A most worthy opponent.
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):
While we’ve had a lot of fun and shenanigans leading up to the gang making their way to Marika’s place, Nisekoi now turns its attention towards the action side of things. The setup in the previous chapter for the fight between Honda and Tsugumi was straightforward enough as it initially gave Raku a chance to stand tall and face off against Honda, but it also set things up so that Tsugumi could step in front of him and take the challenge for him as a servant of sorts that she is. Tsugumi’s not a deep character, nor is Honda when you get down to it, so the pairing of them for a fight is fairly straightforward material – even if well executed. It’s not so much that this chapter becomes about passing the time or anything, especially since we get a tease of what some of the bigger problems are for Marika, but it’s something that just takes one character out of the equation momentarily.
The bulk of the installment is all about the fight and that flows well as Komi has a good sense of placement and choreography with the action. The initial segment of them facing off against each other is pretty fun since they reveal their weapons and overall stances, while reaffirming that this fight won’t go like the last one between the two of them, with Tsugumi intent on having a better showing. I liked the choice of weapons that comes into it as well as Tsugumi is intent on winning with both knife and tranq gun that she has on hand, allowing her to do some good up close damage as well as some distance attacks so that she can really change things up. But Honda is no slouch herself, having years of experience greater than Tsugumi and utilizing a combat chain that really makes for some great visual moments here – and makes me wonder how well it could be done in anime form.
Admittedly, when you get a fight sequence in most manga it either takes up the chapter as a whole or spreads across a couple. This one is a one and done fight and I prefer that more. Honda utilizes a bit of a trick to subdue her in the end but it’s all teasing the truth about Marika’s situation without giving us anything beyond the idea of something. That puts all of the focus on the action throughout the chapter and Komi handles it well. What makes it smoother in a sense is that since it takes place in the underground room, the design for the backgrounds is easier to manage while looking busy with all the line work. So many chapters involving action in many series tend to be blank or whisper thin on backgrounds so I was definitely appreciative of getting a little bit more here than usual, though not by too much.
In Summary:
Nisekoi nudges the overall storyline forward a bit here even if it does seem like a sidebar to events. Honda’s view of the others is comical (if true) in how they’re not worth paying attention to. That raises up Tsugumi’s stock a bit and you do get the impression across it that she can definitely be a real challenge to face down. Honda’s got the home field advantage and a lot more experience in general but that still makes it a fun sequence to watch overall as they go at it with their varied weapons and styles. What this chapter does overall for me though is to remind me that while I enjoy the property as a whole it’s the character interactions that I like more. The bookend aspects of this chapter are more appealing than the actual fight as that gives us a bit more of the characters than anything else here and it has me wanting to know more in a general sense. It’s a decent enough chapter but it’s also one that gives us only so much.
Grade: B-
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Viz Media via Weekly Shonen Jump from ComiXology
Release Date: September 15th, 2015
MSRP: $0.99
