Nisekoi

Well now that Nisekoi is finished I can review it and explain why you shouldn't read it.

Story : 6/10

The story is great. It's well paced during all the chapters and feels natural. It has arcs dedicated to specific characters that develops the characters and progresses the story...

...Or at least it was great until chapter 200. Komi clearly rushed the final chapters, you can see that in multiple aspects. At the chapters 180-200, Komi completely abandoned several characters in terms of development, such as Yui, and Onodera. Yes, the other main girl, Onodera, stopped being developed somewhere around the chapter 190.

[Spoilers] The complete switch of sides from Raku also felt incredibly unnatural. Even though Onodera would have never won, I'd at least expect some sort of reaction from her other than just dealing with the fact that her best friend just stole her love. Naturally, when a person loses something or is rejected in love, they feel sad or angry, even if that person is very kind, something that Onodera does not do.

Art : 7/10

The art is very good. Komi's art style is one of the best art styles I have ever seen. The art is very detailed too.

... Or at least it was until chapter 210, where it started to feel rushed and lazy. The deciding chapters 226 through 228 looked awful. Chitoge was drawn in such a sluggish manner.

Character : 1/10

The more I read Nisekoi, the more I realized how unnatural the characters are. Raku is literally a rock, Chitoge is an unlikable hyperactive ape, Onodera is way too kind to Raku and Chitoge, Yui serves no point in the story and Marika is way too farfetched and unnatural. So that leaves Tsugumi, who I find to be the best character in the manga, Ruri who isn't really that present and Shuu.

Enjoyment : 5/10

The manga was amazing at first. Then great. Then good. Then ok I guess. If I was to mark only the ending, it would have been 1/10, but taking in consideration the rest of the manga, that I actually enjoyed, the mark elevates to 5/10.

Overall : 5/10

Nisekoi isn't terrible, nor is it good. It's somewhat in between that I would not recommend reading since there are plenty other manga out there that are more worth reading than Nisekoi

Nisekoi is among the chief disappointments that I have read. What started out as a rather funny and enjoyable love triangle manga has become an extremely bloated and needlessly long marathon in which we see a dopey protagonist somehow steal the heart of every hot girl in the series. Now why I judge Nisekoi so harshly is because I know what it can be. At its height I thoroughly enjoyed the series, and part of me still legitimately cares about the story. But at this point the actual story is becoming a faint memory, replaced with extremely repetitive filler in which nothing is accomplished. Gravely disappointing to say the least.

Nisekoi's story is simple enough: Raku Ichijou is the heir to a yakuza gang, and is forced to "date" Chitoge Kirisaki, the daughter to the don of a rival gang. The reason behind it is to "keep the peace" between the gang and the yakuza. The only problem is that Raku has feelings for fellow classmate Kosaki Onodera. And from there we have our story. Now the premise for Nisekoi may be severely simplistic and cliche, but does little to ruin what is an enjoyable first third. It is nothing revolutionary or genre changing, but it is rather funny, light-hearted and cute. However, everything changes after a certain event in the story. After this point, story and character progression quite literally grinds to a halt. Since this point the readers have been forced through several filler arcs and many more "false flag" arcs, or arcs with seemingly important story implications that turn out to only be extremely short or entirely worthless. Now for many this may be tolerable, even enjoyable, but for many including myself Nisekoi is a shadow of its formal self. It may of been cliche, but it was enjoyable. Now its cliche and increasingly frustrating. A very poor mix indeed.

Character wise the manga was never anything to speak of, even before the aforementioned event. Raku is a standard romance protag: boring and devoid of real personality other than being "nice" and "hard-working". This is of course to allow reader immersion, creating a blank slate for all to impose themselves on. The girls are all neat and tidy stereotypes, ranging from the cute dopey one to the tsundere one to the energetic one to Haruhi (Chitoge). Before the "event", as i'll call it, there was a decent amount of character progression, with certain characters, or should I say character, noticeably treating others differently, signifying change and growth in personality. Since the "event" however, this has also ground to a halt. As is standard for filler, characters go through the motions every chapter, only to disregard the events of said chapter when they are next called upon. In this particular genre, character development is hard to find, but I've seen bad shoujo that do it better than Nisekoi.

Nisekoi's art is one of its strengths. While sloppy in bits early on, there are moments of great quality and for the most part is fairly consistent. As the manga progresses, the art grows continually better. The designs, though rather uninspired, are all neatly drawn and distinctive, so that no character looks the other. A fair job all around, not much to complain about here.

While I rag on Nisekoi immensely, a small part of me earnestly wishes for its return to quality. I still clock in every week to see what the manga has dished out. The only problem is that, for what seems like ages, I am always disappointed in what I find. Nisekoi is a manga that I will continue to read, but at this point its only to see how it ends, not because I take any particular enjoyment out of reading it. Yes, Nisekoi is truly-

3/10
Poor

This manga's title, Nisekoi, means "False Love". However, it should also have a second meaning: "False Genre".

Naoshi Komi's Nisekoi is deceiving. At first, it starts off with a genuine low-drama love triangle, in which the story is based around solving the mystery behind Raku Ichijou's childhood lover. It is never doubted for any moment that comedy is the main focus of this manga; however, it also has a great amount of romance. As the plot thickens and the story progresses, it becomes increasingly difficult for the reader to predict which girl the male protagonist will end up with. (And that's what all romance manga should strive for: unpredictability). Unfortunately, Nisekoi could not take the momentum of its great start and carry it throughout its entirety.

After the end of the anime adaptation, I (along with MANY others) went to the manga seeking a continuation of this enticing love story. I wanted to find out more about Raku Ichijou's past. I wanted to know how his relationships with the various girls would be resolved. Did I get what I was looking for? Not quite. What I did get, however, was a continually-growing harem that seemed to solidify the fate of Nisekoi, which is that Raku Ichijou will never choose a lover. As the chapters progress, the main premise of Nisekoi becomes increasingly muddied, to the point where you forget that it even had a plot. It simply becomes a never-ending slice-of-life manga with dashes of romance here and there. Nothing too major though, as its premise has changed to pleasing the male demographic with more and more beautiful girls instead of providing a solid romance story.

Nisekoi is listed as belonging to "Romance, Comedy, and Shounen" genres. While that is absolutely appropriate for its beginning, it does not stay that way; it can only be seen as a harem manga as it progresses. Every single girl that is introduced in the manga eventually falls in love with the main protagonist, Raku Ichijou, who is even initially "bland" and "unappealing" in the eyes of said girls. Clearly, this is not an element of the standard romance manga.

Perhaps Nisekoi's one claim to fame would be its characters. Their extremely appealing personalities and mannerisms are clearly reflected in the occasional character popularity poll. Just the fact that so many people are willing to express their support of their favorite character shows how likable each and every one of them are. All of the girls act cutely and are lovable. Any one of them have the potential to become one of the reader's favorite characters; that's how appealing they are. The same can be said even about the side characters, like Kosaki Onodera's mother or the various members of Raku Ichijou's gang. No character ever comes off as being bland (which is ironic, because the "bland character" Ruri Miyamoto actually serves to provide some of the funniest punchlines).

