Review of Teasing Master Takagi-san
Romance is usually a concept that is difficult for children to wrap their minds around. Sure, you might like someone, but how do you even approach that person? Even if you do manage to approach him or her, how do you make sure that you don’t make an utter fool of yourself? Most kids end up arriving at one answer – show your interest by teasing the target of your affection. Sure, the target may not take it all that well, but at least you get to interact with them because of it, right? Karakai Juzou no Takagi-san (henceforth abbreviated as ‘Takagi-san’) is an animeabout one such girl, Takagi, who shows her interest in a boy, Nishikata, by teasing him.
Takagi-san follows an episodic format, with each episode containing 2-3 short stories about Takagi and Nishikata, and usually one story about three girls who are in the same class. As far as story is concerned, there isn’t much to speak of. Nishikata tries to come up with a plan to win against Takagi, only to be completely foiled by her, after which she proceeds to tease him. Pretty much every episode follows that format, with various little changes here and there. While it does seem to be the sort of thing that would get repetitive and dull over time, it has a certain charm to it that keeps things interesting.
As far as Art is concerned, it makes use of rather minimalistic artwork. The coloring and details are nothing spectacular, but it doesn’t look all that bad either. Still, due to this, it looks rather clean overall. The Sound is relatively forgettable, although I found the opening to be rather catchy (or annoying – take your pick).
The show mainly revolves around the interactions between Takagi and Nishikata, and they are generally rather cute. Takagi always makes sure never to go too far, and it always stops at the level of minor teasing, rather than bullying. She simply teases him because she likes him, not because of any real animosity. The other characters that show up are usually nothing all that important, except maybe the three girls (Sanae, Mina, and Yukari), who get some screen time in every episode. These segments are usually just youthful ramblings of young girls, but it can often be rather funny as well.
All put together, Takagi-san is a cute anime which works really well as a palate cleanser, to watch in between more serious anime. It may feel rather repetitive if watched all at once, so I advise against binge watching the whole thing. A simple way to describe Takagi-san would be a gender-bent version of Tonari no Seki-kun, with a little more of a (childish/innocent) romance focus. I’d recommend this one to just about anyone, since it’s a rather difficult show to hate. With this, I conclude.