BACKGOUND
The main character Raku Ichijou is the heir to a Yakuza empire besides that he is an entirely average high school student attempting to make his way through these hormone filled years. He holds onto a locket which a childhood sweethart gave to him, he treasures the locket even though he can't remember much about the promise he made with the girl.
On his way to school one day he's greeted by a flying knee from an unkown assailant who turns out to be a transfer student, Chitoge Kirisaki, a girl who had just arrived from the US. By the cruel twists of fate they end up being classmates then even begin to fake date, due to some form of a peace treaty.
CHARACTERS
Raku Ichijou, the MC is a kind young boy who happens to be the heir to a yakuza empire, he has troubles with his love life from his locket to his crush on Kosaki Onodera and to make matters worse more he seems to be some sort of a chick magnet, attracting many girls that he had long forgotten or never even met to his side.
Chitoge Kirisaki, the unknown assailant who kneed Raku in the face, is also the heir to a mafia group that her foreigner father runs. She's a very aggresive girl who also has trouble remembering her past as well as her complicated feelings towards Raku.
Kosaki Onodera, one of the girls in Raku's class who has had a crush on him from many years yet still completely oblivious to the fact that Raku also had a crush on her. She's a very timid, shy girl and puts others needs before her own.
Amongst the supporting characters the one's that stand out are Shuu Maiko and Ruri Miyamoto. Shuu is Raku's long time friend from kidergarten and our comic relief specialist, he's also just a tad bit perverted. Ruri on the other hand is Kosaki's old friend and somehow manages to keep Shuu in line.
ART STYLE
The art style in this anime is very simplistic the majority of the time, utilising a very pastel colour palet giving the anime a much more adolescent vibe, really emphasising the fact that this indeed is a high school romance not one of adults. The use of simplistic backgrounds to really accentuate the comical facial expressions made by the characters gives off a very comedic and almost childish effect, the use of the overexaggerated facial expressions and movements add onto the innocent environment given off by the characters. The use of bright vivid colours create a very energetic, bouncy atmosphere. At times the art style even becomes reminiscent of the monogatari series with very minimal yet well placed splashes of colour or sharply cut line with high amounts of contrast.
Chitoge character design with her bright hair and ribbon reflects her personality as she is very outgoing and extremely extroverted, the vivid blushing whenever she gets nervous to the blown up fists when she gets mad, her design is very well done. Kosaki however is almost opposite to hers, her hair is a very dull dark hair and yet she still has certain mannerisms and features that pop out at certain times especially when she's near Raku. This conveys that even though she's very shy and timid she's willing to be another person when intoxicated by the love she has for Raku.
SOUNDTRACK
This is one of the best aspects of the anime, the Voice actors and actresses really nailed the voices in this one, from the hilarious yelps and squeals from Raku as he gets abused by Chitoge to the perverted giggling from Shuu and the boys as the peep on the girls changing. The OST's in this anime are nothing out of the world but they still aren't anyhing to scoff at, they are placed well and contribute to the ambience and mood of the situations that they are contained within. The Opening and Endings songs are also quite nice, with catchy lyrics that get stuck in your head and before you even realise it you're humming along to the melody.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Nisekoi Fake Love is a great comedy anime however, the romantic writing is not the greatest by any means. The plot feels quite basic and overused, the outcome seemed painfully obvious to me even with the addition of new characters you could still tell the direction that the romance was heading in. Even though a lot of the characters were written extremely well I feel as if they weren't utilised to their full potential especially Kosaki and Tsugumi (Chitoge's child-hood friend and bodyguard).
However you can't expect too much from a highschool romance after all they haven't experienced a lot of this adults have especially when it comes to romance so in a way this is a good innocent rommance and much more realistic than most romance anime.
If you're looking for a heart wrenching or heart thoribbing romance anime this isn't the one for you but if you're more interested in something light and innocent then this is the way to go and don't forget this season doesn't finalise anything! There's another season of Raku and his antics!
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