Ijiranaide, Nagatoro-san

I'm not sure what I expected from this. I hadn't really heard anything about it, just seen some memes and stereotypical "lewd" faces, so I guess something borderline hentai was what I had in mind.

After checking it out, it does feel a bit like reading hentai for the plot, but also surprisingly much more.

I have no idea about the author's intensions making this manga, but I do feel like it is misunderstood at least a bit. The first handful of chapters are about a girl (Nagatoro) picking on and being a general nuisance to a nerdy guy (Senpai) in the year over her in high school. Slowly, we get to experience their unusual (and granted, pretty toxic) relationship through these two so thoroughly flawed characters.

Nagatoro is insufferable on the outside, but we can see her actually slowly diving into this relationship and getting invested. There is no doubt in my mind that she is using her flawed ways to show affection towards Senpai, and that she is much more into him that she admits to herself. We see her façade falter at times, and for whole chapters she acts more or less respectfully without seeming to pay it any mind. To further this, we see her experiences with other males - those who try to hit on her she absolutely demolishes, and not in the playful way she does with Senpai.

Senpai on the other hand was a complete shut in who clearly doesn't have many friends and doesn't speak up for himself. Nagatoro drags him out of that bubble a bit, and he ends up hanging with the hot girls at the beach, walking with a "date" at the fireworks festival, spending time after school with a group of girls, etc. After a while he starts speaking up more for himself, though not enough to prevent Nagatoro's antics obviously.

There is a very meta micro story arc where Senpai draws a manga where the MC is a self-insert. Nagatoro comments that it's unrealistic because Senpai wouldn't act that way in those situations. She proceeds to create a situation to exemplify how he *would* act. It feels to me that the author of Nagatoro is taking some very meta self-criticism by actually creating a pretty pathetic character who acts naturally as he would. (Though not necessarily that Senpai is a direct projection of the author)

To me, the manga is more about Nagatoro's shortcomings and insecurities and how her taking that out on a nerdy guy slowly lets us explore *her* psyche and coming of age, and it has surprisingly more character development than I expected, but it only happens some tens of chapters into the manga. Some of the gags are also pretty good, and the art is obviously top notch coming from a hentai artist.

Nagatoro-san, a fun yet simple manga. Don't expect an intricate plot because there isn't one. It's a very fun fast read, you'll really enjoy if you liked Takagi-san and Sketch-san.

Story- 8: nothing special if we're being quite honest. Just very enjoyable, straight to the point, and the re-readability is very high.

Art- 6: Not the best, not the worst. It's very similar to Elfen Lied's art, both deserve the "fair" rating.

Character- 9: Made to be fun, not intricate and thought provoking. We see a tiny bit of development on Hayase's behalf in chapter 11, Senpai seems to be developing every chapter. I love it, the designs, the interactions. Solid 9 for me.

Enjoyment- 10: It's very enjoyable, the relationship dynamic Senpai and Hayase have is very refreshing and fun to watch.

Overall- 9: A lot of people will enjoy it, some people will find it silly and take it a bit too serious. It's half comedy and half romance the way I see it. Also if you're a s or m you'll definitely get much more out of the manga than someone who's neither.

I'mma keep it real with you Chief: This is the Classy-Trash I love. Not just steam doggin the living shit out of a hot bun, but also not so stale that nothing worthwhile happens. Surprisingly good plot progression for a series which requires an extremely slow build up. Big proud of our boy Senpai for bossing up. Respect King!


Story: 8/10 Good, definitely holds my interest, but has it's "Basic" or predictable moments

Art: 8/10 Great facial expressions and cool scenery at times, nothing too crazy

Characters: 8/10 While definitely falling into expected archetypes, it's done in a proper way and our Simp boy ACCTUALLY MAKES PROGRESS over time.


Overall: I give this manga a 9/10. Due to the nature of the story, my enjoyment is easily a 10/10 but am reserving judgment until I see the ending. Looking forward to see the anime adaptation hopefully soon!

Getting through the first chapter was a pain. IF you're not into bullying, this is not for you. Though the first few chapters were horrible to read, where the love interest pushed the main character to tears. Afterwards, they develop quite a cute relationship, with blooming feelings between them. Which I like about this part of the story is that you don't have to read their inside thoughts to come to that conclusion.

