Ijiranaide, Nagatoro-san

My Ijranaide Nagatoro-San Review :)

Story 9/10

Most people dropped the series to quickly because of the bullying in the first few episodes and calling it problematic. Throughout the entire series you can see how these characters grow and develop into something that is clearly more than a girl picking on her upperclassman.

Art 10/10

I LOVE this art style, I think it looks so clean and colourful; It definitely stands out. The art for the opening is also incredible and interesting to watch.

Sound 9/10

The opening and endings are really catchy and memorable. The rest of the soundtrack is also very fitting for the scenes they are intended for but nothing incredible.

Character 9/10

As stated before, most people dropped the anime too early because Nagatoro was a bully and problematic, and I will say the first too episodes may have been a little too over the top. But even after the first few episodes we can already see Nagatoro and Naoto’s dynamic change. Naoto starts to grow more confidence and is able to fire back at Nagatoro’s teasing. Nagatoro’s attitude around Naoto begins to change and is less bold with her comments, though she still likes to tease him it is in a more playful manner. I don’t have much to say about Nagatoro’s friends other than they are fun characters to watch.

Enjoyment 10/10

I really enjoyed watching this and I would definitely recommend this to someone else. It’s a great and fun show and I wish more people would have given it more of a chance instead of dropping it after the first few episodes.

Overall 9/10

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Ijiranaide, Nagatoro-san is not a traditional romantic comedy because it is neither romantic nor funny. Rather, it is comparable to a horror movie.

The horror genre appeals to people who enjoy being scared. You put yourself in the shoes of a frightened protagonist as they get chased by psychopaths, monsters, demons, etc. It’s almost masochistic how we enjoy horror. In Nagatoro-san, a teenage beta-male cuck gets tormented by a sadistic girl he has a crush on. He is repeatedly gaslit, humiliated, and manipulated by her. Similar to a horror film, it is frustrating, disturbing, uncomfortable, but strangely entertaining for a particular audience.

Naoto, our virgin loser protagonist, is the audience’s avatar. He is devoid of character depth. The sole reason he exists is to fulfill the viewers’ sadomasochistic fantasies. Have you ever wanted a gaudy teenage anime girl to bully you? You’re in luck. Every time Nagatoro enters Naoto’s art room, where he works on his latest painting, it is clear exactly what will happen. She will bully him. Regardless of how she goes about the bullying, it will be sexual in nature. Red flag: they’re both in high school—if that will upset you, then don’t watch it. Nagatoro acknowledges Naoto is attracted to her, and she uses that power to toy with his emotions. Giving the impression, or verbal agreement, that she wants to date him, then backing off as soon as he gives in to temptation. Just as Naoto begins to reciprocate, she pulls the rug out from under him, making him look like a fool. As a comedy, this joke isn’t funny enough to hold an entire show. They didn’t have well-written jokes in mind while making this anime. That becomes clear after the third time seeing Nagatoro pretending to strip for Naoto; then, he accidentally grabs her boobs. It is transparently fetish fuel. Acting like it but fetish fuel only makes the stale humor more unfunny. Could it have been self-aware like other ecchi anime? Yes, but that still wouldn’t have saved it from being mediocre. Another red flag: If you’ve experienced bullying, you will most likely feel repulsed by ALL of this anime.

Witnessing their twisted relationship progress into romance is horrifying. The power dynamics are crucially imbalanced. If it were a friendship, there would be no problem. The thing is, Nagatoro and Naoto’s relationship is sexually charged. Seduction, partial nudity, fantasizing about each other. It is not ‘cute’ teasing like the comedy anime Teasing Master Takagi-san.

Although both Nagatoro and Naoto derive pleasure from the bullying, there is a dangerous imbalance. Only the Dominant holds power in their relationship, whereas the Submissive should be able to revoke consent whenever they want. The English title, “Don't Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro” should set off red flags immediately. Nagatoro bullies him whenever she pleases. On the other hand, Naoto never has the power to withdraw consent. Their arrangement is unspoken. There’s no safe word to pause her mortifying teasing, which makes it very bizarre seeing them together in public. Rather than coming to an agreement, as a healthy S&M relationship would, she continuously bullies him until he enjoys it. While it initially seemed like they could have a symbiotic connection, it is more like an abuser desensitizing a victim until they give in to the abuse.

Calling Nagatoro an ‘abuser’ would be an overstatement. She continuously manipulates and gaslights Naoto. Though, it is impossible to sympathize with him because he always falls for her blatant ploys. I felt schadenfreude seeing Naoto get shat on, but that enjoyment ran out eventually because he is intensely unlikeable. He never learned, and so the teasing never escalated past the first episode. I doubt many people like Naoto, why would they? Curiously, he becomes friends with Nagatoro and all of her friends, even though they exist to humiliate him too. They appear in random places to come and tease him. They have nothing better to do with their lives, apparently. Every female character in this is a fanservice vehicle. Their surface-level personality traits range from ‘kind of rude’ to ‘complete asshole’. Naoto even got invited on a trip to the beach with them—seemingly so they could step on him while in swimsuits. It’s not like they were pandering towards humiliation fetishes! For humor, you know?

