Manga / Nisekoi

Nisekoi ("False Love") is a shonen romantic comedy manga by Naoshi Komi, which ran in Weekly Shonen Jump from 2011 to 2016 with a total of 229 chapters in 25 volumes.

Raku Ichijou is your Ordinary High-School Student. Rather he's as ordinary as he can be, not counting his status as the heir to a Yakuza family - a position he's not too happy about. Still, he lives a mostly carefree life until one day he crashes into (or, more precisely, is crashed into by) Chitoge Kirisaki - his class's new transfer student. This causes him to lose his most precious possession- a pendant given to him by his first love ten years earlier. Some harsh words are thrown and even though Chitoge eventually helps him find the pendant, the two of them are off to a bad start.

If that wasn't enough, a new gang shows up in town and start getting into fights with Raku's family - a conflict that could escalate into full-blown gang war. Through the power of coincidence, the gang's leader turns out to be not only Raku's father's old friend, but also Chitoge's dad! Together the two heads devise a plan to calm down their rowdy subordinates: Raku and Chitoge will have to pretend to be a couple! The two of them are not too happy about that, but agree to play along to avoid a bloody conflict.

Thus starts a story of love, lies, twists and promises. How long will Raku and Chitoge manage to fake their feelings? And how long will those feelings stay fake?

The manga was picked up for an English release by Viz Media, which ran in their English Shonen Jump anthology. An anime adaptation premiered in January 2014, with a second season following in April 2015. A live-action film released in Dec 2018. For its anniversary in 2023, Nisekoi also started seeing a complete series omnibus publication, with each volume coming with extra pages of the cast 10 years after the story ended.

Crunchyroll is streaming the anime, which can be viewed here, for people living in the following areas: North America, South America, and South Africa.

Not to be confused with a shoujo manga called Nisekoi Doumei. It's also not an Isekai series.

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Provides examples of:

• Absurdly Youthful Mother: Kosaki, Chitoge and Marika all three have exceptionally youthful looking mothers. Chitoge's mother is at least stated to have been young when she had Chitoge, doesn't stop her from looking like someone in their early twenties though. Marika's mother on the other hand is young enough for Raku to accidentally confuse her for Tachibana's younger sister. This is slightly averted since Chika along with Marika herself were born sickly which has stunted their growth.
• Accidental Proposal:
  • During the Temple Festival, Raku gives Chitoge a relationship charm. What he doesn't realize is that what he did is traditionally considered a proposal. Chitoge freaks out so much that her yukata almost falls.
  • In Chapter 156 Ruri hits Shuu with a rock when he tries to intercept supposedly magical marriage arrows Marika and Chitoge fired at Raku. She is told almost immediately afterward that the rock has similar marriage-related magic, but is ten times more powerful.
• A-Cup Angst: This is one of the main reasons behind Paula's one-sided rivalry with Tsugumi.
• Almost Kiss:
  • Raku and Chitoge in episode 4. It's interrupted by Claude when he worries that she's been at his house too long.
  • Done with both Tsugumi and Paula in episode 2 of season 2. Paula's attempt is interrupted by Tsugumi firing at them, while Tsugumi stops short of kissing him, and instead punches him when she's unable to bring herself to doing it.
• Always in Class One: Despite how generic many of this series' other elements are, it averts this. The class the main cast is in is 1-C.
  • Averted later when some younger students are introduced to the story.
• Anguished Declaration of Love: Kosaki finally, finally tells Raku how she feels in the last few pages of Chapter 225. However, it counts under this trope because she full well knows that he's going to reject her regardless.
• April Fools' Day: Chapter 74, has Chitoge and Raku on a scheduled date and Chitoge tried to prank him by saying that there were 500 Bee Hive Gang members would be watching their date. It mostly backfired for her since Raku keeps doing more embarrassing romantic things.
• Armor-Piercing Question:
  • Chitoge asks Onaodera in episode 4 if the latter likes anyone. She claims she doesn't.
  • In episode 18, Chitoge asks Raku would their relationship had really of worked out if they weren't just faking it. He begins to stumble around for an answer just like she does, and then states that it wouldn't, because of how violent and angry she tends to get around him. Tears begin to well up in her eyes as he says this, and she runs off.
  • Right now, who do you really like? Onodera... or Kirisaki-san?
• Art Imitates Art: Marika makes a gigantic chocolate statue of Raku for Valentines Day, with the same size and pose of the David.
• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: A giant monster attacks in the Magical Girl segment during the first half of episode 8 in season 2.
• Audience Surrogate: In Chapter 122, the sub homeroom teacher for Raku's class essentially serves as this, as a lens showing how normal people would react to Raku's uncanny luck with girls.
  • Background male charachters from Raku's class will express envy over his harem or how ridiculous his luck with girls is every time they come up on screen. Those are the things that some of male audience might just as well want to say.
• Babies Ever After: The epilogue chapter takes place years after the main story, and centers around Kosaki's daughter Sasa Miyanagi and Raku and Chitoge's son Haku.
• Bait-and-Switch: Chapters 113 and 114 has Ruri and Raku pretend to be a couple for the benefit of her ailing great-grandfather that seems to be a set-up for her joining his Unwanted Harem. In Chapter 115, Ruri admits the truth before they can get any really "romantic" hijinks going, and it ends with a Ship Tease moment between her and Shuu, not Raku.
• Beach Episode:
  • Episode 5, although they're at a pool. Ruri asks Chitoge and Raku to help teach Onodera how to swim.
  • They go to an actual beach in episode 18.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension:
  • Raku and Chitoge are a textbook example of this trope with all the fighting in between in their fake romantic relationship.
  • Shuu and Ruri also develop this sort of dynamic, with the difference that Shuu actually seems to enjoy provoking extreme reactions from Ruri. While he does enjoy annoying other girls as well, they're not balanced by other more explicit Ship Tease.
• Betty and Veronica: Putting Seishirou and Marika aside, Kosaki and Chitoge respectively fit the two archetypes just about perfectly. Kosaki is the sweet-natured Girl Next Door contrasting Chitoge, the Tsundere daughter of a gangster boss. Raku spends almost the entire series struggling with his attraction to both of them.
• Bifauxnen: Seishirou works as a hitman and dresses like a pretty boy, but is actually a girl.
• Big Brother Instinct: Raku treats Haru almost like he's her big brother. Little does he know Haru has very nonsiblings-like feelings for him.
• Big Damn Heroes:
  • Paula uses a rocket launcher to rescue Tsugumi and Raku from an enemy gang.
  • Raku rescues Haru from some guys making her extremely uncomfortable during her first day at their high school. They actually aren't scared of him, until his henchmen arrive to bring him something, at which point they run away. Unfortunately Haru passes out, so she only has a vague recollection of the rescue.
• Big Damn Hug: In Chapter 227, after Raku and Chitoge confess their love for each other, Chitoge cries out of happiness and runs into Raku's arms for a hug.
• Birthday Episode: Chitoge has one in episode 11. Seishirou surprises her by inviting a few of her classmates, and much of the episode is focused on Kosaki and Raku buying presents for her.
• Bishie Sparkle: Happens to some characters from time to time. Interestingly, sometimes the sparkle will only happen around them, and not the entire screen.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing:
  • Marika. She often appears nice and ladylike on the outside. But she's actually quite aggressive and possessive over Raku. Partly because she's trying to subtly break him away from Chitoge, and partly to try and "catch up" regarding his feelings, as she's a little behind the other girls.
  • Haru looks nice and friendly, but she instantly forms grudges over nothing and is incredibly spiteful.
• Black Speech: Ruri seems to know some, as of chapter 33.
• Blank White Eyes: Several characters display these throughout the show.
• Blatant Lies: Hilariously subverted when Raku is hooked up to a Lie Detector.

  Tsugumi: Are you truly in love with Chitoge? Yes or no?

  Raku: (Thinking: Fuck. What do I do? The one I like is clearly Onodera...ah, to hell with it, I have to lie.) O-of course, my answer is yes!

  *machine is silent*

  Tsugumi: Tch. Seem like you're telling the truth.

  Raku: (Thinking: WHAT?! What the- it didn't react? The thing's faulty.)

• Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: Chitoge (blonde), Kosaki (Brunette) and Marika (Redhead).
• Blood Knight: Paula, who comes to Japan with the intention of either killing or being killed by Seishirou.
• Blue with Shock: Several characters display these throughout the show.
• Bookends: The final chapter starts off in a situation similar to the first chapter, and even has the same chapter's name.
  • The cover arts of the first and last volumes both feature Chitoge, Kosaki, and Raku in the same pose.
• Bratty Half-Pint: Haru and Paula when she moves in with Tsugumi.
• Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: While Raku is in Kosaki's room, the camera pans over Kosaki's dolls. We see a dog, a shark, a creepy Chucky doll, a chicken...
• Brick Joke:
  • In the 2nd chapter, when gangsters asked Raku what are Chitoge's favorite food and music (because they doubted he would know as they thought the two weren't really a pair), he said "bananas and enka", and because she hated both she had to say she loved them now. And then came chapter 28, when her "family" of gangsters gave her 1.000 enka CDs and one year's supply of bananas.
  • While Raku is staying over at Kosaki's house, she takes the time to hide the same picture of Raku she's kept from middle school.
• Bromantic Foil: Shuu Maiko, Raku's perverted best friend. Half the time he meddles to help Raku. Other half—because he thinks it's funny.
• Brown Note: Yui's singing causes people to pass out.
• Brutal Honesty: Ruri doesn't hesitate to criticize Onodera's lack of progress with Raku.
  • The first time they met, Tsugumi asked Paula if she was a boy, since she didn't "have any boobs." Paula questions how normal it is to even ask such a thing when meeting somebody. Tsugumi "was curious though."
• Bungling Inventor: The Beehive Group's entire R&D division. Every contraption of theirs winds up doing something ridiculous instead of useful, and they aren't diligent about securing such dangerous items, either.
• But for Me, It Was Tuesday: Raku can only vaguely remember what he did with Marika, while the latter recalls all the little things he did for her, along with a Childhood Marriage Promise. Unfortunately for Chitoge and Kosaki, he can't remember much of them either from the past.
• Cannot Spit It Out
  • Exaggerated, to the point of being a staple of the story. From the onset, Onodera and Raku are Twice Shy. Later, when Chitoge realizes she'd developed feelings for Raku, she can't bring herself to admit it either. And even past Tsugumi, new harem members tend to join in, such as Haru Onodera and Nonbeeri princess. The only two resolved romantic confessions involve Shuu, not Raku.
  • It's strongly implied that Marika clearly remembers the entirety of the episode when she and the rest of the main cast were children and making complicated marriage promises. However, she always goes silent when the subject comes up because the information she holds is not favorable to her.
• Can't Hold His Liquor: None of the girls are sober after a brief exposure to some Whisky Bon-Bons. Once they do sober up, they agree upon Let Us Never Speak of This Again and let Raku think it was All Just a Dream.
  • The girls have this problem again in Chapter 173 when they drink sweet wine after the shrine visit, save Paula.
• Cassandra Truth:
  • Almost none of the female characters believe anything Raku says when an Accidental Pervert moment occurs. He will often get hit by them as well, even if they were at fault.
  • Haru initially refuses to believe Kosaki that Raku is actually a Nice Guy, and not some kind of twisted pervert. Him accidentally getting two panty shots of her during her first day of high school doesn't help any. And even when Raku tries to tell her he was the guy who saved her from some unsavory men on her first day of high school, she not only refuses to believe him, but attacks him for claiming to be said guy.
• Casual Danger Dialogue: In the first episode of the anime, Raku observes some Yakuza running for their lives, with gunfire and smoke going up a short distance away from him. He casually wonders if things might be getting just a bit out of hand while said explosions continue.
• Censor Steam: In the Hot Springs Episode, steam is used to cover the girls' naughty bits.
• Chained Heat: Chapter 70 had an explosive handcuff attached to both Raku and Tsugumi. It would explode if the pulse was too high. The two kept getting into heart pounding situations such as: Raku getting real close to Tsugumi in compromising positions, Tsugumi imagining a couple lifestyle with Raku 20 years in the future while still attached to the explosive handcuff, and Tsugumi getting her shirt wet and Raku putting his jacket on her. It all leads up to them going to a secluded place where couples usually go to. After Tsugumi got her heat rate down she wonders why the gauge didn't go down as well. She then realized that Raku was nervous because of her which made her nervous as well causing the handcuffs to go off, luckily for both of them that the explosive were already removed and the cuffs were modified to release instead.
• Charles Atlas Superpower: Both Chitoge and Tsugumi are capable of amazing feats of strength.
• Chewing the Scenery: When they're not engaged in Ham-to-Ham Combat, Chitoge and Raku act in this fashion whenever they're forced to act like a couple in front of others. While it obviously looks very forced, the other characters seem to act as if they really are lovers.
• Childhood Friend: Almost everyone seems to have hung out at one point or another while they were children, but have since forgotten about it.
• Childhood Marriage Promise: One of most important plot points is that Raku made one with girl he knew ten years before the start of the series. Unfortunately he doesn't remember her name or face. His only lead is fact that she should have a key to the lock in his pendant. It turns out that he was misremembering things; he might not have made a promise to a single girl, and instead made the same promise to the two girls he played with while young (sound familiar?) Those girls being Kosaki and Chitoge who, like Raku, have memories all confused because of how young they were at the time. Then Chapters 220 and 221 turn everything on its head and confirm that while Chitoge gave the idea, the girl Raku made the promise to was solely Kosaki. But he still ends up with Chitoge because he had decided the promise was less relevant than his current feelings. Ironically, the decision to prioritize the present over the past was originally made to justify dating Kosaki even if she wasn't the one in his memories, but ended up working against her.
• Chivalrous Pervert: Shu Maiko is a straight up example of this trope. Being the foil to the serious but Accidental Pervert prone protagonist Raku, Shu is a happy-go-lucky boy whose main hobbies include taking voyeur photographs of his female classmates and lustfully chasing after Joshikouseis. But in truth, he's actually quite popular among the girls of his class due to his kind and sincere personality, confusing both Raku and his Unwanted Harem.
  • In Chapter 141, a beautiful underclassman tried to confess her feelings to him. Woah to Shu's friends when, even though he's known for ogling cute girls, respectively rejects her due to the fact that his heart was still healing from loosing his love. Even the tsundere Ruri Miyamoto, who's been kicking his perverted butt since the series' beginnings, was both confused and impressed.
• Clueless Chick-Magnet: Kosaki reveals that Raku was actually very popular with the girls back when he was in middle school. He just never noticed. And he still fails to notice the girls around him who like him.
• Colour-Coded for Your Convenience / People of Hair Color: Each of the members of the harem has a distinct hair color or shade: Chitoge's bright blond, Kosaki's and Haru's are black with brown, Seishirou's black with blue, Marika is a strawberry blond or a soft redhead and Yui is black with violet. This handily gets around giving the characters unrealistic natural colors.
• Color Failure:
  • Raku and the girls go through it at various points in episode 15. In Kosaki's case, her form turns into dust and scatters as Chitoge and Marika engage in some Ham-to-Ham Combat.
  • Kosaki, Chitoge, and Marika all do this in the first half of episode 8 in season 2 at various times, usually when told they have to be naked while transforming into a Magical Girl, or to build up their power to unleash an attack.
  • Kosaki after failing the high school entrance exam in episode 11 of season 2. Haru hilariously tells their mom that she's "turned into graffiti" after she's still in this mode at home.
• Cool, but Impractical: For Chitoge's birthday, Claude bought her a "Custom-made Maybach" car. She promptly pointed out that she had no use for it as she had no driver's license yet.
• Corner of Woe: Raku sits in the corner of the kitchen in Kosaki's bakery after Haru says she doesn't need his help at all and angrily tells him to sit in the corner.
• Cousin Oliver: Haru, Onodera's little sister. Granted, she's only a few years younger than the protagonists. But her immaturity and irrationality make up for that. And she fits all the other requirements of this trope perfectly.
• Covert Pervert: A few cases here and there, but the most notable being Onodera, which is surprising considering her normally reserved nature, however it's a different story when she's under the influence...
• Crash-Into Hello: Raku and Chitoge meet when she's Late for School and jumps over a wall to get there faster. Raku was passing by at the wrong moment and Chitoge knee drops on his face. This causes them to get off a bad start.
• Crazy Jealous Guy:
  • One possible way to interpret the reasons behind Claude's hatred of Raku.
  • The guys at Raku's school don't think too highly of him due to all the girls surrounding him.
