Nisekoi Volume 17 - Mistress.
Nisekoi Volume 17 - Mistress
This is my review of Volume 17 of Nisekoi. This volume is starts by finishing one arc and ends by starting another with another in the middle. It is a busy volume!
Continuing on from the cliffhanger from last volume, Kosaki and Raku are given a room at the inn to share for the night and there is no alternative (no spare room, no more buses until tomorrow, etc). Kosaki is okay sharing with Raku, as she trusts he won't do anything nefarious, but they move the futons apart and put down a partition in between them anyway. As all of the guest have finished with the baths, Raku and Kosaki head to the baths only to encounter each other in the bathing area as it a coed bathing area. Raku volunteers to bathe later, but Kosaki is okay with him bathing right now because he is a gentleman and she trusts that he isn't going to do anything 'nefarious' to her. Kosaki starts to talk about the day they have had and how they bathed when they were younger. The reference to when they were younger gets Raku thinking how Kosaki made a promise with a boy, using a key and a pendant as physical mementos and that boy was her first love which means: Raku is Kosaki's first love - No sh!t Sherlock! Raku asks Kosaki to confirm this, but she has fainted from overheating, so can't answer. Raku never gets his answer as while she does wake up later, neither bring up the question at any point that night or the next day.
It is the Sports Festival for Bonyari High and Chitoge, who is on the red team along with Raku and Kosaki, is super excited. Seishiro, Ruri and Marika are on the white team; we don't know which team the other characters are on. Raku notices that Shu and few others huddled in a corner and are acting suspiciously, so goes to investigate. He is given the excuse of a meeting for the Sports Festival executive committee, which he doesn't really buy, but he has no other evidence to prove that they are up to no good. His suspicions are validated though when during the 3-legged race, a surprise obstacle in the form of a balloon-hug challenge appears and he and Chitoge, his partner for the race, have to pop the balloon between their bodies. They do and win the event, but not all escape unscathed. Another event that has a last minute change is the bread eating contest, which has had the string that holds the bread replaced with elastic string meaning the bread bounces even more and it comes to the detriment for Kosaki, but the benefit for everyone else watching. Seishiro calls over Raku asking where Chitoge is (preparing for her next event) as well as if it is okay to cheer for her even though she is on a different team. Raku tells her not to take the festival seriously and cheer for whomever she likes, as he and most likely Chitoge will be cheering for anyway when she competes. Seishiro spots Chitoge and waves to her, loosing the wrap around her chest and takes her embarrassment out on Raku. Marika spots Raku and asks if he would like to have lunch together, he refuses but she notices his headband is dirty and hands him a new one that reads 'I Love Marika' so when Chitoge spots him wearing it, she socks him. The next event documented is the scavenger hunt and the 4 known competitors: Marika, Chitoge, Seishiro and Kosaki all receive the same prompt - That Special Someone. All instinctively look at Raku, with Chitoge and Marika fight each other to be the first to reach Raku. Raku agrees to go with Chitoge, owing to the appearances of the Beehive gang and Shuei-Gumi, which is what also fuels Marika's decision to concede. At the end of the event, Raku asks what Seishiro and Kosaki had for their prompt but Shu gets a pocket knife to the forehead and a home-made sandwich to the mouth to silence him. The sandwich does more damage.
This chapter felt weird as I felt that some characters (Chitoge and Seishiro) had regressed to the state they were at the early part of the series and any growth they might have had has been lost. Given the event that happens in the chapter this clearly was a case of 'we have a deadline that we can't meet, so this pre-prepared chapter will have to do'.
This chapter felt weird as I felt that some characters (Chitoge and Seishiro) had regressed to the state they were at the early part of the series and any growth they might have had has been lost. Given the event that happens in the chapter this clearly was a case of 'we have a deadline that we can't meet, so this pre-prepared chapter will have to do'.
Yui is very popular with everyone (including teachers) relying on her for advice on school work, sports, books and love. In the corridor, Raku spots Yui carrying a load of books and volunteers to help and is concerned with how much she is doing but she dismisses his worries.
Back at home, Raku discovers that Yui has done his laundry as well as buying some treats and more bandages (they are running low) for the members of Shuei-Gumi before receiving a phone call and having to attend to some Char Siu Kai business. As he is relaxing in the bath, Yui tries to enter (her private bath has some plumbing issues) so he shoos her away, only to return with a swimsuit. On the way back to his room, Raku is stopped by Night (Yui's bodyguard) who warns him to pay better attention to Yui, but the hyper-aware Raku doesn't understand.