As for art and sound, it is decent but unremarkable. The environments are static; the comedic facial expressions are mostly traced and gain almost nothing from being animated. The few times the art looks good, it is a close-up on Nagatoro copied directly from the manga. Due to the nature of the source material, it requires little to no animation. Thanks to that, the character designs look adequately drawn. These designs are slightly altered from the manga; however, they look fine. Although I find flesh-fangs disgusting, if you’re into that sort of thing, then Nagatoro’s design won’t bother you. Her voice performance more than made up for it. Though many viewers will write off Nagatoro as an annoyance machine (understandably), it is worth praising Sumire Uesaka’s stellar realization of the deranged girl; every inflection and mannerism associated with the titular psycho comes to life believably. The opening and ending tracks are good, with the latter performed by Uesaka. All I can praise about the sound design is the original soundtrack’s editing, especially between flashbacks and the present day. It is most successful during dramatic scenes.

This is not an anime aimed at the average S&M enjoyer. Instead, it is targeted at teenage male viewers interested in dabbling in taboo fetishes without fully delving into smut. Unsurprisingly, cleavage and thigh shots are ever-present to appease the hormonal adolescent audience. Nagatoro and Naoto’s non-consensual relationship is framed as titillation for the viewer; it bears more similarities to a virgin porn addict’s view of S&M. Instead of writing an accurate and informative portrayal of S&M power dynamics, this is a pseudo hentai plot. Mangaka 774 could write a halfway decent romantic comedy, he certainly has the fanbase who’d devour it, but this isn’t it. Had Nagatoro-san been explicit hentai, as the mangaka’s other works, I would review it as such. Nonetheless, this is a TV anime, and you have to admit, hentai writing is kind of garbage.

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The one major attraction of anime medium is that we can explore any idea, in any way possible. Ijiranaide, Nagatoro-san (Don't Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro) explores the idea of a fiesty girl who makes it their personal hobby to bully a guy. Just imagine that. We have a show about a girl picking on a guy as a major plot element in 2021.

Watching Ijiranaide, Nagatoro-san is the type of rom-com adaptation that you know what you're going to get from day one. The premise speaks for itself as Naoto Hachiouji (better known as Senpai) is teased by Nagatoro every single day. And for his sanity, let's just say that Senpai would have to put up with Nagatoro antics even if he can never have a peaceful day again. Based on the manga of the same name, it's clear the author wanted to entertain us in the form of an eccentric romantic comedy. I'll warn you though. If you're not into watching a girl toy a guy on a daily basis, then I'd highly suggest to turn back now.

Even as the title suggests, the anime itself isn't sadomastic as it sounds. Senpai isn't Nagatoro's boy toy although he is teased as part of Nagatoro's favorite hobby. The first episode gives us a deep dive into how she operates. With every witty dialogue, she manages to put Senpai into compromising or embarassing positions. Senpai's own insecure personality doesn't help him stand up to Nagatoro either. Or perhaps there's a bit more? Watching the first few episodes also suggests that at some levels, he enjoys being with Nagatoro. Through their character chemistry, there's also some levels of sexual tension. This is evidenced especially whenever Nagatoro tries to use her body to tease Senpai. Other times, she makes sexual jokes alluding to adult references. It's the type of humor that you'll see every episode. And she's not even the sole character behind acting on these schemes.

Meet Gamo and Yosshi, two of Nagatoro's classmates who loves to tease and bully Senpai just as much as she does. Nicknaming our male protagonist as 'Paisen', they're known to call him Virgin at every chance possible. However, one interesting thing to note is that their teases sometimes irritates Nagatoro or perhaps even makes her jealous. At many points throughout the series, it shows that Nagatoro wants to keep Senpai to herself rather than letting others have him. Sure, she treats him like a toy but also wants to protect him for herself. Perhaps 'protect' isn't the right word to use here but Nagatoro has her moments of envy whenever Gamo and Yosshi takes their teases too far. It's physically reflected in her distorted eyes, a contrast to her usual bubbly self. Does that mean Nagatoro likes Senpai? That question may be ambigious and honestly too early to tell from this season alone. Unfortunately, this season didn't have enough time for any character development for Nagatoro. It seems that the anime itself just wanted to tease the audience about Nagatoro's feelings towards Senpai. In later episodes, we see this more evident when she engages in a rivalry with President but this really goes to nowhere.

With such a goofy cast and entertaining premise, you can bet this anime doesn't take itself seriously at all. The show generally follows a non-linear storytelling format with each episode playing out like skits. Each episode contains multiple parts but some of the recurring elements remains the same, most noticably being Nagatoro's teasing habits. The show also tries to throw off the audience on occasions by doing unorthodox episodes such as fantasy/isekai. Watching Nagatoro's relationship with Senpai equates to an owner playing with their toy, at least in the beginning of the anime. While the show always relies heavily on the teasing, it does get more playful later on. And of course, Nagatoro seems to be able to always find some way to tease Senpai with her clever mind. Whether it's physically or emotionally, she's the master at what she does, and is part of her DNA to tease Senpai.

