Ijiranaide, Nagatoro-san – 02

「センパイの願望が叶いましたね！！ / ちっす、センパイっ！」 (Senpai no Ganbō ga Kanaimashita ne!! / Chissu, Senpai!)
“Senpai’s wish just came true!! / Sup, Senpai!”

This week’s Ijiranaide, Nagatoro-san shows the story pivoting towards making an easier-to-digest comedy where Nagatoro’s teasing gets milder and more affectionate in an odd way. It definitely toned down its cruelty from the last episode, but in its place is more fetish-based humor focusing on Senpai getting pushed into erotic situations with Nagatoro.

The last episode ended on a note where Nagatoro is concerned about Senpai not letting himself vent or get mad, but while it seemed like it wasn’t a major deal, it makes sense for it to be the point where Nagatoro changes her mind on Senpai. She enjoys the artsy side of Senpai so it’s also understandable that she would quickly mellow down in favor of letting Senpai do his thing.

On top of finding his taste in art and his interest in his hobbies to be fascinating enough to pay mind, she’s more than happy to tease Senpai in a way that doesn’t eviscerate his soul and acts as bonding to play with the embarrassment he has from handling the attention of another girl. While he is still mocked by Nagatoro after she noticed that one of the victims in his favorite vampire series resembled him, she still was interested enough in the vampire series not to cast it aside or mock him for humoring his perverted side rather than indulging in his favorite stories.

What makes me more interested in this development is the comparison between how she deals with Senpai and how she handles the other guys that her friend tries to introduce to her. Although she is quick to have fun with teasing Senpai for his shoddy yet heartfelt artwork, she is revolted by the two guys she immediately rejected. The guy who makes music thinks he’s making art, but Nagatoro could tell that his music was bland because his heart wasn’t in it for anything beyond gaining brownie points with the girls. Meanwhile, the one dude that has a pervy personality is completely thrown to the curb when Nagatoro calls attention to how awful it is to mention any of that as a stranger’s first impression of what you’re really like.

It shows the kind of difference in ideology that Nagatoro has where she is unimpressed with people that merely want to be taken for face value, but finds solace in the unpretentious perspective of Senpai. She might have been callous and horrible in the first episode, but it’s easy to see why she could see Senpai in a fonder light knowing that she isn’t left staring into the void whenever Senpai opens his mouth like with the other guys.

There were some hints at the pervy tone of Nagatoro’s teasing in the last episode but, this episode decides to amp it up to 11. Although Episode 02 chose to avoid the mean-spirited nature of her older pranks, they lean more into the fetishy side of Nagatoro humoring by having Senpai go through a series of sexually charged ordeals.

If you are into the kinds of doujins where a dominant woman puts a submissive guy in his place, much of this should feel familiar. The femdom vibes from Nagatoro wanting to pin down and bite Senpai just like the vampires in his favorite story or rubbing his nipples into submission are hard to ignore. At the same time, it’s not a bad development. It sets itself apart as a teasing anime by leaning more into the femdom-inspired tropes in an uncompromising manner that is unique and isn’t as quick to pull its punches.

Episode 02 helped alleviate many of the first episode’s issues by making Nagatoro far less abrasive and giving Senpai a lot more agency to be his own character. It was a fresh breath of air to see Senpai have his own pervy streak with his favorite ecchi series and the smug satisfaction of seeing Nagatoro rip into the guys at the diner. There’s even a point where Nagatoro flubs up and gives Senpai the chance to predict where her nipples were. It might have lost its meaner bite, but this second episode gives us an easier-to-process Nagatoro who humors the idea of embarrassing Senpai without leaving him face down in a puddle of his tears. It’ll be interesting to see if Nagatoro manages to soften up even further in future episodes or if she’ll retain a little more of her edge.

ED Sequence

ED: Colorful Canvas「カラフル・キャンバス」by Izawa Shiori, Komatsu Mikako, Suzuki Aina, Uesaka Sumire