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「センパイのお誘いっスか!?」 (Senpai no Osasoi Suka!?)
“You`re Inviting Me, Senpai?!”
The 2nd episode of the 2nd Attack builds on the foundation that was solidified by the end of Season 01 as Nagatoro and Naoto are starting to think of each other in a fonder light. Because of this, their trip to the zoo winds up escalating as their initial journey to sketch animals for inspiration turned out to be a sweet bonding moment for the two.
WE DIDN’T BUY A ZOO
To be blunt, it’s kinda tricky to write about Episode 02 because of how much of the episode focused on how Nagatoro is getting used to seeing Naoto in a different light while Naoto is endearing himself more to her. The former gets more significant development throughout the episode with how Nagatoro embraces Naoto’s courageous and creative side.
Naoto’s insistence on standing up for Nagatoro gives him a ton of headway in this episode as it really helps her see how far he’s come in sticking up for both himself and others. Although it’ll still feel like pulling teeth for him to directly tell the people picking on him to buzz off, the fact that he told them off as soon as Nagatoro’s painting was mocked helped her see the extent of his more virtuous side. It was enough to bring her A-game in telling them off as they squirmed for their efforts to mock her artwork and Naoto, and more than enough to show that she finds him to be an inspiring person to be around.
Similarly, Naoto internalizes his club president’s insistence that art is born from love when he sees both the art he made and the art that Nagatoro really tried her best to nail. Her creations were much cruder, but had the same dedication and love you could find in any average person’s animal sketches. She might still get on his nerves with her poking and prodding, but she also seeks out his validation that what she’s making is still alright, knowing that art is the one thing that Naoto can absolutely dunk on Nagatoro over.
As great as this season’s been within the past two episodes, it is a bit tricky to come up with as much material to write about, detail-wise. I can expect these to probably be a nice breather where the screencaps are where more of my effort would be focused. Otherwise, it’s a pretty easy, breezy watch now that Nagatoro is warming up more to Naoto and seeing him in a more romantic light.
The shirako/harako thing never gets old. Well, not for me, anyway (which probably says more about me than anyone ever wanted to know).
The thing that sets this manga apart from many others of its ilk is that there is actual progress in the MCs’ relationship, which is a brave thing for a mangaka to do because it’s like sawing the tree branch that you’re sitting on. Of course, we only get to see a limited number of the currently well over 100 chapters animated, but even so there are glimmers of progress in that too. And I think that’s what makes it work, because otherwise it would just be about bullying.
I feel silly for not catching onto what Shirako was after seeing it paired up with Harako, especially since the last episode explained how crude pairing the two up would be.
I’m actually very impressed with how willing the show is to have the couple develop over time. Takagi-san tended to have all of the glory for constantly developing its couple, but compared to the many other romcoms that aim to leave a couple unrequited til the very end, I think Nagatoro-san’s approach comes closer to this model than others.
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I suppose it’s why I dote on Nagatoro over a ton of other romcoms. After seeing a number of manga spoilers where it becomes clear that they are taking their approach to romance more seriously as time progresses, I can tell that there is surprisingly a more sophisticated approach to love that the series is trying to go for.
For a story that started out with the two as hateful adversaries, it’s impressive to see how those two wound up being more believable as a loving couple than other romcom duos just because the mangaka took them seriously as a romantic couple that would come to love and respect each other for their personal strengths.