Story: 5/10 A classic kouhai x senpai, loner senpai meets kohaui who teases him a bunch, set in a school scene. Not something I haven't seen before, not to mention it started out very badly, in my opinion.

Art: 6/10 not my favorite, to be honest. The art style seemed too...proportional to me.

Characters: 7/10 Progressively get better, but they still stick on the same things. Great amount of growth from first chapter.

Enjoyment: 9/10 Despite what I said, the chapters were quite captivating, though I do this with every romance thing I read or watch.

Overall: 8/10 though the bullying was excessive and quite annoying, it made for a fun story overall, making it very good.

at first this manga is kind of bad. It is actual harassment and bullying, i really wanted to like Nagatoro but she was just a terrible person.

THANKFULLY! later on in the story she actually becomes a better person.

It's really cool and cute seeing these 2 characters grow a friendship through out the story and seeing them get closer and closer. I know a lot of people don't like this manga becuase of the bullying. It's not like the playful teasing in anime like Teasing Master Takagi-San. but like i said these 2 grow close and you see Nagatoro be a better person towards Naoto

Overall, pretty good. I recommend to at least get to chapter 20 before giving up on it for harassment and bullying, it gets better

(God I wish this was me)

First, let's get one thing out of the way; the first few chapters may put you off. It's a pretty terrible first impression. I can see how some people may find Nagatoro, the female lead, to be a complete bitch with how she treats the male lead (Senpai). I was somewhat the same and I was ready to just stop reading after the first few chapters, but I kept chuggin' along because, well, it's pretty different to what you'd usually find.

I like to look at the manga in its entirety and their relationship hand-in-hand, because yes: they DEFINITELY had terrible first impressions. However, while there was a rocky start, once you dig a little deeper into it, you'll find something to like.

What appealed to me is that the state of their relationship slowly changes as chapters pass, albeit slowly and subtly. Readers will come to realise that Nagatoro's view towards her Senpai develops gradually into affection (as unlikely as the first dozen chapters makes it out to be). As time passes, Nagatoro slowly grew on me. She isn't two dimensional; while she does get a kick out of bullying Senpai, calling him names and intentionally making him flustered, it isn't long before you'll notice the changes in her disposition. Things like moments of protectiveness whenever other people make fun of her Senpai a little too much or jealousy whenever he's involved with a girl that isn't her. It's not long before the 'bullying' is really just teasing.

Really cute to see.

Though the plot itself is rather straightforward: girl likes to mess with guy, guy puts up with it (or probably enjoys it). There isn't anything fancy when it comes to it, though despite that it's still enjoyable. There's nothing wrong with simplicity.

When it comes to characters, it's nothing home to write about. They're pretty barebones, Senpai is just referred to as Senpai, he doesn't have an actual name. He's just a pushover who enjoys art and has fluffy hair. The only noteworthy developments you'll find is Nagatoro's aforementioned view and approach towards Senpai, and to a lesser extent, Senpai towards Nagatoro. As enjoyable as Nagatoro is to see when it comes to her antics with Senpai, the side characters leave much to be desired. They don't do much aside for creating tension every now and then.

The art is in the same vein; nothing jumps out at you, except Nagatoro is pretty cute, not gonna lie. Oh, and I guess the mangaka isn't so great at drawing feet. If you know, you know.

All in all, a fun read once you're invested. Not exactly a full-course meal, but it's quite a snacc.

What we have here is a very good story about fairly average characters, and the strength of the second part of that leading statement is what truly separates this work from most of the other school-life / romance mangas out there. Where most mangas in this category center on characters that would for one reason or another be circled in most of the yearbooks for their respective schools, the main characters of this story stand out because they would most likely be soon forgotten by all but their closest friends. The guy is not the feared delinquint and the girl is not the silver haired beauty... He is the quiet loaner always with the sketch book but never making eyec ontact. She is the energetic skinny chick who seems to be friends with the really hot girls. Let me put it this way, He is the comet, who for most of his existence has gone completely unnoticed until completely against his personal wishes gets sucked into the orbit of some of the most popular girls in school.

