Nisekoi: False Love (Japanese: ニセコイ, Hepburn: Nisekoi; lit. 'Fake Love') is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Naoshi Komi. Nisekoi was first published as a one-shot manga in Shueisha's seasonal Jump Next! magazine before being serialized in the shōnen manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump from November 2011 to August 2016, with its chapters collected in 25 tankōbon volumes. Nisekoi was published in English in Viz Media's digital magazine, Weekly Shonen Jump and was also released by the publisher in English in digital and print volumes. A three-volume novel series, titled Nisekoi: Urabana, written by Hajime Tanaka, was released from June 2013 to April 2015.
A 20-episode anime television series produced by Shaft was broadcast from January to May 2014. A 12-episode second season, titled Nisekoi:, was broadcast from April to June 2015. Aniplex of America has licensed the series for streaming and home video distribution in North America. A live-action film adaptation premiered in December 2018.
Contents
Plot
Nisekoi follows high school students Raku Ichijo, the son of a leader in the Yakuza faction Shuei-gumi, and Chitoge Kirisaki, the daughter of a boss in a rival gang known as Beehive. They unexpectedly meet when Chitoge hops a wall and kicks Raku in the face. After she runs off, Raku realizes he has lost his locket which was given to him by his childhood sweetheart with whom he made a secret promise. After discovering Chitoge is a new transfer student in his class, he forces her to help him look for the locket. During the search, they begin to despise each other with a passion.
Upon returning home, Raku learns that the Shuei-gumi and Beehive gangs have agreed to settle their feud by pairing their leaders' children. Much to his horror, he learns that his girlfriend-to-be is only Chitoge. For the next three years, they must pretend to be in a relationship to maintain peace between the gangs. This turns out to be quite a challenging task, not only because of their hatred for one another, but also because Raku has a crush on another schoolmate, Kosaki Onodera, whom he secretly wishes was the girl who bears the key to his locket. Unbeknownst to him, Kosaki carries her own deep secret crush on Raku. The two do their best in their attempts to keep up their facade, while many developments complicate the situation, such as Chitoge's over-protective bodyguard, Claude, scheming to expose their relationship as fake.
During the school years new characters and developments arise to cause more trouble for Raku. Chitoge's childhood friend and Beehive hitman, Tsugumi Seishiro, joins the class, initially as an obstacle for Raku, before becoming a friend in the group, reluctantly accepting the relationship while unknowingly developing a crush on Raku herself. Marika Tachibana, daughter of the police captain, transfers in and declares herself as Raku's fiancée, having developed a crush on him for over ten years. Haru Onodera – Kosaki's younger sister – initially attempted to sabotage Raku's attempts to get closer with her sister, before eventually developing her own feelings for him. Yui Kanakura – the newly-appointed head of the Char Siu Mafia and Raku's childhood friend – later becomes the class' new teacher, herself also being in love with him.
Over the course of the story many revelations and discoveries are uncovered regarding the characters' relationships, the locket, and their promises. It is revealed Chitoge, Kosaki, Marika, and Yui all possess keys, and that they all knew each other ten years ago, making one of them Raku's "promise girl".
