Review of Teasing Master Takagi-san

If there’s one thing I really can’t stand, it’s cringe comedy. Part of the experience of living with Asperger’s is that you’re both cripplingly deficient with social communication and painfully aware of that deficiency, so every social interaction is just one mangled sentence away from plunging you into a witch’s brew of bubbling shame that drags you down the more you helplessly flounder to escape. From that experience, watching fictional characters embarrass themselves for the sake of “comedy” that derives mocking pleasure from their social agony doesn’t so much trigger laughter from me as it triggers PTSD flashbacks. So on the surface, this show mightresemble nothing more or less than my personal hell. An entire anime dedicated to the idea of watching some poor fuck get repeatedly embarrassed in public over and over again? I can feel my inside trying to throttle themselves at the mere prospect. But against all odds, Skilled Teaser Takagi-san ends up being a really funny, really sweet, really wholesome time that captures the awkward, earnestly relatable nature of young love without falling prey to its menaces.

And yes, the premise is as simple and direct as I made it out in the previous paragraph. Nishikata is a middle-school boy living an average middle school life, with one exception: his classmate Takagi has made it her personal mission to tease him at every possible opportunity. She lives for the chance to catch him off guard and leave him in flustered confusion, and she knows his insecurities and thought process well enough that she’s really fucking good at it. Nishikata vows to get her back one of these days, but he’s unable to crack her code as easily as she’s cracked his. From there on, the show really does just follow them (and a handful of their classmates on occasion) as they hang out, getting into bets and challenges, with Takagi always leading Nishikata by the nose into her mischievous games and coming out on top. With such a simple premise and such a simple formula, the show leaves itself very little room for error. If it can’t make this poor kid’s suffering continuously funny, it will crash and burn on its face.

It’s a good thing, then, that Takagi-san is actually able to pull that difficult feat off. These two dorks’ interactions are a frigging delight; every single time they’re on screen, which is 85% of the show, has a kind of infectious charm that’s impossible not to get swept up in. What keeps it from descending into genuine mean-spiritedness is that you really get the sense that both of these kids truly enjoy the time they spend together. The enjoyment Takagi gleans from watching him suffer at her hands isn’t the power trip of a bully; it’s real appreciation from someone who can’t believe how lucky she is to have such a fantastic ally by her side. And more critically, for all the embarrassment she puts him through, it’s clear that Nishikata genuinely relishes the chance to match wits with her at every possible opportunity, even if he can’t quite put it into words himself. She makes life fun for him. Add to that a pair of stellar lead performances from Rie Takahashi of Konosuba fame, capturing Takagi’s earnest enjoyment of the time she spends with him, and the ever-stellar Yuki Kaji cranking up his Eren Yeager-patented theatrical determination with all the goofy sincerity this kind of character deserves, and I never felt the need to cringe away from their interactions because it’s so abundantly clear that neither of them truly feel the need to cringe away from their interactions. And Nishikata slowly realizing how much Takagi actually means to him makes for one of the most heart-fluttering experiences of anime in 2018.

Because yes, this show is a rom-com, and it captures this kind of immature, puppyish adoration better than pretty much any other show I’ve seen. Over the course of the show, the teasing gets less straightforward, the time they spend together grows more meaningful for both of them, and their interactions become increasingly tinged with a growing understanding of what’s lying underneath the mind games and flustered flailing. This is young love at its best: sweet, sincere, a little cruel at times, but innocently cruel in the way only kids can be. There’s something so pure in how they approach each other, how they handle their feelings in such vastly different ways, how they never lose the bite of the teasing games that brought them together in the first place. I can’t remember the last time a joke about periods felt this overwhelmingly clean-spirited, or flirtation with sexuality felt this refreshingly understated. The simplicity of their interactions feels more genuine than any attempt to heighten the situational absurdity could have been. This is a show about two kids in very awkward love, and it doesn’t pretend to be anything more or less.

Admittedly, while that simple, straightforward quality is what makes this show such a delight to watch, it’s also what keeps it from being any better. This is a purposefully light affair, with not much on its mind other than observing the endearing nuances of these two kids at a very particular time in their lives. The side characters are decently entertaining but not too memorable, and it sometimes feels like there’s a little too much space in between each line. But you know what? Sometimes, that’s okay. These two don’t need a grand adventure or bitter trials for the sake of their connection; the simple joys of each other’s company are enough for them. They were certainly enough for me. Skilled Teaser Takagi-san is a real gem, and it’s sure to make you day a little bit brighter with every clarion call of its titular character’s joyful laugh.