Nisekoi - Episode 14

As if Raku doesn't have enough girl troubles to contend with as it is, the end of last week's episode also saddled him with a fiancée to worry about - it isn't a problem that's going to go away easily either, as it seems that the reason for this engagement is another matter of convenience for Raku's father.

You can probably guess what happens next - the girl in question, Marika Tachibana, transfers not only into Ichijou's school but also his class, immediately introduces herself as the fiancée in question, and chaos ensues... chaos that leads to the presence of riot police, for Marika is none other than the daughter of the local police commissioner.  Try and Chitoge might to argue her place as Raku's girlfriend, Marika is not going to take no for an answer, and quickly arranges a date with her "fiancé".

Equally predictably, this is a date that sees all of the other interested parties in Ichijou's life tag along in disguise in the hope of getting to grips with what's going on here, although it's Kirisaki who succeeds in getting close enough at the pivotal moment, as Ichijou refuses to ditch his "girlfriend", even in return for Tachibana spilling the beans about that much-vaunted promise from ten years ago.  However, Marika also have some secrets about herself that she's trying to keep under wraps, and for all of her feminine charms and beauty there's a rather different personality hidden away beneath it all...

If one thing is for certain about Nisekoi it's that it never ceases to be utterly predictable about everything it does, but if there are two things for certain about the series it's the show's ability to be entertaining in spite of that predictability, which continues to be aided and abetted by SHAFT's visual treatment of the whole endeavour.  I still worry that Marika's introduction is going to throw off the careful balance of the show's cast, but for now she's an amusing addition to Raku's "harem", if only for her ability to incite reactions from the rest of the cast, and this show continues to be something of a guilty pleasure as I can't stop myself loving it in spite of how tired and daft its premise is.