What's most interesting is that these are characters that most of us knew in high school, but most likely didn't at all aspire to be. The personality flaws of the MCs are significant, but not insurmountable. His crippling shyness has given him a long history of being bullied, but most of his tormentors have left him behind for more interesting challenges; but she has been hanging around her popular friends too long and the mean spirited sense of humour she has picked up as well as her natural stubbornness makes her hard to get along with. It's these main characters that seem so realistic and relatable yet unusual in the world of Manga for their reality that get such a high score from me. The character design artwork emphasizes this. She, the titular Nagatoro, contrasts from her contrasts from her posse by being the shortest and skinniest, with straight limp and dark hair. But her compact frame carries a lot of athetic energy: a regular (if not a leader) on the swim team, and clearly (although not explicitly stated) has spent much of her youth in some dojo or another and would be able to hold her own within her weight class at a combat sport tournament. We learn, that there is a kind heart that beats (fairly deeply buried) under the cruely humoured exterior she has learned to put on, and that kind heart has been reveiling itself as the volumes tick off. Much of her teasing of him goes to the point of trying to pull him out of his self imposed shell, but she learns quickly that like with a hermit crab, you can only tug so hard before real injury gets done. By the end of the second volume their relationship is developed enough that she is even standing up for him against her friends when they cross the line, much to her surprise.

I probably spoiled a bit there, but as far as story, this has more in common with a variety of publications being a slow burn romance building story arc. It shares a lot of plot outline with, say, ToraDora!, B-gata H-kei, or even more so Teasing Master Takagi-san. It is nicely done, with plenty of tension, some foreshadowing, and even some surprises, both good and harsh, to keep things interesting yet moving along. To contrast with some of the older reviews, I see this as not so much of a Dom/Sub relationship story... it seems to be developing more depth and complexity than that, as he starts to come out of his shell and gain some agency over their relationship. And I have definitely seen some character development, but it doesn't become noticeable until about the third volume.

Anyway, I look forward to more in this series. There is definitely more coming beyond the five volumes we have so far, but how much is anyones guess, is suppose. I hope for at least 12 volumes, but I see the potential for a much longer running series (Kiss X Sis is still going after all).

Spoiler free review!

What I like:
+ Story is a breath of fresh air each time
+ A really clever and funny manga to my surprise, nothing has made me laugh
this much ever since reading Komi-san.
+ Art style is unique

What I DON'T like:
+ As the title suggests, it is quite literally a kouhai bullying a senior. And it's the
kind of tough bullying, even though they're "cool with it"
+ A lot of inappropriate jokes, especially when you consider the ages of the
characters


Overall: 7
Not that bad of a read. A surprising yet clever and hilarious read too. I wouldn't recommend if you are overly sensitive to sexual content but other than that it's a good read, one you can laugh to when you're bored lol.

My favourite manga so far. Amazing art, great characters. The only drawback is just that the story goes on too fucking fast. You can't expect too many chapters on this rate. Still though, you won't be able to find stuff this special just anywhere. Some people would say that the girl is too cruel and sadistic, but i think once you,ve read it, you'll find that it's more sweet than anything else. To really understand the story and characters to the fullest, you'll have to read until at least chap 8.

All in all: 10/10 art
9/10 charaters
7/10 story ( but you'll never know how things'll eventually go )
Consider it a better drew Takagi

This manga really makes me wonder every chapter, "When are they going to kiss when are they going to be boyfriend and girlfriend." Asking me these questions makes me read more and more.
I really love the way the story is driven, until a certain point where then the story gets a bit dull, then it shoots right back up to good. The art of this gets a good score overall, it could get dull sometimes, but overall the art is good.

The Characters itself are funny making fun of the poor sophomore everyday with the relationship Nagatoro and Naoto seems to be the type of relationship we don't really see often in newer anime. Its different and different is pretty cool in my opinion.

The Enjoyment of this manga is pretty good it has some bad dull parts, but overall it's pretty good. The enjoyment of each scene and how it plays out its funny and enjoyable at most parts. Feels like I'm watching a comedy anime all over again.
Overall I'm excited for the adaption for this anime and see how they play this out, I hope they do it right, but overall give this Manga a good grade.

this manga saved my life. go read nagatoro!

the plot is so much fun to read and oh my god is nagatoro a fun story. i have seen a lot of people mad about her "bullying" but it is obviously lighthearted. this manga can cheer up anyone from any heavy manga or it can just be a ton of fun to read in an afternoon.

the first 30 chapters or so have little development and are basically gags, but there are actual arcs that come in later. this is one of a few manga to make me actually laugh out loud at the jokes in it. I do not like the side characters at all, but nagatoro carries.

nagatoro is getting an anime soon and i think nows a better time than ever to read it. also theres a catgirl (kindof) so basically you would be a fool not to read it.