• Creator's Apathy: In-Universe. A reporter for the school paper interviewed Raku's harem about Raku and Chitoge's relationship. She was ostensibly censoring their identities, but most of the censorship bars are in the wrong place, and Tsugumi's comes off entirely. The reporter makes it clear that she doesn't really care about keeping her sources secret.
• Credits Running Sequence: Kosaki and Marika do one in their respective ending songs.
• Crossover: For whatever reason, Chitoge appears in Super Mario Maker as an unlockable Mystery Mushroom costume.
  • She also appears as a support character in J-Stars Victory VS.
  • The gang also crossover with My Love Story!! with the two main male leads have their own story while the supporting female cast also have one of their own too.
  • The gangs also crossover with Haikyuu!! which involved a volleyball tournament on a beach.
• Cuteness Proximity: Chitoge does this to Haru when they first meet in episode 7 of season 2.
• Date Peepers:
  • The gangsters from both factions do this during Raku and Chitoge's "first date".
  • Chitoge, Seishirou, and Kosaki/Ruri all independently spy on Raku and Marika's date in episode 14. Seishirou is a bit miffed that he didn't recognize her, while Chitoge gets chased by the police because of her shady outfit. Meanwhile Kosaki and Ruri lose sight of them at the restaurant after not paying attention to when they left.
• A Day in the Limelight: All of the girls get several chapters here and there, where they are the focus and they spend their time with Raku with little to no interference from the others.
  • The point of most chapters of the "Nisekoi: Urabana" ("Inside Stories") light novels.
• Death Glare: In episode 6, Ruri leaves Onodera by herself after Raku shows up in the classroom, claiming she has something to do. At first she panics at being left alone with him, but then it turns out Ruri was doing it to give her a chance to confess to him, and stares at her from just outside the classroom. Raku immediately wonders why she left so suddenly, only to then pop her head back in.
• Delayed Reaction: In episode 18, while Raku and Kosaki are sitting by the beach at night, she asks him if it's okay to give him a kiss. It takes a moment for her to enter Color Failure and realize what she just asked. Unfortunately he dozed off for a moment there, so he didn't hear it.
• Determinator: Marika evidently changed her entire personality and appearance just because Raku once told her (as a kid) what kind of girl he likes. Even after finding out Raku forgot the childhood promise (which he may have made with two other girls) and already had a girlfriend, Marika is still determined to marry him.
• Did I Just Say That Out Loud?: "Save it for Kosaki, you perv." Ruri had previously agreed with Shuu that revealing Kosaki and Raku's mutual feelings to each other was a bad idea.
• Disproportionate Retribution:
  • In episode 14, Seishirou pulls a gun on Marika after the latter gives Raku The Glomp, followed by a statement that he's her fiance. While that was bad in itself, several policemen in riot gear suddenly burst into the classroom, with some forming a circle around Marika and Raku, while others pointed assault rifles at Seishirou.
  • In episode 7 of season 2, after Haru says Raku got a panty shot in due to some strong wind blowing through the hallway, Chitoge does a Mega Ton Punch on him. Later that day he once again goes flying when Haru does a slap on him after a goose lifts her skirt up in front of him.
• Distant Finale: The final chapter takes place several years later, with all the characters already working as young adults and preparing for Raku and Chitoge's wedding.
• Distracted by the Sexy:
  • Raku has shades of this in episode 4. Ruri intentionally asks Raku to help Onodera solve a math problem. He tries to do it, but can't concentrate knowing that she's right behind him. Chitoge then interrupts, and helps solve the problem for her, ruining Ruri's plan.
  • The Ruri-mouse uses this against Dr. Maikou in episode 8 of season 2. She deliberately flips Kosaki's skirt to reveal a panty shot, causing him to fall down to steal a glance. Then she smacks him into outer space.
• Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male:
  • Chitoge often hits Raku.
    • In the very first chapter, Chitoge punched Raku in front of the entire class. Raku complains, but not only does she not get punished, but the teacher (who was right there!) decides that Raku should show Chitoge around the school and seats them next to each other. Ironically, Chitoge herself was concerned that her first time punching him would make her look bad.
  • Shuu likewise suffers from Ruri, although usually due to his perverted tendencies.
• Dull Eyes of Unhappiness:
  • Raku displays some at the end of episode 5 after the credits roll. He tells Shuu he's about to get a lot of chocolates for Valentines Day; unfortunately it's from his underlings.
  • In episode 11, after seeing Raku, Ruri, and Kosaki, Seishirou says that everybody is here and she wants to tell them something. Raku mentions that Shuu is missing, and she displays these eyes, and repeats her previous line. Then she tells them about Chitoge's birthday and inviting them to the party.
  • Practically all of the main girls display these eyes at some point in episode 14 when Marika shows up. Marika herself shows some after she realizes Raku forgot the promise and worse, feels it wasn't a big deal.
  • Haru displays these when she finds out the boy who helped at their bakery was Raku, who showed up again after Kosaki asked him for help.
• Easy Amnesia: In chapter 87, Raku gets hit on the head by a baseball, resulting in him getting amnesia.
• Epic Fail: Chitoge's cooking usually turns out this way.
• Everyone Went to School Together: Actually a pretty big reveal, the mothers of Marika, Kosaki, Raku and Chitoge were schoolgirl friends and organized that summer trip where the promise was made. It was pretty brilliant, hidden with all the adults introduced beforehand separately and being oddly familiar with the kids families.
• Evolving Credits:
  • The first anime OP in season 1. See how, prior to her introductory episode, Tsugumi was only shown as a black silhouette. After that the said silhouette is colored in, and what's more, she joins Chitoge in her walking sequence.
  • Onodera's ending gets some extra things added to it as well, such as a brief sequence of her dancing in the outfit she's wearing in that ending.
  • Much like Seishirou Tsugumi, Marika is an outline until her introduction in episode 14. Afterwards her image can be seen.
• Eye Poke: Shuu suffers from this at the end of episode 9 when he tries to peek into the girl's room. Ruri is Genre Savvy enough to take his glasses off first before poking his eyes out.
• Failed a Spot Check: Claude is one of the top lieutenants for the Beehive gang, he's one of the few that have picked up on the clues that Raku and Chitoge are faking their relationship (even if he can't quite get conclusive proof yet)... and has managed to raise Tsugumi for over a decade while completely missing that she's female.
• Fake Relationship:
  • Chitoge and Raku have to pretend to be a couple to prevent a gang war. Hilariously both Chitoge and Raku forget about it from time to time, causing a lot of hijinks and misunderstandings to occur as a result.
  • In a chapter of Nisekoi: Urabana (Inside Stories), Shuu and Ruri pretend to be dating to enter a couples contest.
• False Start: Many, many times. If a girl is working up her courage to confess, a Moment Killer is not a surprise, it's an expectation.
• Fanservice: Kept at very low level considering the genre... until the 2 part Hot Springs Chapter that is.
• Feminine Women Can Cook: Subverted with Kosaki. Her food actually looks quite nice. But people usually collapse just from eating it.
• Festival Episode: Chapter 42 complete with Goldfish Scooping Game (which Raku is phenomenal at).
• Fight Unscene: The Ruri-mouse character in the first half of episode 8 in season 2 says she'll distract the monster while the girls charge up their final attack. In the next scene the girls stand victorious over said monster without showing any actual fighting.
  • Said distraction was Hell and Heaven, its surprising that there was any monster left to final attack when she was done.
• Finagle's Law: All throughout Raku and co.'s stay at the hot springs. If something can go wrong — for the sake of comedy — it will.
• First Girl Wins: Subverted. Kosaki was the promised girl and the first of Raku's childhood friends to reunite with him. Raku did have a crush on Kosaki for a long time, but in the end, he realizes he has come to love Chitoge more and chooses to date her.
• First Kiss: Marika give a quick peck to Raku on the cheek in episode 15, but milks it for all she can towards Chitoge and Kosaki.
• First-Name Basis:
  • Chitoge decides that she and Raku should call each other by their first names after he saves her in the forest in episode 10.
  • After Ruri finds out about this in episode 11, she elbows Kosaki in the stomach out of frustration, because the latter is still on a Last-Name Basis with him and feels her friend is falling behind Chitoge.
  • Chitoge, Ruri, and Kosaki decide to use first names with each other after cementing their friendship with Chitoge.
  • Marika tells Raku to call her by her first name in episode 15. He doesn't.
• Flipping the Bird: Chitoge in the first episode after she finds Raku's missing pendant and writes him a nasty note.
• Forgotten First Meeting: Raku actually knew all of the girls plying for his affections before the events of the story. He has vague memories of both Onodera and Chitoge, but at first none about Marika... until she slips back into her natural speech patterns and attitude, at which point he indicates that he remembers her much better than the other two.
• For the Evulz: Dr. Maikou's motive for conquering the world in the first half of episode 8 in season 2 isn't to conquer the world. Rather, he claims it's because he wants to battle pretty Magical Girl groups.
