Review of Don't Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro

Nagatoro is a young girl who crushes on her senpai after finding in him something she wants: an honest guy. Or she just likes him. Either way, Nagatoro is an anime about a freshman girl crushing on her art-loving sophomore senpai. The art is great, this animation style is very fluid. Sound is very good and up to spec. Characters, well, you get used to them. Hachiouji and Nagatoro's friends become a decent group by the end, and Sunomiya, Hachiouji's senpai, is a bit too generic. The story is alright, but this anime is just a teaser for the manga so if you want thewhole thing, you'll have to read the manga, which is considerable after finishing the anime, so: mission accomplished.

Enjoyment: Who doesn't enjoy Nagatoro's whimsy? She's a great character and this lovey-dovey couple is always fun to watch grow.

Overall, Nagatoro was a brief seasonal ad for the manga worth enjoying. One imagines the manga must be pretty good so reading it would be worth the time. I like that the characters are honest about their feelings for each other by the end of this first season. I wouldn't mind more anytime.

But did it live up to the hype? Maybe not quite so, since the story is not as cut and dry as Nagatoro bullying her senpai. Rather this is just a good love story slice of life like some others. Nagatoro is an iconic character because of her grimacing, leering faces, but this is just how a freshman would act.

Overall, Nagatoro is a pretty good love story for which its story may justify a lower seven score but its art, good production values and iconic character, plus its stellar enjoyment from being a slapstick comedy, may push it over into very good territory.

For me personally, it fell into a very good 8 score. But my soul without comparison feels a 9 since I would really enjoy a movie or a second season. Failing that, maybe I'll check out the manga. I just really got caught up in their love story and want to see how far they go or if the story introduces another character worth considering, like a rival--all love triangles introduce a rival. So I feel like at end of S1 we're on the precipice of a new character/possible rival who could spice the story up and push Hachiouji and Nagatoro to the brink.

So overall, a very successful project, but since it was early in the manga, the generic Sunomiya storyline felt a bit too tacky. My hope would be that the story gets a bit better in its next arcs.

In general: enjoyable seasonal, worth checking out, not a masterpiece, but you should have fun.