The next day, Raku has forgotten his maths textbook and returns to the classroom to pick it up only to find clean and spotless, all thanks to Yui. After explaining why he is back at the classroom, Yui suggests that she helps him study and he allows only during the private study session, Yui collapses.
Back at home, Raku discovers that Yui has done his laundry as well as buying some treats and more bandages (they are running low) for the members of Shuei-Gumi before receiving a phone call and having to attend to some Char Siu Kai business. As he is relaxing in the bath, Yui tries to enter (her private bath has some plumbing issues) so he shoos her away, only to return with a swimsuit. On the way back to his room, Raku is stopped by Night (Yui's bodyguard) who warns him to pay better attention to Yui, but the hyper-aware Raku doesn't understand.
The next day, Raku has forgotten his maths textbook and returns to the classroom to pick it up only to find clean and spotless, all thanks to Yui. After explaining why he is back at the classroom, Yui suggests that she helps him study and he allows only during the private study session, Yui collapses.
Raku is immediately concerned for Yui, but Night arrives and tells him not worry as this is to be expected with Yui and to help her carry Yui home. There, Night starts making a brew of some Chinese herbs to help recover, while Raku can't understand why Yui would be pushing herself so hard to collapse from exhaustion. Night explains that Yui over-exerts herself as she doesn't want to be alone like she was when her parents died, so she tries to anything and everything for everyone. Raku hates that he didn't notice, so when Char Siu Kai calls Yui, he decides to do something. Yui wakes up and realises she has a lot of work to do, but Raku tells her lie back down as he has made sure that she doesn't need to do anything for a bit. He tells what he now knows about her and there is no need to over-exert herself as he will there to lighten her load as a responsible brother. Members of Char Siu Kai come barging into the room, as they are all concerned for their leader's health and the chapter ends with Yui teasing Raku about becoming family for real.
Yui is back to her busy self and Raku is concerned, but she assures him that she is fine and actually feels light as a feather. Raku accepts it, while Night has noticed the positive influence Raku has been, especially since the events of the last chapter. Raku and Yui get home only to find the wall separating their rooms has been removed: all thanks to Night, who wants the 2 to get married. Raku doesn't understand, but Night explains that Yui's father was supposed to become the leader Char Siu Kai, but his death meant that it passed to his next of kin, Yui, who herself has no next of kin. Raku isn't sold for 2 reasons: 1 he and Yui are basically siblings and you can't marry your sibling, and 2 he has a girlfriend for political reasons. Night dismisses these concerns as: 1 they aren't blood-related so it is just a matter of attitude, and 2 the Char Siu Kai can easily wipe out the Beehive gang, so there would be no reprisals if the the Shuei-Gumi Beehive alliance were to be broken. As Night is Yui's mentor as well as a high ranking member of Char Siu Kai, Yui can't really disobey.
The next morning Yui finds all of her underwear is now fancy lingerie and Raku's textbooks, phone and wallet are full of photos of Yui. Back at home, Yui finds that her bath has been fixed as someone has drawn a bath for only to discover that Raku is in it. She closes the door out of embarrassment, but Raku gets out as Yui has demonstrated a change in attitude (see chapter 146) as could be a sign over-exertion. Yui returns to her room only to discover her futon missing and a note to sleep in same one as Raku, but he refuses in order to not give into what Night wants. Yui asks if Raku sees her as a sister and not as a girl as she isn't attractive enough and he assures that is not why he sees her as family, which pleases Yui to jump onto him and his futon, that then triggers a mechanism on the floor that pushes them together by force.
The next morning Yui finds all of her underwear is now fancy lingerie and Raku's textbooks, phone and wallet are full of photos of Yui. Back at home, Yui finds that her bath has been fixed as someone has drawn a bath for only to discover that Raku is in it. She closes the door out of embarrassment, but Raku gets out as Yui has demonstrated a change in attitude (see chapter 146) as could be a sign over-exertion. Yui returns to her room only to discover her futon missing and a note to sleep in same one as Raku, but he refuses in order to not give into what Night wants. Yui asks if Raku sees her as a sister and not as a girl as she isn't attractive enough and he assures that is not why he sees her as family, which pleases Yui to jump onto him and his futon, that then triggers a mechanism on the floor that pushes them together by force.
