YMMV / Don't Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • The way Nagatoro's written opens her up for this. Is she a Loving Bully who accidentally takes her treatment of Senpai too far, or is she a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing who's leading him on for her own amusement? Or maybe she's just Cute and Psycho? As the manga goes on, more evidence is piling up to her either considering Senpai the only one who's any fun to tease, or being in love with him for real.
  • Did (as Senpai says) the Arts Club President truly make a fully nude self-portrait purely for art's sake, though many male students enjoyed it for a different reason than what she truly intended? Did her high-minded intentions make her indifferent to their reactions, even as she herself stood beside her own nude on display? Was she even oblivious instead? Or did she secretly want such reactions underneath her serious exterior (unknown to Senpai)?
  • Later the President tells Senpai that the most important part of creating art is "love", more than just doing it well, and that art is about "chasing after something". Her self-portrait could thus be interpreted as her chasing after an ideal of art, doing it out of love for art, and giving it her all by using her nude body as her subject. But one may also wonder if she has an exhibitionist streak on top of her artistic ideals since she appears to be doing another nude self-portrait. This way, her love could also be directed at herself, being confident and unashamed about being seen nude, and her self-portraits could also be her chasing after a dream to actually be nude in public. The fact that exhibitionism is one of the most common fetishes in 774's NSFW works lends some credit to the latter.
  • Since the President is a Perpetual Frowner and her thoughts are never shown, her behavior and "real" intentions can be interpreted in different ways. Is she really more coy and playful than she seems? While she exposes her body to everyone through artwork, is she purposely trying to entice her kouhai with her body in person to inspire him, similar to Nagatoro (and is she trying to one-up Nagatoro, or to spur Nagatoro's own efforts further as well as her kouhai's), or is she truly just indifferent to how suggestive her behavior can feel to others (up to being fully naked in front of him or them)? Does she really just see him as her kouhai and fellow artist or is there something more? While she's more than aware Nagatoro is her kouhai's muse now and strongly urges him to basically channel his feelings for Nagatoro into his art, is there a tinge of regret and/or envy in the way she looks at and treats them, or does she just tend to be stern and cold?
  • It's clear that Nagatoro misunderstands the President's instructions which lead to Senpai taking her to the zoo, but it's debatable just how far her misunderstanding goes. While Senpai just treats it as a club activity, Nagatoro thinks that it's a date because she thinks the President was ordering them to have sex. But did she merely think this was the President's way of telling them to date, or did she actually expect to do it that day?
  • Similar to whether the President's artworks and behavior are (unconsciously or not) an expression or reflection of her base urges, the President's cousin Hana being very outspoken in her support for Senpai and Nagatoro getting together raises the question of whether she's just being a good kouhai and friend to him or is equating love to sex and vice versa and vicariously living through their romance. She says that "her body has yet to know love." One also wonders how much the President has influenced her since they live together. In addition, some scenes with Senpai and Hana would come across as typically romantic in a different kind of story, so one may wonder if she also sees, or ever saw, him as something more than her senpai. Plus the revelations of shared history between Senpai and Hana for one year of middle school, his last and her first (just like in high school currently) raises further questions about the character dynamics between them and the President. This could imply that Senpai and the President could have had a similar and even longer history in the past due to their closer ages, with more years in the same school and club together. How all this could tie into everything is left unsaid.
  • In an arc involving a snafu in the school showers, it's unclear if the shower stalls really are too small in context or their size is just drawn inconsistently, thus making Shikki's actions debatable - could she really not avoid getting skin-to-skin or was she doing it on purpose, and if the latter, why?
  • Adding to the previous example is the possibility that Shikki had developed feelings for Senpai. The spark being that Shikki was impressed by Senpai's display of confidence to stand up for Nagatoro against her. As a result, the whole school shower event was Shikki's attempt to make advances on Senpai romantically. That Shikki actually knew what she was doing by utilizing her large butt and breasts to her advantage by skin-touching Senpai with them to try to impress him while using the "small shower" defense as an excuse for it to happen.
  • For the anime, did The Stinger of the final episode (a redo of an earlier scene with a key change, Nagatoro actually kissing Senpai on the cheek) happen for real, or was it just a bonus, and does the post-credits placement in particular leave wiggle room for any future seasons to handle it like the manga did?^note That is, pretty much ignore it happened, as if they never went that far before. The manga's unspoken excuse is that it was way too early. Given that Nagatoro is sleeping in the first part of the scene, might the second be actually All Just a Dream?
