shuu was a thoroughly creepy fellow that I felt was overdone, and often tipped the scale of playful versus sexual harassment in favor of sexual harassment. Ruri on the other had... Ruri is great. Easily the most enjoyable character in the story by a long shot. Every scene she is in is hilarious and her antics always left me laughing out loud.

I felt that this show was simply average and is over hyped. The characters, and dodgy character motivations and plot put a damper on an otherwise hilarious show with a lot of potential. If you want a show that you can enjoy for a laugh, but not get too invested in the characters, watch away. Otherwise, I recommend you skip it.

*CONTAINS SPOILERS*
(This review was edited because I kind of violated some of the rules so please enjoy reading it.)
Have you ever had that feeling when you haven't watched an anime for like 6 or 8 months or so?
Well, I have.

Finishing Nisekoi, so far it had become quite an exclusive journey to laughter, mystery and loads of astonishment. It finally helped me quench my thirst for anime.

To begin with, just for fun, I shall make a review about this series in a reverse way; from, my overall perspective about this anime to the thoughts about the synopsis and its story line. Having said this I ... shall begin my point of view.

For the most part I can't autonomously say that this is a GREAT and OUTSTANDING anime because it is a shoujo theme kind of anime. For starters, I am a bit reluctant to watch this at first because I am getting real tired of the on and on blabbing about school motif kind of shoujo because almost all shoujo anime pertains to large high school groups and settings so let's not forget that love is in the subject of every girly anime. However, I didn't hesitate because I wanted to see more of it after reading its plot. I kind of enjoyed witnessing every scene of nostalgic thought and I kinda felt happy that there is an anime that is funny and comfortable to watch. All in all, it may have some unoriginal attributes but the modern classic of Japanese anime shows that has a cute storyline of harem with a modern twist, became a true cup of tea.
This is getting way too old to answer, did I enjoy it? Yes but sometimes there are parts where you just want to skip it. Like the long and odd stares that just takes too much time to harness the main idea of the episode. There are also annoying gossip mongers in and out of the circle of the main characters and the subordinating characters. Too much for the secret convos. The longevity also of the anime itself takes too much for a very simple plot but on the lighter side, the manga is still under construction so no worries for the ending IN THE MANGA. I know that the ending of the anime has missing holes and is very disappointing so it ruined everything for me.
Okay, this might sound bipolar, but all I'm trying to say is that it is an anime which will make your time worth spending. It's just that how can you put all the awesomeness in just 20 episodes? Seriously, HOW?! A piece of advice, watch it while you can and read the manga while you still have time because God knows how busy we are in the future. Just saying.

Yes, my all time favorite topic, THE CHARACTERS IN THE STORY.
First off, some of the characters exactly resemble the personality and looks of the characters in the anime,Toradora. In my opinion, I think these characters are like them but the story, not so much.

Raku Ichijo kind of looks like Takasu and is also a bit of a neat freak and a magnificent cook (Although Raku's neatness can be only seen in some episodes). He is an incredibly nice guy and he is a bit unmanly for some reason. Both of them share an ultimate crush for someone who has short hair. For Raku, it is Onodera and Takasu for Minorin. They both are average students but they are chick magnets for some reason and to top it all out, their hair color are both dark blue. . (how's that for a dejavu.)

Chitoge Kirisaki, the rich girl who always have a brute strength and punches people because she just hates them so much. Kinda rings a bell doesn't it? Alright, you may or may not guessed it but she is like Taiga.

Maiko Shu has glasses and also has the tendency to think of evil schemes. Much like Kitamura but on the latter side, Kitamura only made a few evil schemes and Shu isn't that smart.

Agree or Disagree? Well, I don't care. Setting aside the Toradora characters and Nisekoi Characters similarities they have awesome features too.

Raku can be a loud mouth but he talks funny and thinks funny too.
Chitoge is loved by many people and she has a phobia in some stuff.
Shu has a perverted personality which is kinda surprising.
Onodera is a personality of a typical shoujo dream gril who is shy and cute.
Ruri has a creepy aura sometimes but tries her best to help her friend, Onodera.

People would often have an interest to Chitoge Kirisaki, the girl with yellow and purple hair (I think) but, My favorite character is between Raku and Shu because they are extremely funny.
For girls, without a doubt it has to be Ruri because let's face it, every woman wants to have her as a friend (example, yours truly :))

The music has a tangy and lively vibe to it. It has background music for drama and comedy as well. School background effects are highly anticipated in this anime. For the opening and ending, I haven't cared for it since episode 1 and I haven't heard the whole song because I'm about the anime's synopsis. But Claris did a good job for the opening.

The drawing is modernized 2D animation which supplied a massive enjoyment to my eyes and view on the series. Love the color of the characters' hairs and their clothes too. The eye design surely captivated the emotions of the characters. Playful crafts of the background like for example making the classroom all green and only highlighting the character’s talking.

Story is very good although there are some points that aren't original however it has some exceptional writing too. Imagine a world where you will have a fake relationship with someone who you've met for the first time and actually you hated each other and treat each other like enemies and call each other names that are "honey" and "darling" but in reality you call each other "bean sprout" and "gorilla" which is obviously different. Nisekoi or fake love did just that. Two characters involve themselves in a mistaken couple love which is just for pretend. If failed to make it real, gangsters ad yakuzas will eventually destroy a city. Sounds weird? Yes that's weird. True love is indeed the answer for peace, sounds disgusting for me. On the other hand, both have an ideal boy for themselves but what if chemistry eventually shows up?
The diegesis is like the one from Maburaho when in time, the guy will pick one among the 3 girls who made his heart skipped a beat which I will not mention who but you have to wait for it. This anime builds a love story like no other. It is actually surprising to know and intriguing because who knows which girl will Raku end up with. It is a mystery. There is also a weird locket and multiple keys that will show a really systematic construction on Raku's destiny. It is all up to him whether he will choose the girl he's been crushing on for like his whole school life, or the girl who is tough at first but kinda sweet, or the fiancee slash the girl who may be the promise girl. Sounds complicated doesn't it? The only option to know is to see the beauty of this mystical anime. No magic just marvelous happenings.
Not convinced? GET A LIFE! :D

tldr no spoiler - Dude cant get these hoes off his tip.

So in the most original storyline in cinematography, girl A is stuck pretending to be with Guy A but Guy A totally wants Girl B to be pouring sugar on his dick.