Overall, Nisekoi will appeal to readers who enjoy watching characters interact with each other in a slice-of-life fashion (with hints of romance) and those who do not mind a stagnant plot. However, if you are one who absolutely despises a genuine romance manga being ruined by the addition of a harem element, steer clear of Nisekoi. You know best what type of reader you are.

First and foremost, if you started from watching the anime first and plan to marathon the manga, don't I highly recommend you not to. But if you are, go ahead I mean I can't really do much to stop you really. My advice is to start from the very start or continue where you left off from the Anime, you'll only be startled.

The series really got me riled up actually. To begin with, what I can say in terms of the story/plot is "Ugh, are you serious?" overall. There are TONS of turn-of-events. As the series progressed, it just gets more complicated, piling one after another. Quite a lot of cliché events to add to that.

Art is AWESOME, I've never really though of something like "that doesn't really look like __". Very good, crazy details for a weekly series.

Character is lacking in this series, specially character development. I'll give my thoughts on the MCs and other ones that are worth mentioning.

To start off we have our male leading MC, Ichijō Raku like a lot other characters are "dense". He's a smart student, very thoughtful & quite honest towards Chitoge. His love for the "Promised Girl" is admirable, he hasn't thunk much what he would feel if it was Chitoge or Marika but always though that if Kosaki was "her", would be very happy from the bottom of his heart. Nothing much to say about him, his pretty ordinary I'd say.

Kirisaki Chitoge, tsundere or not? Personally I think how much people like her is over exaggeration. I'm not sure if I hate her overall but I definitely detest her personality. She's full of pride, totally not feminine (for the most part anyways), violent, rude and abusive. I really don't like her act of tsundere if she's considered one. She also doesn't respect people much unless she has a good relationship with them, examples of this is physically hurting Marika just because she "pisses" her off. Marika is STILL the fiancé of Raku and she should respect that she and Raku are only pretending to date because of their family's relationship. She really needs a huge character development, I don't see why her attitude has to be like that.

Onodera Kosaki, the cutest person in this series in my opinion. She very thoughtful of others just like Raku. She misleads what Raku's doing sometimes even though he might be doing this and that for her. She doesn't have very much self esteem but I think that's another adorable side of her. She's pretty much the ideal girl of Raku. Just like Raku again, she wishes that the boy she promised with long time ago is him.

Tachibana Marika, my favourite in this series! Personally I think forcing your love to somebody is very wrong, specially when the other person don't seem to feel the same towards you. In this case though I HIGHLY think Marika deserves Raku the best. Marika's engagement with Raku is something that their parents agreed upon but that's not the reason why she's currently heads over heels for Raku. She treasured all her memories with Raku all those years and haven't forgotten about them, even coming to as trying her best to be his ideal girl, growing her hair, changing the way she speaks etc. Raku also thinks that he can't believe such a beautiful girl like him, which in my opinion is a huge I mean he thinks very negative of Chitoge most of the time. Oh and of all she's been the only one to kiss Raku, even two times!

Tsugumi Seishirou, I'm not sure what I really think of her, I personally don't like Seishirou chapters. I do know that I like her more than Chitoge and that she's more cute than her. She's so obvious with her tsundere attitude.

Miyamoro Ruri, she's hilarious and has very good common sense/awareness.

If you don't practically like enjoy mystery series but are good at inferring, you might this one. The comedy on this series I would have to say aren't really one of the best, it's mostly Chitoge being violent other than that embarrassing moments and Ruri appearances. There aren't that much ecchi in it but when there is it's quite enjoyable. I personally really don't like the fact it's shōjo I think it ruins it.

Overall your in a bitter sweet ride with Nisekoi but before you realize it, it's probably late to back down and drop it if you want to since you wanna know how it's gonna end up.

First of all, I’d like to go out on a limb here and say that Nisekoi’s genre represented here on MAL is actually inaccurate and can be quite misleading to newer viewers. If you’re expecting a complexed and hilarious love story…well, you will get that for the most part, but be forewarned that this is also a harem in the making. While having a strong start in the lines of a romance comedy manga, this convection flails as the series progresses. However, do not let this factor hinder you from reading. Being ranked 44th here on MAL, I think its popularity says for itself just how amazing this manga is. And Nisekoi certainly does provide quite the exciting read, from problems issuing from a school cultural fest to helping a friend confess his feelings, Nisekoi leaves you on the edge of your seat even without the intense fighting of a Shounen.

To strip it down to the basics, Nisekoi is about a boy named Raku, who is your typical 1st year highschool boy. He gets decent grades, knows how to cook, and has a faithful childhood friend (who is, sadly, a huge pervert) and aims to become a civil servant someday. But unlike normal highschool boys, Raku has a family background that is, to put it mildly, quite…unique. Well, that is unique with a capital “U”, as no typical highschool boy have a Yakuza family. Due to this, many people at school are intimidated by him resulting in Raku not having any friends. However, despite all this Raku is not discouraged, as he has a reminiscence of 10 years into his past, where he made a promise with a girl he loved, and although he does not remember the details, he holds a pendant as proof of their relationship, with her in possession of the key. And so our MC hopes to some day reunite with his love and to uphold their promise-that is, to get married.
Due to delicate circumstances, our MC is forced into a fake relationship (thus the name Nisekoi) with a beautiful and talented “gorilla”, Chitoge, which creates a huge problem, as he already loves another girl. Through this relationship, they encounter dilemma after dilemma, many of which will get you laughing your head off, from convincing their families that they are real lovers to conflicts with a cross dressing hitman, the comedic humor is endless. Under all this however, the commitment to solving the mystery behind his past never eludes Raku, and as the intricate love story progresses and it is discovered 4 different girls were present 10 years ago, all of whom holds keys, the romance story is thrown into a mass of exciting confusion. As their group overcomes various obstacles, from making chocolates on Valentines Day to viewing exhilarating fireworks on New Years, more mysteries from their past are slowly revealed, and it is completely unpredictable as to what will happen next.
Nisekoi does take detours from the original plotline, and between chapter 50 to chapter 90, the whole pendant issue seems to have been momentarily forgotten in replacement to a harem-like build up where every dam girl just irresistibly falls for our MC through the progression of events. While it was initially annoying to see such a great romance story turn into a generic harem, it was not disappointing. In fact, contrary to what many people are saying here, it was not unenjoyable to read these in-between chapters. Instead, it serves as a great character development, and not at all lacking in the hilarity of the beginning chapters. The harem element does not detract in the least from the actual romance storyline. Honestly, the only thing that pisses me off is how there is so much budding romance, but it just doesn’t seem to be heading anywhere. But with the good outweighing the bad, it definitely is worth the read.

