is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Naoshi Komi. Nisekoi was first published as a one-shot manga in Shueisha's seasonal Jump Next! magazine before being serialized in the manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump from November 2011 to August 2016, with its chapters collected in 25 volumes. Nisekoi was published in English in Viz Media's digital magazine, Weekly Shonen Jump and was also released by the publisher in English in digital and print volumes. A three-volume novel series, titled Nisekoi: Urabana, written by Hajime Tanaka, was released from June 2013 to April 2015.
A 20-episode anime television series produced by Shaft was broadcast from January to May 2014. A 12-episode second season, titled Nisekoi:, was broadcast from April to June 2015. Aniplex of America has licensed the series for streaming and home video distribution in North America. A live-action film adaptation premiered in December 2018.
Plot Nisekoi follows high school students Raku Ichijo, the son of a leader in the Yakuza faction Shuei-gumi, and Chitoge Kirisaki, the daughter of a boss in a rival gang known as Beehive. They unexpectedly meet when Chitoge hops a wall and kicks Raku in the face. After she runs off, Raku realizes he has lost his locket which was given to him by his childhood sweetheart with whom he made a secret promise. After discovering Chitoge is a new transfer student in his class, he forces her to help him look for the locket. During the search, they begin to despise each other with a passion.
Upon returning home, Raku learns that the Shuei-gumi and Beehive gangs have agreed to settle their feud by pairing their leaders' children. Much to his horror, he learns that his girlfriend-to-be is only Chitoge. For the next three years, they must pretend to be in a relationship to maintain peace between the gangs. This turns out to be quite a challenging task, not only because of their hatred for one another, but also because Raku has a crush on another schoolmate, Kosaki Onodera, whom he secretly wishes was the girl who bears the key to his locket. Unbeknownst to him, Kosaki carries her own deep secret crush on Raku. The two do their best in their attempts to keep up their facade, while many developments complicate the situation, such as Chitoge's over-protective bodyguard, Claude, scheming to expose their relationship as fake.
During the school years new characters and developments arise to cause more trouble for Raku. Chitoge's childhood friend and Beehive hitman, Tsugumi Seishiro, joins the class, initially as an obstacle for Raku, before becoming a friend in the group, reluctantly accepting the relationship while unknowingly developing a crush on Raku herself. Marika Tachibana, daughter of the police captain, transfers in and declares herself as Raku's fiancée, having developed a crush on him for over ten years. Haru Onodera – Kosaki's younger sister – initially attempted to sabotage Raku's attempts to get closer with her sister, before eventually developing her own feelings for him. Yui Kanakura – the newly-appointed head of the Char Siu Mafia and Raku's childhood friend – later becomes the class' new teacher, herself also being in love with him.
Over the course of the story many revelations and discoveries are uncovered regarding the characters' relationships, the locket, and their promises. It is revealed Chitoge, Kosaki, Marika, and Yui all possess keys, and that they all knew each other ten years ago, making one of them Raku's "promise girl".
After numerous adventures with the girls and several confessions, Raku realizes that he has fallen for both Chitoge and Kosaki, then must choose. A final confrontation prompts the group to travel and uncover the truth behind the keys, as well as what happened ten years ago, which will lead to the final confessions.
Characters
(vomic), Koki Uchiyama (drama CD, anime) A high school student, Raku aspires to pursue a normal career as a civil servant when he graduates despite being the son of a Yakuza family leader. When he is placed in a fake relationship with Chitoge Kirisaki, he hides his feelings for the girl who he has a crush on, Kosaki Onodera. He wears a locket that symbolizes a promise of love he made to a girl ten years ago while traveling with his father abroad and hopes he can reunite with the girl who bears the key to unlock it. He initially hates Chitoge, seeing her as hot-tempered and violent, and sometimes refers to her as a "gorilla woman". Despite this, he has shown kindness to her at times and develops uncertainty as to which girl he likes the most. After Marika withdraws from pursuing him, she reveals to him that he loves both Kosaki and Chitoge, and should choose between them. Raku realizes that he likes Chitoge beyond just friends, and despite learning that Kosaki was his promised girl, he ultimately chooses Chitoge. In the final chapter, it is revealed he has become a government worker in the city's public safety department and is the second boss of his family's Yakuza gang who helps him protect the city. He and Chitoge are married and have a son named Haku who inherited their respective traits.
