Creative Staff
Story/Art: Naoshi Komi
Translation: Camellia Nieh
What They Say
It’s hate at first sight… rather, a knee-to-the-head at first sight when Raku Ichijo meets Chitoge Kirisaki! Unfortunately, Raku’s gangster father arranges a false love match with their rival’s daughter – who just so happens to be Chitoge! However, Raku’s searching for his childhood sweetheart from ten years ago, with a pendant around his neck as a memento, but he can’t even remember her name or face!
Technical:
The front cover is a nice image of Raku standing with Chitoge and Onodera on either side, set over a plain light blue background. The back cover is composed of the same image minus the colors, a synopsis, and a few icons. It’s a decent cover, but nothing too exciting. The paper quality feels solid, and bonus comics are included at the end of the book. Sound effects are translated into a stylized form, honorifics are not used, and text reads smoothly.
The art has a solid but unexceptional quality to it. There’s a nice level of detail and characters show emotion well, but it isn’t particularly beautiful. Character designs also do a good job of standing apart from one another, even with most of them wearing school uniforms. Backgrounds appear when needed and look decent.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Ten years ago, Raku Ichijo made a promise to a girl, that he’d take a lock and she’d take a key, and when they’re grown up they’ll open the lock and get married. He still keeps the lock as a precious keepsake, but as a high school student he has more pressing issues, like his family’s yakuza business. Though he’s not cut out for the lifestyle and has no interest in becoming the next boss, it still has quite an impact on his social life. However, things start to change in his life when a girl leaps the school gates and lands on top of him one day. Upon reaching homeroom he learns that this girl is Chitoge Kirisaki, a half American half Japanese girl who recently moved from America. Though they both object profusely, Raku ends up in charge of showing the violent girl the ropes around school. Meanwhile, Raku realizes that he lost his lock during their previous run-in, and he tries to recruit her to help him find it. Some further incidents prove that they truly can’t get along, but Chitoge at least agrees to help him look for the pendant. Some hints are also dropped that Onodera, a girl in Raku’s class that he has a crush on, may in fact be the girl that he made the promise to so many years ago. Chitoge eventually does find the pendant, but the two remain on bad terms. Upon returning home, Raku is in for one last surprise when he finds out that his family is on the verge of war with another gang, and the only way to stop it is to pretend to date the other boss’s daughter. This is bad enough, but when it comes to light that that girl is Chitoge, Raku’s world comes crashing down.
Though the pair is able to mostly fool their respective gangs, one member of the Beehive (Chitoge’s family’s gang) known as Claude remains suspicious. Unfortunately for the false lovers, their acting is forced to extend beyond a simple declaration, and they soon find themselves on a fake date as well. Things are of course strained, and they fall apart when they run into Onodera. Furthermore, even the safe haven of school falls prey to the false relationship when rumors emerge and Claude ends up spying in order to check up on them.
Finally, Raku discovers that Onodera possesses a suspicious key, Chitoge gets a little help making friends, and everyone ends up baking for class. Will Raku and Chitoge’s real relationships be able to handle the strain of their false love, or will they crack under the pressure?
In Summary
Though this series seems to be jumping off of a lot of familiar elements such as a childhood promise and a fiery female lead, there’s something about it that definitely manages to click. The titular concept of a forced false love is an interesting means of bringing together two characters that seem to hate each other’s guts together. The comedy also comes across pretty well, and it’s nice to see some intriguing hints towards Onodera’s character in particular, even though this is just the first volume. Add in some fun and surprisingly touching moments resulting from the gang themes, and you have a solid start to a new series. Hopefully it can keep up the pace, as what’s presented here definitely makes for an enjoyable read.
Content Grade: A-
Art Grade: B+
Package Rating: B+
Text/Translation Rating: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released by: Viz Media
Release Date: January 7th, 2014
MSRP: $9.99