Not much to say about the art, but that it is really cute. All of the characters look really nice. I fell in love with Marika’s character design instantly, but then her personality kind of screwed it up for me. Nothing too out of the ordinary, but the varying clothing designs is certainly an added bonus, from the elaborate kimonos to Romeo and Juliet style dress. It is quite impressive.

I thought the characters were really well done, with each having distinctive character traits and back stories. From the tsundre like Chitoge, to the shy and introverted Kosaki, to the persistent and determined Marika, the cast is a colorful crew who guarantees hours of enjoyable reading. And while not completely original, all these diverse personalities all coming together and interacting is something of a miracle on its own, take for example Marika’s clinginess to Raku, and Chitoge’s jealously of said clinginess. What seperates Nisekoi from other mangas of the same genre is the background behind all the characters. Some people argue that as readers we do not know much about the pasts of many characters and the story offers very few flashbacks so we are left guessing as to what might have happened, and thus has a very low view on Nisekoi. However, keep in mind that this sort of thing is intentional, as this is a romance story focused solely on the events 10 years in the past, and that said past shrouded in mysteries would slowly be revealed in time. As for things we do know, the story provides a sense of connection between all the characters, and serves to offer an emotional depth at the same time. All in all, each of the characters are very strong (in Chitoge and Tsugami’s cases, physically as well) and there is a strong sense of idiosyncraticness not seen in the likes of, say, 1/2 Prince. If anything, I’d suggest people read Nisekoi just for the characters.

Overall, Nisekoi was one of the best romance mangas I’ve ever read, and will continue reading. With such a creative storyline, intricate situations, both in the past and present, leaving you on edge wanting to find out just who the chosen one is. And so, I’m going to stop digressing and end it here. However, I just want to say one last thing, no matter if you are a newer viewer or seasoned otaku, you will not regret it if you give Nisekoi a try, as contrary to what many people are saying here, Nisekoi certainly does give off a vibe of its own,

Actually, unlike majority who have written reviews about Nisekoi, I feel that it is quite a good manga.
If you have watched the anime, and are planning to read the manga now, you should be warned that the start of the manga would shock you. The art is ... meh but after awhile the art work goes to the expected standard i.e. like the anime.
I really like harem manga and anime so the story was great, so it got a 9/10 for story.
The characters are quite good too, there are a wide range of characters.
I enjoyed reading it as I watched the anime first and wanted to know what happened afterwards.
The ending was so sweet that I nearly cried and I have never cried over a manga/ anime.
Overall, to me, this manga was awesome.
However if you have watched the anime, I recommend that you start from the part where the anime ends as it is very boring to reread.

I normally wouldn't put time and effort in creating a review about a manga that I didn't particularly enjoy or that didn't meet my expectations. Nisekoi on the other hand dissapointed me to a point where i'm suprised myself that I had such high hopes for this manga.

I'll hit it off with something more positive. The art is good. Everything blends nicely together, he plays a bit with the characters clothing and the expressions are entertaining to a certain extent. The art kept me from dropping the manga right off the bad, so even though the story, characters are poorly done, the art makes it enjoyable enough to keep reading.

THE STORY on the other hand is very plain & simple, guy has a bunch of girls he knew from his childhood and as with all childhood-based romances, love already blooms very early and the MC makes a promise to marry the girl who's name is locked up in the locker. (False Love) Quite intruiging and fun i'd say. But in the first 50 chapters the mangaka pushes all clichés and tropes he can recall right into the story, making it much too apparent that this is going to drag on 'til the end of the story, which it did. I apologize beforehand if i'm slowly starting to sound rude.

There are several genre-tags attached to this series, but the 3 most important ones are done in the worst way possible. The Drama, Harem & Romance tag. I didn't particularly laugh my way through this manga, but a lot of people love the clumsy jokes, love-fretting & the most ridiculous love-revealing situations and tropes all the different characters have to bluff their way out. Comedy is personal, so i'll leave it up to personal preference.

Drama: Because of the comedy I mentioned above, the series had a sort of lighthearted & all but serious vibe surrounding it. Drama was barely apparent to me and I couldn't take the fretting of most characters serious. The simple reason is that the fretting is so exaggerated and longterm, without any conceivable progression in it, that it becomes rather amusing then dramatic. But after keeping that up for 100 chapters it starts getting rather annoying and frustrating that the characters are still having the exact same worries. Besides that the first 50 chapters already give you a rather self-evident image of what is going to take place later on, making it regrettably predictable. That kills the fun of rooting for your own character and it makes you think why the mangaka is still trying so hard to make the other girls seem potentially dangerous in snatching away the MC from the Main Girl. It's almost embarassing to read.

Harem: Going somewhat more in-depth in the predictability of this series, will hopefully make my point clear. From the point onwards that Onodera and Chitoge are introduced, every other girl is already automatically cancelled out. As I already vaguely hinted at above, the mangaka tries very hard to make other girls in the Harem look like the desired bride for our MC, but the difference in focus regarding these side-Harem characters and Main love-rivaling characters is just too apparent and makes all situations taking place rather unecessary and time-consuming. It made me want the conclusion even sooner, then seeing every different girl try in vain. Just as the title is False Love, it's a False Harem as well. It's simply a race against time for our two main girls: Onodera & Chitoge, nothing more, nothing less.

Romance: It is a romance, I wouldn't try to convince you otherwise. But it's lacking in so much. It lacks in depth, mystery & unpredictability. There is nothing to ache for, to be excited about or to look forward too, because it is just too damn clear what we can expect. It completely blows away every readers hopes, who's hopes aren't in line with the already spoiled storyline in the first 50 chapters. (Leading to a fearsome quarrel between Chitoge fans and Onodera-fans in every possible comment section) A romance that lacks it's most rewarding features 'the suprise': characters figuring out their own feelings and towards who, characters doing suprisingly warmhearted and kind actions to make their love clear to the other person. It was all already revealed & when the characters finally started to realize and take action, it was already far too late for me to have any excitement and even respect for that particular characters genius realization... It was so poorly done, so anti-climactic and add to that that even with the realization most characters still hold onto the denial-stage for another 10-20 chapters, before giving up and accepting what it is. Time in this manga is a rather frustrating thing, definitily if you could only read it with the weekly releases. It slowly eats all your enjoyment and joy for this manga and turns it into frustration, annoyance and salt regarding the snail pace of this series plotprogression.

CHARACTERS: To simple and too straightforward for a series that progression with a snailpace. Because most characters are so straightforward to the reader that every action and thought is so blatantly clear, making it very frustrating that it takes ages for the character itself to make any progression regarding the realization of their own feelings and those of others around them. If I put this in amount of chapters, then the straightforwardness of these characters should've wrapped up the complete story in max 50 chapters, we have >200 now. It's already 4x more then what would be considered an acceptable pacing and steady progression.