My only real problem with this cartoon was the use of the introduction of new girls as a plot device. It seemed that every few episodes there would be a new girl introduced that falls for our main characters massive donger. It was really unnecessary. the main conflict and dilemmas between girl A and B were more than enough to keep ... my donger raised. I wish they took this show in more of a slice of life category, expanding on their school life and their peculiar family backgrounds. My favourite episodes of this show did this e.g. the open air school episodes.

At this point, having the guy ending up with either Girl A or Girl B would not feel complete. I hate Girl A's guts and i hope her grandmother falls down the stairs and breaks her reconstructed hip as she loses control of her excretionary organs. i hope she is the middle human of a human centipede sandwiched by fat miley cyrus and obese tom cruise.

The main character is a total dick tho, he is as annoying as Angelica Pickles from rugrats . Despite being a virgin so obsessed with finding his promised girl, he is incapable of interacting with the opposite sex despite all these 10's throwing their huge/ gleaming titties in the general direction of his swelling donger. He really cant make up his mind and seems to prefer a different girl depending on what theyre wearing and if they made physical contact in the past 5 minutes. He deserves to lose his donger and should commit sudoku ASAP.

It was a pretty fun and enjoyable show nonetheless but you probably arent reading a review so focused on dongers by carlton banks expecting it to be good/positive.

ヽ༼ຈل͜ຈ༽ﾉ raise your dongers ヽ༼ຈل͜ຈ༽ﾉ

[Adapted From Original Blog Post]

Can we, just the two of us, have a little heart to heart? Come now. Let's sit down at the table, look each other in the eye, and speak without veiling what we both truly mean. Okay, I'll go first. I don't want you to hate me. Please don't. My self-esteem is low as it is, and I don't think I can handle having my own readers turn on me, so, please, hear me out.

What I need to say is this. Nisekoi is not a good anime. It's predictable. It's aimless. It is, by merely existing, ... the epitome of every single cliche school-life harem romance that the anime industry has been saddled with more for as long as I can remember. There's no innovation. It has no ambition to be, pretend, or fool the audience into thinking, it is anything more than self-regurgitated slop that it will be forced down our gullible throats, because it knows that it doesn't need to try to be more than that, as Nisekoi knows that its audience will come and make it popular no matter how bad it is. Now let me say a second thing. I love this anime.

Hello people of "The Wired", my name is Quan, and it's time to get out the flame-shields, waifu banners and shipping containers, because today, it is one of my guiltiest of guilty pleasures: Nisekoi. Now then, let's get started.

Before we start the debate of who "best girl" is, let's talk technical shall we? Nisekoi was animated by renown studio Shaft, who are famous for their work on the Monogatari franchise, Puella Magi Madoka Magica and Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei(which basically instantly puts them into the top tier of my favorite animation studios). The anime was directed by Akuyuki Shimbo, directer of the Monogatari franchise, Puella Magi Madoka, Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei... huh. Okay, just to save time, let's just say this man has basically directed everything Shaft have animated in the last 10 years. Finally, it aired from January 10th to May 23rd of 2014, a span which gave it a total of 20 episodes. Now, the plot. Or whatever you should call it.

Story

Welcome to "Bland Generic Japanese Highschool That Is Located In A Suburban Town That Remains Nameless No. 8593#". Here, we meet "Generic Highschool-Age Harem Protagonist Who Lacks All Semblance of Personality But Still Somehow Attracts A Group of Waifu-Material Love-Interests Who Follow Him Around Like a Lost Puppy No. X#", in this case, who goes by the name of Raku Ichijou. "But wait!" yells Nisekoi, "we have something new... look! The plot of Love Hina!" Yes, as it would turn out, Raku has a couple of secrets. The first one is that he just happens to be the son of the leader of the Yakuza, which somehow doesn't interfere with his everyday life at all, and the second one concerns the key-hole shaped pendant that hangs around his neck. See, 10 years ago when he was still a child, Raku made a promise with a girl he met one faithful summer. They exchanged the locket and a key, and swore to each-other when they met again, the girl would unlock the pendant hanging around Raku's chest, and they would get married. Aw... how romantic. But unfortunately for this romance, Raku appears to have forgotten to ask the girl a few essential questions, like what her name is, or where she lives, or anything that may have been helpful in ever finding her again.

So, as Raku lives out his adolescence searching for his long-lost childhood sweet-heart, he has yet another faithful encounter with a girl, and by encounter I mean collision, as in her hurry to get to school on time, the girl: Chitoge Kirisaki slams directly into Raku. Needless to say, this starts their relationship on rocky footing, and it doesn't help when later that day, Chitoge is introduced to Raku's class as their new transfer student from America, and the following interaction fans the flames of conflict between the two even more. So, you can imagine Raku's reaction when his father informs him that Chitoge is actually the daughter of an enemy mafia faction. But since neither Chitoge or Raku's fathers really want to fight(and since they are apparently incapable of just, I don't know, calling their respective forces off from the turf war), they come up with, what I assume, is the next best possible way to quell the tension between their two sides. See, neither side will want to fight each-other... if the son and daughter of their leaders are boyfriend and girlfriend. You probably can see where this is going. Even though they only need to act like they are romantically involved, Raku and Chitoge are still at odds with one another, a situation not helped by the fact that Raku already has someone he likes: the shy and beautiful Kosaki Onodera, who unbeknownst to him, returns his feelings enthusiastically, but doesn't know that Raku's and Chitoge's relationship is a mere act. And, simply put, highschool high-jinks ensues.

If you think I've sounded a little sarcastic during those last two paragraphs, congratulations, your sarcasm-detector is working just fine. This is my way of acknowledging that I know perfectly well how dumb this all is, how cliche and fulls of holes the plot is, and how superficial the whole anime is, so... why do I not care? Well, if I had to express it... I'd say Nisekoi is perfect. Okay, let me start over. I am not saying that Nisekoi is a perfect 10/10 masterpiece that deserves unrivaled recognition from the community and trumps such petty competition like The Tatami Galaxy, Kara no Kyoukai or Welcome to the NHK. No, I'm definitely not saying that. But what I am saying is that, as a romantic comedy meant to be easily digested and enjoyed, Nisekoi does its job and does it... kind of perfectly.

Probably the biggest piece of why lies in the comedy, namely, Nisekoi is freakin' hilarious. It's a perfect mixture of comedic timing, character interaction(which particularly shines between Raku and Chitoge), and self-aware ridiculousness, which all culminates in a final episode where the class holds a Romeo and Juliet play: an episode where I'm pretty sure I never stopped laughing once. And needless to say, you don't really have time to think about how stupid it all is if you're too busy laughing. Things happen in the series that are borderline fantasy, like when a cross-dressing assassin/bodyguard transfers into the class, or how seemingly every single girl Raku meets seems to have a mysterious key and vague memories of a childhood promise, but all anybody seems to know for sure is that they were all on top of a hill together and someone made a promise to someone at some point but we're not quite sure.

