I postponed reading this and added to my 'to read' list because:
a) The premise of a romance involving yakuza or gangsters of any sort just totally has me on the hook
b) The mangaka is the same author of Double Arts(which I still mourn over for getting axed. Why, Japan? Whyyy!?)
...then I finally jumped onto reading this, only, I noticed the harem tag and almost got whiplash from the double-take I did because I'm sure that wasn't there when I added it to the list. Dammit. I thought I was going to be able to enjoy another comedic shounen manga with some good romance where there's a lot of tension between the leads. Got my hopes up for nothing...well maybe a bit something since I really liked the oneshot which showed so so so much promise.
It's hard to get any good romances with the leads in contention with each other and I'm such a sucker for arranged marriages/forced to live together/etc. where the characters learn to love each other despite thinking they could never grow to like the other person. Falling under the demographic for shounen made it all the better because we don't get anything too gooey, just scenes that are just right or those that make you want something more but end up getting satisfied by how things go anyway.
And then there's the ridiculous addition of gangsters/yakuza/delinquents, I seriously had heart-eyes for this manga. Luuuurve the premise. LOVE!!! (I blame Gokusen, GTO, all the other epic mangas with badass people)
Then I read it. It has its good points...it's just, my palm has really gotten to know my face lately while reading this. Why the harem? Why? Is it not 'shounen' enough(I know, I know, shounen isn't a genre, yaddayadda) that it has to have the addition of female 'rivals'. There was just the two of them in the oneshot.
We go to the main series and we start off with a love-triangle(insert twitchy eye but at least Onodera was bearable. Not really. Honestly, I'm an Onodera hater. Sue me) then we get some more girls with pages and pages aaaand pages of fanservice. We get it, they're cute/hot.
If only we had the same amount of male 'rivals' then maybe, I'd be okay with the harem. We rarely get any harem with reverse-harem in the same manga(speaking of which, if anyone can point me to any with a harem aaand a reverse-harem, I'd be much obliged).
I Loved the pair with their hilarious nicknames for each other: "Shitty Darling" and whatnot. Love. I'm okay with some love rivals if it's helpful to the plot. That ain't really happening here. Whatever, Chitoge FTW!
But I still think it's worth reading for the comedy if not for female lead(referring to the one mentioned in the summary)...oh, and the guy. I don't usually go for the childhood friend in a harem but I just loved Chitoge because she wasn't some annoying obsessed wimpy girl always chasing after the guy while the guy ogled others.(The oneshot outshines the rest of the chapters really with the tsundere level just right. In the main series, it was a bit off)