What makes Nisekoi stands out from most Harem and Romance series is the heavy plot focus. After a series of repeated attacks, the two Yakuza factions' leaders have their high school children have a political boyfriend-girlfriend relationship. The main couple is forced to "Fake date" as a political marriage, for both the people, and all the Yakuza, with the twist that they hate each other. The story has many phases, the first 30 chapters being the plot-heavy one. It focuses on developing the relationship of the main character and Chitoge, and in their comedy, their fake dates constantly under surveillance. And every 20 or so chapters, a new girl is introduced in a fun and creative way, each holding onto a mysterious key. All these girls seem to have an old key, and Raku is the one with the locket, with a mysterious book that relates all these keys.
But then, in chapter 92, the plot ends.
In the following 84 chapters, Nisekoi stops all these plot-heavy interactions and mysteries, changing them into episodic encounters. Taking inspiration from JoJo pt.3 each of these have very few plot relevance, but have the strength of building the cast.. Changing from a Romance to a Slice of Life, the characters involved get thrust in situation after situation. In retrospect, these chapters were vital for later development, but upon the first read, they come out as repetitive and milking a series. They each follow a similar formula in which Raku gets forced to help or be alone with one of the girls. They seem to get closer, and they are about to confess someone interrupts, or they get embarrassed and beat up the main character.
Maria gets built to be confident in spilling her love to Raku but is slowly getting sicker. Chitoge is starting to enjoy spending time with Raku despite being forced into a fake relationship and starts to think about them more. Onodera stays annoyingly passive and the only kind of cute I consider annoying, as her interactions with the MC just consisted of blushing and annoying pauses. Onodera's sister realizes that Raku is her "prince" and the one she is looking for, but she decided to support her sister's relationship with Raku. His adopted sister, yes you heard right, is the only one who proves to be mature, where she makes active moves despite feeling embarrassed, and "Black Tiger" finds herself in hilarious situation after another with Raku, where each spy invention accidentally happens to them, each more dumb and hilarious than the other. These almost filler chapters build up and make us accustomed to their characters, showing all the characters' relationships.
Then the story hits 176, the turning point, and where the story stops being the cliché and an annoying harem story to the emotional rollercoaster. The last 40 chapters are what I was looking for the whole time, as each girl finally became understood and likable. In these harems and slice of life shows, you always wonder how the girls like the main character and how they effortlessly fall in love with them, ignoring the other guys. But here, it makes perfect sense.
Taking the overused trope of a backstory and ridding its world Nisekoi makes each of these characters' great parts not from their backstories but the buildup of their characters and their personalities. Using the past 84 chapters of characterizations and showing what each girl was about, the girls were each given some deadline. Whether it was health or work, or some outside force never thought of, a deadline arrived, and during that time, they were forced to confess and be mature. They could no longer hold it back, as it was their last chance, and their love of Raku was then explained. There are 3 confessions, each resonating and build from their characters, revealed in mature and heartbreaking moments their feeling to the main character.
What also made these last 40 chapters so good was the main character's change in attitude. As they were now 3rd years and were nearing the time where it would be too late to confess, the main character became self-aware. Instead of being annoyingly dense, he began acknowledging his feelings and acted mature and calm; he didn't blush when speaking to the girls, and he thought of their feelings a lot more. He began observing all the girls that liked him and tried to get close with them, closer than before, while they were still around. He started thinking not about confessing to Onodera, but helping all of them and fulfilling the role he should have done from the beginning. These mature reactions, combined with the newly built and mature conversations between the girls and him, made each confession hit hard and each rejection even harder.
This time he understood them, and they understood him. Each confession was created amazingly, and the buildup was done fantastically. Their reactions all felt real, and hit hard, making you root for people you didn’t 30 chapters ago. They each get spotlight time that does amazingly well for its genre. And the final confession was awe inspiring and almost made me tear up.
Story 7/10
Art 8/10
Character 9/10
Enjoyment 8/10
Overall 8/10
