Only naive teenagers would think that their front of being in a romantic relationship could be kept up strictly outside of school. Of course, Kirisaki and Ichijou, the leads of Nisekoi, are just that – a couple of adolescnets. Their secret fake relationship has already been leaked out and they are mobbed upon their arrival at class. The faux relationship has already gotten away from the two.
But what’s further naive about the couple is that they ever thought they had control of the situation. Even before coming to school, their facade was beginning to break, in a different way. The less-than-intelligent gangsters in both families were skeptical (and obsessive Claude remains highly suspicious), and by the end of this week’s episode, Onodera knows a touch of the truth as well. Less than 24 hours from their first date and they’ve already lost almost complete control!
Most of us put up facades to some extent as well. We might display carefully constructed versions of ourselves before others or we might simply be hiding embarrassing or painful secrets. But as with Kirisaki and Ichijou, we don’t have as much control over our image as we might think.
As Nisekoi continues, I imagine we’ll see scenarios where the happy couple hold their secret together by the skin of their teeth. In real life, putting on a face isn’t so easy (and certainly not funny). Unless we avoid social situations almost entirely, it’s very possible that we’ll either be found out or, in the case of secret sin, we may fall apart in our attempt to keep everything together.
The irony for Christians is that they should have no need for facades. When coming to Christ, one should have laid bare their souls, ragged and all, revealing to God a real self that maybe no one else has seen, and then enjoying the love of a God who is not only the creator of the universe, but a personal one who knows everything about us. There’s no reason to put up a wall. After all, God can see through it and wants us to tear it down. He already sees the real self – he wants us to trust him enough, though, to show our persons to him out of our volition.
In the end, it should be an easy choice for us. Unless of course, that is, if we’re the adolescent children of yakuza. That might be a different anime story.
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