The secret revealed.
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):
With an expectation of a little more epilogue and fallout to come, the arc for Marika and the rescue attempt with her has drawn to a close. Coming into it as it was already underway and only seeing the first season of the anime so far, it was pretty easy to get into and I definitely found myself enjoying it. Marika and her family kind of tickled an old 80’s style bit of storytelling here with the riffs and even some of the designs at times and I kept getting a Rumiko Takahashi vibe off of it here and there. Add in a little material from The Graduate combined with the usual manga silliness and it was a fun affair that only had a couple of moments that made me roll my eyes. Shadow Guard, I’m looking at you.
There are two pieces that moves forward through this installment and they are pretty intertwined when you get down to it. With Raku and Marika having made their way out via helicopter, everyone else in the household basically kind of floats away. Our core cast has a comment or two, but they’re really just getting out of the way. Chika’s side of it has more importance here though as we see her husband telling her that it’s all for the best and that Chika must secretly be happy since Marika has done what she always wanted to do herself. It’s a familiar idea but nicely done from the adults, especially as he makes it clear to her that this is an opportunity as well. One that does play out well enough, though there’s a real bit of sadness to it as you essentially see a family line come to an end. I doubt that’s the reality of it, if it even ever gets explored, but it works decently to unshackle a few of the characters and give them freedom at a time when they’re being released from the series (until it ends, of course, where they’ll cameo).
For Marika, her arc ends here in a difficult way and one that can easily turn the stomach of many a fan of the character. With Raku going on, quite excitedly and in detail, about what the plan is to keep her out of her mother’s reach, she essentially breaks down with joy over what Raku has done and the distance he’s gone. It’s a welcome relief because it means so much to her even if she does have to tell him that she’s going to…
Pittsburgh.
Yep. She has a difficult and rare disease that she’s kept hidden these last two years and now has to go get the help and medicine she needs there. Even worse, the place is controlled by her family so she has to willingly go into her mother’s clutches again. That has its own little turn at the end, as mentioned above, but it’s a heartbreaking moment for both of them at first. Particularly for Raku as he realizes that everything was done and nothing changed because of it. It’s even worse for her because she knows how much went into it all and has to just accept defeat. Of course, we know that it won’t play out as either initially think thanks to Chika’s change of heart, but the end result of this is that outside of a potential guest appearance of sorts, Marika is likely done in the series for the next few years.
In Summary:
Having no deep or meaningful connection with Marika myself, what we get here is a fairly standard end piece that we’ve seen a hundred other times in a hundred other long running series. It’s a solid capstone to this arc and it helps to cut back the cast just a tiny bit before the head back home and to school. I really liked Raku’s excited explanation of what they’ll do and I also really liked Marika’s emotion throughout it all, from the smiles to the tears and the happiness within her that radiates out. I even liked the bits with Chika, no matter how forced it is in a way to abandon so much so easily. But it’s the kind of situation that’s hard to understand unless you’re truly in it with what it means and how hard it really is to do. I’m curious to see where the book goes next – though I know it won’t be Pittsburgh.
Grade: B-
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Viz Media via Weekly Shonen Jump from ComiXology
Release Date: November 16th, 2015
MSRP: $0.99
