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Toby Culverwell's Blog

Nisekoi Volume 16 - Look-Alike.

Nisekoi Volume 16 - Look-Alike

This is my review of Volume 16 of Nisekoi. This volume includes a case of 2 characters that look identical, but aren't twins. This also happened in the Nisekoi video game,Nisekoi: Yomeiri!?, that was only released in Japan and about the same time as this volume. According Naoshi Komi, the author and artist for Nisekoi, this was a complete coincidence.

Yui has been assigned to teach music as the former music teacher quit the week before and they have yet to get a replacement. Everyone expects Yui to be at least a competent music teacher, as while she doesn’t play any instruments, she can sing, but Raku is apprehensive about her singing abilities although he doesn’t know why. Yui sings to demonstrate her talent or (as it turns out) lack of it as she multiple people faint because of it. Yui being tone-deaf is not too much of a problem for the class’s education as she needs to teach not demonstrate however, next week Yui is to lead the school’s song, so she request that Raku and Marika help her together to get better. Marika, who is only helping as a way of being close to Raku, gives up immediately with how out of tune Yui is and has to be dragged back to keep her there to help teach. As an alternative, Seishiro, who can sing beautifully, is tasked to help, but is no help. The only thing Yui can do is practice as much as possible, but the day before assembly she loses her voice and Raku recommends that she get another teacher to fill in for her. She agrees, but Raku then backtracks as he doesn’t want her hard work to go to waste, so Yui practices once more with Raku to give feedback. The time comes to sing the sing the school song and Yui sounds in tune as apparently her singing is fine if her voice is hoarse, although she feels like her voice coming back towards the end of the song and gives it her all and immediately sings out of tune, but nobody (except those who know her singing) can work out that is was her.

On the way to an amazing (according to Chitoge) Crepes place, Raku and Chitoge save a girl in frilly clothing from some burly men in suits and sunglasses. The girl appears flustered as she doesn’t speak Japanese nor English, but once she gets her translation app out, she communicates that she is the first princess of the kingdom of Nonbiiri: Malusha Lu Viey Nonbiiri. Also she looks like Chitoge. She explains the men chasing were the kingdom’s secret police as she has run away to see Japan for herself, because her late mother was a big fan of Japan and would talk endlessly about it to Malusha. However, since her mother’s death her father (the King) has been overprotective and restricted what she can and can’t do and is only in Japan because she has been made a goodwill ambassador for her kingdom. Chitoge resolves to help fulfil her wish and does this by pretending to be the princess, whilst Raku shows Malusha the best Japan has to offer. Raku starts by taking her to some historical sites, which she enjoys. Once they are finished he asks if there was anywhere else that she saw that she wants to go to and there is: a nearby theme park. Malusha really enjoys the roller coasters at the theme park and after a few roller coasters, Raku suggests getting drinks for themselves and not to lose each other in the crowd, he suggests she finds a place to wait. Malusha decides to wait at the entrance to a nearby shop, but her app mistranslates it to mean the shop at the entrance to the park. By checking the app’s log, Malusha realises the mistake and attempts to head Raku is most likely waiting, but gets lost. Luckily, Raku swoops in to save her as he also realised the mistake (later than he would have liked) and ran around the park trying to find her, so he takes her hand to escort her to somewhere they can sit down and rest.

Meanwhile Chitoge (pretending to be Malusha) is being scolded for running away and is keeping quiet, which is typical Malusha behaviour. What isn't typical Malusha behaviour is eating a lot of food which Chitoge does.
Meanwhile Raku is treating Malusha to some Soba noodles, during which she thanks Raku for saving her at the theme park and asks if it is common for boys to take girls by the hand in Japan, which he assures her that it isn't before realising he has been speaking informally towards a princess. Malusha assures that is not a problem and would prefer to treated as a ordinary girl, which he starts to do along with how to properly eat Soba noodles. Malusha wishes to see Raku's home, which he is apprehensive about, but figures a quick visit would be okay. Although Malusha wishes to stay longer than Raku would like and ends up talking to some members of Shuei-Gumi as she is fascinated by the Yakuza and leaves with a used belly sash ( a new national treasure of Nonbiiri). They pass by a shrine which piques Malusha's interest, so the enter and draw some fortunes. Malusha draws a daikichi (great blessing) fortune, which is full of good luck, especially with regards to love. Raku's fortune isn't good, so he ties to a nearby wall of metal wires to bad luck away from him. Raku asks if she has enjoyed Japan and the response is a resounding and detailed yes. Raku believes they can make one more stop, so the leave the shrine was thinking out loud how Chitoge is getting on, which prompts Malusha to ask what the relationship between Raku and Chitoge is. Raku instinctively almost refers to Chitoge as his girlfriend, but realises that he doesn't need to lie in front of Malusha, so says Chitoge is a friend. This pleases Malusha, but doesn't communicate it to Raku.