Characters
Raku Ichijo (一条 楽, Ichijō Raku)
Voiced by: Yoshitsugu Matsuoka (vomic), Koki Uchiyama (drama CD, anime)
A high school student, Raku aspires to pursue a normal career as a civil servant when he graduates despite being the son of a Yakuza family leader.Ch. 1 When he is placed in a fake relationship with Chitoge Kirisaki, he hides his feelings for the girl who he has a crush on, Kosaki Onodera.Ch. 4–5 He wears a locket that symbolizes a promise of love he made to a girl ten years ago while traveling with his father abroad and hopes he can reunite with the girl who bears the key to unlock it. He initially hates Chitoge, seeing her as hot-tempered and violent, and sometimes refers to her as a "gorilla woman". Despite this, he has shown kindness to her at times and develops uncertainty as to which girl he likes the most.Ch. 63, 100, 171, 176–178 After Marika withdraws from pursuing him, she reveals to him that he loves both Kosaki and Chitoge, and should choose between them.Ch. 195 Raku realizes that he likes Chitoge beyond just friends,Ch. 199, 200 and despite learning that Kosaki was his promised girl, he ultimately chooses Chitoge. In the final chapter, it is revealed he has become a government worker in the city's public safety department and is the second boss of his family's Yakuza gang who helps him protect the city. He and Chitoge are married and have a son named Haku who inherited their respective traits.Ch. 229
Chitoge Kirisaki (桐崎 千棘, Kirisaki Chitoge)
Voiced by: Haruka Tomatsu (vomic), Nao Tōyama (drama CD, anime)
Chitoge is a half-Japanese transfer student from the United States and the daughter of the leader of the Beehive Gangsters. She initially detested Raku, seeing him as arrogant and quick to lecture others, but pretends to be in a relationship with him to prevent their family gangs from going to war.Ch. 1 She is quick to anger and has sometimes acted violently towards Raku. Ten years before, Chitoge makes a promise with a boy, but does not realize it could be Raku until she finds a key that could potentially unlock his locket.Ch. 21 She develops feelings towards Raku and becomes jealous when girls such as Marika show open affections towards him, which he sometimes uses to his advantage to make her angry.Ch. 35 Eventually, despite denying it, she realizes that she loves him very much, and changes her internal attitude while still referring to him as annoying in public.Ch. 49, 51 She is very smart and talented at most tasks except for cooking.Ch. 56, 67, 116 She and her mom had a "cold" relationship until Raku helps them reconcile with each other on Christmas.Ch. 59 Later, she accidentally found out that Raku and Kosaki had liked each other since middle school. To help them get together she runs away from home, unaware that Raku also likes her. After being convinced by Marika to be honest with her feelings, Chitoge confessed her love for Raku at the place where Raku made the promise with the promised girl, and was happy when Raku accepted her feelings. In the final chapter, it is revealed that she is married to Raku and has become a fashion designer.Ch. 229
Media
Manga
Written and illustrated by Naoshi Komi, Nisekoi started as a one-shot published in Shueisha's seasonal Jump Next! magazine on January 8, 2011. It was later serialized in the publisher's shōnen manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump from November 7, 2011, to August 8, 2016. 229 individual chapters were collected by Shueisha in 25 tankōbon volumes, published under its Jump Comics imprint between May 2, 2012, and October 4, 2016.
A 14-volume bunkobon re-print of the series, containing an epilogue set ten years after the main series' ending, were published from June 16 to December 18, 2023.
In December 2011, Shueisha published the first chapter in English online. The manga has been licensed in English by Viz Media and published in its digital magazine, Weekly Shonen Jump since November 26, 2012. They also released the 25 volumes in print from January 7, 2014, to January 2, 2018.
A spin-off manga, illustrated by Taishi Tsutsui, titled Magical Pâtissier Kosaki-chan!! (マジカルパティシエ小咲ちゃん!!, Majikaru Patishie Kosaki-chan!!), which features the character Kosaki Onodera as a magical girl, was serialized on Shueisha's Shōnen Jump+ online platform from December 1, 2014, to September 22, 2016. Shueisha collected its chapters in four tankōbon volumes, released from June 4, 2015, to October 4, 2016.
Anime
In May 2013, an anime television series adaptation was announced. The 20-episode anime adaptation was produced by Aniplex, Shaft, Shueisha and Mainichi Broadcasting System and directed by Akiyuki Shinbo, with Shinbo and Shaft staff (credited as Fuyashi Tō) handling series composition, Nobuhiro Sugiyama designing the characters and Naoki "Naotyu" Chiba, Kakeru Ishihama and Tomoki Kikuya composing the music. The series aired from January 11 to May 24, 2014.
The first opening theme is "Click" by ClariS. Starting from Episode 2, first ending theme besides "Click" for episode 1 is "Heart Pattern" by Nao Toyama. Starting from Episode 8, second ending theme is "Recover Decoration" (リカバーデコレーション, Rikabā Dekorēshon) by Kana Hanazawa.
The ending theme for episode 14 is "Step" by ClariS, while the same song is the second opening starting from episode 15. Starting from Episode 15, the third ending theme is "Trick Box" by Mikako Komatsu. The fourth ending theme is "Hanagonomi" (はなごのみ; lit. 'Fondness for Flowers') by Kana Asumi, starting from episode 18. The ending for episode 20 is "Sōzō Diary" (想像ダイアリー, Sōzō Daiarī; lit. 'Imagination Diary') by Toyama as Chitoge Kirisaki, Hanazawa as Kosaki Onodera, Komatsu as Seishirou Tsugumi, and Asumi as Marika Tachibana. On the Japanese Blu-ray version, the fourth ending theme is "Order × Order" by Yumi Uchiyama.
