Nisekoi: False Love Vol. 18 by Naoshi Komi (a J!-ENT Manga Review)

If you have been following “Nisekoi: False Love” all this time, what happens when Kirisaki is told that she will be moving back to the United States and will be leaving Raku and her friends in this entertaining 18th volume of Naoshi Komi’s “Nisekoi: False Love”. Highly recommended!

MANGA TITLE: Nisekoi: False Love Vol. 18

STORY AND ART BY: Naoshi Komi (å¤å‘³ç›´å¿—)

FIRST PUBLISHED IN JAPAN: SHUEISHA, Inc.

PUBLISHED IN USA BY: VIZ Media, LLC/Shonen Jump Manga

RATED: T for Teen

RELEASE DATE: November 1, 2016

It’s day three of the school trip, and Raku visits a temple known to be a power spot. Little does he know that itâ€™s a place famous for magical bows and arrows that have romance-fulfilling properties! With all the girls determined to shoot him down, which huntress will bring down her prey?!

What happens when Kirasaki’s father tells her that she and Raku will no longer need to fake their relationship because she and Tsugumi will be moving back to the United States.Â This leaves Chitoge devastated that she will never ever confess her feelings to Raku and will never be around him and her friends.

All this and more in Naoshi Komi’s hit manga series, “Nisekoi: False Love” vol. 18!

What is “Nisekoi: False Love”?

Naoshi Komi’s manga work is well-known for readers of Shonen Jump. From “Koi no Kami-sama”, “Williams” and “Double Arts”, Komi’s manga “Nisekoi” (False Love) was created as a one shot for Jump NEXT! in 2011 but then receiving the go-ahead as a weekly manga serialized in “Weekly Shonen Jump”.

It was also one of the first manga to receive an English translation online courtesy of Shueisha and a total of 18 volumes have been released since then.

“Nisekoi” revolves around high school Raku Ichijou. When Ichijou was a kid, he met a girl and he kept a lock, she kept the key and promised each other to get married if they one day find each other.

Since then, Ichijou has kept his promise and has worn the lock around his neck and has been hoping to meet her again.

But Ichijou’s life is a little complicated. While a good-natured individual, unfortunately for him, he is the son of the leader of the Shuei-gumi yakuza syndicate. He has no interested in become part of the yakuza but everyone expects him to be the next one to lead the syndicate in the future.

Meanwhile, while going to school, he sees a foreign girl jumping from a wall and landing on him. He loses the lock on his neck and is very upset of what had transpired. Next thing you know in class, that same girl becomes a new student in his class.

Chitoge Kirisaki just moved from the U.S. to Japan and since her mom is Japanese and her dad is America, she is fluent in both Japanese and English. And suffice to say, when both Ichijou and Kirisaki see each other, they start yelling at each other and she nails him with a hit after he calls her “monkey girl”. People see how tough she is but to make them get along, his teacher puts Ichijou in charge of showing her around school.

He tries his best but the two are like oil and water, they just don’t get along. For the next week of trying to assist her, the two end up arguing and getting in each other’s faces.

If anything, Ichijou focus is more on finding the lock that was lost when Kirisaki landed on him. And he wonders if Kosaki Onodera, the popular girl in school and a person who has treated him with nothing but kindness is the girl that he made the promise with. He hopes it is her.

But just when Ichijou is about to give up, Onodera pleads with him to keep his promise and Ichijou is reminded that a promise is a promise and he intends to keep it. But wants to ask Onodera if there is any chance she may be the girl he made the promise too.

What he doesn’t know is that Onodera does have a key and she has always liked Ichijou but doesn’t have the guts to tell him.

But as Ichijou wonders if Onodera is the girl he made a promise too and excited for the possibility that it might be, when he gets home, his father talks to him about something important.

The problem is that the Shuei-gumi and another rival yakuza gang are in the brink of all-out war that would damage both yakuza gangs, he and the other leader have come up with the plan. Ichijou must pretend to be dating the daughter of the leader of the opposing yakuza gang.

Ichijou doesn’t want to get involved and his father told him that he must forget dating any other girl and focus liking this girl they set him up with.

When the two are introduces, Ichijou is shocked that the girl is Chitoge Kirisaki. And for both of them, they must promise to be boyfriend and girlfriend for three whole years and be convincing to both yakuza gangs that they are truly in love.

Both don’t want to be involved with each other but they have no choice. But now they must find a way to co-exist with each other as both yakuza gangs are suspicious of their relationship especially Kirisaki’s guardian, Claude.

Meanwhile, Ichijou still wants to ask Onodera if she is the girl with the key and Onodera is about to let him know that she is. But before they can, the whole school are told that both Ichijo and Kirasaki are boyfriend and girlfriend.

And now it has made things tough for both Ichijou and Kirisaki, but can they keep this charade of being in love with each other, especially if they despite one another?

And since then, there are a few other complications as not only Chitoge and Onodera have fallen for Raku, but also Chitoge’s bodyguard Tsugumi and Marika Tachibana, who Raku’s father promised Marika’s father that they would marry?

But while Raku Ichijou and Chitoge Kirisaki are supposed to fake their relationship, Chitoge is starting to realize that with each moment spent with Raku, she is slowly falling in love with him.

For volume 18, Chitoge Kirasaki’s father tells her that she and Raku will no longer need to fake their relationship because she and Tsugumi will be moving back to the United States.Â This leaves Chitoge to become devastated that she will never ever confess her feelings to Raku and will never be around him and her friends.Â Meanwhile, what happens when the group go on a trip to Kyoto?

With volume 18 of Naoshi Komi’s “Nisekoi: False Love”, the manga focuses on Kirisaki finding out from her father that the fake relationship between her and Raku is coming to an end as he would like her to move closer to her mother in the United States.

In essence, this means Seishiro Tsugumi and also her rival Paula would be moving as well.

Devastated and trying to find ways to stay in Japan, can Kirisaki find a way to stay with Raku and her friends?Â Meanwhile, another storyline features Raku, Chitoge and classmates going on a trip to Kyoto.Â Will this trip go smoothly?

18 volumes in through the series, I really enjoy this manga series because it’s fresh take on the young promise made by youngsters to marry each other and it also has that similarity to “Ranma 1/2” of two people arranged by their parents to be together, although not to be married but to have this fake romance for three years. And then having multiple young ladies vying for his attention.

But with the introduction of other girls who made promises when they were younger, we clearly don’t know which girl Raku promised to marry when he was younger. But with everyone vying for Raku’s attention (and he being totally oblivious to what’s going on), it makes for a very entertaining storyline and series!

The artwork by Naoshi Komi is well-drawn, the series is full of humor and for the most part quite delightful in capturing their emotions on each page. But Naoshi Komi’s manga series has been nothing but delightful and very entertaining!