Nisekoi



Raku Ichijou is your Ordinary High School Student. Well, as ordinary as he can be, being heir of 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?

"Marika (looking over her shoulder at the readers, while waving towards the policeman): To the nearly 100% of the readers who have forgotten this person...I shall explain who this person is."
 * Bromantic Foil: Shuu Maiko, Raku's best friend. Half the time he meddles to help Raku. Other half- because he thinks it's funny.
 * Bifauxnen:
 * Breaking the Fourth Wall: Done occasionally; for instance, in Chapter 112, a policeman last seen some five volumes before asks to speak with Marika:


 * Cat Smile: Practically Shuu's default expression.
 * Censor Steam: Used repeatedly in Chapter 23.
 * 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 has key to lock in his pendant.
 * It is revealed early on that  has a key from a   but seems unsure about.
 * Later we find that  also made a promise with a   whom   can't recall. In fact it's strongly implied
 * Class Is in Room X-01: Despite how generic many of this series' other elements are, it averts this. The class the main cast is in is 1-C.
 * Fan Service: Kept at very low level considering the genre... until the 2 part Hot Springs Chapter that is.
 * First-Name Basis:  decides that she and Raku should call each other by their first names after he saves her in the forest.
 * Genre Savvy: Shuu Maiko and Ruri Miyamoto
 * Gratuitous Polish: The childhood promise Raku recalls includes a Polish word -- "Zawsze," meaning "forever," "eternally," "always," something like that -- despite none of the characters being identified as Polish.
 * Lonely Rich Kid
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * Onodera  also carry around a key as a memento of a promise ten years ago. Sounds awfully familiar...
 * New Transfer Student: Chitoge transfers into Raku's class in chapter 1. She's transferred schools a lot before because of her dad's travels.
 * Later
 * And still later,
 * Not So Different: 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.
 * Troperiffic: Think of a Romantic Comedy trope. There's good chance that it applies.
 * Tsundere: Ruri has a bit of this, but only toward Shuu. On one occasion, after he'd loudly admired the other girls' appearance but was more casual about hers, she hit him with what the narrative text called an "I-don't-really-care-but-I'm-still-kind-of-pissed-off-punch."
 * Unprovoked Pervert Payback: Averted. Raku walks in on Chitoge in the hot spring, but she quickly figures that it's because Claude switched the signs to destroy Raku's reputation.
 * Played straight whenever Tsugumi is involved.
 * Wham Chapter:Chapter 13 in which Chitoge
 * Yakuza
 * Zettai Ryouiki: Chitoge sports impressive Rank A one.
 * Zettai Ryouiki: Chitoge sports impressive Rank A one.