One of the gems of the current anime season has been Don’t Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro!, and fans have enjoyed watching each episode, reacting with memes on social media every time Nagatoro’s plans to bully Senpai inevitably backfire on her. So I thought I’d write a post on why fans love Miss Nagatoro so much!
Ijiranaide Nagato-san! is the story of a poor girl with no bones in her arms, who notices a boy one year older than her who’s kind of a dweeb. Specifically, no matter how she gets in his face, Senpai’s weak personality keeps him from getting angry or putting her in her place. He’s so devoid of self-confidence that Nagatoro decides to see how far she can push him… which nearly always ends with him getting an accidental “lucky sukebe” moment, touching her butt or her boob, or otherwise scoring points in the end due to some miscalculation by her.
Six Reasons Why Fans Love Miss Nagato
We Apparently Want Attention from Cute Girls
All anime and manga is built around the idea of escaping from our ho-hum lives and living vicariously through fictional characters doing what we wish we were doing, whether it’s piloting giant robots or being reincarnated in a fantasy world. It’s great fun to watch Senpai playing video games in Nagatoro’s room, being toyed with by her in harmless ways, and getting closer to her emotionally. As a slice-of-life show it’s surprisingly relaxing to watch, despite the “teasing” premise.
We Want to Be Teased
In the same way that most of us wouldn’t mind getting attention from a “skilled teaser” like Takagi-san, or have a loud but good-hearted busty kouhai come over to our apartment and cook for us like Uzaki-chan, I think a lot of us wouldn’t mind having a cute girl take enough of an interest in us to want to tease us.
We Love GALS with Tanned Skin
Everyone loves GALs, those flamboyantly girls who obsess over fashion and nail art and are famous for having somewhat “flexible” morals when it comes to sex…although the ones fans love the most only pretend to be sexually promiscuous, and really have pure hearts, like Yukana from My First Girlfriend is a Gal and Galko-chan. We love to see Nagatoro-san try to get a rise out of Senpai, even though she’s easily embarrassed by anything sexual herself.
We Love Skinfang Girls
Somewhere back in the first decade of the 2000s, drawing a single fang became a way to represent yaeba, crooked teeth that are considered to be a cute moe “charm point.” Then a few years ago, a proper single fang tooth morphed into the “skinfang” because it was skin-colored for stylistic reasons. And it’s positively adorable.
If “Twitter” Hates It, Fans Will Love It
If you want to make a hit anime, try to create the impression that “everyone” on Twitter hates it, and you’ll probably have success on your hands. It happened for Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out!, and the “outrage” that a short yet busty university student could exist helped win the show a confirmed second season. I’d be perfectly happy if this happened with Nagatoro-san as well!
Great moments in #Nagatoro #donttoywithmemissnagatoro. I love it when her plan to bully Senpai goes wrong, and he ends up getting a “lucky sukebe.” pic.twitter.com/YQJ6onc28N
— Peter Payne (@JListPeter) June 18, 2021
Nagatoro-san Follows Social Rules…Barely
I’m personally fascinated with characters who don’t have to “follow the rules” when it comes to respecting age differences in Japanese society. Japan is said to be a tate shakai or a “vertical society” in which one’s age or one’s number of years in an organization will determine how you interact with others. This is in comparison to America, which is said by the Japanese to be a yoko shakai or a “horizontal society” where everyone can potentially be on the same level regardless of their age.
This awareness of one’s social standing compared to others is built into the language itself, basically in the way people use keigo (polite or formal language) when talking to someone older than them, and informal language when talking to someone the same age as you, or younger. Although she doesn’t show actual respect to her Senpai, Nagatoro-san does use the correct language with him, even as she’s violating his personal space and forcing him to do things he doesn’t want for her entertainment. Or is it because she wants him to shape up and become proper boyfriend material?
(Not every character in anime follows these important social rules. One is Haruhi, who decides she has the right to boss around Mikuru, despite Mikuru being her senpai. Another is Claire from the weird Gleipnir anime, who doesn’t even consider treating Shuuichi any differently even though he’s two years older than her.)
Thanks for reading this post exploring why fans love Nagatoro-san. Do you like Nagatoro-san? If so, tell us why below, or share your thoughts with us on Twitter!
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