Review of Nisekoi: False Love

TL;DR: A high school boy, the heir of a yakuza gang, is forced into a relationship with a girl from another gang, when his heart is actually set on finding his dream girl; a girl he made a promise to 10 years ago but whose identity he no longer remembers. The story had so much potential, but the circular plot that resolved nothing in the end, became a disappointment. The question, "who was the girl 10 years ago" was never answered, and it dragged on too long it kinda makes anyone lose interest in actually finding out the answer in the second season. I would say, thisAnime is good enough to make you enjoy it till the end, but not so much that you would consider continuing with season 2.

Music, Art and Voice acting isn't really a problem. It was well executed, but not overwhelmingly good that it merits an Oscar Award.

STORY - 7/10

I must say, anyone, including me, would have really high hopes considering the unique concept of the story. The premise of a fake and forced relationship due to gang wars definitely might sound original and cool, but I must say, the story fell a little bit short and didn't deliver to it's full potential.

Anyone would want to know who the mystery girl 10 years ago is, and its fun to see that her identity isn't too straightforward. However, as the producers wanted to make the mystery complex, it ended up involving too many people and the confusion just ends up losing the interest of any watcher. It's fine to have 2 potential girls who could be the mystery girl, but to suddenly and abruptly introduce another girl in the middle of the series (and reveals that this new girl is also potentially the one), it became very messy and cluttered. Not to mention, it became unrealistic. A coincidence could happen twice, but three times? That's too much of a stretch for anyone.

The aren't any fillers or plot holes that were obvious to the average viewer, however, the plot was very circular because what you knew as you started the series, remains the same even when you end the series.

ART - 8/10

Not much to talk about here. I know that art is subjective and it depends on your preference, however, I will generally describe the artistic value of this piece as neutral as I may.

The characters are drawn well enough to draw out emotions and feelings from the viewers. For example, the girls in the Anime are drawn good enough for anyone to believe that this is what a 'beautiful' girl looks like.

The animation panels were consistence and the style didn't seem to deviate as the series progressed. The fluidity of each passing scene felt natural and worked well in telling the story.

The colours in the Anime are also not a problem. There were no blinding colours as observed in some bad Animation out there, (ahem, Pokemon) but were vibrant enough to keep the story alive, cheerful happy. This tone suits the story and didn't feel unnecessarily forced.

The backgrounds were to a certain extent good, but definitely not special. Not something worth remembering, and certainly doesn't make you pause the video and say, "wow". It's not bad though, I must say, as the backgrounds didn't interfere with the telling of the story.

One unique point of discussion in this Anime is the flashbacks. The flashbacks are made to look like a playback on a 1960's black and white film. I had no problem with this, in fact, I kinda liked it as it made it obvious that this unclear film was a depiction of the main protagonist's poor memory over the events that unfolded 10 years ago.

SOUND - 8/10

First, let's talk about the opening themes. All three were in my opinion, perfectly suited to the tone of the story. The cheerful, fast paced melody is in a way a metaphor to show the cheerful, ever-so-happy attitude of high school kids and the innocence of love. The opening themes might not land in everyone's Itunes playlists, but if you hear it, even once, you would already be able to guess what the story is about.

Second, the closing. This is a bit more interesting as the tone is not just cheerful, but it is to a certain extent, kawaii. This kawaii melody compliments the cheerful and playful attitude of the story and doesn't make you forget what you are currently watching.

Finally, the voice acting. BEAR IN MIND, I WATCHED THE ANIME IN JAPANESE AUDIO. The Japanese voice actors fit into their roles very well. In fact, the tones they had were appropriate to how their characters were portrayed in the series, so much so that you can easily tell apart who's voice belong to who even if the screen went black. Never in the series did the voice acting sound unusual, unnatural and forced. Not once. Kudos to the voice actors.

CHARACTERS - 6/10

Here's where I had a problem. The character development. In any Animation series, we want ALL the major characters to grow as a person and reveal who they are as a person naturally, without forcing it. This means, we would like to observe how a character behaves, not be told how they behave. The development of some characters were severely lacking, and it was obvious too. I know that in any Harem, it's hard to balance the screentime of every girl, however, if the series were to introduce a major and important character so late into the series, and not bother to develop that character, they might as well not introduce the character at all. What's the point of having such an important character be unnaturally forced to fit into a plot if it just clutters everything and ruins the character as a person?

This asymmetry of influence that each protagonist have resulted in unbalanced development. Often we had seen too much of one character and at the same time, we saw too little of another character. The relationships between the characters felt alien and illogical as a result. This made the love dispute unbelievable and sound corny.

ENJOYMENT - 8/10

Despite having some major setbacks in terms of character development, the concept of the story was already fundamentally strong, strong enough to support the interest of any watcher to continue watching till the end. It didn't necessarily become boring or repetitious at any point although it might have become quite confusing near the end. The presence of some fan service as well as drama is enough to draw the attention of any average anime fan, and the mystery was compulsive enough to make us stay curious throughout 75% of the whole series.

All in all, the Anime was good but could have been better. Worth a watch but not worth a rewatch.

Fake Love? Doesn't look Fake to me.