• Formula-Breaking Episode: First half of 8th episode of anime second season is about Kosaki Onodera's antics as Magical Girl with patisserie theme, a spin-off borrowing base characters from the original story but otherwise unrelated big time.
• Freudian Slip: In episode 13, while studying with the others, Raku thinks about who the childhood girl he made the promise with is, whether it's Chitoge, Kosaki, or another girl. Shuu then asks him which one he likes more, and Raku nearly says Kosaki's name. Shuu then clarifies whether he liked vanilla or chocolate milkshakes more.
• From Bad to Worse: Marika's appearance complicates things even more for Raku, as well as Kosaki and Chitoge. And when she has him meet her father, he is very uncomfortable around him due to his Face of a Thug and scar on his face, courtesy of his father a few years back. Marika also keeps bringing things up, like Raku not remembering the promise, and that he's dating another girl, which her father doesn't like hearing about.
• Generation Xerox: The epilogue chapter's children look and act quite a bit like their parents. Sasa retained her mother's looks, albeit with longer hair, and Haku looks almost exactly like Raku with Chitoge's upbeat personality.
• Genius Ditz:
  • Chitoge's mom. She is an excellent businesswoman, but is rather dumb when it comes to being a good mom. Her heart's in the right place, but she just can't communicate very well with Chitoge.
  • Shuu is also one of these. He is considered by every single character as a total idiot, and does very little to the contrary, but at the same time he is by far the most observant character in the series and knows full well who is in love with whom, and even stops Ruri from revealing Onodera is in love with Raku because he thinks that it's something they should figure out for themselves.
• Gratuitous Foreign Language: Chitoge speaks in English when she's too embarrassed to say what she wants to say in Japanese. Also, "zawsze" is Polish for "forever."
  • She writes an apology note to Raku in English in episode 1, Raku assumes its something rude, which it is.
  • In episode 6, she thanks Raku for saving her from the pool. But she says it quietly, and in English, so likely he didn't hear or understand it.
    "Thank you for saving me. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have hit you."
• Green-Eyed Monster:
  • All of the guys in Raku's class regarding Chitoge. And during the bus ride to the hot springs in episode 9, they give him a Death Glare when he's sitting in-between Kosaki and Chitoge.
  • All of the guys again in Raku's class in episode 14 after Marika shows up and gives him The Glomp in front of them, Chitoge, and Kosaki. Aside from the looks of scorn, they also pelt him repeatedly in dodgeball during gym class.
• Ham-to-Ham Combat:
  • Raku and Chitoge tend to get into these types of arguments.
  • Chitoge engages in this with Marika when the latter shows up.
• Hate at First Sight:
  • Chitoge and Raku get off on the wrong foot due to her making him lose his pendant, and being rather rude to him.
  • Haru instantly hates Raku based on her own assumptions. Despite him acting like a perfectly decent human being and saving her twice, she despises him so much that she steals his pendant and threatens to break it if it turns out he really was the one to save her before.
  • Chitoge instantly dislikes Marika when the latter shows up, partly because she claims to be Raku's real fiance, and also because she's rather aggressive in pursuing him, putting both her and Kosaki on the defensive.
• Heroic BSoD: Kosaki suffers one in episode 14 when Marika is first introduced, and then throws herself onto Raku, claiming to also be his fiance. Ruri waves her hand in front, but Kosaki just stares blankly ahead. And later in the infirmary she just ducks out after he tries to call for her help. She also suffers a Color Failure when Marika says she had a First Kiss with Raku in episode 15.
• Hidden Buxom: Seishirou. Even Chitoge is surprised when she inadvertently reveals it when Maiko asks her the question during the lie-detector skirmish.
• High-Pressure Emotion: A couple of characters display this from time to time, such as Onodera when Raku is referenced, and later with Seishirou regarding him as well.
• Hopeless Suitor: It's pretty clear none of the girls besides Chitoge and Onodera have an actual chance with Raku.
• Hooked Up Afterwards: Happens between Shuu and Ruri. Near the end of the story, Ruri confesses to him, but Shuu isn't ready to give her an answer. Any development they had afterwards is left to the imagination, but the epilogue does let us know they eventually got together and are planning to get married.
• Hot Springs Episode:
  • Episode 9. Raku is treated to a lot of Fanservice due to Claude intentionally misleading him into the women's bath. Chitoge is Genre Savvy enough to figure out that for once the former wasn't at fault here, and tries to help him escape without being detected.
  • The third OVA features one in a public bath, and the second half is in an outdoors hot springs. Raku tries his best to stay out of trouble, but Rule of Funny dictate that he be put in awkward situations.
• Hypocritical Humor: In episode 14, Marika says she probably won't get along with Chitoge because she doesn't like girls with long hair. Raku immediately thinks about it, and notices she has long hair herself.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: While not as drama inducing as some other anime, this is also a big reason for the romance being so stalemated. With no one really, except Marika, willing to press an advantage.
• Idiot Ball: By virtue of being the protagonist of a romantic comedy, Raku occasionally grabs it. By chapter 100, he's holding it nearly nonstop.
• Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Each episode's title is comprised of 4 katakana characters. The same holds true for the manga, with the exception of chapters 14 and 212.
• If You Ever Do Anything to Hurt Her...: Chitoge's mother Hana gives one to Raku.
  Hana: Well, take care of my daughter, kid. If you ever do anything to hurt her... You can imagine the consequences, I trust?
  Raku: Yes... I think so.
  Hana: Never fear... The real consequences would surpass your wildest imagination!
• I Have This Friend: Chitoge ends up asking this to Kosaki in episode 18. Chitoge has been wrestling with her feelings for Raku without realizing it's love. So she asks about a friend who's acting really weird when she's near a guy. While Chitoge is obviously talking about herself as per the trope, Kosaki thinks she was talking about Seishirou. The misunderstanding is appropriate since Seishirou's situation mirrors Chitoge's and Kosaki hits the nail on the head when she says "Chitoge's friend" is in love.
• Improv: Used quite a bit during the Romeo and Juliet play in episode 20. Partly because Chitoge was thrown into the role at literally the last minute, so didn't have time remember all of her lines, though the audience found her and Raku bickering to be a funny improv. Then Shuu starts throwing in really odd plot twists, forcing Raku to deal with them in-character as much as possible, such as Marika showing up and telling him that he promised to marry her instead of Juliet, making the audience think he was a two-timer, as well as Claude being an overprotective "big brother" of Juliet who says My Sister Is Off-Limits and attacks Romeo/Raku.
• Informed Attractiveness: Chitoge is supposed to look like a supermodel, but since there are only six faces she's not actually drawn significantly more attractive than the other girls.
• Inner Monologue: All of the characters (especially Raku and Kosaki) frequently have lengthy inner monologues as they try to sort out their confused thoughts.
• Innocent Innuendo: The way Raku got Chitoge to come to the hotel caused many of their classmates to assume they had sex on Christmas Eve.
• Insane Troll Logic: Haru seems to think this way. She finally believes something Raku says when he's feeding her Blatant Lies.
• Intimate Lotion Application: When the cast goes to the beach in episode 18, Marika enjoys teasing Raku by undoing her bikini top and asking him (in her cutesy voice) if he could help rub sunscreen lotion on her back. Raku gets extremely tempted but refuses, but the fact he got tempted at all still makes Chitoge jealous, and she ends up punishing him by punching him into the sky. Amusingly, when it's pointed out why Marika just doesn't have her attendant Honda apply it for her, she gives an absurd lie about Honda having an "aversion to sunscreen".
• It Meant Something to Me: Raku doesn't think the promise made ten years ago is a big deal. Marika begs to differ when she gives him a What the Hell, Hero? response, stating all the things she did for him because of the promise, such as growing her hair long because he said he didn't like short-haired girls.
• Jerkass Ball: Haru, Onodera's little sister, is incredibly hostile towards Raku due to his rumors and reputation of being a sort of Yakuza prince and playboy. She's reasonably nice to everyone else though.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Raku. He can be rude and irritable, but deep down he's a very generous and thoughtful guy.
• Kimodameshi: In Chapter 24/Episode 10, the main cast's class holds a test of courage where boys are paired with girls to walk into a dark forest. A group of students dressed as monsters for the test of courage come up to Chitoge to ask for help when one of them suddenly gets a stomachache. Chitoge agrees to become their ghost for the test despite her fear of the dark.
• Kissing Discretion Shot: In the final chapter, just when Raku and Chitoge are finally going to kiss the camera zooms out and the grass leaves cover the kiss.
• Kiss of Life: When Chitoge nearly drowns, Raku almost gives her mouth-to-mouth, but she wakes up just in time to give him a good punch for his troubles.
• Large Ham:
  • Seishirou overreacts in episode 8 when she finally realizes what these weird feelings she's been experiencing lately around Raku are.
  • Chitoge in episode 13 when reading/translating the English homework for the others.
• Late for School: Chitoge was introduced being late for school. She vaulted the wall and crashed into Raku who was walking. In the anime, she had toast with jam in her mouth also she hit Raku with her knee when she crashed into him.
• Lemony Narrator: In the "Romeo & Juliet" School Play, Shuu plays the narrator, while taking the chance to make a joke whenever the plot goes Off the Rails.
• Lethal Chef: Chitoge and Kosaki. As one example, during the end of episode 5, they both have Valentine's Day chocolates. Chitoge gives it to her underlings, two of whom complain about it, only to get a warning shot fired at them from Claude. Kosaki had a chocolate to give to Raku, but never managed to give it to him, so Ruri asks for it. A moment later, a teacher calls an emergency as Ruri is suddenly foaming at the mouth.
• Let Us Never Speak of This Again: All the girls agree to declare the Whisky Bon-Bon incident never happened.
• Lie Detector: One appears in part of Claude's scheme to discredit Raku. Things didn't go as plan and it was destroyed.
• Long-Distance Relationship: How Chitoge and Raku handle their relationship after they get together at the end of the series. Chitoge is constantly travelling for her job, while Raku is back in town as an official and the head of his gang.
• Loophole Abuse: In Tsugumi and Paula's duel during episode 2 of season 2, whichever one of them steals a kiss from Raku first wins. Paula has the initial advantage, but once Tsugumi pulls out all the stops, she then "steals a kiss" from him, by pressing two of her fingers on his lips, then touching them to hers in an Indirect Kiss, she claims the victory. When Paula objects, Tsugumi turns on her dark aura again, asking if she has any problems with this "win". Paula immediately concedes defeat.
• Love Bubbles: A common effect to show when someone is getting a bit too caught up in their romantic fantasies. Also, sometimes just for the heck of it.
• Love Epiphany:
  • Chitoge finally realizes and admits to herself that she likes Raku after the Romeo and Juliet play.
  • Seishirou in episode 8 of the anime. She even goes so far as to ask various people what these funny feelings are whenever she's around someone. Some of them either can't help, such as Claude, or give her vague answers, such as several of the other students. Ruri finally clarifies it for her, although Seishirou is in denial once she finally realizes it.
  • When it seems that Chitoge is going to move away Raku gets unusually agitated about it, causing Shuu to ask him why he's so concerned about it given that they don't seem especially close. A shocked Raku eventually realizes that Chitoge is his best friend! Somehow, she isn't as pleased to hear this as he had expected. His actual Love Epiphany is in chapter 199.
  • The arc from Chapters 207 to 209 are about Ruri finally finding it in her to admit to herself that, despite all aspects of his personality she disliked about him, she'd fallen for Shuu because of his kinder, more serious Hidden Depths.
• Loves My Alter Ego: Haru is in love with the "prince" who saved her from a gang, but she doesn't know and refuses to believe he is actually Raku.
• Love Triangle: While Raku has more than two admirers, the primary story drama comes from whether he promised to marry Chitoge or Onodera when he was younger on top of the fact that he's initially attracted to Onodera while forced to pretend he's dating Chitoge and thus is unable to progress. He eventually comes to the conclusion that the childhood marriage promise shouldn't dictate his present relationships and ends up staying with Chitoge despite finally figuring out the promise girl was Onodera all along.
• Luminescent Blush: Characters blush fiercely all the time. In any given scene, at least one character has a good chance of being flustered.
• The Mafia: Chitoge's family's gang resemblance this, instead of the Yakuza.
• Mafia Princess: The plot kicks off when one had to fake dating with a Yakuza Prince to prevent an all-out gang war.
• Magical Girl: Kosaki, Chitoge, and Marika all become this in the Magical Patissiere Kosaki-chan spin-off, which is adapted to a number of Nisekoi anime episodes.
• Magical Girl AU: There is a spinoff called Magical Patissier Kosaki-chan that stars Kosaki, Chitoge, and Marika as magical girls.
• Male Gaze: Used occasionally throughout the anime. Episode 18 has some rather blatant use of it when Shuu is looking at various women's chests through binoculars.
• Megaton Punch: Raku seems to be on the receiving end of this almost every other chapter, mostly from either Chitoge or Tsugumi, often for unjustified reasons.
  • Shuu justifiably receives this many, many times, mostly from Ruri and Tsugumi, for his various sexual innuendos and double entendres.
• Memento MacGuffin: The pendant Raku carries is not only a memento of his first love but also the only clue he has of her identity.
  • Kosaki and Chitoge also carry around a key as a memento of a promise ten years ago. Sounds awfully familiar...
    • Marika also happens to have a key, and her's looks the exact same as the one in the photo of the girl from 10 years ago...
• Moment Killer: This manga alternately can also be known as Cockblocking: the Manga.
  • In one instance, during episode 6, Onodera is about to confess to Raku. It then gets interrupted when a baseball accidentally flies into the classroom from outside.
  • Another one occurs in episode 11, when Kosaki says she's the girl from ten years ago, and is about to give him a kiss. They're interrupted by Seishirou angrily calling him for being late the the party.
• Morton's Fork: Raku is stuck with one in episode 14. If he breaks it off with Chitoge to hook up with Marika, the former's family's gang may start fighting his family's gang. On the other hand, if he won't take Marika, her father, a police commissioner, will likely crack down on his family's gang.
• Mutual Pining:
  • Raku and Kosaki have liked each other for quite some time, but they're so nervous about the other not feeling the same way that neither gathers the courage to confess. When Kosaki finally tells Raku how she feels, he has already moved on to loving Chitoge.
  • Despite only being forced to be a couple at the start, Raku and Chitoge eventually grow to really like each other. They still don't admit it for a long time, since both think their feelings for the other are one-sided.
• My God, What Have I Done?: After he finds Chitoge near the end of episode 19 to play Juliet in the school play, Raku realizes that the reason she was so upset at him recently was because of the way he said their relationship would never work out if it was a real one. He apologizes for going over the line in it, and then repeats what he said to her again, but then adds that he doesn't hate her either. It seems to be enough for Chitoge, who seems ready to take on the role.
• My Sister Is Off-Limits: Kosaki's younger sister, Haru, has heard about Raku's reputation and doesn't want her around him until she realizes that she's being unfair and something of a bitch. She tries helping them hook up after that, though since this is that kind of manga she of course falls for him herself.
• Mythology Gag: The openings for season 1 of the anime both feature a paper plane, which seems to have little relevance to the series unless you read the original one-shot prior to serialization, which has Raku throw a paper plane to Chitoge during the climax.
• New Transfer Student: Chitoge transfer to Raku's class in chapter 1/episode 1. She's transferred schools a lot before because of her dad's travels.
  • Later Seishirou Tsugumi in episode 7.
  • Marika Tachibana in episode 14.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: A literal example in episode 12. Chitoge tries to use her key on Raku's locket. But due to the immense pressure, she twists the key too hard, and snaps it in half, with part of it stuck inside the locket.
• No Guy Wants an Amazon: Raku feels like this in respect for Chitoge, calling her an unatttractive "gorilla woman". Or at least he tries to convince himself of it.
• Nose Bleed:
  • Claude suffers one in episode 5 after seeing Chitoge in a swimsuit. Which is a good thing for Shuu, who was trying to make a pass at her at the time, although Ruri takes care of him.
  • Raku suffers one as well a few moments later when trying to teach Onodera how to swim.
  • Marika suffers from one when she makes Raku give her a fake proposal, with him mimicking putting a ring on her finger.
• "Not So Different" Remark: At first Chitoge and Raku seem to be polar opposites, but eventually they find out that they have surpassingly similar experiences as heirs of crime syndicates.
• Not What It Looks Like:
  • Kosaki repeatedly walks in on Raku in a compromising position with another girl. The compromising position is, invariably, arranged by someone else.
  • Raku falls victim to this in episode 14 after trying to get Marika off of him in the nurse's office. Chitoge bursts in there after hearing some rather suggestive sounding dialogue, and sees him on top of Marika. He tries to explain it, but she attacks him anyway out of jealousy. Kosaki meanwhile, says nothing, shows Dull Eyes of Unhappiness, and then hides behind the door.
• The Nudifier: Dr. Maikou uses a beam weapon on Chitoge in the first part of episode 8 in season 2, which causes her outfit to completely disappear. He then uses it on Marika to nullify her attack in addition to stripping her naked as well.
• Oblivious to Love: Unless it's a blunt confession like the one Marika gives to him on a daily basis, Raku just can't recognize other people who are interested in him.
• Official Couple: Though for most of the manga Raku believes he's in love with Onodera, the story is based around his relationship with Chitoge. It takes him a very long time to realize how he feels about her, though. The manga ends with them about to get married.
