Review of Don't Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro

I had a great time with the show. I wasn’t on board after the first couple of episodes but it grew on me. This show is cute, a little pervy, and charming as hell. Story It’s a growth story for our two leads. Our main man Senpai is a nerd-loser-loner and Nagatoro is a popular girl on the swim team. There is bullying and slowly growing love. I’m sure that most of the people reading this can guess at what happens and it sure does. The plotting is pretty basic. There is the club room, the cafeteria, the walk home, the beach, and the festival. It’sall about the character development.

The highlights of the story were the situations where Senpai flashed a bit of backbone. He was so pathetic throughout that when he decided to grow a pair, or maybe just a single one, it was glorious and had me pumping my fist for him.

Art
The art looked great. In the first minute or two of the first episode, they showed the different scenes of the city: the beach, the roads, the buildings, and the school. The images looked like something out of a fantasy storybook. They were gorgeous and the art held up throughout the entire season.

The characters were drawn as well as in any anime I’ve seen. Senpai looked every part of loser he was supposed to be. Nagatoro was cute. I liked the ear cuff because it was definitely something that she would wear. The other character designs were spot on. The tough girl had the spikey hair and nonchalant eyes. The pig-tailed girl had that blank look that said what you needed to know about her.

I appreciated that the art got more storybook-like when there was chemistry on screen. It was a cute touch to highlight the pair’s moments.

The opening credits had that Saved By The Bell kick to it. The ending had the simplified, abstract look. Both were cool and fit the aesthetic of the show perfectly.

Also, big props for the 8-bit ending. I’m a retro-gamer myself and love that 8-bit aesthetic. It rocked and pushed the art to a perfect score for me.

Sound
The sound was good. The voices fit. Senpai sounded like the loser he should sound like. Nagatoro had that shit-eating giggle down perfect. There were a couple of scenes where she whistled to appear unphased in spicy situations. But, as the tension mounted, her whistle disintegrated into disjointed blowing through pursed lips. I thought it was hilarious. Props to her VA and the director. Gamo had the perfect tough girl voice.

The music was good. The opening was sung by Nagatoro’s VA and was upbeat and catchy. The ending was slower, sweet, and also catchy. By halfway through the season, I was singing the “Senpai” part along with the VAs.

The background music was good. There was Gamo’s theme that sounded like someone was going to instigate. It had a little bit of a Seinfeld energy that was perfect for her troublemaking. There was also the love theme that had bits and parts played at moments when the pair had chemistry. It wasn’t until the festival episode that we got to hear the beat actually drop. The moment was done perfectly with the situation, the slow-mo, the music.

Character
The characters were great. Senpai was such a loser-loner-nerd that it hurt. Those first few episodes were so cringey. I felt for the guy. But all that pain made for his moments to shine brighter. It was glorious when he decided to grow a back bone. For me, it was the distance he moved from his default state to asserting himself that was awesome. His character development felt great.

Nagatoro was the catalyst for Senpai. She and her friends were jerks in the first few eps and I didn’t like them. They gave our guy a hard time for sport and it was mean. I wish they would give some backstory on Nagatoro. I’ve heard that she was explained in the manga but having it in the show would have been nice. Her bullying was probably a defense mechanism or just immaturity and seeing her grow from it was satisfying.

Gamo, Yoshi, and Sakura were a realistic crew for Nagatoro. I could see them hanging and sparring with each other in high school. Gamo was the confident tough girl. Yoshi the echo. And Sakura the saccharine instigator.

I loved the characters and how they developed.

Enjoyment
I had a blast watching the show. I hate to say it, but Senpai reminded me of a little bit of me from a long time ago. I felt his pain. But it was those moments where he manned up and opened up that were triumphant. He had me pumping my fist to cheer him on.

Overall
Overall, the show is great. I had a ton of fun watching it. It’s light-hearted, cute, and charming as hell.