  • In the anime's second season, the post-credit stinger again raises similar questions of "does/should it count" due to its placement, given that them actually managing to hug for real on their own, picking up from when they were interrupted during their date, overshoots and contradicts the future development of their physical relationship in the manga to date, where their (mainly his) hesitation to take things further coupled with her mainly waiting for him to make the first move necessitates a lot of wingman prodding to nudge them along, while they manage to break barriers in various other ways without yet actually hugging on purpose. The most obvious snag is them holding hands like a proper couple non-accidentally, which is given the weight of a Love Confession, yet it is predicated by a lot more self-reflection leading to a Love Epiphany on his end, plus his getting external pressure to get on with it; this makes pulling off the hug rather unbelievable for him this early. It feels like a bone thrown to viewers to give more closure in case there isn't a third season and beyond, but then the manga already "made up" with surplus for the missed hug by having them start making daily bento lunches for each other explicitly like a married couple, and since the anime episode also touches on this, it feels like trying to have it both ways without regard for future stories.
• And You Thought It Would Fail: The anime adaptation was subjected to some degree of skepticism when it was announced, as many people outside the Nagatoro fandom saw the series as just another step into the Loving Bully trend of the last years, and some predicted it would fail to appeal viewers outside its niche due to its seemingly questionable premise. Instead, the series went to become one of the most popular anime in the Spring 2021 season, earning a considerable following in multiple zones of the west and dispelling any uncomfortable impression by turning out to be an adorable Romantic Comedy with a surprising amount of Character Development. It also attracted many new readers to the manga, while at the same time pleasing the existent fandom by being generally an exceedingly well made adaptation of a manga that some had deemed hard to adapt faithfully.
• Awesome Music:
  • Easy Love, the opening theme for the anime adaptation, perfectly conveys the chaotic nature of the eponymous character as well as sets the mood of what to expect for the rest of the series.
  • Colorful Canvas, the Anime's ED, is a pleasant, nostalgic tune that nicely contrasts the more energetic OP. Whereas "Easy Love" conveys Nagatoro's chaotic side, "Colorful Canvas" shows that underneath all of the teasing, Nagatoro genuinely does care for her Senpai. The fact that this song is sung by the voice actresses for Nagatoro and her friends (Gamo, Yoshi, and Sakura) also adds to the adorableness of the song that makes it pure Sweet Dreams Fuel.
  • "Netsui" ("Enthusiasm"), used from Episode 7 onwards, is also a beautiful, nostalgic theme that accentuates the most trascendent moments of closeness between Senpai and Nagatoro. Many consider it the greatest piece of soundtrack in the entire anime.
  • "My Sadistic Adolescence", whose title speaks for itself, is the second season's ending, a hilarious song about the clique taunting Senpai in midst of colourful Nekotoro imagery.
  • "VS Orihara", the theme for Nagatoro's and Orihara's judo match, is an energetic piece that brings memories of late 2000s anime soundtracks.
• Base-Breaking Character: In addition to the Broken Base surrounding Nagatoro about whether the more sadistic webcomic or less sadistic manga is better, Nagatoro's character as a whole provides a major split between the fanbase. Fans love her for her teasing and getting flustered around Senpai, saying that she really does love him. Critics of her say that even with the toned-down mean spirited nature, Nagatoro is still a very unpleasant individual and hope that Senpai leaves her for someone else.
• Better on DVD: Binge watching the series can help appreciate how Senpai comes out of his shell and how his relationship with Nagatoro evolves.
• Broken Base:
  • There's a portion of readers who prefer Nagatoro's more overtly sadistic and abusive portrayal in the earlier image-sets, as the fetish-fuel was how the series gained a following and she was initially marketed as a "sadodere", and thus they lament how it was toned down for serialization. Other readers prefer the current version as Nagatoro's affection for Hachiouji-senpai comes off stronger and more genuine, and she also gets as flustered as him more often, making for more cute moments.
  • Manifested somewhat hilariously when the anime started, after many first-time viewers found the first episode too uncomfortably mean-spirited. On the other hand, when the manga started, a good bulk of its initial readers were already fans of 774's prior Nagatoro stuff (and his other doujin works) going in. Many of these used the older Nagatoro stuff as well as 774's other works to try and "filter" the newcomers further, in the manner of Bane's "you only adopted the dark" spiel, while others assured them it would quickly get fluffier.
