“Nisekoi: False Love” is an enjoyable, humorous and crazy anime series and with this latest volume, you get a few episodes focusing on the Onodera sisters, especially the introduction of Kosaki’s younger sister Haru. But how will Haru behave when she meets the guy that her sister likes…Ichijo? If you love romantic comedies, “Nisekoi: False Love” is an enjoyable, fun anime series which I can easily recommend!
Image courtesy of © Naoshi Komi/SHUEISHA, SHAFT, MBS. All Rights Reserved.
TITLE: Nisekoi: False Love: Season 2, Volume 2
ORIGINAL AIR DATE: 2015
DURATION: Episode 27-32 (Season 2: Episodes 7-12) (144 Minutes)
BLU-RAY INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition, Japanese Linear PCM Stereo, Subtitles: English and Japanese
COMPANY: Aniplex Inc.
RATED: Suggested 13 and Up
Release Date: August 23, 2016
Originally created by Naoshi Komi
Chief Director: Akiyuki Simbo
Director: Naoyuki Tatsuwa
Script by Akiyuki Simbo, Fuyashi Tou
Character Design by Nobuhiro Sugiyama
Art Director: Ken Naito
Anime Production: SHAFT
Featuring the following voice talent:
Kana Hanazawa as Kosaki Onodera
Kouki Uchiyama as Raku IchijÅ
Nao TÅyama as Chitoge Kirisaki
Kana Asumi as Marika Tachibana
Mikako Komatsu as SeishirÅ Tsugumi
Takehito Koyasu as Claude
Yumi Uchiyama as Ruri Miyamoto
Yuuki Kaji as Shū Maiko
10 years ago, Raku made a secret promise with a girl he met that they would “get married when they reunite.†Since then, he never let go of the pendant she gave him…
It is spring. Kosaki’s little sister, Haru, is now a first-year at Bonyari High School, and she’s bursting with anticipation over her new life. But on her very first day, she finds herself in a huge predicament – surrounded by delinquents!
The last thing Haru sees just before she passes out from terror, is a boy wearing the uniform of her own school, coming to her defense. She believes that this was a fateful encounter with a “prince†whose face she never saw, and whose name she doesn’t know. Will she meet him once again…? Find out in Nisekoi 2 Volume 2!
There’s a new girl in school and she absolutely despises Raku…or does she?
Her name is Haru Onodera, the younger sister of Kosaki and she will do anything to protect her older sister.
Meanwhile, Onodera has been eating quite a bit of snacks lately. But what happens when she thinks she is gaining weight and feels that Ichijo will no longer want to be near her?
What happens when Ichijo finds out that Onodera’s birthday is coming up and he asks her younger sister Haru for shopping tips?
It’s the conclusion of the second season for “Nisekoi: False Love″!
What is “Nisekoi: False Love�
Naoshi Komi’s manga work is well-known for readers of “Weekly Shonen Jumpâ€.
From “Koi no Kami-samaâ€, “Williams†and “Double Artsâ€, 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 Jumpâ€. It was also one of the first manga to receive an English translation online courtesy of Shueisha and also received a 20-episode anime series which aired on Tokyo MX and a second season in 2015 featuring 12 episodes and an OVA.
The anime series produced by SHAFT and was directed by Naoyuki Tatsuwa (“Katteni Kazoâ€, “Kofuku Graffitiâ€), series composition by Akiyuki Simbo (“Hidamari Sketchâ€, Starship Girl Yamamoto Yohkoâ€, “Puella Magi Madoka Magicaâ€) and Fuyashi Tou (“Bakemonogatariâ€, “Hanamonogatariâ€, “Tsukimonogatariâ€), character design by Nobuhiro Sugiyama (“Puella Magi Madokaâ€, “ef: a tale of memoriesâ€, “Arakawa Under the Bridgeâ€) and art direction by Ken Naito (“Puella Magi Madoka Magicaâ€, “Hanamonogatariâ€, “Koufuki Graffitiâ€, “CODE-Eâ€).
“Nisekoi: False Love†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 girlâ€. 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 the rival Beehive 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 Beehive 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?
For the start of the second season, it’s a new school year as Onodera’s sister Haru becomes a new student who absolutely despises Raku. And now, she wants to do all she can to protect her older sister.
Meanwhile, Onodera wants to continue to get Ichijo’s attention but when she gains weight, she starts to avoid him.
The main characters of “Nisekoi: False Love″ are:
- Raku Ichijou – 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. He is forced to pretend he is in a relationship with Chitoge Kirisaki in order to prevent a gang war. He sees Chitoge to be rude and cold, and he has always liked Kosaki Onodera. Raku wears a lock on his necklace and made a promise to marry the person who has the key to open the lock.
- Chitoge Kirisaki – Chitoge 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. She has blonde hair and her father is the leader of a rival gang. She must pretend to be in a relationship with Raku Ichijo in order to prevent a gang war. She is not refined as is often beating or saying something cold to Raku.