• Official Kiss: After over 200 chapters of beating around the bush, Raku and Chitoge share their first kiss in the final pages of the manga. The audience, however, is spared their awkward first kiss by pulling away from the scene.
• Off the Rails: The performance of "Romeo and Juliet" in a School Play adds nonsensical subplots into the story for the enjoyment of the audience, but for the chagrin to some of its casts.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Tsugumi gets recognized by an enemy gang boss after donning male clothing. It seems she forgot that all the other gangs think she's a guy.
  • Marika sports an epic one when she finds out that Yui is their new homeroom teacher.
  • Both Paula and Raku have Blank White Eyes after Tsugumi kicks a larger concrete pillar he was tied up on, and knocks it down with said kick.
• Ojou: Marika Tachibana projects this image.
• Old Man Marrying a Child: Subverted. After the final rejection from Raku, Marika is forced by her mother into an arranged marriage with a man at least old enough to be her father. However, it turns out the man only very grudgingly agreed to the idea because he both owed Chika a debt and because Marika hadn't protested. He is in fact a widower who still loves his wife and a perfectly decent guy, so he instantly leaves the moment it's made clear that Marika doesn't want to marry him. This removes the pressing urgency of the situation and removes one potential complication, but it's clear that this is only postponing the issue and only slightly at that.
• One Dialogue, Two Conversations: Happens to Raku and Chitoge more than once.
  • In one example, during episode 4, Chitoge asks Raku what he thinks of Onodera. He's a bit worried at first, as he doesn't want to let her know about his feelings towards their friend. But after saying some positive things about her, Chitoge agrees, then says Onodera is an ideal girl, one she would love to be friends with. He's incredibly thankful she misunderstood his statement.
  • In episode 6, Chitoge tries to thank Raku for saving her in the pool in the previous episode. However, both of them are thinking different things. In one case, Raku thinks she's talking about being fat. Then later on she tries to thank him for attempting CPR, but he thought it was a kiss.
• On One Condition: In episode 14, Raku asks Marika about the promise ten years back. She promises to tell him everything she knows, on the condition that he break up with Chitoge first. While he seems okay with it initially stating that she has a lot of bad things about her, he also says she also has some good sides to her as well, so refuses the deal. This only causes Marika to get more interested in him however.
• Opt Out: Later chapters feature many of the secondary girls like Haru, Tsugumi, and even Marika, drop out of the running for Raku's affections as they realize he does not feel the same for them or that someone they also care about has stronger feelings.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: Played straight with Chitoge in Chapter 34/Episode 14, who wore a jacket with hood, mask, and glasses. Marika recognizes her almost right away in the park. Her disguise also makes her look shady, and she gets chased by the police because of it. Meanwhile, Seishirou just wore a wig and some girly clothing making her look very different from her usual outfits. Raku was unaware that it was her, which ticked her off a little.
• Piggyback Cute:
  • In Chapter 18/Episode 8, Tsugumi hurts her feet from wearing high heels and Raku gives her a piggyback ride on their way back home.
  • In Chapter 43/Episode 17, the Festival Episode, Raku carries Kosaki on his back after the strap on her sandal broke.
  • In Chapter 205, Raku once again gives Tsugumi a piggyback ride because she got her foot hurt as she accidentally got it stuck in a ditch.
• The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: The Shuei Group are never seen engaging in any criminal activities (other than starting fights with the Beehive Gang or illegally possessing firearms and swords). In fact in the manga, they even refer to themselves as Yakuza In Name Only.
• Police Are Useless: Raku and Chitoge's families never seem to have to deal with any law enforcement, so if they were to start a gang war it logically would lead to rampant destruction. Later when Marika Tachibana arrives, its revealed that she is the Police Commissioners daughter and the police aren't much better then the gangsters and would only speed up a city wide destruction rather than prevent it.
• Poor Communication Kills: Well, it did not kill anyone, but if the characters were able to speak freely about their feelings, as well as explain their circumstances to others, the series would have been much, much shortert.
• P.O.V. Boy, Poster Girl: Even a cursory glance at the series would lead one to believe that Raku is the protagonist, but every Jump protagonist group shot except for the first one Nisekoi was involved in uses Chitoge instead of Raku. Even the english Weekly Shonen Jump, which even changed their logo in January 2013 in an attempt to seem more manly, uses Chitoge instead of Raku where they would show their series protagonists (except when they can't, like in the table of contents when Chitoge's absent from a chapter). Then J-Stars Victory VS decides to just use Chitoge to represent the series instead of Raku. (Incidentally, it's pretty much on par with which characters that game's spiritual predecessor the Jump Super Stars series chose to represent Nisekoi's Jump forefathers: Not their male protagonists neither.)
• Pre-Meeting: In the first chapter/episode, Chitoge is Late for School and crashes into Raku on her way. To both's dismay, they soon find out they're classmates once Chitoge introduces herself as the New Transfer Student.
• Prince and Pauper: In Chapter 136, Raku and Chitoge run into Maruusha Lu Vieh Nonbeeri, a foreign princess who looks just like Chitoge. The princess ran away from her bodyguards because she wanted to take a tour around Japan, so Chitoge decides they should switch places for a day. This way, the princess can freely walk around town with Raku while Chitoge distracts her bodyguards.
• Punched Across the Room:
  • Played for Laughs and exaggerated in episode 2 of season 2, when Tsugumi attempts to kiss Raku in a contest against Paula. She's unable to do it, and instead punches him. He then flies a short distance away from her, before bouncing off the street, then onto various things such as a light pole, before finally landing in some nearby trash.
  • Done for comedy again in episode 8 of season 2, when Haru punches Raku across the kitchen after realizing he was also praising Kosaki like she had been doing.
• Real Men Cook: Raku is an excellent cook- having to take care of his Yakuza family turned out to be a good training. The girls, on the other hand, are lethal chefs.
  • This ability causes Kosaki's mother to ask him to marry into her family, since she wants a cook to inherit her sweets shop, and was surprised Kosaki knew a boy her age that could cook. Both Kosaki and Raku are shocked by her sudden change in attitude, and Kosaki berates her mother for teasing him like that, with both of them unaware of the feelings they have towards each other.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Chitoge and Raku end up giving each other one in episode 19 about why their relationship has gone sour lately. Raku's is particularly harsh, causing Chitoge to give him such a loud slap that several students nearby are able to hear it.
• Rescue Romance: Haru falls in love with the "prince" (actually Raku) who saved her from a gang.
• Retool: The oneshot contains different plot elements than the series that it spawned, the primary differences being that there were no alternate love interests at the start and that the promise the plot revolves around is different, with no mystery as to who is involved with said promise. This sort of change, of course, is standard for all one-shots that turn into full serializations.
• Romantic Fake–Real Turn: The main point of the series is to show Raku and Chitoge going from being forced to act like a couple to developing actual feelings for each other.
• Rule of Three: In the second half of the third OVA, Raku is washing his hair when he hears someone walking by. He assumes it's Shuu, and asks for some soap. Unfortunately it's Onodera, and she runs away after he touches her wrist. Raku then opens his eyes, and sees no one there. He first imagines the hand he touched was a monkey, then the creepy girl from The Ring, and finally an alien. Not realizing the girls are there, he starts to freak out since he assumed he was alone there.
• Sealed with a Kiss: The last panel of the manga is a Kissing Discretion Shot of Raku and Chitoge sharing their First Kiss shortly before their wedding.
• Secret-Keeper:
  • Chitoge turns Kosaki and Ruri into one in episode 6 when she reveals the truth about her and Raku's relationship being fake.
  • In episode 11, Kosaki reveals to Raku a secret area that she found by accident that overlooks the town. He's even more surprised that she's never told anyone about it, not even Ruri, and asks him to keep it a secret between them.
  • In episode 16, Kosaki tells Raku there was at least one girl who was interested in him in middle school. When he asks who it was, she refuses to tell him, and says she can only reveal it to him if that girl allows her to. And at the end, she starts typing out a text, revealing that girl was her, but then deletes it before sending it.
• Serious Business:
  • The old maid card game the main characters play in episode 9, where the loser has to reveal who their first love was. Raku attempts to intentionally lose so that the other girls don't have to reveal theirs. Then their teacher appears in the room and chastises them for being late to dinner, saving Chitoge from losing.
