Want to see the evidence of the impact that early Rumiko Takahashi romantic comedies like Urusei Yatsura and Ranma ½ are still having on anime today? Look no further than Nisekoi. While those two franchises may be utterly different stylistically than this one, the same basic formula is still there: throw characters with crazy personal circumstances together, force a couple of them into a relationship that one or both (initially) don't want, and watch the sparks fly. That the formula has been updated shows in the form of Kosaki Onodera, who is far too timid to have ever been a Takahashi comedy cast member, and the antics definitely have more of a modern harem flavor, but the zany situations – potentially warring criminal gangs, a girl initially mistaken for a boy, and no less than four people who now have made promises to others ten years ago – certainly fit the bill.

The second quarter of the series expands on that by adding a new recurring cast member into the mix: Seishiro, who dresses and mostly acts like a boy but is so obviously a girl to the audience that revealing her true gender cannot be considered a spoiler. (The running joke here is that Claude, who raised her as an assassin, never actually knew – or perhaps accepted? – that she was a girl.) The antics that result are essentially a combination of Sousuke's behavior at school in Full Metal Panic! and Subaru's behavior in general in Mayo Chiki!, although in this case Seishiro was never specifically trying to hide her gender; she was just so used to being treated as a boy that she got in the habit of dressing and acting like one, and so people around her just made assumptions. She is overprotective of Chitoge, but she also (predictably) starts to fall for Raku because he actually treats her respectfully and as a girl, although she has to have other people tell her that her “symptoms” are simply being lovestruck. Her insertion into the series infuses it with a new wave of energy at a crucial time, right as its initial humor was starting to stagnate. Her antics may be harem standard, but they are still quite funny at times.

With the three main characters essentially going through the motions of their established relationships, support from the secondary row of characters is critical. Fortunately the series is strong in that department, with Ruri being a delight in her ways to connive Kosaki and Raku together, while Raku's friend Shu is also surprisingly effective in trying to promote relationship hijinks, too; those two really do need to pair up themselves. Claude, thankfully, becomes more peripheral.

The humor this time around uses much less of the random sight gags in the backgrounds. It is, however, accompanied by a distinct upsurge in fan service. The episode involving the class visit to a hot springs is rife with it, as a sign-switching stunt gets Raku stuck in the women's bath, although it is self-censored to prevent any actual nudity from showing. Bits of it pop up in a couple of other episodes, too, especially in a scene were Raku and Seishiro wind up hiding together in a locker. While still nowhere close to being on the level of the racier harem series out there, it feels like the series is no longer completely restraining itself on this front.

Otherwise the visual style points remain consistent with the first few episodes: creative camera angles and perspective shifts, sharp scenery, distinctive mixing of CG and non-CG elements, use of sparkly effects around characters to convey emotion, and so forth. Sticking out a bit more this time is that the girls' school uniform; with that long tie-like accoutrement threaded through a loop at the bottom of the front of the uniform, it looks ridiculous and sloppy. Animation quality also holds serve and the lively musical score continues to be a strong point. It uses two new openers in this block, with Seishiro-themed one for episodes 6-8 and a Ruri-themed one for episodes 9 and 10. Both are distinctly different in style but each still retains the series' fun spirit.

Like Aniplex's release of the first quarter, this quarter also consists of five subtitled-only episodes, all on one Blu-Ray disk. The only on-disk Extras are clean versions of the opener and closer. (They are listed as “textless” but are still subtitled.) The physical aspects are geared towards Kosaki fans, with her image on both the case cover and slipcover-like box, on the bonus interior art, and on a trifold poster included in the slipcover. Also included are a set of alternate-art end illustration cards which feature some combination of two or more of the series' important female characters.

Overall, volume 2 does very little to change the evaluation of the series initiated by volume 1, for better or worse. It compensates for place where the series is starting to weaken by strengthening others or adding in additional elements but does very little to show that, in any manner other than artistic style, it is going to be very different from any other series built around harem hijinks.