Chitoge wants some Oyakodon (cooked chicken and eggs over rice) and wants Seishiro to make it, which is fine except she has never mde it before and would need someone to teach her. Raku arrives at Seishiro flat to teach her how to make Oyakodon. Raku realises how trusting an assassin for a rival gang is with him and ends up looking around the kitchen area and notices how well it is organised - it's even better that what he could do. Whilst cooking, Seishiro notices one of the buttons on Raku's shirt is coming loose and decides to sew it back on herself. Raku remarks how skilled she is, with Seishiro reminding him that this is because she has had take of both herself alone and Chitoge. Raku asks if Seishiro is okay, as the other orphan he knows worked so hard to help everyone that she collapsed, but she tells him that she is fine. Seishiro actually considers herself lucky, as she doesn't remember much of her parents and everything she could have needed (happiness, companionship, name, birthday, etc) came from Chitoge, which is why she is so devoted to Chitoge. They get back to cooking and also decide to make some Chitoge other favourite foods, which inspires Raku and they make Oyakodon-Ramen which is a hit with Chitoge.
The class trip to Kyoto is coming up and everyone in the inner circle of the harem wants to be with Raku as there is famous love shrine in Kyoto that massively boosts your odds of your love being requited. One problem is that the groups this year are decided randomly and the odds are not in their favour as Raku is not in their group. On the day of the trip, Raku wakes up late and on his way to the train station, he helps an old lady cross the street and get to her destination thus will miss the bullet train to Kyoto. Luckily, the school has arranged a taxi to take him to the station along with another student who is also late: Kosaki.
Not a lot happens in this chapter, which seems to be the trend of the last few arcs as, for example, with the Yui arc this volume (chapters 146 to 148), the majority of the plot comes from chapter 148, with not much beyond sitting/lying down and talking happening in the others and the topics of conversations was reminiscing about the past we already knew about. To be honest, this volume has been the lowest quality of the series so far in terms of story content, which I think proves how unnecessary Yui's character is to the overall story.
Not a lot happens in this chapter, which seems to be the trend of the last few arcs as, for example, with the Yui arc this volume (chapters 146 to 148), the majority of the plot comes from chapter 148, with not much beyond sitting/lying down and talking happening in the others and the topics of conversations was reminiscing about the past we already knew about. To be honest, this volume has been the lowest quality of the series so far in terms of story content, which I think proves how unnecessary Yui's character is to the overall story.
Kosaki and Raku take the taxi to the station and catch the bullet train heading to Kyoto. On the train they talk about what they want to see in Kyoto and Kosaki suggests ditching their groups to those sight together, but backtracks on the amoral idea. The train arrives in Nagoya and stops as high winds are on the approach and bullet trains can't operate in high winds, so Kosaki and Raku get off and take the regular train to Kyoto (Nagoya is close enough that they can do this). Unfortunately, whilst on the regular train service, a bear wanders onto the line and halts the train until it can been safely removed, which could take time and Kosaki and Raku don't have that, so they switch onto a bus service. The bus they catch ends up having engine issues, so they catch a taxi the rest of the way until the taxi get a flat tyre and isn't carrying a spare. Now I know Raku is probably one of the more richer members of his class, but how is he paying for all of this, as while I don't know the prices for Japanese public transport between Nagoya and Kyoto circa 2014 (when this was written), it still must be pretty expensive for a high school student and especially the taxi fare. The 2 abandon the taxi driver and hitch-hike on the back of a small pick-up truck until it engine dies. Whilst on that pick-up, Raku does remark it would have been better, time-wise, to have stayed on the bullet train or in my personal opinion, hung around in Nagoya near the train station until it would be safe for the train to continue running. They eventually arrive at the inn they are staying at, but the room that Raku's group was staying in got flooded and there are 2 other rooms available, 1 that can sleep 5 and another that can sleep 1. Raku's group has six members and Raku draws the short straw and has to sleep alone. With nothing to do, Raku goes to bed early, but is later awoken by someone tapping his window.
Chitoge is outside his window and wants to come in because she has 'seen' Claude and wants to plan with Raku their 'fake couple' and not because she was lonely. She also manages to invite him to join her and the others around the Samurai Movie Village as well as join her going somewhere afterwards. Before they have too much fun talking and planning, one of the teachers comes round to do a bed check so Chitoge and hide in the futon until the teacher leaves. Chitoge attempts to go back but the storm that disrupted the bullet train last chapter has made its way to Kyoto and so she is now too scared to go back, so has to spend the night with Raku. Despite being deathly afraid of thunder and lightning, Chitoge falls asleep instantly, so Raku gives her the futon and he sleeps with school jacket as a blanket. The next morning, Chitoge wakes up and realises what she has done (fallen asleep in a boy's room before marriage) and now is super awkward around Raku, who he himself is still awkward over the events of last night. This awkwardness causes Raku to be absent-minded and lose his friends, so tries to find where he stumbles on a swordplay demo involving Seishiro.
The bonus comics are Marika and Chitoge competing against each other about who loves Raku more using some unconventional metrics.
The bonus comics are Marika and Chitoge competing against each other about who loves Raku more using some unconventional metrics.

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