Will we get our happy ending?
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):
After a very solid run of engaging installments since the end of the Marika arc, Nisekoi finally hits that chapter where I get a bit frustrated with it. Part of it is that what goes on here is just embedded in its DNA about the whole connection between Raku and someone else that has long defined it. Over time it became less of a thing as the characters themselves were fleshed out and we saw their connections growing stronger and in interesting ways and while that key/lock and book aspects are all part of the past it wasn’t as huge a piece as it once was. But with feelings coming to the surface and reveals just on the tip of tongues to be said, it’s time to dip back into that and to do it in the most problematic of ways.
Since Kosaki and Raku essentially had the one day pass to try and find Chitoge and get something out of her, they’re now back in Japan and are in the midst of just hoping that she’ll come back. For Raku, he’s just not sure what the heck is going on but is giving her the time and space she needs. He’s fairly in the dark here so it’s understandable as is the way that Kosaki is really understanding the level to which Chitoge must feel about Raku as she’s gone this kind of distance. She’s intent on not doing anything until they get it all cleared up, but she’s human enough to make it clear to Raku that she will wait there with him the whole time until Chitoge comes back. It does, in its own way, give her a little edge as presence can go a long way in these situations and distance can make things more problematic. It’s a brief sequence overall but an important one.
The more frustrating aspect is that of what Chitoge discovers after talking to her mother in that the web of the past is strong. We knew that to some degree but finding out that her mother, Raku’s mother, Kosaki’s mother and others were all friends back in the day does produce a bit of an eyeroll. This segues into the connection the trio of kids has with the book and its awkward name, whose title origin is revealed to little impact, and how there’s even fuzzier aspects to what the truth may be. All that we get here is Chitoge going off to meet Raku’s mother – someone who’s had barely any mention for the longest time – to see if there are answers there. What we get is someone whose face we never see and a personality that’s almost out of place in the context of where the series is at this point. It’s not bad or terrible here, but it just feels like a lot of very unnecessary padding when we should really just be drilling down more to the core trio.
In Summary:
With Raku’s mother talking about how she began her literary career in trying to provide happy endings for books, Naoshi Komi is essentially throwing us a big signal as to what will happen here. The question still remains as to what constitutes a happy ending in the context of a romantic trio where no real fourth person is in the mix to save the day. I suspect that the endgame here is going to be everyone remains as friends, close and caring ones, but nothing more than that and move on with their lives. There’s a kind of frustration and sadness that comes from this chapter because of how it feels like it reverts to its more childish side while in the midst of important stuff and it’s colored my view of things for the moment. I know it’ll turn back to where it’s been more recently, but the potential for some actual answers here had me quite hopeful for this encounter.
Grade: B-
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Viz Media via Weekly Shonen Jump from ComiXology
Release Date: May 9th, 2016
MSRP: $0.99
God this is very much exciting :3