"Nisekoi" Review

Wouldn't you know it: The last time I posted, I couldn't think of anything to write about, hence why I posted about Seven Deadly Sins.  But a recent trip to the library showed me a new volume of another series I'd been meaning to blog about, but had forgotten.

The name is Nisekoi, by a person named Naoshi Komi.

Our hero is high school student Raku Ichijo, the son of a violent yakuza family who only wants to live a sane and decent life.  He secretly pines for childhood friend Kosaki Onodera.  And, ten years ago, he made a promise with a little girl, whose name and face he can't remember, and received a special locked pendant, of which she holds the only key.

All of a sudden, into his life comes the brash and athletic Chitoge Kirisaki.  After getting off on the wrong foot, his family reveals that she is also the daughter of a powerful yakuza family, and that the two must be married in order to maintain a fragile peace.

 So, not only does this throw cold water on Raku's chances with Onodera, but there is also the problem of Chitoge's bodyguard Claude, who instantly sees that something is not right with their so-called "relationship".

In true romantic comedy style, several hints are dropped as to who exactly his promise girl may be.  A new suitor named Seishiro Tsugumi (Chitoge's other bodyguard/reverse trap) is introduced in Volume 2, clearly leading us to believe that more and more people after the fated couple will start to appear soon.

Now, I know what you're all thinking: this sounds like some sort of Love Hina Lite.  And it sort of is, albeit with much less fanservice (given Komi's unsexy art style.).  But I liked Love Hina, and not just for all of its fanservice (of which there was a LOT!).

I've heard that it's gone on for over 100 chapters in Japan, with no ending or resolution in sight.  Now, I like my stories tied up and explained with a nice fancy bow on top.  So we can only hope that the mysteries will be revealed some day.  (And it would be pretty ironic if Raku wound up getting together with Onodera after all, despite her not being the female lead.  Totally unexpected.)

One thing that really gets me, aside from the similarities to Love Hina, is the sheer amount of strange names that all the characters are given (Ruri, Raku, Chitoge, Claude, Kosaki, etc.).  Claude isn't even Japanese, and I'd never heard of some of those other names being used before, either.  Now, I love unusual names as much as the next guy, but that's usually more when I'm the one creating/assigning them.

But I do love Mafia/Yakuza stories, so let's hope that things continue forward on that point, as well.

Review: "Seven Deadly Sins"

Konnichiwa, everyone!

It's been a while since I've been down to the bookstore, so I couldn't really recall any new manga that I'd read off the top of my head.  So I figured that I'd review one of my recent favorite series instead.

Seven Deadly Sins is a weird magic-y knight manga set in a world quite unlike our own.  In the kingdom of Brittania (I believe it was), ten years prior, a group of powerful knights known as The Seven Deadly Sins were unjustly framed for murder and forced to flee the kingdom.  In their absence, a group of evil knights (ironically referred to as The Holy Knights) have taken the king hostage and forced the people of the land to prepare for war.

Princess Elizabeth, our main heroine, is forced to leave in search of the missing Seven Deadly Sins, who many believe are the only ones who can save the kingdom from the Holy Knights.

The first one she meets is our main hero, the perverted Luffy-ish tavern owner Meliodas.  He too is searching for his fellow Deadly Sins, through the use of information gathering and his mobile bar, which sits atop of a giant pig.  The pig's child, a talking boar named Hawk (funnier when romanized has "Hork", sounds like "pork") provides a loyal friend for him as well as mild comic relief.

Meliodas had his memory erased by one of his fellow Deadly Sins at around the time the murder took place, so he may also be searching for them in order to recover his memories.

Now, these stories are actually pretty fun.  Thus far, we're moving a mite bit slowly on meeting new Deadly Sins (thus far, the brash giantess Diane and the enigmatic former prisoner Ban), but the Holy Knights are popping up like daisies, and they have some really cool powers.  Thus far we have a lightning guy, a bug tamer a'la Tommyrod from Toriko, an illusion guy and an invisible guy.

Originally, I had just picked it up because of a fanservice-y chapter I'd seen online where Elizabeth and Diane are shrunk out of their clothes by a magic mushroom creature.  But now I'm more than a little hooked on where the story is going.  The characters maintain a decent degree of interesting and original (save probably for the nearly-useless Hawk, whose only skills are his nose and his appetite for food scraps).

Only one real problem that I can see: I took a look at the wikia because I was wondering just how many more Holy Knights were on their way, and they have the Deadly Sins outnumbered by four to one, if not more.  And, since they say that even one of the Holy Knights alone is enough to rival an entire army, I can definitely foresee things getting worse for our heroes before they get better.

Until next time, saraba!