Manga Reviews (2010-2019): Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro Vol. 1 by Nanashi (a Neo-Tokyo Manga Review)

I’m curious to see how this manga series evolves but personally, I hope the manga series becomes less about bullying and maybe showcasing a dynamic between both Nagatoro-san and her senpai.

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MANGA TITLE: Don’t Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro (ジらないで、長瀞さん)

STORY AND ART BY: Nanashi

FIRST PUBLISHED IN JAPAN: Kodansha, Ltd.

PUBLISHED IN USA BY: Vertical Inc.

RATED: N/A

RELEASE DATE: November 26, 2019

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Nagatoro is a freshman in high school who loves teasing and torturing her older male classmate (Senpai). What is her motivation and why does Senpai put up with her? Does Nagatoro just want to create misery for Senpai? Or maybe she secretly likes him?

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Back in 2011, Nanashi (774) created “Ijiranaide, Nagatoro-san” (Don’t Toy With Me, Miss Nagattoro) on Pixiv.

The actual webmanga series would begin its serialization in “Magazine Pocket” and no available in North America by Vertical Comics.

The series begins with an shy, introverted artist who accidentally dropped his artwork in front of the popular Nagatoro and her friends.

Immediately, Nagatoro begins calling the artist “senpai” and because of his lack of social skills, nor having a girlfriend, Nagatoro tries to explain to him that his manga is too unrealistic because he has never been with a girl, never had a girlfriend and she calls him and his main character in his manga as “pathetic”.

And Nagatoro immediately starts bullying and pestering Nagatoro to the point of tears.

And now the artist must deal with Nagatoro each and everyday, as she makes fun of him by trying to flirt or use sexual teasing in order to make fun of him.

And she tries to get him to do things such as drawing her and trying to use her sexuality to tease him.  Another thing she wants to do is bite his neck and more.

And as much as the artist tries to not be the brunt of her jokes and tries to avoid her, she gets in his face and likes to drive him crazy, while he can’t stand it.

For the most part, while it looks like “Don’t Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro” is a series that is meant to be funny, it reminded me a lot of “The Flowers of Evil”, where a bully and corrupted girl literally destroyed a young man who was good, but later deviated to cause enormous trouble.

While not as dark, it made me not like Nagatoro-san, because she is a bully who gets her thrills off bullying and teasing her senpai.  He just wants to be left alone and draw but she becomes a thorn in her senpai’s side and he’s too weak to even defend himself.

Personally, I can’t stand manga or anime in which bullying becomes entertainment.  Granted, there is a chance where the manga can change and become something cool but for now, Nagatoro-san is the bully and her senpai is a victim.

And for anyone who has been bullied, it’s terrible and this manga features chapters about an artist being constantly bullied.

I’m curious to see how this manga series evolves but personally, I hope the manga series becomes less about bullying and maybe showcasing a dynamic between both Nagatoro-san and her senpai.

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