Episodes: 1 to 6
Premise: A boy in high school, Raku Ichijo, wears a necklace every day to remind him of his long-forgotten love. He met a girl, whose face and details remain unknown, whom he pledged to meet again and marry. The necklace that he wears is a key to a similar necklace that the girl has as a locket. Despite Raku’s attempt to have a normal life and find this girl, he has to deal with the fact that he can’t remember her and the fact that his family is a yakuza clan. Complicating matters is the girl that he has a crush on, Kosaki Onodera, who very obviously returns his feelings. Just when he is summoning the courage to talk to Kosaki, Chitoge Kirisaki lands in his life. They hate each other from the moment of their first meeting and vow to not speak to one another. But there’s a hitch: It turns out that Chitoge is the daughter of a rival gangster clan and to keep the peace, she and Raku have to fake a relationship for three years.
Is it worth watching?: Yes. If you like romantic comedies and can deal with the clichés that practically hit you in the face constantly, you can and will probably like Nisekoi. It’s done in the vein of every other romantic comedy out there, down to the details of “amnesiac” lead character who struggles to remember his lost love to the tsundere female lead who eventually changes her tune. The clichés are plentiful but it’s funny so there’s enough to keep things from becoming boring.
Breakout character: Chitoge Kirisaki. Chitoge is an ass, plain and simple. But she makes her presence known as a lead character early on and is strong enough to carry the show almost without Raku as her counterpart.
Funniest episode: Episode 7, “Rival.” The emergence of Seishirou Tsugumi as rival to Raku for Chitoge’s affections causes some truly laugh-out-loud moments in the early part of the series. Chasing Raku at almost inhuman speeds means laughing at the fact that he can’t possibly get away fast enough from a guy who may or may not be obsessively stalking his childhood playmate. And just when you think it can’t get any worse, there’s a plot twist that you can see coming a mile away that still manages to be quite rather funny.
Where it’s going: Chitoge and Raku have to acknowledge their feelings are possibly changing, and there are more girls added to the mix. Also, someone has to say something about the fact that Kosaki could be one of the girls who has the fabled locket to match Raku’s key.