Nisekoi: Volume 17 manga review

Manga
Nisekoi: Volume 17 manga review
By Leroy Douresseaux
September 17, 2016 - 19:17

Viz Media
Writer(s): Naoshi Komi, Camellia Nieh
Penciller(s): Naoshi Komi
Letterer(s): Stephen Dutro
ISBN: 978-1-4215-8512-3
$9.99 U.S., $12.99 CAN, £6.99 U.K., 192pp B&W, paperback
Rating: T (Teen)

Nisekoi Volume 17 cover image

Rated “T” for “Teen”

It is true that Raku Ichijo and Chitoge Kirisaki don't like each other, but they have been forced into a sham relationship. Their fathers are the heads of yakuza syndicates, so in order to keep a gang war from starting, Ichijo and Kirisaki act as if they are a loving teen couple. In fact, Ichijo is also searching for his childhood sweetheart. He wears a pendant lock around his neck as a memento of the promise he made to a mystery girl 10 years ago. Chitoge is one of four young ladies who could be the mystery girl.

Nisekoi: False Love, Vol. 17 (subtitled Mistress – Chapters 144 to 152) opens with Ichijo and Kosaki Onodera forced to spend the night in the same room at an inn owned by Onodera's aunt. No big deal, right? They do want to be with one another?

Yui Kanakura was once Ichijo's childhood friend. Now, she is a music teacher at his school and also the don of a Chinese mob! Circumstances have put them in the same house – Ichijo's family home, and Yui's bodyguard, Night, reveals some truths about Yui of which Ichijo was not aware. Plus, the class trip to Kyoto becomes a disaster for two students, or is it really a disaster?

THE LOWDOWN: The Nisekoi: False Love manga has a simple premise: a yakuza prince and princess forced into a sham relationship to stave off a gang war. Creator Naoshi Komi makes the most of it, deftly generating a seemingly endless stream of clever one-off situation comedy scenarios.

Nisekoi: False Love Volume 17 finds Komi taking familiar characters and spinning a series of clever comical situations. Komi even creates a rom-com adventure via the school trip. I am always surprised by how Nisekoi manages to be a consistently entertaining read. Sometimes, I think the entire mystery of the pendant lock is a narrative sleight of hand. The real fun comes in the form of an ensemble comedy.

POSSIBLE AUDIENCE: Readers looking for a shonen manga doing shojo love will want to try the Shonen Jump title, Nisekoi: False Love.

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Rating: A/10