  • Kosaki's tendencies to focus on the little details comes in handy, whether it's making baked goods... or really awesomely detailed sand castles.
• She Cleans Up Nicely: Chitoge in her yukata in chapter 43 and in her Juliet costume in chapter 49. Also Seishirou when she wears feminine clothing.
• Shipper on Deck: Both gangs in the story support the Raku and Chitoge pairing, but of course that's because they think they're already together.
  • Ruri is often the one pushing Kosaki to make progress with Raku.
  • Kosaki's mother also wants the two to get together. But that's partly (if not only) because she's impressed by Raku's cooking skills and wants him to inherit the bakery. Later she jokingly mentions that Haru is now a rival for Kosaki towards him, prompting both girls to question their mother on what she means by that.
  • Kosaki and Chitoge have both agreed to fully support each other in their love lives, not knowing that they are actually rivals.
  • Shuu also ships Raku with Kosaki, but isn't above shipping him with the others.
  • In chapter 141, Raku off-handedly mentions that he thinks Shuu and Ruri are suited for each other.
  • Paula ships Raku and Tsugumi.
  • Fuu-chan ships Raku and Haru.
  • Ie ships Yui and Raku.
• Ship Tease:
  • Aside from the main harem, the "glasses buddies" of Shuu and Ruri get teased in chapter 58. Later chapters steadily escalate the hints, culminating in chapters 207-209 which ends in Ruri finally admitting to herself that she's fallen for Shuu.
  • Raku and Kosaki have the same dream in the Volume 4 omake — a dream in which they are married to each other.
  • And in the epilogue chapter, it looks like Raku's son Haku has taken a liking to Kosaki's daughter Sasa, determining her "cute" after they first met.
• Shout-Out: The anime gets a WHOLE lot of mileage out of Nozomu Itoshiki's side-to-side glances. Of the cast so far, Raku, Chitoge, and Tsugumi have used this visual cue. And of course, there's the SHAFT head tilt.
  • Attack On Titan gets a sand castle built in its honer in episode 18.
• Sibling Triangle: Haru develops a crush on Raku when she realizes he's not the jerk she thought he was, but knows that Kosaki has liked him for years. Haru decides that since it's too late for her that she wants her sister and Raku to get together, but her attempts to give up on him always end in failure because she and Raku have quite a bit of chemistry. Sometimes she even fails to set them up because Onodera keeps trying to help them get along.
• Sick Episode: There's been one with Tsugumi and one with the Onodera sisters.
  • And Raku gets one of his own in Chapter 117.
• Single Woman Seeks Good Man: All the girls fall for Raku when they see what a Nice Guy he is. Exemplified with Chitoge; even though her relationship with Raku started very rocky, she falls in love with him simply because he's so good at his core.
• Sleep Cute: Raku and Kosaki fall asleep next to each other during a bus ride at the end of the chapter 144.
• Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace: Marika is about to be forced to marry an old man and in the middle of the ceremony, Raku bursts in to save her because she's his friend. Chitoge helps, since in spite of everything Marika is her friend too.
• Spit Take: Several characters do this in the show when asked various questions, usually if they like someone. In the anime, it also comes in a variety of colors! Having had a drink right before is not required.
• Squee: Both groups of gangsters do this when they first hear of Raku and Chitoge dating with full cooperation from their bosses.
• Star-Crossed Lovers: Invoked since Raku's and Chitoge's families are enemies and their fake love is meant to stop a violent gang war from occurring. Lampshaded by Chitoge when they play as Romeo and Juliet at a School Play.
• Status Quo Is God: Not initially the case, but after a hundred or so chapters it seems anything that could change the relationships is inevitably reset or rendered insignificant. That is, until Yui confesses her feelings to Raku in chapter 178.
• The Stinger:
  • After Raku and Chitoge's fight on the beach at the end of episode 18, Shuu tells them in class about doing a play for the upcoming school festival. While he recommends Raku and Chitoge, and the class largely agrees, she states that she won't do it.
  • At the end of episode 7 in season 2, Tsugumi is shocked to see that Paula transferred into her school.
• The Stoic: Ruri. Her emotional range is extremely limited.
• Strange Minds Think Alike: Raku's Yakuza family and Paula have both encouraged the idea of Marry Them All to Raku's predicament.
• Super Not-Drowning Skills: For the sake of comedy, Raku can hold his breath for an absurdly long time.
• Supporting Harem: The premise is about Raku and Chitoge going from fake lovers to the Official Couple. Raku attracts the attention of several girls, but the only one who may have chance against Chitoge is Kosaki. Even then, Raku's preference for Chitoge is painfully obvious even to him.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Yui is every bit as much a troll as Kyoko, if not more.
• Suspiciously Specific Denial: Seishirou in episode 14 says that her spying on Raku and Marika's date is solely for Chitoge's sake, and not because she wants to know about it herself.
• Sustained Misunderstanding: The show runs on this, right from Chitoge and Raku's fake relationship, along with several of the other girls constantly misunderstanding said relationship as well.
• Talking Is a Free Action: The giant monster attacking the city during the Magical Girl segment in episode 8 of season 2 patiently waits while Ruri talks to Chitoge, Kosaki, and Marika on how to defeat it. Made a little funnier because it's staring right at them while Ruri is talking, but not doing anything else.
• Tempting Fate:
  • In episode 2, while Chitoge is off using the restroom, Raku mentions it'd be nice if he was on a date with Onodera instead. Naturally, the latter just happened to be walking nearby when she hears him say her name.
  • In episode 16, Raku is having a wonderful time at Kosaki's house due to a typhoon hitting and forcing him to stay overnight at her place. They get to know each other a little more, and he hopes that the rest of the night is just as fun. Then Kosaki looks out the window and notices it stopped raining, and the typhoon veered back into the ocean...
  • In episode 19, Kosaki is rather happy that she's getting to play Juliet to Raku's Romeo for a school play. While she's nervous, she managed to memorize all the lines, and with Raku being there, there shouldn't be any problems. Then one of the girls working on the backdrop falls off a ladder, and Kosaki ends up spraining her ankle trying to catch her. Marika, the backup Juliet, also happens to be sick that day, forcing Raku to swallow his pride, find Chitoge and make up with her to play the part lest they cancel the play.
  • In the first half of the third OVA, Raku tries not to cause any problems in the public bath. He is then asked by the lady at the counter to watch the front for her while she accomplishes something else. Then naturally, the women's side of the baths develops issues that they need him to fix.
  • In the second half of the OVA, the girl's gather all their belongings into a bag while bathing in an outdoor hot springs. A geyser then erupts, shooting said bag into the men's side of the bath. And since they're all naked, they have to retrieve the bag without alerting Raku to their presence.
• Ten Minutes in the Closet: Raku's gang does this to him and Chitoge in episode 4 in an attempt to bring them closer together. It works somewhat, until Claude ruins their moment.
• Themed Harem: All the girls in Raku's harem are his forgotten childhood friends.
• Third-Option Love Interest: Marika, although with many Veronica traits.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Chitoge, the tomboy, to Kosaki, the girly girl.
• Tomboyish Name: Tsugumi's given name is very masculine "Seishirou".
• Troll:
  • Shuu knows about Raku's situation with Chitoge and his actual crush on Kosaki, occasionally taking opportunities to mess around with Raku with that knowledge. He also knows about Seishirou's crush on Raku, giving her looks and making comments with intent of irritating her.
  • The teacher is also a troll, offering a prize to the winner of a marathon. As a result, Shuu joins all the guys in class together against Raku. Of course, the prize is a total lie.
• Troperiffic: Think of a Romantic Comedy trope. There's good chance that it applies.
• True Love is Exceptional: Raku, who claims to prefer the Proper Lady type, has the Tsundere "gorilla woman" Chitoge as his main love interest.
• Tsundere:
  • Chitoge is violent and abusive towards Raku, but she grows to love him despite trying to deny it.
  • Ruri Miyamoto. Although she's usually the one who supports and gives advice to Onodera in terms of relationships, she constantly admits that she has never been in love and doesn't care about it either. But whenever her counterpart Shu Maiko comes up, she usually beats him whenever she see him flirting with other girls.
  • Seishirou is usually sweet unless Raku ticks her off. In episode 11, she turns red and says that it would be quite a bother if Raku came to the party, but he could come if he were to twist her arm or something. He angrily replies that if him being there is that much of a bother, he won't come. She then immediately changes her stance and tells him to come, further confusing him.
• Twice Shy: Raku and Kosaki have a crush on each other but are too timid to tell each other. Further complicating things is the ongoing question of who he promised to marry when he grew up and how much it matters compared to how people feel now. Eventually, this state of relationship limbo takes too long and causes Raku to realize he's more interested in Chitoge despite Onodera being the actual promise girl.
