Review of Don't Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro

Ultimately, this anime is a bastardization no matter how you look at it. The first episode suggests a sado-masochistic fantasy, and the last episode suggests a vanilla rom-com. In between there is an identity crisis, where "oh no, people are complaining because this is too abusive!" resulted not in character *development*, but rather character *changing*. No matter how you look at it, this is a confused mess of an anime, which is a shame because it actually had the potential to be interesting. To describe what happened to this anime, imagine seeing one episode of downright sadistic bullying, so sadistic that you were outraged and feltlike the anime was immoral. Then the next episode is slightly less sadistic, and the next episode after that even less so. There is no reason for these changes, they just kind of happen. By the end, this sadistic girl with an eerie level of insight to all the protagonist's worries and fears has turned into some kind of generic tsundere who blushes and stammers as soon as he says anything nice.

Personally speaking, I would prefer if this anime was one or the other. Either commit to the bullying style of the first episodes and find some sort of story within that, or else start with the gentle mocking teasing of the last episodes. Instead we have this weird combination where a downright psychic sadist somehow ends up as an oblivious moe character.

The art and music is nothing to write home about. It's about average on both counts (except the OP, which is actually really well-done), and the only thing to make it stand out is the story and characters, which are both a mess. I kinda despise the show actually, because of the wasted potential to tell an interesting story about power dynamics and otaku insecurity. But if I'm going to be honest and not let my imagined "better version" cloud my thoughts, a 6/10 seems appropriate. Some ambitions to push it above the 5, but no finesse to push it any higher.