Onodera: A very big factor in my low score. I normally am a sucker for these kind of girls, but the fact that she's so dense , extremely denying & i would even say delusional that i scrapped her off really fast. Her attempts at confessing are laughable and poor and her fretting succeeded in summoning my impatience and anger, rather then sympathy and support. To top it all off & this is the mast despicable turn of events i have ever experienced in anime /manga, the mangaka decides when the moment is finally there for both to confess that they both 'don't' & have never actually loved each other. Onodera x Raku is the leading and visible ship the mangaka rolls with, because we know from early on they are madly in love with each other, but they don't know each others feelings. This feeling of love only increasing through the 200+ chapters, just like their bond increases. To ultimately brush it off. These characters take 150 chapters to realize they extremely love each other and it take even longer before they realize that the other loves him/her too, but when everything comes together they realize in one chapter that all this realizing and so-called love meant 'ZERO'!!! (And people are suprised Onodera fans hate this, everything their fav. character worked for has been simply branded wasting her time on something that was actually just her imagination). Onodera is introduced as a clutch, who doesn't know how her future should look. She isn't the best at studying, nor in taking over the shop off her parents, but she throughout the series she realizes a lot of her talents and even gets quite some tips about what to do wit her life. All these tips were brushed off ofcourse, just like the love was in the finale. Makes you wonder where she could've been now if she realized this sooner, she might've already gotten a solid part-time contract or future job-security. I'm really dumbfounded when I start piecing her whole progression together.

Chitoge: I don't particulary enjoy tsuns, neither their agressive attitude, so I was biased about this character from the start and didn't support her struggle for Raku's heart. But as I repetitively said, it was clear that Chitoge would become the girl from the first chapter she was introduced. Raku & Chitoge, no compatibility, Chitoge hides behind a facade, Raku doesn't show any love or warmth towards Chitoge, let alone romantically. But the mangaka decides to win the readers heart by breaking her down completely and building her up from scrap. Meaning he tempted us by showing us her weak side and she realizing and finally confronting and accepting this. For me this is rather pitiful, because he just switched Onodera's redeeming quality with Chitoge and reverse. Onodera is suddenly able to put up a strong front and endure the sadness and pain of her confession and realization & Chitoge lets go of that strong front to become a whining mess, that we expect from Onodera.

I'd say the mangak isn't able to choose any girl and just bullshits around with the readers feelings.

To top it all off they finally confess and you expect a happy ending. No Chitoge decides to move abroad and follow another dream now that she worked out this one. She leaves her love right off the bat for status and reputation and money (fair enough, I can dig that myself, but it's not what you like to see in a romance, I thought romance was the most important thing in romance... *scratches head* Ah well... who cares...hmmmmm?!). The manga starts normal with an MC alone without lover, some good friends and it ends normal with his lover immediately leaving his side and pursuing bigger dreams, leaving him again with only good friends.

This is what you will be reading in this False Love story. You will have to endure, frustration, hate, disgust, irony, sarcasm, impatience & a completely ridiculous and all but satisfying ending. I honestly wish the same Amnesia these kids went through, applies to me for this series. (How can you even forget such a good time in your childhood, really beats me... Well it was probably an indication for all the poor writing to come...)

Please belief me on my word, but people calling this a real romance and putting it on #1 is completely uncalled for. It has nothing authentic, nothing romantically praiseworthy or outstanding, there is barely a need for a harem as most girls are completely unecessary material to fill up background of every panel.

I would suggest reading 'Orange' or watching it. Compare both romances and decide what is the better romance. Ofcourse the answer depends on which kind of romance you like, if it's the dreamy unrealistic love with only good-times, then Nisekoi rocks your boat, but if you just like me have a knack for the more realistic and really dramatic romances, then please skip Nisekoi and go read 'Orange', it's frustrating because it's so recognizable, while Nisekoi is frustrating because it's so impossibly & simplistically stale, it stagnates through chapter 25-185.

That's my 2 cent and once again apologizes my heated dislike for this series. I normally don't like to be judgy or know it better then the mangaka himself, but this is so enormously lacking in quality & i'm quite frustrated i've been reading this from 2014 and only now managed to quit, a lot of wasted time that could be spend on better manga imo.

Have a good day.

I don't know why people love this manga. Nisekoi is a romantic comedy manga. Nothing more, nothing less. The art style is really good, but the story is.....meh.

It starts from being something like a Romeo and Juliet comedy manga version, then a love-triangle and then it becomes a harem, where the girls fall in love with the protagonist because of his gentleness and such like every harem circulating. Boring and predictable. Oh, and around half of the chapters are fillers.

The characters are the usually stereotypes. The protagonist, the tsundere, the shy type, the overly attached type, the more shy type, the sister-in-law.The ones really interesting are the supporting ones like Shuu or Ruri.

The comic part is still funny, sometimes. If you don't have nothing better to read, give it try.

Before I say anything else, I should clarify that a 6/10 score doesn't mean this manga isn't worth reading. 6/10 is "fair" and that is exactly what this manga is at this point. Secondly, I feel like I really have to give two scores for Nisekoi:

For the first 45-50 chapters:
Genuine plot progression and character development, decent romance, and the feeling that the story was building upon itself. This part of Nisekoi is highly enjoyable and is the section currently being covered by anime Shaft is producing. It's a rom-com at its finest and gets a solid 8/10.

The problem starts after that....unless you like 60(sorry, did I say 60? I meant 160) chapters of filler. Gone is the character development, gone is the hilarious approach to love, in is an ever-growing harem of girls we know won't win and the abuse of gags. What starts as a truly entertaining love triangle blossoms into a nauseating dodecahedron with all the depth of a bath tub. It's like the manga is an airplane that has stalled and is now plummeting downwards, getting closer to a wreck by the week. With the latest girl added to the harem: the onee-san ninja chinese gangster who Raku happens to know, it is obvious the author is suffering from PSOOYA disease, a terrible conditions many writers suffer from. That is, "Pulling Shit Out Of Your Ass" My current score for chapters 55-current(118) is about 4/10, and that's being generous to say the least.

To understand why Nisekoi's plot goes off the rails and is replaced by bland moe-blobbery on a weekly basis, you have to understand two things. First; this is a manga that is published in Shonen jump, where long serialization is more important than development. Second: the demographic reading it doesn't give a shit. The popular vote for favorite character is very telling to the kind of people reading this in Japan, but I'll get to that later.

Story: 5/10
Starts off with an unoriginal but fun premise and is, for the first part at least, very well done. It would have a higher score if it had progressed an inch in 60 chapters.

Art: 8/10

While the art in Nisekoi can vary slightly, it always seems to get its point across perfectly. As much as I hate what has been drawn recently(moe,moe,moe!) it always does a very good job at representing characters and their emotions. No complaints here.

Characters: 5/10
"Five out of ten in a series based off its characters! Sacrilege!" is probably what the die hard fanboys are thinking right now, but with no development whatsoever in any character apart from Chitoge that is what they deserve. For starters, let's look at the MC.

Raku: Typical dense MC. Is at his most interesting/least cliche when dealing with Chitoge, but becomes a flat character when dealing with just about any other girl. Has a case of convenient amnesia.

