Excuse me, I don't usually write in English. If you want you can read my review in Spanish. This review is longer and more complete in Spanish.

Last year, I had the opportunity to delve into a genre that is often the delight of sweet-hearted hearts: love comedies. Of the works tasted, none of them I liked as much as Ijiranaide, Nagatoro-san (2017). The manga scripted and illustrated by Nanashi, an author previously dedicated to hentai, had caught my attention because it was one of the best sellers in Japan. By July 2020 it had exceeded 1.2 million copies in circulation and its animated adaptation is going to release in spring. However, I'm not going to talk about popularity but about the qualities of a manga that is generally known as the dark version of Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san (2012). Let's see what is true in that.

Ijiranaide, Nagatoro-san belongs, in my opinion, to a group of romantic comedies encompassed under the expression "Bad girls teasing weak guys". This popular category is characterized by complying with a pattern consisting of a pretty student annoying and blushing a regular boy daily. As it is obvious to those who have tried it, the hook is to observe his daily routine. A routine in which the female nuisance is not uncomfortable for the boy, but rather fun for the mischievous and ingenious game in which both participate and enjoy. Although both intervene, the young woman always occupies an active role and the boy takes the passive role. Broadly speaking, this is the functioning of the romantic and youthful dynamics of the aforementioned subgenre.

Nagatoro's daily habit is to habitually annoy Senpai through actions that imply embarrassing him and make him feel ashamed when reacting to the situation. She is aware that when there is something that embarrasses her she can take advantage and tease her to check her inaction and increase her embarrassment. A personal and irresistible pleasure. She usually accompanies him with small burlesque insults —especially, the frequent “disgusting” —of her, slapping and slapping her arms —in the form of noodle— and much insistence that she agrees to participate. On occasion, Nagatoro's antics and games end up accidentally turning against him, sharing a portion of the shame and blush that were destined for the protagonist.

Here it is worth commenting that, at first, Nagatoro's attitude was much closer to bullying than to a friendly relationship. In particular, the problem lies in the first six episodes, although from the third the problem begins to be solved. The initial interactions were clearly uncomfortable for Senpai and lacking in complicity, constituting a harassment in which Nagatoro was not taking into account the feelings of the victim with his attacks on the boy's dignity. It even gets to the point where she makes him cry and in the first chapter she even humiliates him by wiping her tears even though she told him to leave. A similar riot also occurs in chapter two by cruelly mocking his expectations and insulting his drawing. Fortunately, the author and Nagatoro herself associate these actions with bullying. To fix it, she opts for greater restraint and introduce gaffes that embarrass the young woman, small apologies and situations not exclusively limited to annoying. Consequently, a bug that was finally fixed without any presence since then.

Greater presence, on the other hand, is exhibited by the topics of the genre to which the author resorts to continue to preserve the interest of the readers in the daily adventures of the couple. We talk about episodes and arcs in which we attend the typical events and situations of romantic comedies: marathon, local festival, cultural festival, visit to the temple in New Year, day at the beach, indirect kiss , Valentine's Day, etc. While some may point to this as a problem due to the lack of conceptual originality, Nanashi mitigates the problem thanks to Nagatoro's expressiveness, charm, and liveliness, who is capable of bringing more life to situations seen hundreds of times. In particular, the couple's interactions sweeten the reader's heart. An example would be Senpai's delirium when the high fever made her believe that Nagatoro was her wife and that she was taking care of him with special affection and dedication. From time to time, however, this is insufficient because it does not apply any solution to seniors to appease the absence of news.

It is also necessary to mention many other typical situations that incorporate the presence of Nagatoro's group of friends. Like Nagatoro's older sister and the President, they are complementary characters that serve to unfold other kinds of stories and situations of a less intimate nature. Their characterization is very simple and the narrative does not give them any prominence. Initially, they did not even have a face like most of the secondary ones —the author is very lazy in this section—, although in the end they became recurring characters. Like Toro, they go from contempt and cruel mockery to being more friendly acquaintances, although they are somewhat malicious and their dynamic involves catching Paisen — Senpai backwards — to have fun at his expense until Prince Charming Nagatoro comes to the rescue. However, they are not bad girls and tend to give a partner a push at the evidence of their feelings.You could almost say that now this is its main function.

One last issue that we must touch is the relationship and its evolution throughout the manga. As in many works of the genre, conventions are the fundamental pillars of this romance. One of them is the correspondence of loving feelings and the difficulty of manifesting them through actions such as confession. For that reason, the romantic tension is maintained, without progress based on decisive changes but on small moments that consolidate and reinforce what they feel for each other. Consequently, the feeling is that the two are getting closer and closer, but never close enough to take a step that changes the status quo. That is, let's go from "we are friends" to "we are boyfriends". A wanting to be unable to materialize easily. I hope they finally manage to take the final step.

You can read my review here: https://elarmarioanimados.blogspot.com/2021/02/resena-ijiranaide-nagatoro-san.html