• A Twinkle in the Sky: The Ruri-mouse character uses this to defeat Dr. Maikou in episode 8 of season 2, after distracting him with a panty shot courtesy of her flipping Kosaki's skirt up.
• Umbrella of Togetherness: In episode 13, Raku has to practically force Chitoge to use his umbrella. And then she gets angry because he keeps his shoulder in the rain to give her enough space... so she hits him and squeezes into him. All in all it goes better than expected.
• Undressing the Unconscious: Played for Laughs. Raku rescues Tsugumi from the school's swimming pool and takes the victim's clothes off in the male locker room, supposedly to prevent chills. At the time Tsugumi is thought to be a male student; as Ichijo starts unbuttoning Trugumi's shirt, she regains consciousness, and severely objects to Ichijo's first aid attempt, with her open Sexy Soaked Shirt making it very clear to him why.
• Unlimited Wardrobe: The amount of outfits each character has is quite impressive to say the least.
• Unprovoked Pervert Payback:
  • Averted when Raku walks in on Chitoge in the hot spring. She quickly figures that it's because Claude switched the signs to destroy Raku's reputation.
  • Played straight whenever Seishirou is involved.
  • Shuu is often on the receiving end of this by Ruri, but in his case it's often justified.
  • Played straight in episode 14, after Chitoge bursts into the nurse's office after hearing some rather suggestive sounds coming from it. Raku standing on top of Marika, and trying to explain that it was a result of him trying to fight off her advances, doesn't help, and Chitoge attacks him anyway.
• Unwanted Assistance: Both Raku's Yakuza group and Chitoge's Beehive group are insanely overprotective of them, and all the times they do something with the intention to help, they only make things uncomfortable for both of them. Raku and Chitoge couldn't have a normal life because of that.
  • Claude stands out as the Nisekoi champion of this trope. His overprotectiveness of Chitoge which included, but not limited to, performing body checks on Chitoge's classmates in junior high before they could approach her and threatening to shoot underlings if they tell Chitoge her cooking is bad resulted in Chitoge's friendless (bar Tsugumi) background until the start of Nisekoi's events and her being a Lethal Chef as her underlings couldn't tell Chitoge her food was bad so she could never learn what she was doing wrong to improve.
• Unwanted Harem: Let's see, there's Chitoge Kirisaki^note Whom Raku must at least pretend to be dating, lest his yakuza and her gangster family start a war, Kosaki Onodera^note The girl Raku likes, who also likes him (which is normally fine, but considering Raku's situation it complicates things), Seishirou Tsugumi^note An assassin sent to kill Raku if he ever stops going out with Chitoge, and Marika Tachibana^note Raku's fiancée whom he can't dump because her family controls the police and his family is a yakuza one. Then there's Paula McCoy^note Seishriou's fellow assassin and rival, Haru^note Kosaki's sister and Yui Kanakura^note  Raku's childhood friend and the main cast's new homeroom teacher.
• Virgin Vision: Inverted. On Christmas eve, Raku drags Chitoge away from a party with all their friends to go to a five-star hotel...so she can see her mother. The day after, Seishirou nervously tells Chitoge that she's gotten prettier and looks like an adult.
• We Named the Monkey "Jack": Marika's parrot is named Raku-sama.
• Weight Woe: The focus of chapter 93/episode 11 in season 2. Kosaki is worried that she gained weight after weighing herself, so tries to go on a diet. In the end it turned out that the scale was broken, and Raku mentioned she looked thin, which eased her concerns.
• Wham Episode: Chapter 13 in which Chitoge remembers that she once made a promise with a boy. A promise that is word for word identical with the one Raku made.
  • Chapter 29/episode 12, Chitoge's dad reveals that Raku, Kosaki and Chitoge all knew each other when they were young with both having hazy memories of a promise to a boy they knew but not completely sure if it is Raku.
  • The ending of Chapter 31/episode 13 of the anime, has Raku's childhood pictures reveal that the girl he made the promise to might not actually be Chitoge nor Kosaki. At the end of the episode, his father also says that his fiance is coming to visit, implying it's not Chitoge who was standing next to him at the time.
  • The above is elevated be Chapter 34's end, which reveals that Marika knows about the promise from 10 years ago, and is willing to tell Raku everything, assuming he breaks up with Chitoge.
  • Chapter 90 implies that the girl is not Chitoge:
  Raku: To tell you the truth, the only thing I can tell you about the girl I remembered... is that her eyes were not blue at all.
  • And then she gets her chance back two chapters later, because her eyes were brown when she was younger, but they changed to blue as she grew up.
  • Chapter 199: Raku finally has a Love Epiphany towards Chitoge. The fandom promptly went ballistic.
  • While discussion with Shu, Raku finally know who is the one he want to be and spend his life with in future. in chapter 217.
  • Chapter 221: It reveals exactly what happened in that summer 10 years ago, including the identity of the promised girl.
• Wham Line:
  • In episode 3 of the anime, Onodera accidentally overhears Chitoge and Raku talking about their "fake" relationship, after having come to believe they were legitimately dating.
  • In episode 6, Chitoge reveals to Kosaki and Ruri that her relationship with Raku is fake, and was set up by their fathers, and at the time, neither one of them really cared for the other. Ruri then uses this new revelation to start aggressively pushing Kosaki towards him, though it doesn't go very far due to Kosaki's reluctance to confess to him.
  • During episode 11, Raku tries to ask Kosaki when her birthday was. Instead he asks if she's the girl he made the promise with ten years earlier. She confirms she is, or at least she thinks she is.
    • Then at the end of the episode, Chitoge asks him if he's still in love with that girl from ten years earlier. He says he is, and she asks if he remembers a certain line, causing him to wonder who really was the girl.
  • In episode 13, Raku's dad says his fiance is coming to visit him. And in episode 14, he flat out tells Raku and Chitoge that Marika is the girl he made the promise with, as evidenced by the picture he saw in their storage room, and because of a deal he made with her father, the police commissioner.
  • In episode 16, after Ruri chews out Kosaki yet again for not making any progress with Raku, the latter tells her that he's coming over to her house. This revelation is so shocking to Ruri she drops the ice cream cone she was eating. Of course Kosaki doesn't mention that it was simply because she asked him to help out in her mother's sweets shop, but at least she made some progress.
  • Again in episode 16, Kosaki reveals to Raku that she knows about the fake relationship between him and Chitoge, which up until this point he was unaware that Chitoge had already revealed it to her and Ruri back in episode 6. Raku, for his part, wonders why Chitoge didn't tell him about revealing it.
  • "Make your decision quickly...Because she...doesn't have much time left." said to Raku by Honda when asked what he thinks of Marika as a woman, which puts a very heavy twist on Marika's weak constitution.
  • Chapter 212 That was the last day... Chitoge showed up at school.
  • Chapter 217 "But, If I was the one who told you about it, it would be pointless. Sometimes, the truth may destroy illusion from the past. But if one seek the truth, even in the face of that, one must discover it for themselves... Even If it eventually ends up hurting them..."
• What the Hell, Hero?:
  • Marika loses her usual demeanor at the end of episode 14 as Raku delivers a stream of Armor-Piercing Questions about not remembering who she was and only having vague memories of the meeting ten years ago. She lambasts him, stating everything she's done for him in the last ten years, such as thinking about him every day, growing her hair longer because he said he didn't like girls with short hair, and acting like the promise they made wasn't such a big deal.
  • After Raku gives a scathing speech to Chitoge about how they should just break it off if they have no connections whatsoever even after all this time in episode 19, it gets her so angry and upset that she slaps him much harder than usual.
• "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: The final chapter focused on each of the character's path.
• Wholesome Crossdresser: Seishirou is of the "it's easier to move around in men's clothing" type.
• World of Ham: Due to the main characters overreacting to quite a few things, especially anything involving romance. Chitoge in particular, tends to make some hilarious faces whenever she's overthinking too much about Raku.
• Wrong Bathroom Incident: After Riku rescues Tsugumi from the school's swimming pool, he takes her into the boy's locker room, not knowing Tsugumi is a girl. Riku undresses her so her wet clothes won't give her a chill. Tsugumi regains consciousness, realizes she's being denuded and reacts accordingly. Only then does Riku discover that Tsugumi is a girl. The two hide in a locker when the vengeful Chitoge bursts in seeking Riku.
• Yakuza: Raku's family runs the town's local yakuza group.
• Yamato Nadeshiko: Played with; Kosaki at first seems to be playing it straight but as we being to know her more it shows she's actually a horrible cook, keeps messy bedroom and is generally insecure and directionless in life. Marika is actually a better example but only because she enforced it on herself to be the "perfect girl" for Raku and she actually lacks the humility and calm personality that the trope normally implies.
• Zonk: The Kiss Pass entitles the winner to one kiss- from an animal.

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