Nisekoi - Episode 2

Pretending to be somebody's boyfriend is never likely to be much fun, and this applies even more so if the girl in question is part of a family of gangsters, even if you are part of a Yakuza family yourself.

With Raku and Kirisaki's fake relationship the only barrier likely to prevent an all-out war between these two rival factions however, it seems that there's little choice than to go along with the whole crazy scheme, and given that all of those involved on both sides of the issue turn up mere seconds after having this grand plan sprung on them our two youngsters have little choice than to throw themselves into playing the part, lest they otherwise be thrown off the nearest bridge wearing concrete boots.

Having dodged that initial bullet, any hope that things might settle down are dashed by Kirisaki's bodyguard Claude, who insists that his mistress really shouldn't be going out on a date with her beloved boyfriend of a weekend.  So it goes that Raku and Kirisaki try to fathom out dating etiquette with a bunch of thugs watching their every move from the shadows - as dates go it's largely disastrous, but Raku's attempt to save Kirisaki from a group of delinquents does at least net him some bonus points.  If playing the lovey-dovey couple is acceptable to Raku however, playing this role in front of his beloved Onodera is another matter entirely, which threatens to wreck the whole thing were it not for Chitoge's intervention.    Then again, it seems that Onodera has some secrets of her own that she's been keeping quiet about...

Having done a decent enough job of setting things up in its first episode, this second instalment of Nisekoi pretty much nailed its subject matter - this isn't exactly the most original of romantic comedies in its setup or the way it goes about its business, but it is a lot of fun in its original manga form and that sense of bright and breezy entertainment revolving around a surprisingly likeable main trio is carried off as well as you could hope for here.  Even SHAFT's traditional quirks seemed to fit better into the series here than they did last week, which also assuages my worries that it might become overbearing - if Nisekoi can continue in this vein then it should be one of my go-to slices of simple entertainment for the winter.