A leap of faith.
Creative Staff:
Story/Art: Naoshi Komi
What They Say:
It’s hate at first sight… rather a knee-to-the-head at first sight when Raku meets Chitoge! Unfortunately, his gangster father arranges a false love match with their rival gang leader’s daughter, Chitoge! However, Raku’s searching for his childhood sweetheart, with a pendant around his neck as a memento, and is surprised to discover three candidates with keyes: Chitoge, Onodera (his current crush), and Tachibana (the police chief’s daughter)!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Nisekoi didn’t exactly win me over much with its last chapter as it felt like some of the energy and fun in the arc got knocked out of it. The introduction of the Shadow Guard isn’t exactly a surprise in a sense because Marika’s family has been played up as old money and power. So having a small but select group of individuals with skill doing all sorts of jobs made sense, as did having Honda as the home guard of sorts since she’s in charge. But it just felt like a bit too much for this arc and introduced in what feels like a late place in the game at that. It also took some of the energy away from what Marika herself was up to in finally taking control of her life.
That, thankfully, becomes a bit of the focus here once again. With everyone having gone the distance to help her she’s able to stand up for herself – after sitting down previously so Raku could save the day. With Raku and the others having orchestrated a pretty good escape overall with a bit of help from above, it puts everything in place for the big dramatic moment. And forced as it is in some ways, it damn well works. Marika has to make the effort herself, to put herself at risk, and to have faith in her friends that it will all work out in the end. It’s a wonderfully illustrated sequence in itself as she tears away at her gown and steels herself for what she must do as well as the leap. That it also lets Chitoge and Raku have good moments in encouraging her only adds to the dynamic overall, making it pretty darn exciting. All things considered.
Less enjoyable is the awkward material for Honda herself. While a change of heart is not unexpected, it’s something that again just feels out of place at this point in time. Yes, the chips are down and she really has to step up at this point to do it, but it’s also the absolute last minute. Her reasoning is certainly sound in a basic kind of way, and you can kind of gloss over how it doesn’t exactly fit with how she’s presented herself so far, but it lacks a sense of real commitment and emotion to it. Some of that comes from how little we really know of her and all we get is a brief montage of moments from the past as she watched over Marika. That’s not bad but it doesn’t set the right foundation to it. It’s the weak link that should have been better worked on instead of introducing the Shadow Guard previously.
In Summary:
This installment is a bit of a mixed bag in some ways, but it also gave me a lot of what I really wanted which tips it into a positive side. Honda’s material just felt lacking in general and kind of weighed down the chapter, but I liked what we got from the flashback sequence with Marika. Marika also gets to step up elsewhere and assert herself which certainly helps her position and character overall. Chika’s a bit lost in the background here and I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop with her. Komi’s pacing for this chapter generally feels better than the last time around and the layouts are solid, including some great placement for the Marika “action” sequence that sets the right tone. Decent stuff all around that connects as best as it can.
Grade: B-
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Viz Media via Weekly Shonen Jump from ComiXology
Release Date: November 9th, 2015
MSRP: $0.99
