I know very little
about Nagatoro going in. I know the girl is mean to the boy, and they both
like it. That's pretty much it. I wouldn't have even given this series a
shot, honestly, but I skim through those Anime News Network review articles
when they pop up on my feed, and it seems like there might just be the
crumbs of a fun romance
buried somewhere in this show.
I've honestly been in the mood to just Consume Content lately, especially
content with low commitment and low stakes. Something with some cheap laughs
is good enough for me. I've been tossing around whether or not to watch this
show for a few weeks now, and the only reason I've been waffling about it so
hard is that I'm worried I'm going to watch it and genuinely just love it.
Like, how embarrassing. How 'cringe' even. My fears were confirmed when I
got together with some friends recently. My (dear, lovely) friend Cassidy
turned to me, and said, completely genuine:
"Have you seen Nagatoro yet? I feel like you would really like it."
Okay, Cassidy.
I'm finally doing it. I'm doing it for you. But mark my words, if I end up actually caring about
these characters, there will be hell to pay.
---
Alright, my fears
are validated. Coming right out of the gate, the first half of episode 1
is kinder, a little more complex, and a hell of a lot more enjoyable
than I wanted it to be.
I like this shot in particular a lot, right when the girls are roasting
Senpai for his drawings and Nagatoro approaches after the fact. She
doesn't laugh at him along with them. In fact, it looks like she's
genuinely looking at his work. And when she sits down with him, they
have what you could consider a conversation before she suddenly lets him
have the bullying that we all know is coming.
And let him have it she does, in a way that's somehow
both a lot nicer and a
lot meaner than what I envisoned. It's more teasing than genuinely
damaging, but it feels inherently personal. Which, now that I think
about it, is probably why she looked at his drawings so closely.
Nagatoro's voice actress (Sumire Uesaka) is extremely compelling in this
role. I was conflicted, because I wanted to feel bad for Senpai when he
was getting teased, but damn it, Nagatoro's delivery is really spot-on.
ALSO, okay. The kabedon had me screaming a little bit. I was sitting
there like this for a minute.
---
I knew it. I knew this would happen. This is why I kept avoiding this
show.
(Last thing you see before you die.)
One episode in, and I already like them both a lot. The art style is
very inviting, especially the silly little faces Senpai makes when he's
embarrassed, which I can only assume is 90% of the show going forward.
Nagatoro has some great expressions too. I expected her to come off as
annoying, but honestly, she's kind of a delight.
Which brings me to my biggest dilemma after watching this episode: I
absolutely should not be laughing at Senpai's misfortunes at the hands
of this girl, but they make it so hard not to. The comedic timing is
really excellent, and I think it's the fact that Nagatoro isn't doing it
out of malice (just, idk, boredom and inherent bastard energy) that make
it somewhat charming. They had a nice little moment at the end of the
episode, too, where Senpai basically tells her 'this isn't the most
horrible thing people have done to me, so it's weirdly comforting'. It
probably helps that Nagatoro is a cute girl, too.
We also get this shot after Nagatoro accidentally* (*genuinely on
accident) pushes Senpai into the river. She's taken aback because that
was farther than she meant to take it, and she even apologizes to him.
It's a nice moment that shows she does have some emotions despite the
fact she's decided to torment this boy for reasons unknown.
I used to make fun of the mean anime girl trope a lot, but now that I've
realized that I like mean anime boys who do the exact same shit that
Nagatoro does in this episode, I can understand why this got so popular.
I don't know anything about the manga, and I doubt these two characters
will end up happily together in the (presumably) 12-episode run of a
single season, but I'm actually interested in how they work out their
relationship moving forward. And even if they don't make much progress,
I watched Kaguya-sama, so I'm no stranger to enjoying a whole season of
absurdist romcom hijinks.
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