And for those of you seeking cute romance with no actual emotional connection involved, Nisekoi has you covered as well. To start, all the girls look like walking marshmallows with arms and legs, so f*cking "kawaii" that you just want to squeeze them till they concede to being your waifu. See, Nisekoi has more than an adept grasp on how the keep the shipping wars going. It throws in a couple adorable girls, gives them all one episode of development with the main character, an archetype of a personality, then gives all of them a few moments of absolute adorableness that make you just love them anyway despite how bland most of them are. Oh, is Chitoge a tsundere so run-of-mill it borders on aggravating? Just give her a moment where she apologizes for her actions in English which is so goddamn cute that it makes you want to keel over and die from moe-overload. Does Onodera have the personality of a chair with moe eyes on it that can't express other traits besides from shyness and a crush on the main character? Have Kana Hanazawa make the cutest squeaks ever from behind her micro-phone when she's embarrassed and watch the legion of fans defend her honor from the "evil team Chitoge". Then rinse and repeat this process until you have a perpetual "best girl war" that threatens to tear apart the fan-base, and simply watch the dreams be crushed underneath you as you sit upon your huge pile of money. And it works. Amazingly so.

What you need to give Nisekoi credit for is that it wholeheartedly understands this concept, and also realizes that this anime will only work if it is kept in this limbo, and if anything as audacious as "plot-development" should become unavoidable, it's Nisekoi's solemn duty to prevent it at any cost. Is one of the harem members confessing? Have a baseball fly through the window to cut her off half-way. Is she trying again? Oh no, the main character fell asleep and missed it completely. Are we finally about to find out if one of the girl's key's fits Raku's locket? Oh how unfortunate, she got nervous and twisted it too hard, breaking it in the lock. Somehow.

It's times like that when Nisekoi does begin to try my patience. Usually, I'm enjoying it too much to mind the stupidity, but when things like that happen it's a harsh wake-up call for me, reminding me to once again put on my pretentious analytical glasses and stop having fun. But the series is so completely in love with itself, and so innocently fun, that I can't help but forgive it every time. Of course, this means that the anime will probably run out of novelty(for lack of a better word) soon, as the plot annoyances begin to overshadow the mindless fun, and, as it turns out, that's exactly what happened in the second season, but as for these first 20 episodes, viewing season 1 on its own, Nisekoi pulls it off, I think. 20 episodes, that unless you have the sense of humor of a rock, you should find more than entertaining enough.

Characters

I consider myself above the petty squabble of the "Best Girl Wars", because who is best girl and who is not matters not to the analytical lens of which I peer through to evaluate an anime on unbiased merits. Therefore, I shall not let any sort of embers from the flames of conflict throw off my completely objective summary of these characters, I shall trade no insults, and will take no cheap shots(because Chitoge is obviously girl and anyone is disagrees is clearly wrong). Seriously though, let's talk about characters.

If you've met the protagonist of nearly any harem anime ever made, you've probably already met our main character Raku Ichijou. He is the clueless nice guy that can, at random intervals do something epic for the sake of the plot, and that's all he really gives off as he wanders the school with a parade of attractive girls behind him. For whatever reason, I find I don't mind his lack of personality as much as I do with other main character's of this nature, and I think I can owe that to the comedy for mostly making his interactions with the other characters greatly enjoyable, especially with his friend Shu, or as I like to call him: The Best Wing-man in The World and MVP for the anime in general.

Chitoge Kirisaki is the main love interest, a blond and beautiful American transfer student that ebbs "tsundere" from every action she takes and word she says. And as tiring as that can get sometimes, her rare moments of clarity as a character surprisingly do a lot in the long run, and it also helps that she somewhat "drops the act" by the end of it. The only times the anime gets even remotely close to something tangible involves Chitoge, and that's enough to earn the "best girl" medal in my heart.

But of course, a harem would not be worth anything without a secondary love interest, so here we have Kosaki Onodera, the shy and eloquent girl who Raku has been crushing after ever since middle-school. While I don't mind her at all, she pretty much epitomizes the most frustrating element of Nisekoi: the aimless plot. The story literally could have ended at any point if Onodera got over her shyness and told Raku she liked him back, but since she doesn't have any sort of development in that that sense unlike Chitoge, that somewhat cute shyness is all she really has going for her. It helps that she has a no nonsense friend named Ruri who is basically there to call her and Raku out on just how tiring their current relationship is and one of them should just confess already, but unfortunately Nisekoi, just because you're aware of how stupid it is that this premise can be stretched for 20 episodes without any real progress being made, that doesn't make it any less stupid.

Presentation & Sound

I know a lot of people have a love-hate relationship with the eccentric art-style of studio Shaft's anime, but ever since I first saw it in Bakemonogatari, I will admit I fell completely in love with it, and Nisekoi has everything you'd expect from them: great backgrounds, cool aesthetic and character design, and a schizophrenic camera that can't seem to stop panning upwards or cutting around to eyes rapidly. So yeah, I personally think Nisekoi is top-notch in the animation department. The one complaint I will accept about it though, is that Shaft's quirks don't exactly gel very well with what is essentially just a romcom; this is no Monogatari or Zetsubou Sensei after all. If you're not well acquainted with Shaft's works in the past, the first episode of Nisekoi may take some getting used to, what with the unique cinematography and animation techniques. But... I do think an average viewer will get used to it relatively quickly; it by no means ruins the experience and becomes basically the norm a few episodes in. If you're worried about it, don't be, it's really nothing to be fussed about.

The OST for Nisekoi was handled in majority by Tomoki Kikuya, who has done previous Shaft soundtracks like Hidamari Sketch. To be honest, I don't think I ever really registered the background music of the anime, and copyright troubles have made finding the soundtrack in its entirety quite hard to do, but from what I scavenged and what I remember, it's not great. Far from bad of course, there's quite a variety of instruments and tones being expressed by Kikuya's music, but nothing is really worth listening to on its own. Which I suppose is expected for a harem anime, but what with Shaft's impressive OST collection, it does seem a little underwhelming. But there is a silver lining. I never really was found of either ED, but both OP's: "Click" and "step" are absolutely joys to listen to: 90 second jingles that worm into your ears and have you singing along after you've sat through them a number of times, and that shouldn't take long if you marathon this anime like I did.

