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.
Alternative TitlesJapanese: ニセコイ More titlesInformationType: Manga
Volumes: 25
Chapters: 229
Status: Finished
Published: Nov 7, 2011 to Aug 8, 2016
Demographic:
Shounen
Serialization:
Shounen Jump (Weekly) Authors:
Komi, Naoshi (Story & Art) Statistics Ranked: #16632 2 based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded. Popularity: #38
Members: 201,679
Favorites: 13,375 Resources | Reviews
Filtered Results: 115 / 121
Sort
Your Feelings Categories Apr 16, 2014
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 ... Jun 10, 2014
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 ... Aug 20, 2016
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 ... Mar 11, 2012
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, ... Aug 4, 2016
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 ... Apr 19, 2021
It's been years since I started the journey that is Nisekoi. I remember watching the first few episodes of the anime to only lose track of where I was not to finish it. Funny right? With an overall score of 9, how could I just stop?
I like to watch/read things through to the end. One at a time and really savour the work. So this past weekend I decided that Nisekoi would be my target. Recalling the unique story that I began years ago was nostalgic and heart-warming all at once. I watched the first season of the anime through to the end only ... Apr 28, 2015
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 ... Aug 4, 2016
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 ... Mar 24, 2012
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 ... Nov 7, 2014
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 ... Aug 2, 2016
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 ... Dec 1, 2014
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
...
Jun 14, 2017
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 ... Feb 15, 2013
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 ... Jul 25, 2021
A few days ago i started reading the manga of Nisekoi in parallel with Gintama . I had seen anime 2 years ago and i like it . Bla Bla Bla let's jump in the review !
Story : Well here i will comment just about the plot . In the begging they needed to stop the fight between Raku family (Yakuza) and Chitoge family (Gangster) . They fathers agree to make them a false couple to stop the fight between them for 3 years . Raku have a pedant which will open if the girl with the good key will open the pendant and they will ... Apr 4, 2013
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
...
Sep 4, 2014
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
...
Jul 22, 2016
********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 ... Dec 2, 2013
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 ... Aug 3, 2012
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 ... |