Who would've thought that 774/Nanashi, the author and the artist of this, would be able to draw and write such a wholesome story when he's known to have drawn quite a number of bestiality and guro hentai. And if you don't know what guro is, it's the worst kind of hentai a person should be enjoying. And funny enough, on chapter 5, there was a reference to his own H doujin called Yupiel Sama, if that's not obvious enough for you that he's a hentai artist. Btw, that's such a meta way to promote his best H work lol. And dont worry, this one is just about as wholesome and similar to Nagatoro which may pretty much be a work of his own that inspired Nagatoro as a whole to exist.

There will of course be some people who hated this because of the bullying and how much of a dick the heroine is. Though keep in mind, the smugness and the bullying is the appeal to this series. Additionally, there's such thing as teasing the person that you like by bullying them, so it's technically not that strange. I mean, usually a boy teasing girl that they like is a good example of this. She's just on the extreme side.

If you don't like this, then just dont read it. But if you're the type of person who's open minded, try reading it until the 10th chapter and make up your mind until then. You would be surprise of how likable this series is disregarding the early bad impression that you may had.

She attac, she insult, she bully; but the best one of all: she protecc

And that's the charm of the series; when your bullies only bully you and you only because shes actually is interested in you. It's a unique love story that's for sure.

And the very great twist to all of this, she's actually a very normal girl underneath that layer of "im a bully, or a delinquent" persona. And she really just wanted to be treated normally. Within her, exist an emotional desire to be normal and be treated with honesty than ingenuity that most males in this story are being portrayed: wanting to get close to her for sexual gratification. And the hint of her interior emotions, she seems to be in a state of boredom or depression, and the thing that keeping her entertain in life is him. The writing of the character is actually a lot more intricated than you would think.

All that said, this series is just too cute.

I've never written a review on this site before, so this will be my first and probably only dive into it, solely because no review does this manga justice and it seems like everyone has completely misjudged the direction of what Ijiranaide, Nagatoro-san achieves.

Initially Nagatoro-san plays itself off as a shallow, one track idea and nothing else. It takes the notion of teasing and bullying on topic of the cliche that is our very common anime/manga trope at this point; the nerd/otaku.

Opening into it I was mostly reading along further because the art is quite clean and there were not all that many chapters out at the time of writing this, however, by day 2 of reading my perspective began to shift on how this manga actually portrays what is behind the jests and shenanigans and the art has a massive role to play.
Most of those writing reviews are to comment on how both the main characters look fantastic and I don't discredit that but the main factor of the art being such a driving force is because of the nuance. With the very detailed facial expressions we get we are delivered a multi-tone perspective in a single panel which is very rarely replicated by other visual stories these days. Certain moments keep the hyper-expressiveness within certain margins that tell you the story behind and about the choices of the characters actions.
Within 30 chapters we see 'Senpai' grow confident in the environment that has been fostered around him and even see him longing for it contrary to how he says he is feeling about his relationship with the girls. Most notably at the festival.
More importantly however is how Nagatoro is portrayed through her demonization, her actions may be a level of harassment and they are fully intended to be and anyone with a simple level of understanding can see that she is incredibly interested in Senpai, this is made apparent by her completely dis-infatuation with other men but she is also using Senpai as her only outlet to not be the person she enjoys the company of.
Nagatoro is an equally self-embarrassed person with very few comfort-zone people in her life. Senpai is one of the few people that she has found beneath her and whilst definitely has notions of revelry when it comes to being a tormentress she is also acting in ways she finds completely embarrassing to cover for how she feels. What makes this interesting is that she has learnt the boundaries of Senpai and he takes on the emotional load of the scenario because he doesn't read deeper into her when its directly affecting him, leaving Nagatoro to keep reign and a personal comfort in that which is an unspoken mutuality in their likenesses.
Almost all told exclusively within the facial expressions.