Verdict

I realize there's no particularly substantial reason for me to put Nisekoi on this pedestal that no other anime of its genre will likely ever reach. Nisekoi is not special. There was anime similiar to it before and there will be anime similiar to it in the future, that did or could do what Nisekoi tried and better. So why do I love it so, and why will I be giving it such an, arguably undeservedly high score at the end of this review? How to put it... If I had to explain my feelings towards this show, it's the show I decided to fall in love with, despite its problems and despite its convention. It somehow managed to force its way into my heart despite so many shows similiar to it not being able to. And yes. I know that's naïve, and I know that's shallow. I know I'm just being fooled by the anime's enduring personality and pretty colors that hides the truth behind Nisekoi: that an entry in the ever vast anime medium, it's a show that truly has no new ideas to offer. But for once, just in the case of this anime, I find that I'm perfectly happy to be fooled.

Final Verdict: 6.5/10

P.S: Ruru x Shu is OTP


For this review and others, feel free to check out my blog! (Link on profile)

Nisekoi Review:

This show is sure to get wildly mixed opinions due to 2 things: it's plot is the most cliche, stereotypical thing imaginable..... and Shaft. Both of these "factors" will split many people over how good this show really was. To keep those with short attention spans satisfied, here is a summary of my review: Nisekoi was cliche, but still very entertaining, not ground-breaking, but still enjoyable, and Shaft was... well... Shaft (curious as to what that means? read on to learn more!).

Story - 6.8:
I won't delve too much into what the story of Nisekoi is about because you could just look to the ... top of this page and see the synopsis so yeah... Now although the premise is nothing new it is still very entertaining to watch. I love me a good high school harem, and Nisekoi's plot embodies the ideal high school rom-com plot. The execution of it all is really what keeps the simple plot of Nisekoi interesting. The multiple "mysteries" the show presents keep you engaged, and the character relationships do the same. Whether it's the keys, who Raku likes most, or the introduction of new characters, Nisekoi always has something in its plot to keep you entertained. The singular stories in each episode were also quite good as well and the show honestly could have done fine as an episodic show with no key plot device. However, I was a bit disappointed in the complete lack of resolution in the ending and I'm praying there is a season 2 to fix this. Also, the plot seemed to lose its focus quite often, particularly in the 2nd half. The characters all seemed to have forgotten that the entire point of the show was to find out who's key fit in the locket. These problems aside, for a harem, Nisekoi definitely had a good plot, but it's nothing that breaks any grounds.

Art - 7.9:
Before we move onto the more interesting part of the Art portion of the review, I want to say that all of the character designs by Naoshi Komi were absolutely fantastic. Now.... Shaft. Akiyuki Shinbo. The 2 driving forces in the animation department for this show. I have a love/hate relationship with these two, because at times I have loved their work (Madoka), and others it has just annoyed me (Mekakucity Actors, Monogatari). What was really surprising is how Shinbo was working on such a simple show like Nisekoi. However, I can say that (for the most part) they did a great job with this show. Awkward backward head leans aside, the animation in this show was very impressive. This was most evident when they were trying to show exaggerations to make a comedic effect or show how Raku is picturing a girl. Close ups of characters' mouths when they talked were also shockingly fluid. There were of course some unnecessary additions to the scenery by Shaft, but not so many that it became annoying like in the now airing Mekaku City Actors. I can't give the art department too high of a score because the show didn't really demand a high production value due to its lack of action or scenery, but it was definitely good none the less.

Sound - 7.4:
Like the art, the sound of Nisekoi was very good, but not brilliant by any means. This is due to very similar reasons. The show just didn't demand a booming soundtrack or intense, emotion-filled voice acting, and so the ceiling for its sound category was lowered. However, there really wasn't anything to hold against Nisekoi in terms of its sound. The voice acting was actually very good and especially enjoyable during comedic moments or cute moments with the girls. The OPs and EDs were all very good as well. The soundtrack in general was nothing special, but still enjoyable on its own. Overall I'd give the sound department a B for doing its job and then some.

Characters - 7.5 :
Much like the story of Nisekoi, the characters are all obvious cliches. The beauty of it though, is that the show knows this and does a great job of making the characters a joy to watch. The most impressive part of the characters was just how loveable they all were. I honestly didn't care who Raku would choose to be with because I loved all 4 girls about the same amount. At times Onodera would take the lead, but then Kirisaki would take it right back. They all had their own charm and nailed their stereotypes perfectly. The side characters were also just flat out hilarious with notable stars being Shu, Claude, and Ruri. Whenever one of these three got the spotlight, they never failed to make the scene funnier. On the negative side, as expected, none of these characters really have any development. Also, Raku can be really annoying at times with how clueless he is and his horrible ability to read the situation. The characters all actually lack common sense most notably when it comes to their feelings for Raku. These negatives aside, the characters in Nisekoi were a very fun bunch to watch over the 20 episodes and I hope I get to see more of them in a second season!

Enjoyment - 8.0:
The one absolute truth with Nisekoi was that it sure as hell was enjoyable for me. It was funny as hell and kept interested just enough in its overarching plot to make me excited each saturday for a new episode. The simplicity of the show actually gave it an advantage, because it really didn't have anywhere to screw up. The characters were an absolute joy to watch and I have rarely found a show to make me flip flop over which girl is my favorite as much as this show did. The only real downside in terms of enjoyment was that the show lacked enough substance to bring it into that emotional level of enjoyment that you would find in a more epic or dramatic show. However, if you want an easy-going romcom that will make you laugh, this show is for you.

Overall - 7.52:
I must say that Shaft did a wonderful job with Nisekoi. No it wasn't filled with meaning or substance. No it wasn't unique plot wise. It was "just" another cliche harem. However, the execution of the show along with the pretty aesthetics and wonderful characters made Nisekoi a show well worth the watch. With romcoms like this, all you need for it to be enjoyable is a good set of characters, and a decent plot, and Niskoi absolutely had those in check.

The Verdict:
A simple romantic comedy anime set in high school filled with humor, and cute girls that was well worth the watch.

Pros:
+ Shaft stayed faithful (enough) to the source material
+ The main girls are all wonderful
+ Side characters are hilarious
+ Doesn't try to do too much

Cons:
- Lacks emotional substance
- Inconsistent plot with no resolution
- Characters lack logic at times

7.52/10 - Great

I never thought I’d see a Shaft adaptation of a romantic comedy, but they have gone and done one. If you’re not familiar with Shaft and their trademark style, found in shows like Madoka Magica, Hidamari Sketch, and the Monogatari series, I’d call Nisekoi a relatively gentle introduction to their absurdist, post-modern style. However, as for the story itself, which originated in the manga by Komi Naoshi (which for the record, I am not familiar with), I’d say Nisekoi is an occasionally entertaining harem-y romcom, but about average at best. Let’s break it down.

