Introduction: Teasing Master Takagi-San returns with a third season that showcases more laughs, more teases, but most importantly more wholesome fluff. On top of that, there is also an upcoming movie adaptation which definitely caught me by surprise. Now that Season 3 is over, how did it do? How did it fare over the previous 2 seasons? Was Season 3 worth the wait? To answer those questions, I'd say yes! Season 3 is amazing and I would consider it to be Takagi's best season as it manages to succesfully continue off of Season's 2 narrative to showcase how Takagi and Nishikata's relationship has significantly changed since then.

Art/Animation: The art and animation managed to receive an upgrade. The characters look like they've become slightly older and the visuals feel more bright, vibrant, and colorful. The expressions are also great here as Nishikata's reactions and comedic faces provide excellent fast-paced comedy, even upon rewatch. For the more intimate and slower paced scenes, you start to feel immersed into the characters' conversations and the use of body language also amplifies the impact of the scene as it shows the kind of behavior these middle schoolers go through. Episode 11 for example showcases a very intimate conversation between Takagi and Nishikata, and the cinematography/editing perfectly captures the mood of that scene with its use of lighting and shadows, well-paced dialogue, body language, and excellent background music. We even get some really creative segments with the animation, such as a scenario animated in retro video game graphics. Finally, each episode had at least one title card that was drawn by the manga author himself which is a nice touch. From a visual perspective, Season 3 improved on this aspect.

Story: Season 3 continues off of Season 2's ending, where it shows how Takagi and Nishikata's relationship has significantly changed since then. At face value, for the first half of the season, it would feel like nothing has changed much. The two are still trying to tease each other, with Nishikata mostly being on the losing end. However, despite their dynamic feeling relatively the same, the way they see each other has changed, and if you compare it to the last 2 seasons, you can easily see they have become more comfortable around each other. As stated previously, the series emphasizes quality time as their strongest love language. The more time they spend together, the closer they are able to understand each other. The progression in their character development is handled excellently, as it feels natural and well paced. You get their usual status quo moments, but when it comes to the more intimate moments, they have a lot of impact because their relationship is slowing changing. After all, quality time is where people learn to create special moments with each other. In Takagi and Nishikata's case, from the simple walks home, to the games they play, to even being able to spend Christmas together, each moment they go through is special to them, and in my opinion it highlights the best and most important aspect of the entire series, their chemistry. The season finale in my opinion is thematically perfect as its essentially the culmination of their relationship and manages to succesfully end on a satisfying note, while still leaving room for the movie to focus on its own narrative and find more ways to develop these characters.

Season 3 continues the trend of using anime original episodes, which takes up a good quarter of the whole season. This time, the anime team managed to implement some of the manga chapters into these episodes, occassionally modifying them to fit the context, and adding in anime original scenes to give more impact. As stated in the previous review, the Takagi anime is one of those rare cases where it is able to outdo the original source by managing to write its own narrative while also staying true to the author's original vision for the story. The statement still applies to Season 3, which is honestly good direction on their end.

The story also continues on to the side characters. We get more focus with the side couples like Mano and Nakai, as well as Houjou and Hamaguchi. One episode even showcases the different chemistries between the 3 pairings. The B-trio is back to help provide some nice comic relief, and sometimes their stories are integrated into the main plot. Other characters such as Takao and Kimura play an effective supporting role and help push the narrative forward. The side characters in this season have become more involved, which is a great plus because of how they will help push Takagi and Nishikata's relationship forward.

Characters: Takagi and Nishikata's biggest strength in their development is that their growth relies on the amount of time they spend together, and in Season 3, we see they've become more comfortable around each other. Nishikata becomes more smart with his tactics and competitions, and we even see moments where he even gets Takagi to think rather being replied instantly. He becomes less flustered with his reactions when it comes to being teased, and we even see moments where Nishikata has gotten to better understand Takagi as a person, taking note of her behavior and reactions in certain situations, to which he starts contemplating on how he sees his relationship with Takagi as he does show he enjoys her company. Nishikata even starts to become more aware of his feelings for Takagi, which in turn cause him to make decisions that catch Takagi off guard. On the other side, Takagi is a smart and clever girl, but when it comes to her feelings with Nishikata, we can see that she is emotionally fragile with how she expresses them and uses teasing as a way to show her affection. In Season 3, she becomes more direct with her feelings, as she is slowly trying to grow out of her weakness and trying to better understand Nishikata as a person. We even see Takagi in her most vulnerable state here, making her feel much more human. The development between the two perfectly compliments each other, and manages to pace itself in not straying too far in either direction. If you have been paying attention to their characters since Season 1, then you can see the amount of progression they have went through.

The side characters also fufill their role nicely as supporting characters. The B-trio retains their usual dynamic, and we see the different chemistries between the 2 side couples. Takao and Kimura are great comic relief characters with Kimura still being Nishikata's wingman. The side characters help expand on the middle school setting, which gives more life to the overall atmosphere.

Soundtrack: In Season 3 there is a known total of 13 songs, which is a considerable amount. It has the main opening and an alternate version of the opening, 8 ending songs, 2 insert songs, and an ending song from Season 1 sung by the B-trio. Rie Takahashi and Yuiko Ohara put a ton of effort into the songs this season, and all of them were amazing this time around. Personal favorites include Hana, Snow Magic Fantasy, Santa Ni Naritai, and Kazamidori wo Mitsukete. The background music this time was smartly used. We even get a segment that features no dialogue with the background music only playing. It was an unique Takagi and Nishikata segment, and reminiscences that of a Tom and Jerry segment.

Enjoyment: This season was a blast to watch as it was airing weekly, and I rewatched the episodes multiple times and never got bored of them. My favorite aspect of the Takagi-San series is the relationship between Takagi and Nishikata. Seeing how they have become closer to understanding each other, there were a ton of moments this time around that caught me by surprise, and definitely kept me coming back whenever there was a discussion about it.

Conclusion: My final rating for Season 3 is a 10/10. I know I have a bias when it comes to this series, but I have my reasons to back it up, and these reviews only scratch the surface as to why I consider Takagi-San to be my favorite anime. Season 3 did an amazing job progressing Takagi and Nishikata's relationship in amazing ways and it has a ton of surprises that surpass it over Seasons 1 and 2. The ending is honestly perfect in my opinion, and it was an ending that definitely fit in line with their characters. It was definitely worth the wait and I'm happy to see that we have a movie coming that will continue the story, and hopefully end it off on a perfect note because it has the momentum to do so.