Review of Nisekoi: False Love

I never thought I’d see a Shaft adaptation of a romantic comedy, but they have gone and done one. If you’re not familiar with Shaft and their trademark style, found in shows like Madoka Magica, Hidamari Sketch, and the Monogatari series, I’d call Nisekoi a relatively gentle introduction to their absurdist, post-modern style. However, as for the story itself, which originated in the manga by Komi Naoshi (which for the record, I am not familiar with), I’d say Nisekoi is an occasionally entertaining harem-y romcom, but about average at best. Let’s break it down. The Good The first thing that jumps out at me in most Shaft-producedanimation is the visuals, and Nisekoi doesn’t fail to deliver. Shaft’s trademark exaggerated camera angles, surreal background art, higher-than-average detail and frame-change rate, and of course, head tilt are all present and as fun to watch as ever. The visual style is more realistic than the ultra-sparse and very surreal Monogatari series, or the artsy mixed-media presentation of Madoka, but contains elements of both the realism and the absurdism.

I also really liked the voice acting in this show. Chitoge and Onodera (above, left to right) were both excellent. Chitoge’s VA, Touyama Nao, has a couple of starring roles in romcom type shows (Oregairu and Hataraku Maou-sama, for instance), and I appreciated how she well she handled Chitoge’s wide-ranging emotional registers in this show. Onodera’s VA, Hanazawa Kana, is practically ubiquitous but is perfect as usual in the role of the more easily-embarrassed shy girl. I also liked Raku’s VA, Uchiyama Kouki. He did a fine job with the very hammy role, playing very nicely off Chitoge’s temper and Onodera’s palpable kawaii-ness.

The Bad

If you’ve been anywhere around my blog before, you’ll know I don’t like harem-y shows very much. The whole point of harem is stagnation of the romantic status quo, or possibly just exploitation of an increasingly complicated love polygon, but regardless, the point stands. Harems don’t end up anywhere, and Nisekoi, similarly, ends up going nowhere. The final episode is about as frustratingly awkward as the first one, with the main exception of Chitoge having admitted her feelings for Raku to herself. (She’s literally the only one left at that point so…yay, progress?)

This isn’t even to mention the other two (frankly extremely annoying) girls who show up and end up with crushes on Raku. I guess they’re pretty inconsequential, since Raku dates Chitoge for the whole show and harbors a crush on Onodera from the first scene to the last, and mostly just brushes the other two off. The fact that the finale of the show has two otherwise very “romantic” scenes between each of the two female leads and Raku just cements the fact that this is really a romantic comedy with a love triangle at its center…and a harem ending as its finale.

The Ugly

The characters really pissed me off a lot of the time. Especially the supporting cast and that obnoxious Tachibana girl, who basically latches onto Raku midway through the show like a crusty barnacle. It doesn’t help that she has the most obnoxious speech patterns in the show (a self-styled ojou-sama register full of “watakushi”s and “desu wa no”s) and, well, she hits on Raku harder than a jackhammer. And that servant girl and Raku’s guy friend at school were pretty annoying, too. Onodera’s friend Ruri was okay because she was quiet and rather hilarious, but otherwise inoffensive.

At least the main characters were mostly bearable. Raku and Onodera’s mutually unadmitted (to each other, I mean) crush is the heart of the show, and Chitoge’s “fake” relationship with Raku provides the slapstick and the laughs (and the ship fuel). In short, if they hadn’t added the needless supporting “harem” characters, and if the show had provided some kind of closure to Raku’s struggles in romance, this could have been a much stronger show. Oh, and maybe if the last episode hadn’t been such a disaster.

The Verdict

A mixed bag for a cast with fun leads and some really obnoxious side characters. A silly love story that goes nowhere, and a terrible final episode that just brought the whole story (and the school, from the looks of it) down in shambles with its harem-ish and completely unresolved ending. Brilliant and hilarious Shaft animation, quality voice acting and fun theme music, and some touching romantic moments for the main triangle. All in all, I kind of enjoyed Nisekoi, but I wish it had been a lot better.