The Good

The first thing that jumps out at me in most Shaft-produced ... animation is the visuals, and Nisekoi doesn’t fail to deliver. Shaft’s trademark exaggerated camera angles, surreal background art, higher-than-average detail and frame-change rate, and of course, head tilt are all present and as fun to watch as ever. The visual style is more realistic than the ultra-sparse and very surreal Monogatari series, or the artsy mixed-media presentation of Madoka, but contains elements of both the realism and the absurdism.

I also really liked the voice acting in this show. Chitoge and Onodera (above, left to right) were both excellent. Chitoge’s VA, Touyama Nao, has a couple of starring roles in romcom type shows (Oregairu and Hataraku Maou-sama, for instance), and I appreciated how she well she handled Chitoge’s wide-ranging emotional registers in this show. Onodera’s VA, Hanazawa Kana, is practically ubiquitous but is perfect as usual in the role of the more easily-embarrassed shy girl. I also liked Raku’s VA, Uchiyama Kouki. He did a fine job with the very hammy role, playing very nicely off Chitoge’s temper and Onodera’s palpable kawaii-ness.

The Bad

If you’ve been anywhere around my blog before, you’ll know I don’t like harem-y shows very much. The whole point of harem is stagnation of the romantic status quo, or possibly just exploitation of an increasingly complicated love polygon, but regardless, the point stands. Harems don’t end up anywhere, and Nisekoi, similarly, ends up going nowhere. The final episode is about as frustratingly awkward as the first one, with the main exception of Chitoge having admitted her feelings for Raku to herself. (She’s literally the only one left at that point so…yay, progress?)

This isn’t even to mention the other two (frankly extremely annoying) girls who show up and end up with crushes on Raku. I guess they’re pretty inconsequential, since Raku dates Chitoge for the whole show and harbors a crush on Onodera from the first scene to the last, and mostly just brushes the other two off. The fact that the finale of the show has two otherwise very “romantic” scenes between each of the two female leads and Raku just cements the fact that this is really a romantic comedy with a love triangle at its center…and a harem ending as its finale.

The Ugly

The characters really pissed me off a lot of the time. Especially the supporting cast and that obnoxious Tachibana girl, who basically latches onto Raku midway through the show like a crusty barnacle. It doesn’t help that she has the most obnoxious speech patterns in the show (a self-styled ojou-sama register full of “watakushi”s and “desu wa no”s) and, well, she hits on Raku harder than a jackhammer. And that servant girl and Raku’s guy friend at school were pretty annoying, too. Onodera’s friend Ruri was okay because she was quiet and rather hilarious, but otherwise inoffensive.

At least the main characters were mostly bearable. Raku and Onodera’s mutually unadmitted (to each other, I mean) crush is the heart of the show, and Chitoge’s “fake” relationship with Raku provides the slapstick and the laughs (and the ship fuel). In short, if they hadn’t added the needless supporting “harem” characters, and if the show had provided some kind of closure to Raku’s struggles in romance, this could have been a much stronger show. Oh, and maybe if the last episode hadn’t been such a disaster.

The Verdict

A mixed bag for a cast with fun leads and some really obnoxious side characters. A silly love story that goes nowhere, and a terrible final episode that just brought the whole story (and the school, from the looks of it) down in shambles with its harem-ish and completely unresolved ending. Brilliant and hilarious Shaft animation, quality voice acting and fun theme music, and some touching romantic moments for the main triangle. All in all, I kind of enjoyed Nisekoi, but I wish it had been a lot better.

Seriously, I haven't heard of Nisekoi until there was one in my face. I know that I like Romance but this anime just made it to the extreme. I cannot express how this anime went to my liking as planned and if I could I could have went out and thanked all the creators and producers..etc there is. My favorites are when Raku shows his kindness and selfless towards others, he is such a gentlemen. I also like when he cooks for his Yazuka Clan. It makes me scream " I want you for my husband!" That fact that Chitoge is clueless of love ... also makes the plot and everything around interesting. The art is wonderful with everlasting effects. I've cherished every episode out there on it, I can't wait for the second season to come out. If I could I would even buy merchandise, but unfortunately it's impossible, my parents don't allow it. Something similar to this would maybe be Special A or Black Bullet but they are not even close to the perfection of this series. Hehe. Raku and Chitoge always fight and Raku is always wondering where this girl that made promises ten years ago was. It makes the watchers marvel the progress the characters undergo. It exceptional as an anime. No one can top this except maybe Attack on Titan? Am I being hypocritical? Nah..peshh

(Pretty long review, I guess.)

A twisted Romeo and Juliet story with the touches of harem and comedy, Nisekoi surprisingly is one of the best harem series I've seen. Whether you aren't a fan of harem romcom series or not, you'll definitely enjoy this series.

The main character thinks that his crush is the one that will unlock the locket from 10 years ago. However, after some unexpected twists and turns, 2 more ladies come in the scene making it more complicated. The story is amazing and every episode wasn't a miss. The last two episodes are pretty much the best episodes of the series and the ... ending was an amazing touch itself, especially the talk between Raku and Chitoge, describing the Romeo and Juliet play to their false love.

The openings and endings are superb for me. Chitoge and Onodera's endings and the first opening theme are really catchy, that I end up listening to it about 3-4 times a day. Instrumentals also add a nice feel to the scene, prompting you to react to the scene, whether it's comedic or romantic.

The characters are the standout of the series and the voice actors seemingly made the scenes to life. Kana Hanazawa's voice of Onodera makes her the sweet and innocent character everybody in the social media talks about. "If girls wanted a real-life Usui Takumi, then guys want a real-life Kosaki Onodera."

Chitoge Kirisaki is the energetic heroine of the series and probably will end up with the main character. (We know a wrong key wouldn't turn if it's put in the wrong lock and seeing it, the key was accidentally broken. That's a hint given to us already.)

Raku Ichijou is different from the other harem MCs. He wanted to have a normal life and ending up with his crush but after a surprising turn of events, he became a harem MC.

Tachibana and Tsugumi's roles will improve probably in the next season, and Ruri and Shuu are looking like the next big couple everybody's talking about.

Shuu depicts the happy-go-lucky, intelligent and perverted bestfriend. He's one of the best characters I've seen aside from Onodera and learning the voice actor, no wonder why he's amazing (Yuki Kaji, who voiced Issei in High School DxD is his VA). He's pretty observant at everything he sees and every reaction he makes are priceless and funny.

