Review of Nisekoi: False Love

STORY - 8 ART - 8 SOUND - 8 CHARACTER - 9 ENJOYMENT - 9 It really is tough to maintain the facade of love. To act like you're in love with this partner who you hate, well, it'll definitely stir up some volatile scenarios that other people might get enjoyment out of. Nisekoi is an overblown version of this and despite its clichés, it did a pretty damn good job at doing just that. Starting off with two comically frightening families who wanted to strangle each other's neck, a truce was formed when the son and daughter from both families was forced into a pretend relationship. The boy has amysterious pendant of childhood origin, has his own puppy crush on a quite timid girl, and is just about the most densest object in the entire universe. Very familiar qualities but I must say, they were what made this anime enjoyable. You see, the hateful relationship between these two teens opened up the chances to admire their stabilizing chemistry. Added with the suspicions and mishaps that arose between misunderstandings, it led to many comedic greatness while having that sweet progression as they gradually realized the seeping warmth over time. That pendant with a lock was a key element for the girls present in his love life. All of them have a similarity in that they're in one way or another related to the childhood memories and promises of the boy. Each had a charming personality which was, yes, generic, but you don't have to be original if your show revolves around crazy antics. And it worked here. The love perception in the eyes of the girls, who had events of falling in love in their own ways, developed an infatuating crush on the boy. They tried handling their feelings, but that only guided them towards a lot of entertaining gags in the levels of silly and stupid. There were so many times where I screamed "Aho!" at them in my head but it's all good. Among this ruckus of hilarities, the inner monologuing delved into their true feelings which gave insights to them as characters. There's not much of a story other than the pendant giving backstories and some anticipating mystery but the progress was there and it's sincere. It was just halted numerous times by fun amusements.

Everything I said will be blind if not for the distinct style produced by Shaft. While it was an interesting spin for a rom-com, it worked remarkably well here. Having geometric designs in the background with cases of more detailed ones created a mostly simplistic feel that emphasized the characters. There were also the visual motifs, such as head tilts, acting as an extra medium. Combined with a strong animation, this became what I call the master of exaggerations. Particularly for the facial expressions in embarrassing scenes, the moe factor mixed in with crazy faces so crazy was a solid source of laughter. Add all these styles together and the comedic scenarios were greatly executed. No doubt that the visual contributed immensely with the humor. They're both highly correlated with each other. Bright and vivid uses of colors splashed the scenes with vigor, pulsating the atmosphere with energetic vibes. The girls have something in them that was especially endearing to me. A certain semblance. Take the tsundere for example, with her hateful appearance contradicting with her blossoming feelings. That facade only made her even more cuter. They all have great character designs fitting for their archetype, portraying mannerisms through body language and luminescent blushes over love bubbles. In the midst of these beauties, great voice acting provided one other supplementary factor to go with their personality. Much of the background soundtracks blended in well with the scene so noticeability wasn't a main factor for them. That said, I loved a couple of the humming melodies filled with all kinds of fun. Opening songs were catchy by the way, loved them too.

Fakery is thin when it's bounded by the reality of love. It's a backfiring effect for people who have little experience with their fondness for that other person, generating tons of amusing behaviors along with some cute interactions. Which is good for us in the sidelines, as we can be indulged by it with Nisekoi being a prime example for this kind of entertainment.