A total of four original video animations (OVAs) were produced and packaged with manga volumes 14, 16, 17, and 21.
A second season, titled Nisekoi:, aired between April 10 and June 26, 2015. The first opening theme is "Rally Go Round" by Lisa, and for episode 8, the opening theme is "Magical Styling" by Kana Hanazawa. Other ending theme highlights:
"Aimai Hertz" (曖昧ヘルツ, Aimai Herutsu; lit. 'Ambiguous Hertz') by Toyama as Chitoge Kirisaki, Hanazawa as Kosaki Onodera, Komatsu as Seishirou Tsugumi, and Asumi as Marika Tachibana (Episodes 1, 3, and 6)
"Trigger" (Episode 2)
"Sleep Zzz" by Toyama (Episode 4)
Film
A live-action adaptation premiered in Japanese theaters on December 21, 2018. It was directed by Hayato Kawai and stars Kento Nakajima as Raku Ichijo and Ayami Nakajo as Chitoge Kirisaki, and distributed by Toho.
Other media
A three-volume novel series titled Nisekoi: Urabana (ニセコイ ウラバナ) was published by Shueisha under their Jump J-Books imprint. The novels are written by Hajime Tanaka and illustrated by Naoshi Komi. The first volume was published on June 4, 2013. It has stories concerning the main characters such as Kosaki sprouting cat ears from a virus, and Marika as a hit-woman. The second volume was released on December 28, 2013, with stories about the play and side-stories such as the gang working at a maid café. The third volume was released on April 3, 2015.
A voice comic (vomic) was released on June 1, 2012. It features Yoshitsugu Matsuoka as Raku Ichijo, Haruka Tomatsu as Chitoge Kirisaki, Hisako Kanemoto as Kosaki Onodera, and Daichi Kanbara as Shu Maiko.
The special edition of the ninth manga volume was bundled with a drama CD, released on November 1, 2013.
A visual novel titled Nisekoi: Yomeiri!? (ニセコイ ヨメイリ！？; Nisekoi: My Wife is Among Them!?) was developed by Konami and released for the PlayStation Vita on November 27, 2014. Konami also released a game for Android and iOS named Nisekoi: Majikore (ニセコイ マジコレ) from January 2014 until its closure on December 26, 2015. Chitoge appears as a supporting character in the Bandai Namco Games' crossover fighting game, J-Stars Victory VS, released in Japan in March 2014 and in North America and Europe in June 2015. Two Super Mario Maker Event Courses designed by Komi, along with an unlockable Mystery Mushroom costume of Chitoge for the game, were released on February 18, 2016.
Reception
Manga
Nisekoi was listed at number 30 out of Oricon's top 30 manga series sold in 2013, with 1,542,417 copies sold. In 2014, iit was ranked 16 out of top 30 manga series sold in 2014, with 3,816,372 which is more than twice the sale of 2013. As of April 2018, the manga had 12 million copies in print.
Rebecca Silverman of Anime News Network writes that the Nisekoi manga has a large lack of originality, such as "nearly every plot point can be traced back to another shōnen series (primarily Sumomomo, Momomo in terms of Raku's home life)". She also mentioned that "seasoned readers of shounen romance will recognize elements from at least three other series in there." However, Silvermon enjoyed the art and overall sense of fun.
Andy Hanley of UK Anime Network found Nisekoi: False Love to be "packed to the rafters with clichés" but light-hearted and fun to read. He said the character designs were traditional but the author knows when to detail backgrounds or keep things simple. The translations were decent and the dialogue smooth.
Anime
While reviewing the anime, Theron Martin of Anime News Network saw the "plot twist coming a mile away" but "the setup shows promise." Hope Chapman critiqued the show's pacing: "Telling a simple story in a complex way kills the pacing, in this case. Plot points and character moments that could be communicated in one minute take three in Shinbo-style, and it just doesn't add anything when the story is this small and straightforward." Carl Kimlinger found the "improbably romantic fantasy" done right, a story relatively enjoyable after having reviewed No-Rin.
In his UK Anime Network review of the first five episodes, Andy Hanley found the series an exercise in box ticking, if viewed cynically, but it "has simply taken old concepts and polished them until they're gleaming and immaculate – and it works". He felt that Shaft's animation style was a bit overbearing in the first episode, but settles well in accenting the important parts of the show. The voice cast captured the characters well, and the overall presentation was top notch.