I really enjoyed the series and I'm looking forward to the next season and the season after that. There wasn't one episode that I didn't watch and I watch the whole series again and again. In short, I'll watch the whole series until its end.

You'll be asking where the art is in this review. The art is pretty simple and something you've seen in any kind of anime. However, art is just 10% of what makes up a good anime, so there's no need to explain about it. I just care about the story, character and enjoyment of it.

Overall, Nisekoi adds a different feel to the harem genre yet it is surprisingly amazing. You have a son of a Yakuza leader, daughter of a gang boss, and daughter of a police commissioner as the characters, and that's something you don't see very often. Most harem series are based of just students and something magical. Yet, the scenes, adding with the character's VAs and the instrumental within those scenes makes Nisekoi an amazing series to watch.

You'll be watching this season.. and the next season (which is out now, by the way.)... and the next season.. and the season after that.

If every boring dude gets his own harem...then where's mine?

Story:
To say that Nisekoi has a story would be wrong, it's more like an excuse. An excuse that gets thrown out the window as quickly as possible. Actually, if you started watching halfway through, you would probably not even know about the lock and the keys. The forced couple-plot is also pushed aside more and more and only comes up again if needed for the next shenanigan. All the coincidences will stretch your suspension of disbelief and so will the behaviour of the characters (but that's a different point). Nisekoi is a vanilla harem and nothing ... else. It has no compelling story, no development at all, no surprises, no conclusion, just the very, very basic stuff. That's not enough for the n-th harem anime, it has to have something...but it doesn't.
3/10

Art:
Nisekoi doesn't look bad, but seeing how it is a modern SHAFT anime, it is not as special as it could have been. Maybe that's an unfair assumption and they simply didn't want to go there. Solid, but not breathtaking.
6/10

Sound:
Openings and endings were pretty forgettable, but that's often the case, so I won't hold it against Nisekoi. The voice acting was good, especially the main girls. I have somewhat of a crush on Kana Hanazawas voice.
7/10

Characters:
Oh boy, here we go...The male lead is a generic idiot like in almost every other harem. He starts out liking only Onodera, but in the end he doesn't seem to care about her anymore and fully embraced the Chitoge route. Why? Chitoge is the basic tsundere love interest, though they forget the dere part untill the final two episodes, so I have absolutely NO idea why anybody (Raku as well as the viewers) would like her. All she says, all she does, she is just being a bitch with no reason. Anyway, how about the other girls? Onodera is a big ball of cuteness, but she is just as stupid as Raku. She takes every opportunity she gets to DENY her love for him. Wtf? Her friend even outright tells her that she's an idiot for not taking the chance, but that doesn't seem to help. Untill a certain point, such a behaviour is cute and funny, but Nisekoi crosses that line very fast. So we have two major contenders who have no right to win. Tachibana feels completely out of place. She appears out of nowhere and just interrupts what SHOULD have been a love triangle. She doesn't even feel like a main character, so why even have her? Tsugumi...well, she's as unimportant as any other side character two episodes after her introduction, so why is she even there? That makes a stupid ass hero (even for harem standards), two female main characters who don't get me to root for them at all and two more girls who add nothing to this anime. This cast is a complete failure and they make me not care about the outcome at all.
1/10

Enjoyment:
Some of you will think that I'm just hating on Nisekoi, but I'm not. I was preparing to like this show before I started watching, as the premise sounded interesting and I heard a lot of good things about it. And to be honest, I did enjoy it for the first couple of episodes. But the further the show gets, the more I got angry about it. In the end it made me so angry that I couldn't watch any more anime for the rest of the day after watching an episode of Nisekoi. And that's sad.
2/10

Overall:
3.8/10

Nisekoi is a trope-filled, cliche, completely unoriginal romance anime wrapped in Shaft's signature style. However, despite it's complete and utter unoriginality (which I can not stress enough), it is still an enjoyable watch. But let me break it down:

~~STORY~~
Minor spoilers? I guess? You can't really spoil Nisekoi, since if you have watched a single high-school romance anime you'll instinctively know most of the story. Childhood promises of marriage where no one remembers who, no one ever successfully confessing to the other, hot-spring episode, beach episode, a whole lot of misunderstandings. Is there a festival? Of course! Is there a test of courage? You bet! The ... premise is fine... probably the only original-ish thing in the whole series - but its more of a background reminder as to why the main pairing are forced to be together at all. If you're looking for a romantic story, Nisekoi is NOT for you. There isn't anything special at all about it. Convenient and inconvenient timing, chance and coincidence are what control the plot, nothing else.

~~ART~~
This is where opinions will differ greatly about Nisekoi, as Nisekoi is definitely a Shaft anime. Expect bright colours, changing backgrounds, fast sporadic cuts, head tilts, close zooms into character's eyes, random blocks of text, etc, etc. If you're into Shaft's style Nisekoi will not disappoint you, but if you don't like their previous works (probably most comparable would be Arakawa under the bridge), then you won't like this one.

~~SOUND~~
Not bad, not good, just there. I literally just finished the series and I don't remember any of the music. Not remembering is better than hating though.

~~CHARACTERS~~
Oh boy, here we go. This is where this review will get its most dislikes. The main (romantic) cast are well executed but completely cookie cutter tropes. This is an issue because I really REALLY don't like Tsunderes - and as per usual one of the main girls is one of the biggest I've seen. Oh, and she's also scared of the dark and of lightning, so let's not forget those cliches as well. Other main romantic interest is the flawless moe girl who has a crush on the main character... and of course she can't cook. Oh, and they introduce a third girl mid-way who pursues the protagonist in a more obvious way of course (most shows wait till season 2 to introduce her). They're well executed, but they're all so... typical. Of course my favorite characters in these shows are the best friend characters, both of which were the best part of Nisekoi for me. They were also the only ones who weren't completely brainless. The other side characters are also enjoyably quirky as well. As long as people recognize that Miyamoto is best girl, I'll be happy.

~~ENJOYMENT~~
Despite my criticism, I did enjoy the show. While the story is oh so bland and cliche, it is still funny. When it wants to be cute, it is cute. When it wants to be tense, it's tense. When it wants to be funny, it usually succeeds. It's well executed if nothing else. The people behind Nisekoi KNOW how to make anime, they just chose a cliche IP to work with.

~~OVERALL~~
This anime doesn't require your full attention - it's a good show to have on in the background as you do something else. The story is cliche and hits all the tropes of a romance anime, but if you like that sort of thing, go nuts. But if you're looking for a unique look at romance in anime - move along.

