Nisekoi: Volume 21 manga review

Manga
Nisekoi: Volume 21 manga review
By Leroy Douresseaux
May 23, 2017 - 22:02

Viz Media
Writer(s): Naoshi Komi, Camellia Nieh
Artist(s): Naoshi Komi
Letterer(s): Stephen Dutro
ISBN: 978-1-4215-9020-5
$9.99 U.S., $12.99 CAN, £6.99 U.K., 192pp B&W, paperback
Rating: T (Teen)

Nisekoi Volume 21 cover image

Rated “T” for “Teen”

So Raku Ichijo and Chitoge Kirisaki don't like each other. Their fathers are the heads of yakuza syndicates, and in order to keep a gang war from starting, Ichijo (Shuei-Gumi) and Kirisaki (Beehive) act as if they are a teen couple in love. In fact, Ichijo is also searching for his childhood sweetheart, and wears a pendant lock around his neck, 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.

As Nisekoi: False Love, Vol. 21 (subtitled To Mari – Chapters 180 to 188) opens, the gang realizes that Marika Tachibana has been missing from school. With a little encouragement, Ichijo will lead a rescue party to the home of Marika's mother, Chika. They are about to discover, however, how hard it is to break into a centuries-old samurai castle and stop a wedding.

THE LOWDOWN: I enjoy the Nisekoi: False Love manga. This episodic comedy puts a nice spin on mafia romance and high school romance. There are delightful situations and engaging story arcs.

Nisekoi: False Love Volume 21 is about a rescue mission, and while I usually love this manga, I enjoyed this “rescue Tachibana” story without loving it. I am interested in how it ends, because it may end with a bang. This series is too entertaining to allow any glitch to drive me away. After all, this story is nicely composed, which is a hallmark of this series, and I can appreciate that even when I am not totally in love with a story.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS: Readers looking for a shonen manga doing shojo love will want to try the Shonen Jump title, Nisekoi: False Love.

B+

Rating: B+/10