Nagatoro as a result tells us the tale of the feelings that are within a person that lashes out as a bully but not sympathetically from the bullies point of view, we are given very narrow space to empathise with the bully from the view point of the one BEING bullied. Leaving most with the standard feelings they would as if they were being bullied themselves, its not a pleasant feeling and bullies will never try and leave an emotional opening, especially to someone they consider weaker than them as it is the direct impact to them falling down a far deeper pit than that which they are in. As a reader we have a beautiful balance on this spectrum which lets us fold back the blinds just a little bit every so often to glean how Nagatoro feels without being invasive or particularly short lived, and I say this on a level very different to that of the fundamental relationship story it has going on.

Sure on some levels you can tread on this manga as a piece of fetish catering fan-service but through the thoroughly blurred lines the manga eludes its meaning just as much to the cursory reader as it does our main character. I would even go out on a limb and say there is no standard sexualised content in this manga for what is widely thrown into the Japanese art net. Most of the situations with any small clothing content have been used as a tool to propel the ideologies hiding within plain sight and with knowledge of this the author has not once delved hard into those visuals more than the original portrait shot and at other times is used as quite legitimate sexual harassment more than anything else.

Overall I for one was astounded to find such a change of pace and seriously enjoyed reading this with all minor detours it takes off the trail to look at the flowers, flowers with very prominent sharp thorns but those with the insight to smell before pulling might find something more to it.

TL;DR: Don't read it if you're here for real bullying and humiliating, there's nothing to see here.

There is a particular reason why I should have liked the manga. The only one, the foremost is that what it's known for — mental destruction, humiliation, bullying, abusing, domination.

When I first thought of starting reading it, I had genuinely thought that I am going to enjoy the manga. But what did I get? I got nothing, the manga hasn't managed to evoke any emotions of mine, I felt like I had read some oneshot series with no purpose and meaning — it is sometimes fun, but it is always dull and bland.

The only thing this manga is known for is basically not present there. There is no bullying. How's it called, teasing?

Having a spineless MC in a bullying manga is rather mandatory (and the spineless MC really is there), but in this particular manga the bullying part does not even simply exist, the bully is not present at all, all the stunts she pulls rather look like your average friend's pranks who sometimes like to go overboard. No abusing, no bullying, no humiliation, no psychological struggle and tension, no mental devastation. It may sound weird, but it is as simple as that.

And while it's all clear with the MC, then who is Naga? If there was bullying part, she wouldn't have looked like just a generic character with terrible personality who is jerk just because it's a romcom, a genre which is not focused on such deep psychological things, while bullying part would have given her any motivation and reasoning to humiliate him.

It might be a good romcom, but it is not a bullying manga at all, and the community might want to reconsider the atmosphere they are creating about the manga if they don't want to mislead some people. You made me hate it for that exact reason. Though, I liked the art, it looks pleasing to me.

Look, I like cutesy stuff. I like reads that simply pander to otakus like myself, and having a purpose like that is not shameful or wrong. To bash this manga, or any similar work, for its simplicity and lack of substance is missing the point of it. You could say, however, the work is good to a certain, low degree.

With that said, "Please Don't Bully Me, Nagatoro-san" is not a good manga, not because of its simplistic nature, but mostly because it's monotonous and repetitive. In every chapter, it follows a the same old linear narrative from start to now. Nagatoro essentially repeats same kind of shallow banter to Senpai, to which he reacts in a painfully expected ways. For a couple of chapters, the manga's cuteness and adorable nature stays fresh in our minds. But, repeat the same thing OVER and OVER again with little variation and dull plotlines, then its novelty quickly wears off, and the impression on the manga becomes that of an annoying puppy.

It's got no merit to it. It doesn't try to develop its characters in meaningful and relevant ways. Senpai is a timid and weak; he has no friends, can't speak for himself, and lacks any social confidence. He starts with flaws, and the story could've focused on his realization of this and his progression towards becoming better. But as expected, this kind of character development does not occur. I will say, there are moments where Senpai tries becoming assertive, but they're spontaneous outbursts that aren't attempts to deepen a character, but to elicit a shallow appreciation for his brave moment and create an opportunity for us to uwu at Nagatoro's subsequent cute reactions.

At heart, Please Bully Me Nagatoro-san is a one-trick pony. Its a cute manga that loses its cuteness within few chapters.

This is the break I've been looking for, far from the idealized romance stories that plague the Japanese medium, no, far from storytelling in general, we have the most realistic take on relationships I have ever seen. Nothing over dramatic, nothing over romanticized, based off the relationships I've been in IRL, this is truly the most accurate representation of heterosexual mating practices I have ever seen in media.

