Don't Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro

Out of 100 Nobles watching… 90 were impressed! 10 wanted the romance to go further and the fluff cut down Nagatoro was a very enjoyable romcom manga, which stays pretty “feel good” and doesn’t bog itself down with contrivances. I have thankfully gotten a better eye for spotting them or there has been a change in the industry that more romances are shirking away from threats of NTR and other nonsense. Perhaps things have just gotten more radicalized. For every Rent-a-Girlfriend where our main character is a pathetic cuck, we get a host of Nagatoro and Dress Up Darling romances where we establish a qualifying characteristic for ourcharacters to find attractive about each other and they pursue each other. The age of the childhood girlfriend coming in as an actual threat to the story is over. The time of the orcs is now. I think what was truly enjoyable about Nagatoro was both her and Senpai’s growth. Senpai over the course of the series grows a backbone and finds motivation to pursue real growth and accomplishment while Nagatoro matures emotionally and learns to pursue her own goals. They both better each other. It’s quite heartwarming, fluffy, and cute. Would have liked to see them in the future with a little mini-Toro. Maybe someday.

If you can get past the first x chapters, which are more about bullying than provoking the main character, you'll enjoy the rest of the manga. There are some moments that may be on the edge, but I don't live in the US, I'm not a snowflake, and I grew up in an environment where we were teased in various ways, so as the plot unfolded, her bullying turned more into teasing. As they say in my country "the quarrel of lovers is renewal of love". We've had x chapters that are just for laughs and don't have much impact on the story, but thenwe have several arcs that span several chapters and help the characters grow. We don't have a deeper look at why Nagatoro acts the way he does or why Senpai is so closed off. Rather, their characters and how their characters evolve over time are introduced. The side characters are pretty clearly distinguishable from each other, which I'd say is quite an exception compared to other manga I've read, because I always have to wonder who's who. The side characters here serve more as a help to the main characters, rather than sabotaging their relationship or getting an inordinate amount of time to rant and solve their problems. Some of the characters here are really just there as comedic relief, but at times you really get a laugh with them. Of course, we have to have wacky siblings, creepy friends, etc. here. But sometimes these characters are useful to the main characters. Possible spoilers: For me the TOP chapters are 107/109.5, 114, 144, There are more of course, but these are the ones I like to come back to. I thought the finale of the manga was perfect. No unnecessary plot twist or unnecessary final drama. I'm a bit sorry that there wasn't some sort of time skip where there was a glimpse of their life together, because the adult Nagatoro, from Senpai's imagination, was perfect.

Im just with a simple mission (Short version): No. It doesnt justify bullying neither is a kink about it. Nagatoro (character) has a personality which is to be annoying and Nagatoro (the manga) has something no other romcom I have watched: tangible and real growth. These are 2 KIDS learning about life and love. It has the right length. No more cliffhanger of the cliffhanger to go for weird unnecesary plot twist or no actual "advance" in the plot. No more "let me ungrow the characters so I can make it longer". The story is interesting, fun and rewarding. (specially the last chapters when thepieces move to allign). Just read it. Period. Trust me. But let me justify a little my reasoning here (Long version) Bullying is wrong and no one should never say its not, but so is to blindy attack bullies or judging a story/people without the maturity to properly understand all the complexity behind it. Calling everything bullying is so childish, like sure we have to reduce violent behaviors as much as possible and never justify them but Nagatoro is a dukin child with a background, she simply behaves like that. Judging a kid for being annoying another with adult morale compass/understading is so stupid and irresposible. Like dealing with kids is hard for a reason: kids are fragile, immature, very unconcious (specially of themselves), ALL of them and most of the times they dont really understand what they are doing and is just subconcious answers to stimulation. In other words: a response to experiences in an attempt to survive (again brain, subconcious). (in this case she liked someone quiet and didnt knew how to interact with him). Most kids simply have a relationship in their families that leads to violent behavior (or joking TOO much) as a "normal thing" (mostly by CONFUSING things for example context or lvl of intimacy with the other (not sexual...)) or have traumatic childhoods but let us leave that to the professionals ok?. I was one of the first kids (uh maybe also the second). I never got to extremes so dont get me wrong, I was like Nagatoro but different obviously, Im a man with male friends (when I got closer to girls as friends I changed a lot), Violence was the normal male violence in a male group, I got punched too but I often got too far since I didnt knew well when was enough. I have a strong personality shadowed by insecurity and fear (crippling fear). I had to change a lot to not lose my friends (which was very closed around my 14) and u know what people forget to talk in these topics? Humans can change, and for the better. My friends forgave my mistakes as they saw my change, wasnt perfect neither fast but I did it. I apologize and tried to be better. I have now friends with 13+ years of friendship at my 26 and have probably the most healthy friends. We still insult each others but the thing is we know when is "too far" and we simply dont cross it. We also reduced a lot the language. Since we are so aware how we are suffering adulthood most conversations go to "you can do it dont give up". And when it matters we are there for each others. None of us is perfect but that is the point in human relationships. What love often is about (and why love is so tricky). Also as a side note people really confuse bullying from just personality. Bullying can only truly be considered bullying when gets out of control (being permanent, segregating, being targeted towards 1 person. etc etc etc). Seriously, I feel like some people reviewing never had IRL friends because I have yet to know people not behaving in certain ways that are so often called "bullying" (Hell Im sure some of the ones crying about bullying are more toxic than the people they point with their fingers...) I cannot but have the feeling the pointing out the "fetish" are immature people that simplify things beucase of ignorance. Nagatoro definitely was too much at first dont get me wrong but the thing is since the beggining she has clear limits (and once again she is a kid that if u read the manga u will understand more about this). The people in the relationship also matter way more people understand. We can tolerate different levels of things. There is a reason why some people can find us funny and others hate us. And I will be clear, the first moments in the anime were PAINFUL. I have a huge problem with my past, I hate myself in that regard. Im sensitive and emphatetic but was a child with a harsh childhood. So seeing the reflection on some of my behaviors made genuinely feel itchy at some times ,I even thought dropping it but someone I value their opinion said this was incredible good. HE WAS NOT WRONG. I want to avoid spoileres so just read it. Dont listen to the immature angry kids in the reviews. Yeah Nagatoro is not for everyone so u can dislike her, but she is a perfect match for the prota which is how human relationships work. The story is beatiful, has growth and ends when it has to. And as a side side note a fun story of mine: When I was at the worst moment in my friendship (same guys) and I felt like I was the shittiest. The mother of one of them approach me "because she wanted to talk with me". I shitted myself expecting the worst... She THANKED ME because her son was talkin a lot more and she felt he was more secure and brave to talk his mind. Yup. My violent and annoying attitude made my friend to have to "adapt" to respond to me. He actually became smarter in many ways to bother me or win in the games we played (I was faster and stronger in general). And I have no doubt people can say I bullied this friend. Now at ours 26 we love each other like brothers, he has been the most supporting of my male friends with my depression and always encourage me to stop being afraid. So yeah I feel I have some sort of right to talk about this whole debate.