Chitoge: First girl bias, incoming. A lot of people brand her as the "typical tsundere/bipolar" but her being cold to Raku initially shouldn't be surprising considering the premise. She hates Raku at the beginning but is forced to act all lovey-dovey when others are around, so of course she comes across as bipolar: that's the "joke". She's the only girl with some proper backstory and that has some level of depth to her character, but that's largely because she's the only one that went through non-contrived development.

Onodera: Fan-boys are going to flame the crap out of me for this, but she is your run of the mill cutesy girl character. A lot of people prop her up as "pure" but the truth is she's annoyingly indecisive and mind-numbingly boring. If you have a hard-on for shy girls and have never been in any sort of relationship in your life she's going to be your favorite character because that is her entire appeal. Surprise surprise, she's the most popular character in Japan.

Ruri: Best female character? Maybe. It seems side-characters are the only ones with heads on their shoulders in this series and in Ruri's case this is extremely apparent.

Shuu: Best male character? Definitely. He isn't dense and he's generally extremely fun to watch.

The rest of the harem: You'll fall in love with Marika if you stalkers who hold onto a love from when they were five years old and are ready to rip couples apart to get it back. "She deserves Raku the most" is a bit half-arsed when she doesn't know jack-shit about the current Raku and none of us know anything about her apart from the fact that she's pretty, talks like a redneck, and wants to marry Raku. She'd be a lot more likable if she'd been introduced slowly. Tsugumi plays her role well but her character development was contrived as it gets "he called me cute, character 180 time!". I'm not even going to get into the others, because we don't know enough about Chinese-teacher-don-nee-chan yet and I don't even want to get started on the little sister.

The 'fake love' between Chitoge and Raku is really the highlight of this manga.

Enjoyment: 6/10

For the same reasons as I put on "story", 8/10 for the first half and 6/10 for the second half, respectively.

Overall: 6/10

If within the next 20-30 chapters there is a sign that this manga is once more moving towards an ending it will go back up to a 7-8. At this point in time I don't recommend reading it because I'm not sure how the authors going to do it, but I can guarantee to you if you hear that Nisekoi got a "harem end" it's NOT worth the read.

EDIT:
After literally years it has ended. Years of filler. Honestly, give this thing a shot for the first few chapters and if you don't like the characters a LOT by the 50s or 60s, drop it. Not worth it otherwise. Ending was ok at least.

I think a pretty clear sign that a manga hasn't had the best writing is when you have a story with probably the most heated waifu war in recent memory, yet even the supporters of the winning side generally seem to agree that the story sucks. That's Nisekoi for you.

The biggest problem with Nisekoi overall has quite simply been its progression, or rather its lack of it. Seriously, why did this manga need to be 229 chapters long? You could easily have accomplished just as much in less than half of that. The sheer amount of filler, wasted opportunities at romantic progression and plot conveniences is almost unacceptable. But despite everything, Nisekoi has still managed to stay somewhat entertaining throughout at the very least.

For what it's worth, I really think Nisekoi did have an interesting premise for a romcom. The idea of having a guy and a girl being forced to pretend to be a couple even though they don't actually like each other led to a ton of great comedy moments early on, and for the first few dozen chapters it's a really solid manga. But past a certain point it just feels like the story flatlines completely. I'm not sure if the author is to blame or if it's Weekly Shounen Jump for wanting to milk the series as much as possible (probably both), but either way between roughly chapters 100 and 200, basically *nothing* happens in this manga. The jokes and usage of clichés keep going in circles, repeating the same events over and over again. There is no trace of progression in terms of either plot or romance, and it's pretty hard to keep caring about the characters anymore.

Speaking of which, the characters aren't exactly a whole lot better either, which is pretty ironic given how dedicated the fan bases of many of them are. Raku is denser than anything on the periodic table. How he consistently fails to notice any of these girls' feelings after all the things they put him through is so far-fetched it barely even feels realistic. I guess you could argue that he's too blinded by his supposed love for Kosaki to notice anyone else, but there's a line to be crossed here. Also, the so-called mutual affection between the two of them is some of the most awkward writing I've ever had to sit through reading. Seriously, these two have been in love with each other for so many years already, yet they are both completely incapable of making a move on the other no matter how many golden opportunities the manga provides for them. Especially Kosaki who has a ton of love rivals is the one you'd think really ought to step up but instead she's basically a doormat throughout the entire story. Chitoge on the other hand is probably the only character who actually has somewhat decent writing as she actually changes over time, going from full violent gorilla mode in the beginning to a rather sensitive and kindhearted girl towards the end. But even so it doesn't change the fact that this could easily have been accomplished in half the time. And then there are all the other girls that join in on the love rivalry over the course of time such as Tsugumi, Marika, Haru and Yui, but it's painfully obvious from the start that they're never going to have a chance at winning the race, and it really just feels like the author threw them into the harem because he could. Their sheer existence is ultimately nothing but fanservice.

And then... there's the whole "promised girl" aspect. This seriously has to be one of the most awkwardly executed plot mechanics I've ever seen in a romcom. Raku has a pendant which supposedly contains the memories of his "promised girl" from his childhood, and it just so happens that he doesn't have the key to it, and it just so happens that all the girls all seem to possess similar keys that might fit the lock, and it just so happens that despite realizing this they don't unlock the damn thing until close to the end of the manga, and they all just so happen to be connected to whatever happened in the past yet none of them actually remember it, and... I feel like I could go on forever. Why. Is. It. All. So. Convenient? This seriously made me cringe so hard whenever it was brought up. It's neither funny, romantic or emotional. It's just incredibly dumb, through and through.

While the manga eventually picks up pace again around chapter 200 and then keeps it up for what little is left before the end, it sadly remains as predictable and cliché as ever even when the plot progression is trucking along and it eventually culminates in a rather average ending. Not terrible by any means, but certainly nothing impressive either. And in the end I just can't help but ask what the point of this whole manga was? It started out great, but before long stagnated into nothingness and then climaxes in a predictable ending that might as well have happened before the stagnation even took place. Nisekoi literally could have ended over 2 years ago and it'd probably have been a better manga than it now is.

In the end though, I still can't make myself hate this manga. Why? Well despite everything I never really found it straight-up boring or filled with plot holes or anything like that; it's just painfully average. Everything about this manga bar the start is either cliché or just... meh. And whilst being meh certainly doesn't make it anything I'd recommend people, it's not total garbage either.

But hey, if nothing else Nisekoi has undoubtedly cemented its position as yet another classic meme in the anime/manga industry, so I guess that'll make people remember it at least.

********LIGHT SPOILERS AHEAD********

Nisekoi is what happens when you have great potential, but chuck it down the drain because you wanna be cliche. I loved this manga, but every chapter after Chapter 100 seemed to worsen. You'll like this manga if:

1) you're a diehard tsundere fan
2) you're looking for a predictable story that mirrors ichigo 100%

Story was moving well, never exceptional, but it was always interesting. Naoshi Komi decided to pump it with fillers, and as the series progressed, everything just went all over the place. Having now reached what almost inevitably seems to be the final few chapters, I'm thoroughly disappointed. Many aspects of Nisekoi which endeared it to me at the start, faded away into obscurity for the most predictable, cheap ending imaginable.