The manga accurately portrays how women will always tease men over the most little of things, and will always try to distract men with some leading question then hit them with the real puncher while you're distracted! Quite literally in one of the chapters where Nagatoro randomly pokes at the MC's sides, something that I have experienced a lot in my relationships can verify is fairly shocking and painful, and that women love to strike at you when your guard is down, teaching me to always make your girlfriend walk in front of you so you can keep an eye on them to make sure they can't catch you with your guard down.

The character designs are fantastic as well, Nagatoro is the primary lesson being taught in the story, being designed very good-looking and cutesy, the plain-looking MC puts up with her shenanigans. I believe this to be an allegory to real life where the insecurities of less attractive partners cause even the best of us to give in to their charm and let them get away with these things, prompting to try and get away with bolder and bolder escapades (see: men dating gold diggers or women dating abusers). The cute design of Nagatoro doubly serves to represent how attractive people can be modern day Sirens, and the definition of looks can be deceiving.

Overall, I find this manga to very realistically portray relationship dynamics and is a MUST read for people to learn how to protect themselves from abusive partners because at some point, power dynamics WILL shift and lean towards one person.

Story:
I'm not going to sit here and act like this isn't about bullying at first. It is. I felt really bad for Senpai in the beginning. As time went on, however, Nagatoro started to ease up. She started figuring out that maybe bullying wasn't the right route. Over the course of this story she began to befriend our fluffy haired friend over here, and the story is getting better. The first actual arc was really entertaining, and I found it hilarious. Senpai and Nagatoro have become pretty good friends over time, and it's really beginning to show. Nagatoro seems to begin to harbor a real affection towards her Senpai eventually, and I'm liking where it's going. The only problem I had was how long it took for an actual arc to happen, but when it did, it was great.
Art:
The illustrator is amazing. Nanashi draws really entertaining faces and frames and makes sure that they always fit the mood. Their drawings are hilarious at times and beautiful at others. They seem to be very cultured in anime/manga, considering the references that are subtly thrown in. Overall the art is really good.
Character:
Hoo boy. Alright let's get into the meat and potatoes, eh? Nagatoro-san is, in my opinion, really damn good. No, not as a person, as a character. She's really entertaining and also adorable. Watching her deal with her feelings and feebly try to hide them is really cute and funny. Senpai seems milquetoast, but he compliments Nagatoro perfectly. He helps her develop through how timid he is, and then watching him have his moments of assertion is really rewarding.
Enjoyment:
I think this goes without saying that I really enjoy this manga. I'm not going to elaborate, just know that it's been a really fun ride so far and I can't wait to ride it out to it's conclusion.

Let's get a few things off the bat:
If viewing a possibly "toxic" relationship will make you dislike or think this manga is bad, the story isn't for you.
If moments of painful cringe and second-hand embarrassment ruin your mood, this also isn't for you.
In fact, this is not a manga for everyone. Atleast, if you are just someone looking for romance/comedy as those types of themes are very different for this piece.

Before we begin, let's address a few things that are the main talks from readers and my personal thoughts:
1. Yes, this deals with and displays bullying. Healthy and unhealthy. It is in the title. There are some people that says this isn't, but the subject matter and even the title of the manga say otherwise. That isn't necessarily a bad thing.
2. Although one can view this as a metaphorical representation of Dominant/Submissive relationship, the material usually also touches on the social aspects of what that means and seems more speaking of something else rather than trying to show D/S in a positive light. (For reference, Nana to Kaoru does this well and bluntly.)
3. There is meaning in the manga that is positive. Something important, something misunderstood by a majority of people who stomach the first ten chapters.

I will include some *SPOILER* related content later to further elaborate some points but let's get to business.

