Nisekoi I've just completed the manga, which I started in December after finding out it after a suggestion of a similar manga to We Can't Study - my impressions will be under spoiler, because I will make some references to some characters who don't immediately appear in the beginning (or they appear in a particular way), but I absolutely suggest it to anyone who liked even just a bit We Can't Study, because Nisekoi is even better.
First of all, I was warned about the presence of a lot of fillter chapters - anyway not only I liked most of them (except for the strange weapongs of Claude which Tsugumi brought any time to school without any reason, but they fell in place with the point of the story in which they were set. Maybe it's because I read all the around 200 chapters in one month, but there wasn't any moment in which I stopped to read just because what I was reading wasn't getting my attention (and there are manga which succeed in doind this, like Bleach and the new Eden's Zero, both of which I dropped).
Then, we can move on the story. The specularity of the beginning and of the ending of Raku's story is absolutely well done: first he promised to marry Onodera when he was young and just pretended to be engaged with Chitoge because of their clan clashes (how much fun were the family members of Raku?? I loved them from the first chapters, in their complete absurdity), then at the end he rejects Onodera and gets married which the person with which he shared a false love. Also the way in which both Chitoge and Raku start to develop their reciprocal feelings seems quite natural, particularly in the chapters about the theater piece of Romeo and Giulietta, one of the best part of all the story (now I understand why the authour of We Can't Study gave so much importance to a similar scene in that manga).
Anyway Nisekoi is clearly an harem manga, in addition to be a comedy and love story manga, so I should add some consideration for each one of the girl who fell in love with Raku (his classmates were right to be angry with him!):
1) Onodera: honestly I didn't find her so appealing, her development was quite inferior to the other characters, there were nice moments like the Christmas' eve but it was in a point of the manga in which it was clear what the ending would have been. Basically in all the situations with Raku she was embarassed and rarely was able to do something more.
2) Tsugumi: she's one of my favourite characters of Nisekoi, from the first chapters in which she (not he, Claude) appears until the end in which she completely changes her life. Differently from Onodera, despite being imbarassed by the only presence of Raku, all their interactions and dialogues seemed more vivid and the way in which she declares her love to Raku hit me, I never thought that she could decide do to it, ma in that way.
3) Marika: this is how a character can be hated at first, really appreciated at the end of a manga. She's maybe the more reflective and active member of the group, she knows everything about the past and she knows she doesn't have any chance but she never surrenders, and the ending of her story is better in some aspects then the ending of the manga itself, which honestly seemed a bit rushed.
4) Yui: well, maybe she's the only character of this harem group which didn't add a lot to the manga, these are the only filler chapters which weren't so brilliant, even though she was a nice characters and had a lot of potential, but suffered from being introduced so late in the story.
5) Haru Onodera: talking about filler chapters, I really liked all the chapters with her! Thanks to Raku, she was able to go over her uncertainty, to confess herself what love is and understand more about her future.Fortunately she didn't tell Onodera that Raku liked her, instead Chitoge would never have had a chance. Good job.
6) Chitoge: last but not least, she's the best girl, with a perfect development through the story. Her feelings were perfectly displayed with her words and her actions, the author clearly put a lot on effort on her and all the Chitoge fan should really thank (I admit, I absolutely was a Chitoge fan from the theater chapters!)
Then we should not forget Ruri and Shu, for a manga of this genre they were very well written secondary characters, particularly Shu and his love for Kyoko.
To sum up, I suggest this manga if you like "slife-of-life" manga and want something to read without having to be too much careful (like it could be with Death Note ot Liar Game, for instance).
Then, we can move on the story. The specularity of the beginning and of the ending of Raku's story is absolutely well done: first he promised to marry Onodera when he was young and just pretended to be engaged with Chitoge because of their clan clashes (how much fun were the family members of Raku?? I loved them from the first chapters, in their complete absurdity), then at the end he rejects Onodera and gets married which the person with which he shared a false love. Also the way in which both Chitoge and Raku start to develop their reciprocal feelings seems quite natural, particularly in the chapters about the theater piece of Romeo and Giulietta, one of the best part of all the story (now I understand why the authour of We Can't Study gave so much importance to a similar scene in that manga).
Anyway Nisekoi is clearly an harem manga, in addition to be a comedy and love story manga, so I should add some consideration for each one of the girl who fell in love with Raku (his classmates were right to be angry with him!):
1) Onodera: honestly I didn't find her so appealing, her development was quite inferior to the other characters, there were nice moments like the Christmas' eve but it was in a point of the manga in which it was clear what the ending would have been. Basically in all the situations with Raku she was embarassed and rarely was able to do something more.
2) Tsugumi: she's one of my favourite characters of Nisekoi, from the first chapters in which she (not he, Claude) appears until the end in which she completely changes her life. Differently from Onodera, despite being imbarassed by the only presence of Raku, all their interactions and dialogues seemed more vivid and the way in which she declares her love to Raku hit me, I never thought that she could decide do to it, ma in that way.
3) Marika: this is how a character can be hated at first, really appreciated at the end of a manga. She's maybe the more reflective and active member of the group, she knows everything about the past and she knows she doesn't have any chance but she never surrenders, and the ending of her story is better in some aspects then the ending of the manga itself, which honestly seemed a bit rushed.
4) Yui: well, maybe she's the only character of this harem group which didn't add a lot to the manga, these are the only filler chapters which weren't so brilliant, even though she was a nice characters and had a lot of potential, but suffered from being introduced so late in the story.
5) Haru Onodera: talking about filler chapters, I really liked all the chapters with her! Thanks to Raku, she was able to go over her uncertainty, to confess herself what love is and understand more about her future.
6) Chitoge: last but not least, she's the best girl, with a perfect development through the story. Her feelings were perfectly displayed with her words and her actions, the author clearly put a lot on effort on her and all the Chitoge fan should really thank (I admit, I absolutely was a Chitoge fan from the theater chapters!)
Then we should not forget Ruri and Shu, for a manga of this genre they were very well written secondary characters, particularly Shu and his love for Kyoko.
To sum up, I suggest this manga if you like "slife-of-life" manga and want something to read without having to be too much careful (like it could be with Death Note ot Liar Game, for instance).