Raku takes Malusha to Japanese Confections Onodera and the 2 are greeted by Kosaki, who is working at the shop. Kosaki initially mistakes Malusha for Chitoge, but this is quickly resolved with Kosaki bringing them some of the shop’s specialities that she helped decorate, which impresses Malusha. Kosaki correctly sets the record straight by claiming that Raku is the better cook which he tries to humbly dismiss. Malusha remarks that the 2 get on well, which causes Raku and Kosaki to become very bashful.
Malusha and Raku head back to her hotel and attempt to say goodbye, but her phone runs out of battery, so neither can communicate with each other until Malusha starts speaking Japanese. The reason she didn’t speak it earlier because she was scared of making a mistake, but now feels confident to do so. She thanks Raku for the beautiful memories she now has because of him and kisses him goodbye on the cheek, as it is a tradition in Nonbiiri to share good fortune with others (This is a lie).

Chitoge is getting frustrated as she has had no update from Raku regarding Malusha until she suddenly appears outside her window. The 2 talk about how the day went for each other, with Malusha needing to come with excuse for her ‘abnormal’ behaviour. Chitoge is relieved that Malusha had fun as she expected Raku to insult Malusha by being clueless. Malusha disagrees with Chitoge that Raku is clueless, which sets Chitoge on an anti-Raku tirade. Malusha asks her if she dislikes Raku, which she denies, but also denies that she likes him either. The 2 say goodbye but before she leaves, Chitoge asks Malusha for a favour.
Raku is waiting outside when a girl in frilly clothing comes out running to him sounding like Malusha, but one look at the girl’s face allows him to correctly identify her as Chitoge which spoils her joke - what did she expect, the 2 have spent so much time together that it’ll be weird if he didn’t. Kleis, Malusha’s lady-in-waiting, comes in to see she is and Malusha assures her that all is well as well as wanting the script for her speech, specifically the Japanese version, to practice with.
A few days later, Malusha delivers a speech about how much she has enjoyed Japan, how she has fallen in love with the country and its people, and her favourite part of the trip: the roller coaster rides.

Seishiro has once again found a suspicious perfume bottle within the Beehive's base, so decides to keep on her person until Claude respond with what it is and how to undo its effects. This means she takes it to school, where shockingly she accidentally drops it, but luckily Raku picks it up. Chitoge, who is nearby, suggests giving it a quick spray and he does, which knocks her out. Conveniently, Claude calls telling Seishiro (and by extension Raku) that the the perfume is a sleeping agent that can only be undone from a kiss on th lips from the sprayer otherwise the will sleep forever - pucker up Raku! Raku isn't too willing to kiss Chitoge so Seishiro moves to force him to do so, but in the conflict Raku accidentally sprays the perfume and Kosaki appears and smells the perfume and falls asleep. Ruri forcefully tries to get Raku to kiss Kosaki, but like with Seishiro earlier Raku sprays the perfume and an innocent bystander is hurt - Marika. Although, Marika is made of sterner stuff and requires a second dose to fully knock her out. After carrying all three girls to the school's infirmary, Seishiro asks why Raku is so reluctant to kiss and he explains that he doesn't think it's right to kiss a girl without consent - clearly he has seen 2023 Women's World Cup. Seishiro notices how easy it is to spray the sleeping agent by accidentally spraying it into the path of oncoming Raku, knocking him out. Knowing what she has to do, Seishiro leans to kiss him, only for Chitoge to wake up. A convenient voicemail message from Claude reveals that the agent has heavily diluted and those exposed to it shall wake in about an hour, so Seishiro sprays herself in order to hie her embarrassment.

