Suratu

Is it possible to like something that is completely unoriginal? According to Nisekoi, yes, it is. When Nisekoi was slated for an anime production by studio Shaft, the fans of the manga were torn between elation that it was actually being adapted and complete terror that Shaft would be doing it. If you’re not aware with the common stereotypes of anime studios, a frank description of Shaft would be, “They do whatever they want.” Shaft has never been shy of putting their own... unique spin on their adaptions. And, hey, whatta ya know, it actually works. The Shaft visuals are capable of turning afew heads, but they’re never overpowering as they are in many of their other shows, and the story and setting have an inexplicable charm to them despite the fact that literally every character and literally every situation has been done before. Story: 6/10 The story of Nisekoi is not one of its strong points. I don't think anybody but the most diehard fans would even bother offering any sort of rebuttal here. It plays on almost every cliché in the book, from the childhood promise, to the fated encounter, to the downright absurd misunderstandings, even to the freaking beach episode, that I can’t help but think that this is all some elaborate parody of the harem genre. If it is, then the author did a damn good job because it certainly feels like one. If you're looking for something believable, you won't find anything of the sort here. I realize that this is fiction, but there is a line up to where I'm willing to suspend my disbelief and Nisekoi clearly crosses it. I understand that we don't remember that much from our childhood, but do you really expect me to believe that a person would completely forget nearly every friend he had—not just their faces and names, but their actual existence? Is this where the “main character gets amnesia from an injury” cliché comes in? I know every harem can get a little ridiculous, and I'm going to criticize it every time. Art & Animation: 9/10 Typically there's not a whole lot of action going on in high school romantic comedies and harems, so the “Art & Animation” category is really just an “Art & Waifus” rating. Are the girls waifu material? (Alternatively, are the boys husbando material?) If so, 10/10, anime of the year, etc. Jokes aside, it's true that there really isn't much to say other than the art is pleasant. Everything is just solid and complement the scenes well. However, I think this section deserves more discussion however simply due to the fact that Shaft is at work. As I've stated, many fans of the manga were worried that Shaft would take their style too far and that it would detract heavily from the source material, which many believe to be too inherently “normal” to be deflowered by Shaft's hands, but fortunately that was not the case here. Sure, you've got Shinbo's signature camera angles and a few strangely elaborate backgrounds (and some intentionally simple ones), but these don't define the show as they might have in Bakemonogatari or Madoka Magica. Nisekoi is a Shaft show, sure, but it is not definitively so, which comes as a great relief to many, I'd imagine. Sound: 7/10 The voices are perfect. That's all that needs to be said. There was not a single voice that didn't fit a character to the tee. The soundtrack is neither great nor distracting. To be honest, I can't really pick out more than one song that I'd actually remember being played, and I usually am a huge fan of background music and pay a lot of attention to it. It all sort of blended in, and I'm frankly not sure whether that's a good or bad thing. My only genuine complaint is that the opening and ending songs are just so generic. Though, now that I think about it, maybe that was the whole point. Regardless, I didn't really find myself liking any of them. ClariS didn't really try to make their tracks stand out from any of their others, and some harsher critics might say that none of theirs are ever original-sounding. As for the character songs: it's always nice to hear the characters sing, but the songs just weren't that great. Characters: 7/10 If the story is cliché and generic, could it be possible that the characters rise to the occasion and present themselves as deep, fleshed out vessels complete with compelling motivations and relatable desires and realistic decisions? Nope. The tsundere main girl? Check. The “good girl” (a.k.a. the Yamato nadeshiko)? Check. The perverted best friend that gets his ass handed to him every episode? Check. There is literally no character that isn't a practically a carbon copy of a past character or at the very least a blending of two. On top of that, the main characters are dense as dense can be, which makes it so easy for the ridiculous misunderstandings to manifest. So why would I give this an acceptable score of 7/10? See the next section. Enjoyment: 9/10 All of my complaining might actually convince someone that I dislike this anime because of how generic it is. On the contrary; I find all of the enjoyment in reveling in just how cliché nearly every moment is. If you've seen even 2 or 3 harems (and I've probably seen dozens), you can call out just about everything that is going to happen in each episode and in each scene. It's that predictable. Yet, there is an inexplicable charm which pervades the series. Yes, I was literally facepalming at nearly every scene in the show, but underneath that palm was a gigantic smile that I just couldn't hold back. Overall: 7/10 Nisekoi is not a groundbreaking anime by any means, but if it has proven one thing, it’s that originality is extremely overrated. All you need is a little charm, solid execution, and, of course, waifus. There's a reason that this story and these characters have been done before, and that's because they're enjoyable. Perhaps some of us are just in denial. Here's for the inevitable season 2.

