Senpai was busy at the library, attempting to finish his homework despite four girls also being there, talking loudly. Despite being intimidated by them, he goes through his homework and everything for the most part goes well — until his bag falls on the ground and the manga he drew goes right to the four girls, who end up laughing at how mediocre it is. Three of them end up leaving in tears, while one girl ends up staying behind.
And that one girl, Nagatoro, gives that Senpai a very hard time.
Don’t Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro is a manga where not only will your mileage vary on not only how Senpai is being toyed with, but also of the two main characters, since they’re essentially 98% of the manga. Senpai is an aspiring artist lacking confidence in himself, which comes through in how he talks and what he thinks. Nagatoro is a sophomore who’s certainly aggressive and super confident in what she can do. Put these two together and what do you get?
A manga that, for a first volume, struggles to be funny at all.
It so far all revolves around how far Nagatoro can toy Senpai in whatever situation he finds himself in. From his manga (where she proves that he might not know what he’s doing when he’s drawing female characters) to him reading an ecchi manga and even to washing hands, it generally revolves around a lot of dirty jokes. This also gets reflected in the art, where it’s actually drawn really well (especially the expressions), but you’ll get a good amount of provocative situations for these two — like the time where Nagatoro accidentally grabs Senpai’s junk.
I’m mostly certain the lack of hilarity for me has to do with how these characters interact. Senpai just feels far too weak-willed to really rally behind, and it does feel Nagatoro goes too far in her jokes. There doesn’t seem to be a good connection (like is this really their first time meeting each other?), so whenever I see these two hanging out, none of their interactions feel at all enjoyable. There was one chapter that makes me suspect that there has to be a reason why Nagatoro feels comfortable acting this way to Senpai and not to others, but other than that, the volume was mostly one unfunny, “Hey Senpai, you’re such a perv,” or Senpai just sweating anytime Nagatoro remotely got close to him.
So in short, this wasn’t as funny as I hoped, and I can only hope volume 2 can provide a much better balance in how they interact with each other. The ending to Nagatoro might suggest something more will happen with these two, but if it’s not actually gonna be funny, it’ll be high time to find something that is.