After I binged Komi-san legit the day before yesterday and yesterday, and because I had a lot of free time cat-sitting for a relative, I deciced to watch the other other big rom-com of 2021. After Horimiya and Komi-san, it was time for the somewhat infamous Don't Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro.
I admit, at first I was a bit... iffy about an anime that has a few first episodes that can be boiled down to "sadistic little git brings demure senpai to tears while awakening a humiliation kink in many watchers", but what the show ended up being was... surprisingly wholesome and enjoyable.
Story:
As the previous sentence already stated, the gist of most of the episodes is about a girl, Nagatoro-san, who has a sadistic streak and likes to tease her poor, demure Senpai (whom we not even get to know the name of) with various degrees of meanness (is that a word?).
Or is it?
In the cold openings prior to the (super damn catchy) opening, Nagatoro is depicted as messing with her Senpai, but the episodes themselves actually continue to build a budding friendship.
Now, the thing is, I'm not quite happy with the pacing. To me it seemed like Nagatoro went from teasing Senpai to tears in a really brutal way to actually liking being around him in the span of two to three episodes.
I mean, sure, there are friendships that are built instantly, but it still happened a bit too... rapid.
Regardless, the way the story is presented has a pleasant and well-crafted mix of episodic and continuous. By that I mean that parts of each episode could have been exchanged with segments of other episodes or that whole episodes could have been swapped around in the episode list and the effect on the progression of the overarching story would have still been there.
The way Nagatoro and Senpai's friendship is successively built up is despite my previous criticism about the pacing actually really heartwarming and full of tender, nice moments.
That being said, what I really started to dislike was that the teasing became rather... stale. Nagatoro and later on her other friends repeatedly call Senpai a pervert, wimp, virgin and loser, but that's... it.
It became stale to me and since it's a big part of the show's comedy, I had to distract some parts of the final grading.
Characters:
The central characters are the eponymous Nagatoro-san (first name hitherto unknown to anime-onlys such as myself) and Senpai. Like I mentioned above, Nagatoro is a kohai to her senpai (first year in the first season) and she's got a mean streak who loves to mess with the poor dude.
I think she could be seen as a prime example of the somewhat recent Sadodere-archetype, so essentially a Tsundere on crack.
But she's not a complete monster, she's actually a pretty well rounded character. Yes, she's made it her mission statement to torment Senpai, but she also draws a clear-cut line at how far others - like her friends Gamo-chan, Sakura and Yoshi - can take teasing of Senpai.
She herself also draws a certain line, namely when one of her physical-heavy teasing methods goes wrong. For example, there's an instance when she's in the bathtub, calls Senpai to annoy him and accidentally switches on the camera and nearly flashes herself to him.
That promts her to show her bashful side and, honestly, it's really cute because of the whiplash between being in control and losing that control. Plus, most of her teasing has the intention of a) amusing her but also b) pushing Senpai out of his comfort zone so that he becomes a more confident person.
And it shows. At the beginning of season one (S2 is already in the works), he's a complete pushover who withdraws from the world at large in his art club room of which he's one of only three (if I counted correctly) members. He's friendless and seems lonely, until he meets Nagatoro and the gang in the library in Episode 1.
Now, if you compare Senpai from Episode 1 or 2 to Senpai of Episodes 10-12, it's rather a stark contrast. He becomes much more proactive and loses a lot of his blockades to do things on his own accord. For example, he decided to tag along with Nagatoro (and, unbeknownst to him, her clique) to the beach even if he didn't want to at first and decided to go out to a summer festival on his own. That's growth, and it's really heartwarming to see what an effect Nagatoro has on this loner.
He also grew a spine, standing up to the art club president and coming to her defence in the season finale. Plus, while he never really get's angry, he makes strong progress in stopping teasing - either of himself or Nagatoro - from going too far, as seen when he got upset with Nagatoro's friends because they overdid it.
Nagatoro's friends straddle that line between side and main characters I'd say. At first they're only in it for heckles and giggles since they know Senpai is an easy victim, but over time they grow to, if not respect, at least like him.
This is best exemplified in episode 7 and also in the final episodes when they help him deal with a challenge issued by the art club's president. As a whole, they're not necessarily well rounded, fleshed out characters as of S1, but they fill the void that would have otherwise popped up since it's really hard to carry a show on just two characters, especially a romcom.
Production:
As was mentioned, the opening is catchy as hell and the visuals fit the chaotic, crazy energy of the two leads' dynamic really well.
The ending is suprisingly mellow and chill, but it's a nice contrast and, given the character progression mentioned above, loses quite a bit of it jarring contrast to what we saw in the episode itself.
Nagatoro-san was produced by Telecom Animation Studios, whom I - admittedly - never heard before. They did a good job highlighting tender moments, for example the scene after which Senpai and Nagatoro exchanged contacts and she smiled contedly, but other than the overall visual quality is somewhat run-of-the-mill. It doesn't look bad, it's just nothing particularly noteworthy. You look at it and are like "yeah, this will do for a highschool romcom."
However, what's lacking in the graphical department, the VAs make up for, each of the characters have voices that fit oh so well. Sumire Uesaka (maybe best known as Sanae from Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai!) as Nagatoro especially knocks it out of the park, her work is just really solid.
What else is there to say... The show has a lot of fanservice, but it kind of fits the narrative as Nagatoro isn't afraid to use her body to mess with Senpai. Also, it's honestly refreshing to see a slender girl be the main source of Fanservice rather than the much more common buxom-and-wide-hips character.
Closing thoughts:
Nagatoro isn't for everyone, I'll freely admit as much. I was bullied in high school and I REALLY doubted I'd like the show as much as I did cause bullying is sadly an increasing and really problematic aspect of life. I actually really debated with myself if I should keep going after the first two episodes.
So, much as it turns into a heartwarming tale of friendship and, predictably eventually, romance, if you have troubles with depictions of bullying, no matter how hardcore it is, stay away from it. If you're on the fence, skip the first two, three episodes and give it a shot afterwards.
If you like where it goes aftewards, catch up on the start. Also, if you don't like Tsunderes who go the extra mile to cross over into sadistic territory and if you don't like demure guys being henpecked, it's also probably not for you.
Score:
I really liked it. It was a fun romp so far. Besides the somewhat stale comedy, okay art and, rough start and somewhat weird pacing, it's still a good show that could give you some enjoyable hours of content. If S2 can keep up the dynamic between Nagatoro, Senpai and the gang and build on S1, it's definitely going to be a blast to watch.
So far, it's a 7.7/10 from me.
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