Nisekoi Review

The Nisekoi manga has been a popular addition to Shounen for years now, with 127 chapters to date. Chapters 1-50 have been adapted into 20 episode season covering almost two seasons. Even before the anime adaption was announced the sales for Nisekoi were doing very well. 

Nisekoi has several reasons for its success. It's most noticeable is that it lacks any kind of clear flaw overall. The series also makes use of multiple genre’s and character types and subsequently appeals to many different audiences.

Story

The main story of Nisekoi revolves around Raku the main character who wears a locket around his neck where ever he goes. Raku believes the locket will only open to the key belonging to a girl he made a promise with as child, the problem is that he has no idea who the girl is. 

The story grows to be more complex as the story progresses and there are quite a few times where perspective the of the situation is changed to add more depth to the show. Raku’s mystery only increases as the series progresses, even as he discovers more about his past and his friends that may have been apart of it. The way the story contracts and expands is what keeps Nisekoi interesting and the storyline from falling into typical story lines.

It is rare for a romance to feature such originality and a well written plot and although on occasion it can be predictable or feature many romance cliché’s but these moments are few and far between and don’t effect the overall quality of the story.

Characters 

The characters in Nisekoi are just as important if not of even more importance than the story in the series. By introducing different character types like the clueless yet thoughtful male, the confused tsunade, the shy girl, the loveable stalker, possibly gender confused individual and other character types. The story can take a regular situation and make it extremely hilarious very quickly. The side characters are also very important, often providing much needed movement to the plot and exaggerating the hilarity even further than it was initially (I’m looking at you Shuu).

Art and Animation

The art and animation is very unique for a romance series and is adapted almost perfectly for the manga’s art style. The animation style plays a tremendously effective role in over dramatizing the hilarity of the show without it feeling predictable, too frequent or ineffective. The character design is often very impressive, facial details and movements are visible and impressive to see.

Music

There is nothing particularly special about the music in Nisekoi apart from the fantastic opening and endings in the show. A nice feature that was included was the voice actor’s for new characters would sing the ending song in a staggered format.

Conclusion

Nisekoi is a fantastic series in both manga and anime adaption alike. The story and characters are unique, interesting  and don’t grow to be boring and predictable as the series progresses. I would recommend Nisekoi to anyone that really just wants to laugh their ass off and have a good time, with a bit of romance thrown in and a story to keep them curious.

-PandaSlayer