Toodles~

This is my first review ever, so please bear with me.

It's been so long since I last watched a harem anime that genuinely pulled at my heartstrings that I am compelled to write a review for Nisekoi. If you're looking for lighthearted romance with quirky characters, then this is the show to watch.

Story: 7/10
The story of Nisekoi is nothing particularly special. It's just your typical harem fare with four beautiful girls vying for the attention of a hopelessly dense guy. However, I do appreciate the fact that there is some self-depricating humor thrown into the mix to break the monotony of all of ... the anime cliches. The comedy is one of the show's strongest features and pulls it from the depths of mediocrity.

Art: 9/10
There are very stunning visuals in Nisekoi and all of the details really came together to make every scene appealing to the eyes. There were a few places where Shaft's quirky style of animation and color did detract from the overall mood, but for the most part the art was well done.

Sound: 8/10
To be entirely honest, I don't really pay attention to the soundtracks of anime unless there's something that really stands out. I do have to say that the opening and ending themes were pretty great though, and Nisekoi has A LOT of ending themes.

Characters: 9/10
The characters were really the best part about this anime. I has my misgivings about them at first since harem characters tend to be very one-dimensional but the characters in Nisekoi felt very real, or at least as real as harem characters can get. Despite the fact that they all fall into typical harem character archetypes (the clueless guy, the tsundere, the nice classmate, the tomboy, the childhood friend... the list goes on), they still have unique characteristics that set them apart from the pack. The side characters also definitely helped to add comedy to the entire show, and I felt that at times the side characters were just as important as the main characters.

Enjoyment: 8/10
Definitely an enjoyable show if you don't mind romcoms.

Overall: 8/10
All in all, Nisekoi is a pretty fun romcom harem anime, with genuine characters and a somewhat interesting (and exceedingly ridiculous) premise. The drama isn't overbearing, the comedy is never too over-the-top, and the romance is twinged with the perfect mix of bittersweet memories and the blossoms of newfound love. There is truly never a dull moment in this anime.

As the plot suggests, you cannot get a more typical beginning to a RomCom anime. The sweetheart become sweetheart's' soon and the anime takes a stroll in the harem lane. The disappointment about this anime is how suddenly the genre changes perspectives among the viewers. It started as a normal romance-comedy combo but sooner or later girls galore and the main character finds himself enclosed in a dreamy harem.

The story is majorly unrealistic and the plot is one of the poorest that you will come across. Totally dingus-ish first episode only leads to mayhem for the next the next few episodes where the male MC ... and the 'supposedly' female MC are forced to make a contract for three years to be each others' companion due to their families being on deep waters. The predictability percentage of the story skyrockets as the episodes pass by. The stunning predictable nature of the plot has many weak links for this anime. The traditional scenes viz., summer festivals, cultural festivals, x-mas, school trips and many more that you see in a normal romance manga came into existence in this anime too but with a severe repetitive rate when taking the manga of it into consideration too. Overall, a letdown when it comes to story-telling.

The characters were well endowed and the characterization was proficient. As is the case in some romance manga, the male MC Raku Ichijo seems to be a student who is studious and good-natured guy while the 'supposedly' female MC, Kirisaki Chitoge is a blonde but smart ( ) girl who is a half with some blaring tsundere traits. Marika Tachibana who gets her introduction in the second half of the anime is a cute, over obsessive and a daring girl who openly expresses her feeling for Raku-sama unlike Kosaki Onodera who is just a polar opposite to Marika. Onward we go to describing Kosaki (my best girl, my love, my life, my wife). Kosaki is a normal girl who has a laudable attitude and is cute to add to that. Sometimes she plays the role of a 'divine damsel in distress' as she is unable to express her feelings for her first and the only love Raku who in himself is madly in love with Dera. She is an introvert and kind and does not have the courage to tell how she feels but during the moments she tries to step up and have the courage to convey her feelings to Raku, unforeseen (meh, you can totally see what is coming. Scumbag Naoshi Komi not giving the chance for Dera-chan) incidents occur which can make the viewers (viewers = TeamOnodera members) get irritated with fuming rage. Nothing much to tell about the remaining girl Tsugumi Seishirou who at first is portrayed as a boy. Genuine trap material, I tell you. Genuine trap. Shuu who is a pervert and a childhood friend of Raku is so vital for the progression of the story, Same is the case with Kosaki's best friend Ruri Miyamoto (glasses |m| ) who plays the role of supporting Kosaki in attaining Raku.

Animation was good. Nothing less to expect from Shaft and its elastic neck insignia. The trademark 'bending their necks in unimaginable angles' and the 'looking down on people' pose were duly present in this anime too. At some points, the animation was kind of over-exerted and was out of place. I always had this doubt on how well Shaft can animate for a RomCom anime without adding weird backgrounds and effects but apparently, they completed the task really well. Shaft's array of funny faces continues in this anime too from where it let off in S2 of Monogatari. The marble eyes, the color tones and all other aspects were well covered while the art style was reasonably unique and exotic for a romance anime. Well, considering it is Shaft, it is no surprise that the animation was gradually different.

Nothing much to say about the voicing crew as you all know how the Japanese roll. The fact that HanaKana voiced for Onodera Kosaki makes her to be the solid winner of the best girl of Nisekoi award (at the least according to me). All the characters have been voiced well. Near to attaining flawlessness.

Coming into the enjoyment aspect of the anime, it is a given that there will be scenes of frolicking and laughter since the manga is being serialized in Shonen Jump. Nisekoi is no different too. The anime had its fair share of comical scenes and was jovial-natured. Good to watch but sadly impossible to be experienced in reality. If the best girl for you is Kirisaki Chitoge, you can enjoy the anime to your heart's fullest without any qualms. Didn't concentrate much on the music part as I was too busy taking screenshots of Dera-chan and adoring her. Both the openings performed by ClariS (damn them.. a pair of highschool gurls ) are good. Do ClariS have a knack of performing in harem related anime? Last time I saw their songs getting adopted as the opening for an anime was in OreImo . Some of the background music gave the anime a shoujo-ish vibe while some were relatable to shonen.

My ratings:
Plot 6/10
Animation & Art 9/10
Music 8/10
Characters 7/10
Enjoyment 7/10 (if Dera is the best gurl) 9/10 (if Chitoge is the best gurl)
Overall 7.4/10 (if Dera is the best gurl) 7.8/10 (if Chitoge is the best gurl)


PS:
Onodera is the best
Fuck the rest.
‪#‎TeamOnodera‬ for eternity.
Till I lose sanity.
All hail Kosaki
Cause, she too has the key. .

