Feb 16, 2019
End me.
Our story is about the titular Nagatoro and her crush, the unamed MC, who is refereed to as "senpai." Senpai is a weeby adolescent. He's bashful, nerdy, and blatantly attracted to classmate. Nagatoro is said animated classmate that enoys teasing Senpai while pretending she doesn't have feelings for him. Every chapter is some degree of Nagatoro teasing Senpai, with the encounter ending in a mildly awkward moment indicative of their mutual affection to each other. Naga's 2 friends become more involved in the story to provide additional ways to tease the main protagonist and occasionally Hayase herself. Indirect kisses, discussions about boobs, tantalizing
...
the MC by directly acknowledging his sexual desire, Ijiranaide, Nagatoro-san has it all. Does the main relationship amount to a captivating high point? No. Is there any strong thematic quality to extract from this? No. A few of the situations warrant a giggle the way they are resolved, but the story is mostly one-note tedium. The characters designs are cute, evident by the popularity of Hayase. Certain pages are paneled well, though for the most part the art itself is generic, standard, unexceptional manga art, though expressions from characters are adorable. The characters themselves are generic, standard, unexceptional tropes who's actions get moderately repetitive. Senpai's interests parallel with the likely viewer's interests (anime, video games, women). Who he is as a person is purposely left ambiguous. The story writes itself, absent of twists, turns, roadbumps, moments of actualization, moments of solace, moments of profoundness, or any commendable literary facet. I'm being harsh. Some of the situations are mildly entertaining, though more comedic than endearing. The characters go somewhere in the chapter20ish range, but several chapters are redundant with each other from both a character and plot perspective until that point, a "how can I tease senpai this week" kind of structure. Even when the couple makes small advancements at one point, it's not overall significant. There is attention drawn to Nagatoro's sexual and emotional immaturity despite making superficial advances on dearest Senpai, which could set a nigh palpable tone the manga, but that's it. There's attention drawn to it. It doesn't go anywhere. I doubt it will until the manga ends. It desponds me because there is potential here. Instead there is a story bereft of impact.
Why do people read this? Rhetorical, I know why people read this. They want to adore Nagatoro. They want to project themselves on generic, unremarkable, bashful Senpai. They want to gush over the thought of being intimate with Nagatoro without actually being intimate, forever in the early, adolescent stages of romance of checking her out, playfully touching, and making euphemistic jests. To have a cute, young girl pampering them as her premiere focus, and all the auxiliary traits that come with this. But why? There are much, much better romance stories out there. Kare Kano, for example, features a high school couple that starts off by teasing each other (admittedly that part of the story is pretty bad), but eventually progresses into a tale of a relationship that feels real. It has cute designs, a central focus on a initially timid romance, but is so much more than just that. Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou has characters that feel like people, with their own unique interests, tastes, goals, problems, and outlooks on life. The characters aren't one-dimensional self-inserts for the audience, but rather draw the audience through their empathetic qualities of feeling like interesting, real people.
This story is mindless fun. Low-brow writing. That's not an excuse for being boring. This could be a great story about the fun, innocent youthful days of better times. Or the story of two teenagers growing up with one another throughout their school years, finding themselves in the process. Something simple but effective. It isn't, nor anything such. I am not trying to spite Ijiranaide, Nagatoro-san. I don't hate this manga. As stated above, I'm saddened by it. It's boring. There are manga that execute the same concept as Ijiranaide, Nagatoro-san with better art, better characters, forming a relationship I cared about, confluencing elements to create stories with powerful themes and emotions. I want people to understand there is much more they can get out of a story like this. Something where the synopsis does not summarize the substance. Something with heart, value, and a desire to evoke qualities and a message for the reader to appreciate, while still being everything Ijiranaide, Nagatoro-san is.
Reviewer’s Rating: 2
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