Great art, Komi is a master of comedic reaction faces and kawaii waifu girls.

Character. Oh my gosh. This is the single most terrible facet of Nisekoi. Fine, every girl just HAS to be a clearly defined dere type, but this isn't the problem. Kosaki Onodera, Seshiro Tsugumi, Yui Kanakura and shockingly even RAKU ICHIJO the protagonist himself, are severely underdeveloped/frequently backtrack on their minimal development. Marika Tachibana received very half hearted development later on, but she too can be classified as largely underdeveloped. Ruri and Shu, two great (honestly the best chars here) characters—wise, down to earth, a good blend of serious and funny; but Komi doesn't give them sufficient screen time.

Onodera especially is noteworthily and extremely poorly written, a character with great potential and massive popularity at the beginning—only to be portrayed as a character who doesn't respect her own resolve, frequently backtracking on two chapters worth of development—and this weakness is shared by other characters in Komi's Nisekoi as well. Development always takes second place to an illogical, obviously milked plot; and that's Nisekoi's greatest flaw. In contrast to all the other characters, Chitoge is the only one who receives good development and growth; and it becomes very obvious that the series is geared towards her, in an unrealistically unfair way.

There's no competition. It's all on a platter for her, just cause. She literally takes the development from all the characters, becoming an overdeveloped character; which is sad considering that Chitoge was a fantastic character at the start. Haru is a well balanced, likeable character that doesn't lack or overflow with development, however. Aside from Ruri and Shu, she was another thing that Komi got right...however well, she ends up like Ruri and Shu. Rather irrelevant.

Raku is infuriating. A character that starts if as hilariously noble, transformed into an extremely stupid, unrealistically dense and insensitive imbecile; all because the suspense has to be dragged on. Terrible considering that he's the main.

This series doesn't lack in enjoyment however. Great humour, and very compelling romance (at the start) were present, and even with his faults as a storyteller and people crafter, Komi is a great comedian; and he captures the fun drama of school life very well in the teenage crew.

Overall, a very cliche series. If you like the predictable, you'll love it. But if like me, you get engrossed with all the complex questions on feelings that Nisekoi poses at the start, don't take it up. It disappoints. The whole promise vs current thing was poorly fleshed out, and very half assed in the end. Gang wars dissipated into history. Epic brawls between the girls gave way for soppy, failed melodrama. What a sad end to something that could have been an 8 or 9/10.

Skip to the end of the review if you don't want to climb this giant wall of text that I wrote. Also, english is not my native language so bear with me.
This is my first review, and to be honest, I decided to write it just to make sure that people who read it think twice before they begin to read Nisekoi. This review is based on MY OPINION. You might like Nisekoi and you might also disagree with me and my gripes with this manga. And it's fine. I am not experienced in terms of manga and anime, and I think that any anime or manga can be considered good if it has decent art, characters and plot. It can also be considered good simply because you like it. You probably think - "Why would you give it such a low score then?!" and well, I can explain.
Nisekoi has a pretty good art - characters look cute, it is easy to read their emotions and all of them look different, even though they all basically have the same face, heh. Same goes for scenery and effects. Overall - art is enjoyable. I can't tell you anything about humor in this manga, because I have a rather specific sense of humor myself. It wasn't cringy or anything like that. Manga is not filled with these "OH YOU FELL RIGHT ON MY BOOBS" moments and it's good. I can't remember anything funny from this manga, but people seem to like it's humor, so it's up to you and your taste.
Now to the "fun" stuff. Nisekoi has 2 major problems: story and character development. Yeah, yeah, it's a harem manga, I know, but it's not as simple as you would think. First - characters. Male lead - Raku, seems to actually have some brains, unlike his indecisive "friends" from most harem manga. Female characters are your usual cliche girls - "dere" types - and I have nothing against that, it's okay to have cliche characters in harem manga, let's be real here. So far seems fine, right? Wrong. 200 chapters of development and character interaction lead to nothing. Why? Well I will tell you. Main characters interact with each other, Raku goes on dates with girls, they have these "kyun!" moments, memories, etc. And what happen's after that? Nothing. Take characters from chapter ~50 and characters from chapter 150 - nothing is different. Supporting characters like Paula McCoy, Claude, Raku's and Chitoge's fathers and all the gangsters disappear very early on.
--SPOILER ALERT--
-basicallythereareonlytwogirlsthatRakucaresabout-
--END OF THE SPOLIER--
And from that we go straight to the story problems. Whenever I told someone that I read Nisekoi they would laugh at me and ask if it had any sort of progression so far. Looks like these jokes reached Naoshi Komi(I also sense greed and/or sloth). At some point, after like 170 chapters in(I might be wrong with the number here), Nisekoi turns into some sort of harem bloodbath. Raku rejects one girl after another in a couple of chapters, to the point when only 2 female characters left. All the other female characters just disappear or become an analogue of scenery while characters that are still in the game interact with each other. Also, this whole important "pendant and key" thing is forgotten after like 100 chapters in and then it comes back in the end. Looks and feels pretty cheap. But I understand why it had to happen. Because you can't go on with one key(pun not intended) object for 200 chapters straight. That would be too much even for Nisekoi. Same thing also happens to "fake lovers" deal - because of that manga loses it's sense of danger, because you don't see anyone spying on Raku and Chitoge. Right now I am at chapter 227 and Raku has finally found his true love. I can't say that it was predictable(because I still had this tiny hope that I am wrong and author will dish out something unique in the end), but it kinda was. Yeah, sounds weird, right? Because this is how I feel after going through the last chapters - weird. I wasn't rooting for one specific girl, because I knew that Nisekoi is a harem manga, so I am not bashing at author and manga because Raku didn't pick "A GIRL I LIEKD TEH VERY BEST", so I am not judging it because I am mad at it. It just was a huge waste of time. And the worst thing is - it was all spoiled by the ending. In a couple of chapters. I would consider Nisekoi to be a good manga if only it didn't break it's own pace. Nisekoi has it's flaws, but you can say the same about any manga and you can tolerate all of that, until it goes overboard. And well, Nisekoi has gone overboard with it's flaws. Too bad.
Summary:
Story - 3: no progression, because of that chapters look like fillers, fillers filled with cliche situations that lead to nothing and after that you get rushed cheap ending. Main problem of this manga is the amount of chapters. Ending would probably look somewhat good if manga consisted of 100 chapters. Instead we have over 227 chapters with rushed ending that kills the pace of whole manga and stomps on it's corpse.
Characters - 6: your usual cliche characters, but thankfully, not too dumbed down, more than a half of them disappears in the last chapters, again, thanks to the rushed ending.
Art - 8: very good!
Enjoyment - 3: rushed ending, no progressions, cliche characters and loads of filler-like chapters - my patience(and art style of manga) helped me to get through it(though I almost abandoned Nisekoi for like 5 times), but in the end it was a waste of time. I am disappointed.
Overall - 4: decent harem manga spoiled by a rushed ending. It has a nice art, but it will not save it from it's problems, only because of the art I couldn't give it a 3. Don't waste your time, unless you really have lots of it. Or be prepared to feel disappointed in the end. It's somewhat good until you see the ending, and who knows, you might actually like it. As I said earlier, this is my review and my opinion. Look at my anime and manga list - can you really trust to a guy like me?

