Review of Teasing Master Takagi-san

Children, as they are just beginning to learn about themselves and the world around them, struggle to identify that a taller glass doesn't always necessarily contain more milk than a shorter but wider glass. If they're presented with emotions, they would only be more confused with more abstractions. Initially, I didn't have high expectations for Takagi-san, since it was just about childhood romance. I mean, what could be so interesting about that? Kids just fooling around, playing on the playground and swinging on monkey bars. However, I quickly realized that I was so wrong about this anime. What appeared to be a children's show turned intoa good bittersweet cup of chilldhood romance.

I blushed. I lost.

Takagi-san explores the emotions between two elementary children, a perceptive girl named, obviously, Takagi-san and a klutzy boy called Nishikata. Without knowing how to deal with the emotions that they feel for each other, Takagi-san proceeds to tease Nishikata to interact more with him and help him grow to realize her affection, while Nishikata plainly rejects any evidence of affection, or any girly behaviour such as loving "50% Unrequited Love", mainly due to his gender expectations. The series runs through their interactions with each other, which I believe are more comic than serious. There were some exceptionally hilarious and interesting scenes, such as when the 100% star-crossed elementary couples go tandem riding, when Takagi makes faces at Nishikata while he's drawing a portrait of her, and when Nishikata is always on the receiving end of Takagi's prowess as a witty teaser. However, the more that I progressed through the show, the more that I realized the heartwarming portions of it, which was the fact that although Takagi may seem to be treating Nishikata like a poor goldfish with unattainable fish food in sight, she really is just trying to help him become more open to her affection. That fact becomes progressively apparent as Takagi show her weakness to emotions more and more towards the cute ending of the series.

Ha, looks like all poker faces can break, even the ones made outta gold.

Anyways, I gotta say that Takagi-san was quite a relaxing and touching watch for me. I do agree with many on this review page that the minor characters were very weak. They're the characters who resemble the poor quality that I initially expected from this anime. However, I think they can be basically overlooked since there many more outstanding pros than cons: The romance between Takagi-San and Nishikata was sweet and nostalgic, the ending was great, the humour is solid. I give this anime a 7/10 only because I still enjoy animes with more complex plots/themes better (eg. Code Geass, Caligula Effect) and I put a lot of emphasize towards soundtrack quality, which is not all that great for this anime but I can't really blame it since it represents the anime's school-setting style. Despite my picky criticisms, I highly approve of this anime and would recommend it to anyone who's just looking to reflect on their childhood or just looking to relax.