Story:
Simply put, there are about 75 too many chapters in Nisekoi. Tedious arcs where nothing of substance occurs are sprinkled with a drip feed of progression that is just enough to keep interest. It's beyond annoying when one can tell the forthcoming chapter will mean nothing to the story-at-large, but you have to read it just to catch that ONE SENTENCE where someone says something important. Nisekoi's entire story could have been told succinctly in 125 chapters without losing anything.
That being said, the major payoff chapters were still worth the grind - and I will begrudgingly admit that the romantic teasing made the real deal much better. Much like the characters, I may forget the details of the story, but I'll never forget the meaning.
Art:
I loved the emotes the characters did throughout the manga. Each character had their own little unique reactions, from Onodera's adorable embarrassment to Chitoge's blank stares - it was great! Those extra little endearments made even dull chapters bearable.
Character:
Raku is a pretty one-dimensional guy, and honestly a bit of a boring choice for a MC. He's the typical "earnest dude who'll do anything for his friends" protagonist that doesn't seem to have any defining characteristics outside of that. His interactions with the other characters give him flavor, and I suppose his purpose is to be as likable and unoffensive as possible.
Chitoge and Onodera are the real stars of the show - not to mention its blatantly obvious the story is a love triangle between those two and Raku. Their characters are the most fleshed out, and that caused the "Onodera v. Chitoge" meme while the anime was airing. I think the saddest thing about Nisekoi is that he had to choose between them, I wish one of these damn romance manga would balance the male to female ratio a bit so that everyone could be at least partially satisfied.
The other (relevant) characters: Tachibana, Tsugumi, Shuu, Haru, Miyamoto, and Yui all have their times to shine in the 229 chapters. Tachibana's arc, in particular, was surprisingly satisfying despite how annoying her character was for the majority. Haru, like her sister, Onodera, was beyond cute the entire time, but since she looks identical to Onodera, it felt like all her chapters were actually just more Onodera. Tsugumi was the lowkey best girl who was doomed from the start.
Enjoyment:
Finally completing Nisekoi feels strange, like a part of my anime/manga adventure coming to an end after so long; it's bittersweet but I feel happy. It falls well short of "classic" - there are too many boring tangents in the story for that - however, I believe calling it "genre-defining" as an example of slice of life romance to be fitting. Nisekoi, for all its faults, was worth my time.
