古味直志

Final volume?!?! Even though I knew it was coming, it still hurt to see that this series was ending.

I'm pretty stingy with 5-star ratings, but I'm going to reward this series for landing one of the best and most satisfying manga finales after a long run of volumes that have been consistently funny, romantic and exciting. So many manga titles have rushed endings forced upon them by premature cancellation or, on the other end of the spectrum, have been dragged out long past the point of my show more caring how things turn out. But Nisekoi had a solid beginning, middle and end, keeping me entertained every step of the way.

Definitely one of my top 25 manga titles, and possibly top 10. (Let's see, in no particular order: Lone Wolf and Cub, My Love Story, Love*Com, Bakuman, Yotsuba&!, With the Light, High School Debut, Otomen, A Bride's Story, Emma, Twin Spica, A Silent Voice, Erased, Orange, Gantz, Inuyashiki, Food Wars!, Cross Game, Haikyu, Uzumaki, GTO, Initial D, Inubaka, Akira. I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but that's a pretty good list if you include Nisekoi.) show less

It is a pleasure to see this series very deliberately and effectively working toward its finale. So many of these manga series have endings that are rushed, predictable or meaningless as the title has wandered so far from its original premise. This series introduced its premise and characters in an energetic and enjoyable way over several volumes, settled into a sitcom that humorously exploited the value of that premise and characters, and is now focusing in on the love triangle at the heart show more of it all. And I really have no clue how it will turn out. This has consistently been one of my favorite manga over the past several years. show less

These chapters are like the middle season episodes of a long-running sitcom. They do little to advance the overall narrative, but they are solid and funny and generate a lot of humor by putting beloved characters in silly scenarios, specifically a sleepover and a beauty contest. The sleepover is the more successful half of the book since it is an ensemble that gives all the characters equal time. The beauty contest lags a bit as it focuses too much on Haru. She's not a bad character, but I'd show more rather stay focused on the central triangle or quadrangle. By the time you get to the fifth or sixth members of Raku's harem, the humor is barely enough to offset the fact that nothing important is going to happen. show less

After treading water for quite a few volumes, the story picks up some steam as one of the major cast members faces a move that would take her out of Raku's harem. That drama comes in the second half of the book and is balanced by a very funny archery sequence in the first half as nearly the entire harem hunts Raku down with love charm arrows. It seems like previous volumes tried to focus on just a couple characters at a time, but this volume shows that the series works best when the full show more ensemble is interacting. show less