First impression: I hadn't laughed that much since Seto no Hanayome. This manga is really hilarious, and by what is seen on its One Shot it will get more action as the story keeps moving forward.

Story: Is some sort of reversed Romeo and Juliet story style, since here two rival families, a yakusa and a gangster one, leaders' want to settle a peace treatment by joining their respective heirs; a guy and a girl than can't see each other with out beginning a ruckus... but that somehow managed to maintain the masquerade to prevent a war between the families.

Art: I can't give it a 10, but it's really good quality and fits perfectly the story.

Characters: The chemistry between then is awesome...

Enjoyment: ... What do I say... I'm still laughing.

Overall: This is a great manga that you surely will enjoy.

Characters-
Ichijou Raku is the male protagonist with outstanding grades and respectable behaviour who desires to enter into a good university after high school and eventually become a government worker. Hindering this is the fact that Ichijou is the heir to a Yakuza and hindering that is the fact that he’s a total weakling.

Kirisaki Chitoge is the female protagonist with better grades than Ichijou (scoring 105 out of 100) and happens to be his childhood friend. She’s a tsundere, plain and simple. Good looking but easily prone to violence against Ichijou, and the heiress to what appears to be a Mafia.

The Oneshot was actually fantastic. A boy and a girl (childhood friends who share their dislike of each other) who also happen to be the heirs of yakuza and mafia gangs, respectively. The gang leaders (their fathers) do not want conflict, however their subordinates want to paint the town red with one another. Therefore, the logical (for a manga it's fairly logical, ok?) answer to this is to have the boy and the girl date each other, the gang subordinates dote on their respective heir with a passion and therefore are happy to call a truce lest they disturb the couple's 'true love'. The banter between those two characters was hilarious and heartwarming, and their attempts to keep up appearances of 'going out' to appease the gangs was hilarious.

Then enter the series, and here comes the Onodera - the third wheel. Sorry, Love Triangle. Enter other needless female romance options for no reason and the dilution of the 'boy + girl keeps secret from gangs' formula to a 'boy + many girls seek for true love from childhood with a convoluted whose girl's key fits in the boy's locket plot device plus next to no yakuza/gang interaction whatsoever and degeneration into typical cliche stereotypes that occur in comedy romances' formula.
I feel the dynamic and chemistry between the two bickering childhood friends was near-perfect, the move into love triangle and further into harem was pointless and stupid. And the crime syndicates element has been largely superseded by cliched this-is-in-every-romance-manga-ever elements.

It's still better than most romance harem manga out there, but it went from 'amazing' to merely 'above average' between the Oneshot and the series.

Even so the series is worth checking out of you’re into these kind of manga. I encourage it if you want a few chuckles and have a COUGHSEXUALSENSATIONCOUGH, I mean lovey dovey sensation in the body.
I mean lovey dovey sensation

Unlike most romances that run in Weekly Shonen Jump (classics include I''s, Ichigo 100% and To Love-Ru), this series focuses more on comedy than on being an ecchi series.

The story is not 100% original but that's to be expected since the use of love triangles is a pillar of shonen romances, yet still manages to be amusing and good to read as a general romance.

The artwork of course is less "romance" and more "slice of life" and it fits surprisingly well with the story which is made even more amusing by the characters.

This manga might not make your top 10 list, but it is worth a shot if you want to try and get into shonen romance manga. Of course it isn't 100% harem/ecchi free but out of all the shonen romances I have read it's the closest one to being so.

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

After reading 36 chapters, I can pretty much say that this story lacks originality. The story's based on your typical love triangle and childhood promise, so you won't find anything new here. Despite the generic and predictable story, Komi Naoshi still manages to keep me hooked to it by utilizing quite a few minor plot twist throughout the story.

The art is probably where the manga shines the most. It's easy to enjoy and will definitely make you laugh on some occasions. The drawing style matches the story really well in my opinion.

The characters in Nisekoi are as cliché as the story itself. Also, I couldn't help but notice at one point of the story, how this manga has slowly turned into a harem. As for the character development, it's mediocre and really not worth mentioning.

To sum it up, Nisekoi is more of a romance/slice of life shounen manga which heavily depends on comedy and its art, in order to survive.
Would I recommend it? Well, it depends. If you aren't bothered too much by chlichés and the unoriginality present in the story, you'll definitely take a liking in the manga. Otherwise I wouldn't be concerned reading it at all, especially if you are looking for a serious romance.

(Any kind of feedback is appreciated)

Nisekoi is a manga about nothing.

This one sentence sums up Nisekoi for me. Really it does. You could end the review right here right now based on this simple sentence alone.

For a more complete review, here is what I believe is the true "story" to Nisekoi.

Nisekoi stars Raku, a coma patient stuck in his coma fantasy where he's trying to find the girl who once confessed to him among all his harem members. Now, all harem logic applies here, no common sense, just awful stupidity and generic cliches.

So Raku doesn't confess to any of the girl because if he does, he would realise his true stats in the world and will die for real, so , his subconscious creates strange coincidental occurrences that happen so that any potential confession scene would be destroyed somehow. It's how Raku perpetually stays in his dream world.

Ultimately it's not about Onodera vs Shitoge, it's a story of whether or not Raku will come to his senses and wake up from this dreadful coma fantasy.

It's heartbreaking as hell.

It's especially heartbreaking to me.

The final joke is played on the viewers. Nisekoi is not the fake love between Raku and Shitoge, it's the falseness of the entire manga/anime series to the whole audience.


At least Magical girl Kosaki is funny at times.

Mod Edit: This review may contain spoilers.
----
The thing that I loathe the most is when a harem story doesn't have a harem ending or at least an open ending. I mean, why the hell make a harem manga if you are not even gonna stick to it till the end? I know Polygamy is illegal in real life, but isn't that reason why we read or watch anime/manga? Yes, as you can see I am feeling super salty right now. It is like watching one of those horrible NTR hentai because I didn't get my favorite ship, and why the hell not? When you read a harem story where every girl is giving an equal amount of effort. My main beef is that don't make a harem story if you are gonna at least show us a harem ending. I mean, hell even an Open ending is perfectly fine where everyone is running after MC on some sunny beach and credits roles, then it leaves it to your imagination.