A member of the swimming club approaches Ruri for advice on how to confess her feelings to the guy she likes. The guy in question: Shu Maiko. Ruri is of no help here, so calls on Raku as she can't comprehend why anyone fall in love with a perverted, voyeuristic, future sex offender such as Shu. Apparently, Shu is kind and sincere, which Ruri doesn't believe for one second (I agree, he isn't), so tells her friend to just go and confess. However, there is rumour going around Shu has a girlfriend, hence Ruri's friend hesitation, but Raku can't confirm or deny that rumour although he believes he isn't in love with anyone right now, though he was before. Later, Ruri and Raku talk about Shu and Raku defends Shu, stating when they were younger, Shu talked to Raku and convinced their class not to be scared of Raku just because his family is Yakuza. Raku also states that Ruri and Shu would be a perfect couple, but Ruri thinks the complete opposite.
On her way to her club she catches her friend confessing her feelings and hides in order to not be spotted. Shu confirms that he doesn't have a girlfriend, but he still rejects her as he was love with someone else and hasn't got over it, so it would be unfair to Ruri's friend to date her. Shu calls out for Ruri, who emerges from her hiding spot and apologises for eavesdropping. She asks who Shu was in love with and after a bit of teasing he tells that it was their old home-room teacher Ms Kyoko.
Ruri's friend reveals the results of her confession and provides an update on the Shu girlfriend rumour: the girlfriend is Ruri, who doesn't take the information well.

In order to win Raku's heart, Marika is determined to overcome her fear of animals and that starts with exposure therapy - good thing the school has a menagerie. Chitoge is here to help and begins with showing Marika a small lizard, which terrifies her. Raku suggests that they start an easier animal like Sumerunyon Nishino: the Capybara . Marika is okay stroking Su (Chitoge's nickname), but the same cannot be said for Su who hates what Marika did. Chitoge demonstrates how to properly stroke a Capybara and taunts Marika at the same time. Marika requests another animal, so Raku selects Lord Hymerun, a Barn Owl, as Marika owns a parrot, but Marika cowers in fear and doesn't even approach Hyu (Chitoge's nickname) and needs Chitoge to rescue her by calling over Hyu. Chitoge taunts Marika by saying she can't touch animals, so Marika pats her down and claims she can touch gorillas just fine. Marika demands for a scarier animal, so Raku shows her the school's Siamese Crocodile - Margarita De Sato. Marika pokes Ma (Chitoge's nickname) a couples of times and it is considered a success until Marika steps on Ma's tail and enrages it. Luckily Chitoge knows how to subdue an angry crocodile and quickly demonstrates her skills. They take a break before Raku decides to introduce Marika to some cuter animals and presents a Golden Hamster named Edelweiss Sakurako, which is a terrible idea as Marika is petrified of hamsters after an incident when she was young (5 hamsters became 1). Raku suggests to hold as if she can, then that is a huge sign of improvement, but Edelweiss decides scurry around underneath Marika's clothes.
The next day, Marika is depressed with how much of a failure day before was, but Raku hands her a stuffed toy hamster to help her get used to animals, as he would like to see more people who are. Marika responds as you'd expect.

Kosaki has invited to help at an Onodera family business, but it is not Japanese Confections Onodera as instead it is a hot spring resort that her aunt owns. Actually, Nanako (Kosaki's and Haru's mum) had nominated him for the role, so Raku had no choice in the matter. Their role is to tidy up the rooms and lay the futons out and in the first room, Raku sees Kosaki struggling with the futons and heads over to help only to slip on something and falls over onto Kosaki, pinning her down. He tries to get off her, only to catch something and pulls the rest of the futons down on them. They pick themselves up, but Kosaki runs away from Raku, overwhelmed from being too close to him, and so spends the rest of the day avoiding him. Later, the head chef at the resort throws his back out and there is no one else remotely qualified available to take over, but Kosaki nominates Raku to do it as she believes he can, everyone else, including Raku, are more reluctant, but decide anyway to go for it with Raku eventually being able to make food up to the head chef's standards, while Kosaki handles more decorative cuts that are needed. The evening meal goes off without a hitch and the 2 are rewarded for their work with pay as well as a shared room at the resort.
The bonus comics are about Haru's and Yui's interactions with the animals in the school menagerie.
Cover of volume 16 of Nisekoi