Alternative title(s): Ijiranaide, Nagatoro-san
Manga Adaptation by Telecom Animation Film
Streaming on Crunchyroll

Premise

An extremely shy young man gets aggressively teased by an underclassman, who happens to be a cute girl!

Jel’s verdict: No thanks

Unless the thought of getting verbally berated and stepped on by a little anime girl appeals to you, there’s not much reason to watch Nagatoro. In fact, I’m not even sure it’s good for that. The actual content of this episode is more tame than I expected aside from one bit where Nagatoro opens her shirt, and one really weird scene where they zoom into sad sack main guy’s eyeball as she soaks up his tears with a handkerchief. Is that some kind of sex thing I’m not aware of? I’m not really up on what the kids are into these days.

While there’s not much happening explicitly on screen, there is definitely some sado-masochistic sexual tension between Nagatoro, sad sack main guy, and the audience. This is most obviously expressed in how the camera leers at Nagatoro and the “jokes” she chooses to make, and more subtly in how Nagatoro and sad sack main guy react to each other. I guess it’s a testament to the writing and directing that you can feel this immediately while watching the episode. It’s a bit creepy when you consider these are school age kids, but probably not much worse than most other anime romantic comedies. Make of that what you will.

And so much like Nagatoro’s spiritual cousin, Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out!, I might be less concerned about potential problematic content than the fact that it’s just not funny. I don’t think they are even trying to make jokes. For example, there is one scene where Nagatoro pretends to ask sad sack main guy out, then two seconds later yells PSYCH! and that’s it. That’s… not how humor works. There is some attempt at self awareness as sad sack main guy draws manga (this anime is based on a manga series), but that doesn’t really go anywhere either. If you’re looking for good comedy, it ain’t here.

And so once again, this just feels like some kind of masochist wish fulfilment, which I find a little creepy since it’s main subject is a tiny underage girl. Not sticking around for this one.

Peter’s verdict: I think something has awoken inside me

Prior to episode 1, I’d only read the free manga preview on the Kobo store, and while I found it funny, I didn’t think it was all that. However, Uesaka Sumire manages to encapsulate Nagatoro’s way of speaking perfectly and give so much energy to a show that puts a huge emphasis on the spoken word.

I think there are two types of people who are into this show: Masochistic people who enjoy Nagatoro’s relentless punishment inserting themselves as Senpai, and sadistic people who enjoy Nagatoro’s relentless punishment inserting themselves as Nagatoro.

I’m not sure which one I am, but I’m definitely one of them.