Plot- The story started out really good. I still remember it when it had only 13 chapters and I thought, wow this looks really good that has great rom-com with decent amount of lovable characters, but it went hell after something like 100 chapters. It just got so repetitive and cringy, I guess I have to blame the big hype and popularity that this series got over the years that Author milked the shit out of this. I mean, you can already predict with whom our Dense MC is gonna go out with, within the first 10 chapters, but it far-stretched to 226 chapters, and going through the last arc is like self-torture, SO MUCH PAIN, SO MUCH CRYING, SO MUCH BREAK UPS. It was god-awful, seeing them leaving one by one, but I still hold on to that tiny bit of silver lining, and boy, did I regret so much. I should have dropped it long time ago, now that I am suffering from the aftermath which is gonna remain for weeks.

Characters-The only character that I supported is Marika, why? Because she is the only woman who is straightforward and doesn't wuss out when it comes to confession unlike other females in this story which are your generic stereotype tsundere that drags the arc till the end. As for Raku, holyshit. He is the fucking worst Main Character I have ever seen. He takes denseness to whole new level and the most terrible part that he goes through no growth until the very last arc which felt like Tom and Jerry Chase all around the world. If only he had man the fuck up, things might have gone much better.

Art:- I guess this is the strongest point of the manga, and the main reason for the popularity? Because I believe Author focused more on the moe moe and kawaii shit of the females and polished their personalities through the series instead of the important issues that this story suffers from.

Enjoyment:- The only redemption is that thankfuck everyone moved on at the end because they seriously don't deserve an indecisive guy like Raku. Shuu is much better and has the balls to get the job done. He should have NTR'd him long time ago :D Oh Damn, we are going side-track here. Do yourself a favor and read Nisenisekoi which is much better than this whole train wreck.

1/10

I never heard of this until I randomly stumbled upon it on my recommended list so I wasn't really expecting much apart from your typical lovey-dovey story with 2 girls fighting over 1 guy shenanigans. And gangsters. Wait, what? Nisekoi translates to "Fake Love". Due to an unfortunate fate, the lovers in this story must become a couple for the sake of their feuding families but the problem is that they absolutely loathe eachother. Stir in a decent amount of cute slapstick comedy and a splash of soft harem (yes, there are 4 girls in total) and you have a formula for something amazing that is Nisekoi.

Story:
As many others have mentioned, the story resembles abit of Romeo and Juliet except that it isn't the families who are in conflict but ironically the fake lovers. Its not a direct reference but you will notice the similarities quite quickly. While the manga does have its fair share of typical highschool aspects, the addition of the watchful gangsters thrusts the characters in very funny and silly situations. Besides the fake lovers thing, there is sort of a 'secondary plot'. Ichijou, the protagonist of the story, is searching for a girl in his past who has the key to his locket to unlock a 'promise' he cannot remember which doesn't prove itself any easier when there's more than just the one potential candidate. Over time, the girls share fragments of their childhood memories and adds more twists with each revelation. This doesn't sound like a bad premise but its played out horrendously long. Moments when I think they could of wrapped this up in less than 20 chapters but there's usually some coincidental interruption that prevents the story from moving forward. That's shounen romance for you I guess. I mean, how hard is it to open a damn locket when the keys are staring right at you? Sometimes I even think they could of dropped this childhood promise because it seems really unnecessary and only exists for the purpose of giving this series an eventual ending. Nevertheless, Ichijou's growing relationship with Chitoge and the rest of the female cast is this series strong point. If you're a fan of happy & light rom-coms that doesn't center on plot then this is right up your alley.

Art:
The art is superb. Very clean, vibrant and stays consistent. Romance and comedy are handled well, especially facial expressions (warning: blush overload!) that can give you a doki doki attack. Otherwise, there's nothing special that will really blow you away. For a rom-com, its surprising to see little to no ecchi in this but instead a smorgasbord of adorableness.

Character:
Charming and funny but not very unique cast. We have the primary 2 females; Chitoge, the fake girlfriend with a tsuntsun attitude and Onodera, the childhood friend with a crush. I have no qualms with these two but Marika, the slight yandere, who is also one of the three promised girls, shows up way too late and is treated as a gag character more than a love interest. There is also a kuudere (Tsugumi) that doesn't have much relevance to the story but is still a potential love interest which I like as it adds an improbability that Ichijou might not end up with the promised girl (which makes the plot even more pointless). These personalities aren't strange to see in a harem setting but the girls play their roles marvellously despite that and the four share brilliant synergy. In harems, its very difficult to establish a likeable male protagonist but Ichijou luckily isn't the typical horny teenager who gets up to perverted shenanigans but is a selfless, hard-working and honest to good guy (think Ryuuji from Toradora!). Apart from these characters, there are 2 other classmate friends worth mentioning; Shuu, the idiot friend who is always up to no good for a laugh and getting Ichijou in more mess and Ruri, Onodera's merciless straight-faced cupid. The gangsters are not very prominent and are usually in the background unintentionally getting the others into awkward situations and setting the stage of events. The character development, most notably Chitoge's and Onodera's, are well paced and nicely done as we have narratives from both of them. Overall, a solid funny likeable cast but not original enough to make them stand out from other romance series.

Enjoyment:
Even with the flaws highlighted in the story, this is still a very enjoyable manga. Between plot related events, we either have some fillerish bonding time with the group of friends that surprisingly is really good rather than thinking of them as story diversions or with Ichijou and one of the girls which I find the chemistry is extremely well executed. The rivalry they unknowingly share makes for an entertainingly gripping read. When you think one girl has won, another shows her trump card in the next chapter, then the other shows theirs in another and well, you get the idea. The comedy doesn't fall flat either with gags flying left and right that never gets stale and cute yet ridiculous slapstick that will surely have you slapping your knee.

Overall:
This manga is very good read if you're a fan of shounen romance that both genders are able to appreciate. The story isn't anything unique or serious so don't expect an ounce of drama if you were but if you want a lovey-dovey highschool boy searching for girl romance with unexpected added hilarity then Nisekoi definitely fits the bill well.

Niseko is completely unbareable. It is a romance manga with crap romance. It is a comedy manga with crap comedy. Sure it is well drawn and started out with a solid premise, but i could not push myself to continue reading.
The whole plot is a love triangle. There is nothing else really. There is no other goals they have to achieve. There are no club activities or mysteries to solve. The plot is the romance. and that is not necessarily a bad thing. But the romance is just so weak. Most of the time the characters are just yelling at each other or having over the top reactions. There is barely a moment where we can slow things down and actually have some proper romantic moments. Even the moments that are meant to be cute and fluffy are just destroyed by sloppy paneling, and the characters just immediately ruining the mood by yelling or trying to pull some gag. Everything is just so fast paced and crude that is just unreadable .
I don't find it particularly funny. There are no good gags or jokes. The only 'laughs' come from the reaction gags which occur so often that it is just annoying. I am just yelling is my mind "THEY ARE TRYING TO HAVE A MOMENT STOP RUINING IT!!!!".
It started out well, a likeable guy, stuck between a transfer student, and a childhood friend, but just devolved into sloppy pacing and yelling.
Even though this is a 'shounen' manga i was hoping for something better. Ifthis the shounen version of romance then count me out.