Super Mario Maker is now eight years old and what better way to commemorate it than to review the anime the video game advertised in the form of Event Courses, Nisekoi: False Love. It's really funny since "Nisekoi" literally means False Love so the full title would actually be False Love: False Love. As a matter of fact, if you type False Love into the search bar, your first search result will point towards this anime.

True to the title, this anime is all about the main character Raku Ichijo being placed in a fake relationship with a transfer student named Chitoge Kirisaki. This is to ... prevent an intense turf war between the Shuei Clan and the Beehive Gang as Raku and Chitoge's fathers are the leaders of each group respectively. The task is easier said than done since Raku and Chitoge got on negative terms with each other during the latter's first day in school beforehand. What makes faking the romantic relationship even harder is the fact that Raku has his eyes on another female student, Kosaki Onodera, who also has feelings for him. In fact, there is a strong possibility that Kosaki may be the girl holding the key to opening Raku's locket, the promise being to get married should they ever meet again to do so. Raku still remembers this promise from ten years ago.

Back when I first watched this anime in February 2016, I wasn't too fond of the romantic comedy genre. Before rewatching it again for this review, I only remembered getting annoyed at the "It's not what it looks like" cliche. I still don't really like it whenever it happened during my rewatch, but I soon realized it wasn't used as frequently as I thought it did. The anime knows how to avoid being repetitive... except with one character which I will get to.

While Raku and Chitoge do their best pretending to be a couple for the sake of maintaining the peace between their families, other characters got involved with each having their own goal.

First, we have Kosaki's best friend Ruri Miyamoto. Isn't it a coincidence that she shares the same last name as the creator of Mario? Ruri strongly believes that Raku's "relationship" with Chitoge cannot stop Kosaki from getting closer to him. She creates multiple opportunities for Kosaki to strengthen her ties with Raku, only for Kosaki to screw them up or something completely out control gets in the way.

Next, there is Seishiro Tsugumi, the adopted "son" of the Beehive Gang member, Claude. Claude is super overprotective of Chitoge and even suspects her relationship with Raku to be fake. Since he cannot always be watching them at school, he enrolls Seishiro to keep an eye on Raku in his place. Should Seishiro confirm the relationship to be fake, "he" will execute Raku on the spot with guns "he" apparently is allowed to carry around on campus and doesn't ever get arrested for firing them. You can thank the weird teacher Raku and his friends have.

Introduced way late into the anime is Marika Tachibana, a frail girl who claims to be the girl who made the promise with Raku ten years ago, even declaring herself as his fiance. Marika happens to be the daughter of the police commissioner, who also threatens to use deadly force on the Shuei Clan if Raku fails to keep her happy. This makes faking a relationship with Chitoge even more difficult for Raku than it already is. Plus, other boys in the class want to date Marika, so it's only natural they bullied Raku over her love for him.

These characters are very memorable, having their own personalities demonstrated with their actions in trying to put an end to Raku and Chitoge's romantic relationship. Although they ended up failing, they all became friends with each other as well as with the main characters. Oh yeah, Raku's friend since middle school Shu Maiko is also here. Shu is a guy with a very perverted mindset and he literally tries to obtain lewd photos of girls and he enjoys peeping. Shu's quirks were rather repetitive, it's safe to say he is a character I dislike.

There are a lot of songs to talk about here. There are two opening songs, Click and Step, both sung by ClariS. Of the two, I'd say I remember Click more, just because it played for the first fourteen episodes while Step played for the last six. The first opening sequence was very interesting as it updates twice throughout the anime. Initially, there is a section where Seishiro and Marika appear as silhouettes until after their introductions, in which their respective silhouette gets filled. I do have to point out that, the final version of the first opening sequence only showed up once, that being the final time Click plays on Episode 14, since as said earlier, Marika does not appear until Episode 13; That late into the show. I hold nothing against the second opening, but in my opinion, it would have been more beneficial to stick with the one opening at that point.

There are multiple ending songs used throughout the anime. Chitoge, Kosaki, Ruri, Seishiro, and Marika all have their own theme songs used as ending soundtracks. However, there are some differences between the original airing on TV and the DVD release when it comes to the endings. Ruri's theme originally didn't exist on TV; It was exclusive to the DVD version. The episodes each song played on were different too. I'm not going to go over all the details. You can look them up yourself. There is another DVD exclusive song made for the 18th and 19th episodes, which originally had Marika's theme, now moved to the 12th and 13th episodes. It's a good song, but my goodness the animation sequence for it... the studio Shaft really wanted their audience to know it's them. If you are very familiar with Shaft, then you are definitely aware of a certain series they created three years prior to making the anime adaptation of False Love, but that's a whole different review for another time.

Overall, this tale of fake love in order to prevent any turf wars that could result in several casualties and mass destruction is really good. It gets 8/10. Thank you Super Mario Maker for getting me to give this anime a try.

WARNING : Spoiler Ahead
It's been a long time since i write my last review, is what i would like to say, but its just 2 weeks ago lol.
okay, let's get to the point.
sorry if my review offend all reader of my review, because i write this as a part of team kosaki.
Story 8/10
The story is good, but not epic. as if the story is predictable throughout the series, first, we have girls magnet protagonist. He isn't special. He isn't smart, not really good at psychical activity, not a good fighter (He is a part of yakuza family, so we expected him to be a good ... fighter.) The only thing that is good on him is, he is a good cook. He can cook a decent food. And, lot of girls attracted to him. almost all of the main girls character like him.
But, the protagonist is a dense character, he doesn't even know that kosaki likes him. But this anime is a fun ride, i recommend this anime for a newcomer to anime world, because this anime is easy to watch. Plus the mystery about who is the real key holder who made promise with the protagonist make you crave for more episode each week lol.

Art 9.5/10
I personally like this anime art. all character are drawn beautifully, for example like chitoge and onodera. the background of each scene also carefully drawn, and the quality of each episode never disappoint me.
The season 2's art is better, so i just want to say this, good job shaft!, you just did a really great job adapting nisekoi manga.

Sound 9/10
I really like the OP and ED songs in this anime. Claris did a a really great job singing both OP 1 and OP 2 for this anime. the background music also nice, and for the voice actress, they choose the right person for each character in this anime. for example, Kosaki. Hanazawa Kana really fit Kosaki's shy nature, other character such as shuu is hilarious when teasing his friend.

Character 7/10
Maybe the character is this anime weakness.

Enjoyment 8.7/10
I really enjoy this series, romcom lover must watch this anime..

Overall, 8.4/10
This anime is easy to watch, and a really fun ride.