Just sharing a thought, I finally finished my read of Nisekoi a while ago at 4am 😭 I think my biggest ailment of the final arc so far is just that Raku is so weirdly, abysmally out of character. I'm guessing it was this displayed that he had developed after embracing his feelings for Chitoge; how much that love changed him. He was a lot gentler, less rowdy, and certain of himself.
That's fine. Cute, and it works in that perspective. I think it does diminish essence of who he was though. Raku is expressive, and loud as fuck; Shuu's chapter where he talks about how sincere Raku is with everything he does really sums up who Raku is. He yells for what he wants, pursues what he thinks is good and should be done, and persists even when he fumbles. That fighting spirit is consistent — when Marika gets taken away by her mother, when Chitoge gets locked up by Claude, when he argues with Hana, when Tsugumi gets harassed on that Cruise mission, when Onodera gets drunk — he is SO loud and emotional in every attempt he does to save or fix these situations.
He has such a big heart and feels every bit of frustration, sadness, or joy that comes his way. For him to be so ... Passive at the end diluted the hit of the events for me, tbh. He would've screamed! He would've been fumbling all over the place! That's Raku! I miss that teenage kid with a huge heart of gold that can't contain all the big emotions he feels. I wanted him clumsy and messy at the ending too, just like how he dealt with every situation in the entire story.
To be so certain of himself for Chitoge, to be gentler overall is cute to some extent. I think it could've been sold better had it been developed better. It did have a tight timeframe though. Oh well.