(vomic), Nao Tōyama (drama CD, anime) Chitoge is a half-Japanese transfer student from the United States and the daughter of the leader of the Beehive Gangsters. She initially detested Raku, seeing him as arrogant and quick to lecture others, but pretends to be in a relationship with him to prevent their family gangs from going to war. She is quick to anger and has sometimes acted violently towards Raku. Ten years before, Chitoge makes a promise with a boy, but does not realize it could be Raku until she finds a key that could potentially unlock his locket. She develops feelings towards Raku and becomes jealous when girls such as Marika show open affections towards him, which he sometimes uses to his advantage to make her angry. Eventually, despite denying it, she realizes that she loves him very much, and changes her internal attitude while still referring to him as annoying in public. She is very smart and talented at most tasks except for cooking. She and her mom had a "cold" relationship until Raku helps them reconcile with each other on Christmas. Later, she accidentally found out that Raku and Kosaki had liked each other since middle school. To help them get together she runs away from home, unaware that Raku also likes her. After being convinced by Marika to be honest with her feelings, Chitoge confessed her love for Raku at the place where Raku made the promise with the promised girl, and was happy when Raku accepted her feelings. In the final chapter, it is revealed that she is married to Raku and has become a fashion designer.
(drama CD, anime) Kosaki Onodera is a kind and sweet classmate of Raku. She has shoulder-length dark brown hair and chestnut brown eyes. Although Raku likes her, she does not reveal that she also likes him. She bears a key that could unlock Raku's locket but denies it when Raku asks and becomes timid and easily flustered whenever they have a potential romantic situation. Her family owns a dessert shop where she fashions good-looking treats, but she makes terrible food when left to her own devices. She is not as academically strong as her friends, but studied hard to enter the same high school as Raku. As time passes her love for Raku grows and her determination to get him notice her feelings becomes stronger, declaring she will fight for it. She and Raku have similar personalities, showing care for others, but are shy when it comes to confessing their mutual feelings. It was revealed that Kosaki was the promised girl. While looking for Chitoge after she ran away at the place where they made the promise, Kosaki realizes that Raku has fallen for Chitoge, and despite a final confession, is gently rejected. In the last chapter, she has become a patissier, making the wedding cake for Raku and Chitoge.
(drama CD, anime) Shū is Raku's best friend. He enjoys doing anything for a laugh and often makes perverted passes or comments without shame to his friends. He is perceptive of Raku's relationships, knowing immediately that Raku was not really dating Chitoge, that Raku and Kosaki have secret crushes on each other, and that Tsugumi has developed romantic feelings for Raku. Academically, he places next to "glasses buddy" Ruri, much to the latter's chagrin. He has not expressed romantic interest in Raku's friends, but in one storyline, he has a crush on their homeroom teacher Kyoko. He has known that Chitoge has become more than just a friend to Raku before Raku even does. In the final chapter, he had become a teacher and is living with Ruri; he organizes the wedding for Raku and Chitoge.
(drama CD, anime) Claude, one of the leaders of the Beehive gangsters, is one of the few characters who suspects the relationship between Raku and Chitoge is fake. He stalks Chitoge regularly to make sure Raku does not take advantage of her. Chitoge stated that when she was young, she was unable to make friends because of Claude's overprotectiveness and background checking. He raises Tsugumi as a hitman, gave her a boy's name, Seishirou, completely oblivious of her gender. In the final chapter, he has become Beehive's new leader after Chitoge's father resigned to live his life with Hana, and is getting along better with Raku.
(drama CD, anime) Ruri is Kosaki's best friend. She often speaks what is on her mind and pushes Kosaki to get closer to Raku, setting up many scenarios to help her. She regularly punches Shu Maiko for his perverted opinions, but sometimes respects what he has to say. In later chapters, Ruri realizes she has fallen in love with Shu as she is drawn to his inner struggle. Ruri eventually confesses to him and states that she will wait for Shu to let go of his feelings for his first love Kyoko. In the final chapter, Ruri is working as a translator and lives with Shu.
(drama CD, anime) "Black Tiger" Tsugumi is a hitwoman who was raised and trained by Claude of the Beehive Gangsters. Originally introduced as a transfer student in Chitoge's class, she prefers to dress in shirt and pants of the boys uniform, and is mistaken for a boy by Raku and the others. Suspecting Chitoge was forced by Raku into the relationship, she tries to fight him. She and Chitoge are childhood friends; she tries to keep a promise made ten years ago of becoming strong to protect Chitoge. After Raku treats her nicely, she begins to develop feelings for him, even though she is too stubborn and embarrassed to admit it. She shares a rivalry with "White Fang" Paula McCoy. She does well academically, having ranked next to Chitoge on an early exam. Raku has occasionally confided with her as a good friend and also for romance advice. She occasionally has vivid daydreams of being Raku's secret lover. She does not realize Raku and Chitoge's relationship is a fake one until much later in the series. In the end chapter, she has become the exclusive fashion model for Chitoge and has grown out her hair.
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