8/10
Bullying Love
25 May 2021
Warning: Spoilers
It comes as no surprise that Don't Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro was initially heavily sought after to get its due. The series revolves around Naoto Hachioji, otherwise known as "Senpai," who is a second-year at Kazehaya High School who'd rather be by himself and draw his own manga. However, fate had different plans: after his manga is unwittingly shown to a group of popular girls, Senpai finds himself tormented by a tanned girl with a devilish smile.

At first it seemed that she was merely bullying him for sadistic reasons (which were true to some extent), but it becomes apparent that she actually had a crush on him.

The show is episodic; Senpai would be minding his own business, and then Nagatoro would waltz in, suggest something lewd, and pull one over on the poor guy. Sometimes, Nagatoro's friends would playfully mess with Senpai earning Nagatoro's ire.

The animation's nice. There are some shots that are well-crafted and detailed like one instance where the camera lingers on the shot of a small crab shuffling on the shore. Though the only dislike I have with the animation are that the background characters are all eyeless. Feels uncanny, but it was likely intentional.

There are really no characters that you can truly hate. Senpai does come off as being weak, but in some ways, he is really relatable. Some may have been that introverted student who'd rather be left to their own devices then have to have those awkward social interactions. When you see that he was bullied a lot as a younger boy, it makes a lot of sense that he would become that tense.

Nagatoro. Oh boy. At first glance, she comes off as being too much of a bully to Senpai to the point she made him cry twice and is arguably one of the most sadistic lead characters I have seen. But, it becomes crystal clear that she was in the same boat as Senpai. Underneath that teasing, bullying persona belies a shy girl who obviously has it hard for the MC but only feels that she can express it by playfully teasing him. But she does have standards such as defending Senpai when her friends were making harder hitting insults at him.

Her three friends, Gamo, Yoshi, and Sakura, are about as sadistic as Nagatoro tends to be and like trolling Senpai to his expense. Gamo is the tall leader of the group and the most mischievous of the group. She is the brains behind most of the attacks on Senpai and is fully aware that Nagatoro was in love with Senpai and is doing this stuff both to invoke some response from her friend, and to bring the two awkward kids together.

Yoshi is the more dim one who just parrots whatever Gamo says. She comes across as more or less "good," but is susceptible with going along with what Gamo is planning because she likes her. The opening theme, "Easy Love" is also rocking, and the ending theme is also good.

Overall, a good show. Very fun to watch.
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