yogotah

It is a delightment to be able to write a review for Nisekoi, though the anime was not perfect, it has provided me with significant entertainment during the last few months. Even if my review may seem negative, it is just because I am analyzing an anime by parts and category. As a whole, I thoroughly enjoyed Nisekoi. Story: (30%) The plot of Nisekoi is rather mediocre. With a redundant premise, Nisekoi has nothing new to contribute to the rom-com genre. The creativity of the story and its complexity is minimal at best, non-existent at least. Do no expect to be blown away by the story line,in fact, the plot will leave you wanting in most of the episodes. There are the standardized anime episodes such the festival, the school play, and the beach episodes. None of them adds anything unique to the template, it is just a repetition from what we have traditionally seen. It is not as if the premise is weak, though not original, the premise of a MC looking for the girl of his past to open his locket has potentiality for a lot of complexity and twist. This, however, was not done in Nisekoi, and of course this is not directly the anime's fault but rather a representation of the manga. Even when the chance for legit development appeared, the event was squandered by a random, indescribable, improbable set of circumstances. An example would be a girl sitting next to her crush, with her gathering up all the courage to tell her crush that she wants to kiss him....and actually does say it!! Then it turns out that the guy fell asleep seconds before her confession, and wakes up seconds after the end of statement. One event like this may fly past the radar, but the agglomeration of these types of events prevents anyone from taking the plot and story line of this anime seriously. Even a young child would face-palm at the irritable progression of the plot. Art: (90%) I did not feel like an episode was lacking in art. Sure, there were some frames that were reused, and the animation wasn't super fluid every scene, but overall the art was good. Since Shaft produced Nisekoi, there is a lot of similarity between this anime's art and previous anime of theirs. I didn't even know Shaft produced this before watching the anime, but a few seconds into the first episode, I could just tell. It wouldn't be true that the art style is done better in Nisekoi than in other of Shaft's works, but it was a great fit for Nisekoi. I enjoyed the close ups, the quick glances, and the over dramatization of emotions. I'm really into experiencing the story, and this art style especially focuses on characters more than background. I think this can be weird to some at first, but it really brings the point home that its' the characters that one should be paying attention to the most. Nisekoi did a great job in making the character design shine. I can vividly recall scenes where I felt enamored by some of female design and how they fit. Nisekoi did a great job of letting us see them THROUGH the eyes of Raku. Sound: (100%) Marvelous soundtrack. Soundtracks can make or break a scene, and in Nisekoi, every scene was amply elevated by its choice of bgm. I'm highly receptive to visual and auditory stimulants, so I found myself captivated by a lot of events ,that were poor plot wise, but were done so beautifully that it captured my attention away from the plot but into the art, and even emotions of the characters involved. I think that this is the telos of any soundtrack, to make scenes even more riveting that it would have been otherwise. Excellent soundtrack. Characters: (80%) The strength of Nisekoi may not be its storyline or plot complexity, but instead lies within its characters. Nisekoi has the ability to make all of its characters likable, and this is a very RARE element to have. At the end of the anime, I didn't find myself hating any characters. I do have my preference of who I would like Raku to be with, but this is more of my own personal taste than any loathing that I feel for the rest of the female cast. Of course, this may be due to the lack of complexity of the story, and the author playing it safe with everyone, but there have been anime done with poor plot progression along with horrible and unlikable characters. Nisekoi should applauded for its characters. The main character, Raku, at first glance seems to be our typical dense lead. He's an average looking person with no particular exceeding talent( maybe besides cooking, but this wasn't developed). He seems to be average in school, his attitude is average of someone of his type, and his character design is slightly different. He has the will to protect his friends, but to be utterly oblivious to obvious signs. He also seems to have the ability to fall asleep in matter of mini seconds, and to wake up just as fast. His redeeming point is that when Raku WANTS to, he can be astute in his observation. There are monologues of his where if given more time, and more info, he would have cracked this mystery surrounding him. Raku is not a stupid generic character, he does have a girl that he is mainly interested in. He acts according to this preference, but again due to poor plot, none of these actions are actualized into substantive events. This is more of a plot issue than a character issue. Chitoge, the blonde bombshell, is the eccentric vivacious main girl. She's loud and obnoxious, and can be unreasonable at times. However, she also have her redeeming qualities. She grew up without having too many friends, and she longs for sisterly companionship. On the inside, she is a compassionate person, that probably has had to put on up a tough mask due to the teasing done to her back in America. It is surprising that she is a strong student considering the shortcomings of the educational system of the U.S, but that is besides the point. If given enough time, Chitoge does become lovely and likable in her own way. Kosaki Onodera seems to correlate with the cute nice shy template. She's not as vivacious as Chitoge, and is too timid to assert herself in the middle of a big crowd. This is not to say that Onodera is complacent, she has willed herself to reveal her feelings numerous times, but again due to improbable and reaching circumstances, these confessions have fell to deaf ears. This is not a character flaw of Onodera, but again a shortcoming of the plot. The remaining cast , in my opinion, just serves to spice up the dynamic between the three characters mentioned above. Tsugumi is a personal favorite of mine, but she doesn't bring any relevance to the plot except for minor details. Maiko is invisible and obscure, besides his sexual tangents, he just brings slight humor. Marika makes a late appearance, however, the appearance is so late that it makes it hard to emphasize with her. Ruri is funny and spices the plot in a good way, but her will cannot beat the incomprehensible twist of Nisekoi. Enjoyment: (100%) With Nisekoi, the parts doesn't equal the whole. There were a lot of details that left me wanting in the first season of Nisekoi, but overall, the anime was quite intriguing and enjoyable. The art and sound compliments each other so well, the characters have an excellent dynamic to leave you laughing and caring for them. There is fan service, but is tastefully done relative to other anime of the same genre. I do recommend this anime to anyone looking for a strong romantic comedy. Overall: (90%) With this anime, the categories does not hold the same weight. I am eagerly waiting for a second season.