Story/9: Yes. A story about a girl bullying a boy is good.
Why? Subtly. Simply put. From dialog, representation of art, and chapters that focus on a particular theme, this is a very strange story that is definitely more than meets the eye. Now some might disagree with me and say this is purely a story that encourages and enables both bullying and toxic relationships. Sure, you are welcome to that opinion and I wont say you are wrong for having it.
I'm saying look at it from a different light.
Reader, if you have not touched this manga at all or got past the first ten chapters, I ask you to take this into consideration. That the point of this manga to differentiate purposely hateful bullying from something else. A theme of characters with obvious flaws and displaying them openly for the reader to obviously not WANT to like. Growing and becoming more from these. As well as growing from another person and learning about yourself from the interactions of another. If you don't get that or want to understand more, I have some spoiler stuff at the VERY BOTTOM of this review. However, I encourage you to go into this manga as simply this:

A story of two people, flawed, having a questionably unhealthy relationship from the start and growing healthy from it. If something happens or is said in a weird way, ask why. Sure, it might seem like looking too deep into something that seems too shallow, but the story DOES do well in letting you know that both main characters have complex backstories and pasts that are slowly looked into as a slow burn while you read. Something sympathetic, something also along the lines of "This person is in a better position than where they were before."

Art/9: Not much to say here besides the art is really good. Main focus is purely in body poses and facial expressions. Something really important, as there is both a lot of attention to detail as well as showing you emotion better than what can be said. A lot of emotions are displayed not by words but by how exactly the characters are drawn and what they are doing, and there are panels where no words are said but something is being communicated deeper through the art alone.

Character/8: Two people are your main focus for the majority of the manga and both of them having glaring problems.
Your male MC who is usually just referred to as senpai (He does have a name though later as Naoto and is called various other nicknames) and your female lead Nagatoro.
Naoto is cowardly, introverted, and seems to suffer from anxiety constantly. While Nagatoro is a sadistic, cruel, energetic joking character. You get this quite heavily from the first few chapters in full and it is shown in a way where you aren't suppose to find them acceptable. Not these traits, and not the way these two seem to interact at first.

Yet, through their seemingly torturous and toxic relationship do these two become SOOOOOOOO much more as people. The main male character is shown to be this shy person who seems to have no friends or heavy passion until speaking with Nagatoro through an extended time and having a friend group that seems to genuinely care about him as a person. (Even through the teasing.) He seems to have ambitions and goals. Mostly in social skills and art. You get to watch these develop in babysteps as he grows out of his comfort zone in both to do better.
All because of Nagatoro. So how can a girl who constantly calls you a virgin and put you on the verge of tears help you to become better and achieve the things you want out of life? I mean, the first Ten Chapters seem to display this would have the exact opposite effect. As I mentioned before, there is a complexity to the dynamic that these two have that slowly unravels as the story goes on. Even the female character who is normally only shown to be a sadistic POS seems to have other things going on in her life. Sure, most of what is presented is her being a straight up bully, but she also seems so questionably bored. Even subtle hints at times like she has no other interests. Early on, you would thing from her actions and how she talks that she would have hobbies or goals. So there is some mystery of why Nagatoro acts in the way that she does and what is going on in her life that paints out a deeper personality.
My only critique is sometimes it feels too slow, and that there is more focus on the bullying aspect than what I previously mentioned. It gives off a perspective that this really is some kind of Stockholm Syndrome bullying relationship without the depth I explained before.
Some would disagree with me completely, saying this is completely toxic and encourages unhealthy behaviors and relationships. That it is nothing more than smut.
Fine.
The whole point of this review is to maybe play the devil's advocate and look at this differently.

Enjoyment/8:
This manga treated ME through a BDSM relationship. Chapters are sometimes hard to swallow and painful only to be relieved by the next one to make up for the social torture this displays. In the further chapters, things become more... cute and therapeutic. That there was something emotionally nice and a deeper meaning behind the early sadism and I was happy I continued reading.
Try reading the first 20 or so chapters. If you can't see it from the perspective I have detailed above, I can't persuade you anymore and this probably wont be a fun read for you. Personally for me? As someone who has been bullied and in toxic relationships seeing what this manga is about? I liked it and thought it was both cute and funny.

Overall/8: **SPOILERS AHEAD**:

I wrote this review for the fact it seemed like it was getting a bad rep from a lot of people and I wanted to come in defense of it and not scare away the people that actually would like this manga and the story.
That it is a complex romance story from a weird perspective about overcoming your personal issues and traumas through unconventional means.

"How is the manga doing that? He's just being toyed with, ridiculed, and torture for someone else's sadistic pleasure! That's the only thing you could POSSIBLY take away from this!"

