Review of Nisekoi: False Love

Nisekoi is a trope-filled, cliche, completely unoriginal romance anime wrapped in Shaft's signature style. However, despite it's complete and utter unoriginality (which I can not stress enough), it is still an enjoyable watch. But let me break it down: ~~STORY~~ Minor spoilers? I guess? You can't really spoil Nisekoi, since if you have watched a single high-school romance anime you'll instinctively know most of the story. Childhood promises of marriage where no one remembers who, no one ever successfully confessing to the other, hot-spring episode, beach episode, a whole lot of misunderstandings. Is there a festival? Of course! Is there a test of courage? You bet! Thepremise is fine... probably the only original-ish thing in the whole series - but its more of a background reminder as to why the main pairing are forced to be together at all. If you're looking for a romantic story, Nisekoi is NOT for you. There isn't anything special at all about it. Convenient and inconvenient timing, chance and coincidence are what control the plot, nothing else.

~~ART~~
This is where opinions will differ greatly about Nisekoi, as Nisekoi is definitely a Shaft anime. Expect bright colours, changing backgrounds, fast sporadic cuts, head tilts, close zooms into character's eyes, random blocks of text, etc, etc. If you're into Shaft's style Nisekoi will not disappoint you, but if you don't like their previous works (probably most comparable would be Arakawa under the bridge), then you won't like this one.

~~SOUND~~
Not bad, not good, just there. I literally just finished the series and I don't remember any of the music. Not remembering is better than hating though.

~~CHARACTERS~~
Oh boy, here we go. This is where this review will get its most dislikes. The main (romantic) cast are well executed but completely cookie cutter tropes. This is an issue because I really REALLY don't like Tsunderes - and as per usual one of the main girls is one of the biggest I've seen. Oh, and she's also scared of the dark and of lightning, so let's not forget those cliches as well. Other main romantic interest is the flawless moe girl who has a crush on the main character... and of course she can't cook. Oh, and they introduce a third girl mid-way who pursues the protagonist in a more obvious way of course (most shows wait till season 2 to introduce her). They're well executed, but they're all so... typical. Of course my favorite characters in these shows are the best friend characters, both of which were the best part of Nisekoi for me. They were also the only ones who weren't completely brainless. The other side characters are also enjoyably quirky as well. As long as people recognize that Miyamoto is best girl, I'll be happy.

~~ENJOYMENT~~
Despite my criticism, I did enjoy the show. While the story is oh so bland and cliche, it is still funny. When it wants to be cute, it is cute. When it wants to be tense, it's tense. When it wants to be funny, it usually succeeds. It's well executed if nothing else. The people behind Nisekoi KNOW how to make anime, they just chose a cliche IP to work with.

~~OVERALL~~
This anime doesn't require your full attention - it's a good show to have on in the background as you do something else. The story is cliche and hits all the tropes of a romance anime, but if you like that sort of thing, go nuts. But if you're looking for a unique look at romance in anime - move along.

Toodles~