- Kosaki Onodera – Raku’s classmate and the girl he has always liked. He doesn’t know that Kosaki has always liked him and happens to have a key that may open the lock that Raku has. She is very shy and it not a good cook.
- Haru Onodera – Kosaki’s younger sister who is starting high school. She falls for the guy who saved her, but because she was fainting, she is not aware that Ichijo is responsible for saving her. Meanwhile, Haru can’t stand that her sister has fell for a guy that has all these girls around him.
- Ruri Miyamoto – Onodera’s best friend who is doing all she can to help her gain the courage to tell Raku how she feels.
- Seishiro Tsugumi – Known as “The Black Tigerâ€, a hitwoman raised and trained by Claude. While a tomboy, she starts to develop feelings towards Raku.
- Marika Tachibana – Another girl from Raku’s past. She had loved Raku as a child and went as far as changed herself to the way he asked her to. Also, Raku’s father neglected to tell him that he made an agreement with the Police Comissioner (Marika’s father) that they were engaged in order to build relationship between the gang and the police. Unlike the other girls who are shy to show their feelings towards Raku, Marika is more upfront about her feelings and her actions.
- Claude – The assistant to Chitoge’s father. He doesn’t believe that Raku and Chitoge is in a relationship and will do anything to find out the truth.
VIDEO:
“Nisekoi: False Love” is presented in 1080p High Definition. The anime series is absolutely vibrant and colorful. The background, especially the foreground artwork are beautifully painted and well-detailed, while the character designs are well-done and well-shaded. This is a gorgeous looking anime series and definitely a series a television series that caught my attention because it’s not soft, if features amazing detail and is full of colors!
SHAFT did a wonderful job on the animation and the series definitely compliments Naoshi Komi’s manga series!
AUDIO & SUBTITLES:
“Nisekoi: False Love” is presented in Japanese linear PCM stereo. Dialogue and music is crystal clear through the front channels and I heard no distortion while watching this anime series. The voice acting by Kana Hanazawa, Kouki Uchiyama and Nao Toyama are well-done!
It’s important to emphasize to those interested in this series on Blu-ray that there are no English dubbed soundtrack included.
Subtitles are in English.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“Nisekoi: False Love – Season Two, Volume 2″ comes with the Textless Opening for “Magical*Styling”, Textless Ending for “Toriame drop”, “marchen ticktack” and “Crayon Cover”.
EXTRAS:
“Nisekoi: False Love – Season Two, Volume 2″ comes with a slipcase and eight collectable cards.
With the latest volume of “Nisekoi: False Loveâ€, we have storylines that focus on both Kosaki and Haru Onodera.
Kosaki’s younger sister Haru is now going to high school and because she is unaware of guys (since she came from an all girl school), nor has she had contact with foreigners, seeing all these women around Ichijo upsets her, because she knows her sister likes him a lot.
But for Haru, she is unaware that the mysterious guy she has fallen for (because he saved her) is Ichijo.
Meanwhile, when the Onodera sisters get sick, what happens when Ichijo must take care of both of them?
Also, what happens when Chitoge loses her favorite ribbon and Ichijo tries to find it. A sweet bonding time for the two but will Chitoge confess her true feelings for Ichijo?
For Onodera, she feels that she has gained too much weight from eating plenty of snacks, so she starts to avoid Ichijo. What happens when she does that?
Sure, there have been many anime series that have tapped into the story of a promise made in childhood of marriage from “Love Hina†to “Ore no Kanojo to Osanajimi ga Shuraba Sugiru†(better known as “Oreshuraâ€).
But what “Nisekoi†does differently is throw a major wrench into this possible love romance by putting the male protagonist in search of his future wife, to fulfill a family promise to have a relationship with the daughter of a rival gang, a girl that he detests.
Both hate each other and while Ichijou is a guy with a positive outlook in life, when he meets Chitoge Kirisaki, she is abrasive, cold and not good at holding her aggression as she is constantly beating up on Ichijou.
And to make things worse for Ichijou, the most popular girl that he always liked, Kosaki Onodera, is in fact the girl that has (or may have) the key, to his lock that he has worn on his neck and promised to marry. Add in Marika Tachibana and even Chitoge’s bodyguard, all of them start to fall for Ichijo…but can he pick which one he really likes?
So far, I really enjoy this anime series, especially the episodes on this third Blu-ray release 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.
As for the Blu-ray release, the anime series is presented in 1080p and is absolutely vibrant! Lossless soundtrack is in Japanese Linear PCM and there are no English dub soundtrack, but I can see this series receiving an English dub treatment in the future!
While there are no additional special features aside from the usual Opening and Textless endings, you do get Aniplex swag with a slipcase and collectable pin-ups.
Overall, “Nisekoi: False Love” is an enjoyable, humorous and crazy anime series and with this latest volume, you get a few episodes focusing on the Onodera sisters, especially the introduction of Kosaki’s younger sister Haru. But how will Haru behave when she meets the guy that her sister likes…Ichijo?
If you love romantic comedies, “Nisekoi: False Love” is an enjoyable, fun anime series which I can easily recommend!