Let me point out a few things from the earlier chapters. In the first meeting between the two characters, two things are obvious:
1. Our male protagonist is someone who is lonely and has low self-esteem issues who is not happy with the person that he is and wishes for so much more.
2. Our female lead IMMEDIATELY picks up on this, tells him bluntly, and seems unhappy with this.
One could look at it from the obvious perspective that it is pity or she truly finds it disgusting.

Yet, she goes out of her way to see him almost on a daily basis and, through her own ways, helps him with these problems of his through strange ways. That work.

Again, you can completely disagree and I both welcome/respect that, but I highly recommend looking more at this manga than what it is at the surface level.

So to start out with, I don't think you should listen to the reviews of this manga saying it's "glorifying" and "romanticizing" bullying. Anyone who can distinguish fiction from reality should be able to tell this is a fantasy of having a cute, tan JK dom and tease you. Femdom has thousands of doujins and stories written with it for a reason, because it appeals to a wide group of people. This is what this is, a romcom story with light femdom elements, but ultimately a romcom that is not meant to be taken super seriously. So with that in mind, let's move on to the actual review.

So to start out with, the story. Now the story is mostly episodic, with a couple smaller arcs that last a couple chapters, again pretty standard romcom manga structuring. Whether each week appeals to you or not depends on your taste, but they all follow a pretty similar format. Some concept or other device of romcomland aka "going to the beach, summer festival, cosplay" etc Nagatoro calls her senpai gross and lewd, closet pervert etc but ultimately ends up going along with it and usually revealing either a) sweet love/affection b) jealousy of other women c) getting flustered by something senpai does and running away/ hiding it behind more teasing. Again the quality really ranges from week to week, some chapters I'm like wow that was a pretty good payoff but other times it's like really that's the entire chapter? that's the big idea for this week? So yeah a mixed bag on that front

Art is pretty good, I'd say it has charm but it's nothing to write home about. Honestly I feel like Nanashi reuses a lot of the same expressions and stuff to much, it can start to feel kind of samey.

For character there's only two that really matter obv. The titular Nagataro and her henpecked senpai.
Nagataro is mostly sadistic and teasing, but she can show a measure of sweetness, innocence, shyness and genuine affection, especially later in the series once their relationship has seen more development She also gets jealous very easily when other female are interacting with Senpai, and we see she is only sadistic towards him. Senpai is a bit whipped on a whole, but he seems to charm Nagataro enough, though personally I wish he had more oppurtunities to show off his chivalry/manliness but their dynamic is fine how it is.

Personally I don't really like femdom or think watching a guy being super submissive sounds super entertaining as a premise, but I read it because it seemed popular (in the top 5 on Mangadex for follows) and I read it all in one evening. I'd say whether or not you like it depends entirely on your enjoyment of either romcoms in general or watching a M/S relationship play out. An entirely gimmick based story in a sense.

Back when it first came out I saw occasional threads for it on /a/ and hoped into it because the main girl looked like a meme, it seemed like a typical "will they won't they" that never actually leads to anywhere. I eventually dropped it after 20-ish chapters because it seemed like nothing but softcore femdom shenanigans.

It seemed like a school boy fantasy."What if the hot girl in school who constantly bullies me actually likes me?" kind of scenario, having never been a school boy before and hating every single ugly pig face slutbag who bullied me back then I couldn't get into the fantasy. It didn't help that Nagatoro was kinda meh for me design wise.

With the anime adaptation coming up I decided to take another crack at it and, yo, tf is this??? Actual romantic progression in a ecchi manga????? I was pleasantly surprised.

Oiginally I hated Nagatoro because she was a giant (or rather tiny) biiiiiiiitch, but reading it back to back made me realize that she's just a shy dork. Personally I prefer Gamo but I can understand why the main lead is more popular compared to the smug lord who only appears every 10 chapters or so.

Nagatoro is somewhat of a tsundere but actually well executed, a well done tsundere is super rare to see in these type of manga usually.

She constantly makes fun of or tries to downplay her crush for the first 40 chapters or so but once Senpai catches on it moves further and further away from a ecchi manga and became more and more a genuine romance with some sexy stuff in between.

The first two chapters are kind of strange to read now, their relationship has developed so much and Senpai has grown such tough skin that it's weird to consider him actually being afraid or disliking Nagatoro.

For those who gave up or are considering giving it up after 20-ish chapters keep going, after the cultural festival it gets really cute and fluffy.