Review of Teasing Master Takagi-san

The power dynamic struggle is the crux of this anime. Pretty much every situation the two leads get into always ends with Takagi getting one over on Protagonist-kun. It isn't entertaining to watch because you wonder who's going to win, it's entertaining because you know Takagi already won five moves ago and you get to see Protagonist-kun slowly comes to terms with that fact. Honestly I feel sorry for the guy, the only winning move for him would be not to play. What neither party would ever admit is that they both obviously like each other and this is just some very advanced form offlirting. It's a little like Love is War where the first one to admit they like the other will probably lose, but at the same time if either of them actually did admit their feelings it would also probably embarrass the other so much it'd be a win anyway. Really all Protagonist would have to do is man up and call her bluff one time and the roles would instantly be reversed. He even *spoilers for anyone who cares* does get one over on her by saying something to the affect of wanting to be with her instead of his friends but he doesn't even realize he won so it's still an L.

The dynamic between them is cute and fun to watch but honestly I don't think they'll be able to keep it fresh for 3 whole seasons. I'd love to be proven wrong but this sort of back and forth thing gets real tiresome real fast. It's why some people prefer classic Tsundere far above modern Tsundere (look it up.) Gradual but permanent character development would be preferable to an endless status quo that can only be resolved by the manga dropping enough in popularity for the publisher to decide to end it.

8/10