Makoto's review of Ijiranaide, Nagatoro-san

Neutral

Nagatoro is an average romance slice of life. The premise is that a kouhai, Nagatoro, is drawn to her clumsy, weak senpai, Naoto. The way she expresses her interest is by teasing him about his weak points, which is essentially everything but his talent for drawing. For starters, there is nothing problematic about the premise. If you find sexual themes using teenagers problematic, you should not be watching high school romance. If you find the teasing nature of their relationship problematic, perhaps you also take issue with the "physical abuse" in Chuunibyou, or take issue with every violent tsundere character out there. Nagatoro's intentions are not to hurt or to keep Naoto in a social state below her. Her first interaction with him is to wait for her friends to leave so they can talk alone, instead of ganking him with her friends. The show clearly portrays their relationship as one of growth. Bullying does not make you a better person, Nagatoro does. And yes, the stuff she does at the beginning is pretty harsh. But she says she is sorry for going too far and gives him a handkerchief in what it is clearly portrayed as a caring gesture. Then after she continues to be mean, she confronts him on why after being a jerk he doesn't get angry, and he replies that he has been bullied before but feels the situation with her isn't that bad. This all happens on the first episode. The message is clear. Moving on. In the character department, Nagatoro is sold as the main attraction here, and she does have an interesting design. I really like the designs of all the other girls, but they are neither innovative nor particularly interesting. Apart from Nagatoro the rest of the cast bring the average down significantly. Naoto might annoy people, as he is insufferably weak and introverted, but that does give him room to grow in the story, which he does. There are several moments where he goes out of his comfort zone to do something, mostly thanks to Nagatoro's influence. What brings the storytelling down is the pacing. It takes too long for Naoto to come to terms with his relationship with Nagatoro and to grow as a stronger person. Some of that time could have been used to improve more on Naoto or to actually progress their relationship more. Acting wise Yamashita Daiki does an ok job with Naoto, specially taking into account how hard it must be to act as a useless spineless insect. Uesaka Sumire does a great job as Nagatoro and together with Komatsu Mikako they are the ones carrying this on the seyuu department. Hanai Hirokazu did a good job in the direction and almost managed to not include a single offensive fanservice scene in all 12 episodes, but the gross boob grab in the last episode unfortunately was there and needs to be noted. Which brings me to my point that the show managed to portray sexuality in a fairly positive and in good taste for an ecchi anime. Nagatoro is portrayed in her swimsuit a lot, but that is brought in organically and it doesn't offend the viewer. Nagatoro's personality and the fact that she is a sports girl makes the more sexually charged scenes much more natural and although sometimes the show does push a little too hard, like the stretching scene or some panty shots. It is mostly not an issue, because... This is an ecchi show. It is portrayed as such, and it does not hide away from it. It is meant to be titillating to the viewer. The opening doesn't shy away from letting you know this. So viewers should come with that expectation. This show is also undeniably a Romance, with the main characters developing relationship taking the front line, in the typical reciprocal love story with lack of communication, which is commonplace in japanese romance. It is not a comedy, it doesn't try to make you laugh. It does have lighthearted moments and those are essential to the intended atmosphere the show tries to portray, but do not expect laughs. Some of the background music does not merge quietly with the scenes they are in. But sound design and OST is mostly ok. There is not a lot of sounds to be had in this show. The opening and ending theme are ok, with an interesting animation for the opening, but nothing stellar. The animation in general is nothing to write home about, but again, not offensive. There are scenes were stuff is well drawn and moves beautifully on the screen but also moments where things that should be moving are presented as static images. Most of the more economical shots are used in less important parts and characters leaving more budget to the more impactful things (usually Nagatoro's facial expressions). All in all a good use of budget. Overall a pretty decent romance ecchi. It is a decent production that does not insult the viewer too much. Nagatoro is the main point here, so if you like the genre and are attracted to her design, giving it a shot might be a good idea.