Spring 2021 First Impressions – Don’t Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 12

Source: Manga

Story Summary: Naoto’s only refuge is the peacefulness of the school library, but one afternoon he finds it populated by a group of extremely loud and chatty first-year girls. He attempts to get his work done and leave, but ends up getting picked on for his home-made manga. Three of the girls leave, but one girl with a devilish grin stays behind to torment him until he breaks down and cries. The next day while Naoto’s working on sketching in the art room, he finds that this girl, Nagatoro, seems to have taken a sick interest in teasing him. She does everything she can to get him to snap, which makes him recall some bad childhood memories of being bullied. It seems like, ultimately, what Nagatoro wants to see is her senpai actually get angry over something rather that hiding out in his shell. But is this what he wants? And is he actually starting to feel a little bit fond of Nagatoro?

Impressions: I had a friend when I was in kindergarten who, for some reason over the Summer between kindergarten and first grade decided that she didn’t like me any more. I never really figured out why, but spent the next however-many years enduring rudeness and shitty behavior from her and her new friends on a fairly regular basis. It didn’t matter how old we got, she still seemed to have it out for me. After we’d left school my sister ended up working at a restaurant with this girl and she even treated my sister like shit. What the hell was the bone she had to pick with my family? I don’t think I’ll ever know and I’m not inclined to ask her. The reason I mention this is because it’s made me extremely sensitive to depictions of bullying in media, especially when it’s used for comedy (or in this case, comedic masochism). While the bullying behavior in Nagatoro is of a very different strain than what I’ve experienced personally, it gives me a similar knot in my stomach.

We’re given the implication that Nagatoro sees something more in Naoto than simply a target for her twisted amusement – the impression she gets from the manga he’s been making is that the main character is a self-insert created to help deal with his inability to talk to women, and judging by his internal monologue about women being a “different species” (ugh…) that’s probably the case. There’s this optimistic part of me that wants to believe her goofing around is some misguided way of helping him to get over himself, because he definitely needs some kind of perspective change. But… Well, there are people who will say that someone who picks on you is actually doing it to say that they like you, and that’s a line of thinking that’s done a lot of harm in this world. People shouldn’t accept abuse as love, and even in response to C-grade teenage misogyny two wrongs don’t make a right.

I’m left wondering how anyone could find this entertaining. I don’t mean that in the sense that people who do like it have bad taste, but more that I’ve been trying to look at this episode from several different angles and have only ended up feeling more uncomfortable and mildly upset. I suspect it all really comes down to a level of separation that, based solely on my life experiences, I will never have. I’ve been picked on by people who I thought were my friends, and spent years interrogating myself about what innate aspect of my personality could have been so unlikeable as to inspire them to turn on me. I’ve put up with a lot of mean-spirited treatment in the pursuit of friendship, and reliving that, even abstractly through an anime series, just isn’t my idea of fun.

Pros: I have to say, the voice performance for Nagatoro is pretty convincing. She’s got just the right amount of jokey-ness and sneer to her voice that it feels very effective.

The story really captures the awkwardness of being a shy teenager, too. I mean, I cringe, but who among us hasn’t also written or drawn some terrible self-insert story to work through our adolescent feelings?

This episode also looks very polished overall, with decent animation and some good detail work on Nagatoro’s face (especially her eyes).

Cons: Two words: flesh tooth. I know I’m not alone in being creeped out by this. The jagged-mouth-as-indication-of-snaggle-tooth is a character design technique that I could live without.

I also find both leads to be almost entirely unlikeable in their own very special ways. I enjoy humor that’s based more on good-natured character behaviors and flaws, and this entire episode just feels based around mean-spiritedness. Not my style whatsoever.

Content Warnings: Incessant bullying (emotional). Misogyny. Some mild slapstick.

Would I Watch More? – If I’m going to traumatize myself watching anime, I’d rather it be with something that also feels fulfilling to me in some way. This just dredges up some uncomfortable memories and makes me feel bad.