We should give credit to where credit is due. Ijiranaide, Nagatoro-san is known for its comedy but it's serious about its artwork style, straight out of the manga. Frames in this adaptation is consistent with character designs appealing to the way they look. Nagatoro is known for using her body sometimes as a weapon on Senpai so it comes to no surprise that the show gave her a slim figure. More importantly is the character expressions. The show adapts a highly expressive way of showing her personality whenever her emotions runs wild whether when playful, jealous, or sarcastic. Nagatoro's playful personality also includes cat traits to reflect just how playful she is. In essence, she plays around like a curious cat. On the other hand, Senpai is protrayed as a nervous character who seems to be fearful of Nagatoro's antics. Who can blame him though? If you were teased by Nagatoro 24/7, you might get anxiety like him too. This show isn't also afraid of throwing in fan service elsewhere especially with the President. Can you imagine who walks around at school with just a towel like that?

Ijiranaide, Nagatoro-san isn't the first type of anime that focuses on a girl teasing a boy and it certainly won't be the last either. Here, we got this anime about a playful girl who loves to toy Senpai like her personal property. However, the big question you should ask yourself is if you want to join the entertainment with her along the way. Do you want to watch a show where the protagonist gets played around every episode? The answer can be both easy or hard to answer but if you look at the bigger picture, it's not difficult to decide. Because the fact is, this anime sells itself exactly the way it is: a huge animated meme.

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A boy
A girl
(''Comedy''
''Romantic''
and
''Slice of Life'')
Persistence
Emotional blackmail
and Bullying

Just by looking at it, we know that together, under no circumstances would this work, and Ijiranaide, Nagatoro-san (Please don't bully me, Nagatoro) - very characteristic, exists to show us this in the simplest, fearless and most effective way most sadistic way possible.

Adapted from the manga of the same name that started in 2017 and is in progress, created by an author with the code name 774 - (which by the way is a name (''code'') very simple and very characteristic too, without think hard to know that he is a creator of Hentais), which makes it logical for an artist to reach the point of being so despicable as to animate a work on physical and psychological torture, of the collective against a simple introverted and virgin teenager, in the XXI century for the public, which does not cover any knowledge and positive point beyond demonstrating this cruel reality of many who have suffered or suffer Bullying.

We follow the adventures (for the girl) and misadventures (for the boy) of Nagatoro Hayase and his ''Senpai'' (Naoto Hachiouji), that at first sight, Nagatoro found a victim to have fun, being Naoto, the typical apparently Nerd from the classroom with glasses and hair in her eyes, and that
it's also a virgin who gets embarrassed when he approaches or has some action involving women, while on the other hand, we have Nagatoro, a seemingly normal girl, but also an agitating girl (when the ''demon'' is close to Naoto) brunette from straight dark hair and brown eyes with few breasts and butt (which is strange coming from a certain person), who next to Naoto becomes a ''Boiling and Unstoppable Demon'', practicing bullying recklessly all the time, and not torturing only he, as well as me and a part of the audience, as the other tends to like the character I can't imagine for what reason, besides being masochists, and maybe because they sympathize with his ''grimaces'', or rather, their ' 'Cat Faces'', which by the way the author wanted to use it as something funny to make the muggle public sympathize with the ''Skittish, Bold and Unstoppable Kitten'', using this archetype as a basis to simulate a personality transference of a cat to Nagatoro, making everything ''cute'', what it made the audience blind themselves to the main theme and take it as if it were the most normal and acceptable thing in the world.

Nagatoro often abuses Naoto by emotionally blackmailing him for knowing his weaknesses, which weakens him even more and forces him to play his games and obey her, making Naoto reach his limits, which would have been the goal from the beginning of Nagatoro, making everything an infinite loop that does not cover any knowledge to the public from beginning to end, leaving only repetitions of cowardice and bullying in conjunction with a psychological torture possibly causing the evolution or transformation of a being, whether or not, to the a highest level masochist.

The other characters are useless, three of them are like ''Nagatoro's Henchmen'' and serve to help bully Naoto and also serve as comic relief, their names are Gamou Maki, Yoshi and Sakura. Apart from them, we have Sana Sunomiya, the typical president of the club, the art one, whose function is to want to displace the other characters there because she doesn't want to mess.

The rest of the cast that appear in the manga are also characterless and storyless like the ones seen here, which makes it worse, so don't waste your time here.

(Names mentioned above were forgettable, I had to see in the MAL DB)

The cat's tactic is smart, too bad it's used for such useless content.

I don't recommend this show to anyone, especially children, as it can be influential.

Thanks for reading and see you next time.

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