  • The English subtitles having Nagatoro jokingly call Senpai "sus" divided much of the audience. Many viewed the choice as an adept Woolseyism, as the Japanese script similarly used a shortened version of "suspicious." Others viewed it negatively as a doomed-to-be-dated reference to the Among Us player base, which popularized the term in 2020 (though the word has been shortened that way for far longer).
• Cant Unhear It: The anime voice cast is generally praised by manga fans as having nailed their characters.
• Critical Dissonance: Professional Western critics gave the series a very tepid reception, often finding its premise to be uncomfortable and supposedly too close to bullying, in contrast to the unconditional popularity it drew from casual viewers, who instead jumped wholeheartedly into the Nagatoro/Senpai relationship. Note that critics often watch only the first few episodes or chapters, which in this case only worked against their perception of Nagatoro due to its Slow-Paced Beginning (see below).
• Delusion Conclusion: A favorite theory to weave half-jokingly is that the whole series is actually All Just a Dream by the lonely Senpai, often after falling aslept in the school library, with Nagatoro being either a real student he spotted from afar or a total figment of his imagination depending on the writer. Few people are willing to entertain it seriously, though, if anything for the sake of their cardiac health.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Gamo is really popular on her own, not only due to being a secret wingwoman for Nagatoro and Senpai, but also for her hilarious sadism and well toned body. She's the most developed of Nagatoro's friends, to the point of being the first one to have her full real name revealed.
  • Also Yoshi, due to her naive cuteness, quirky nature and hilarious reactions.
  • In general, due to the manga's relatively small cast introduced little by little, every new character (with a face compared to the eyeless mobs) tends to make an impact. To elaborate further would risk just enumerating everyone. For instance, Sakura became instantly popular once she was reintroduced after dozens of chapters, after she appeared in the first chapter and then disappeared, and especially after her flirty nature was established. The Arts Club President became instantly popular for seeming to be the first serious rival-type for Nagatoro while also being a mentor-type for Senpai, and then for swerving the readers hard when she turned out to be another wingwoman for them, and also being a constant reminder of the author's past. Etc.
• Escapist Character: Even without the stronger kind of kink the original Pixiv sets appealed to, Senpai could be considered one, being a socially awkward boy who suddenly finds himself in midst of the exclusive attentions of a beautiful girl bent on broadening his world. Nagatoro herself can be another from the opposite side, especially for those into the Adorkable type.
• Epileptic Trees: Aside from the ones in Memetic Mutation, the manga fandom has built up a few in-joke theories, including:
  • The author's previous works are connected to the series, as he himself has put in a few nods.
  • The author has an agreement with his comrades to leave his "daughter" alone, hence the relative lack of Rule 34 Japan-side that this has compared to other series. This got some hints of support based on the guest artists for the omake books and artbooks, who thus get to do officially-sanctioned stuff instead.
  • Nagatoro's older sister is the Nagatoro of the original webcomics.
  • Senpai is related to Owari Hajime, due to the resemblance between them and his mom.
• Fanon: Back when only Nagatoro and Senpai had been depicted in color, her tallest, long-haired friend (later named Gamo) was often assumed to have red hair in order to complete a Blonde, Brunette, Redhead ensemble, with Nagatoro as the brunette and her other two friends appearing to be blonde (and since her hair is shaded lighter than Senpai's, which is brown in color pages, while Nagatoro's is black). It was somewhat disproven when colored art of her came out, however, as while she was indeed a redhead, her hair was bright orange instead of a darker red like fans assumed. The other two friends are indeed varying shades of blonde, though.
• Fan Nickname:
  • The series's title and main girl are sometimes jokingly given the alternate name of "Mr. Nagataki", as this is how Google Translate automatically renders "Nagatoro-san"'s characters (長瀞さん) rather than its proper spelling.
  • Nagatoro is usually called "Noodletoro" whenever her arms get cartoony (hence "noodle arms"), and "Squidtoro" when she's hitting Senpai and it appears like she has multiple limbs. Sometimes she goes full body noodle and beyond, and some thus call her "Blobtoro".
    • There are also the instances where she's dressed as a Cat Girl, she's "Nekotoro". This is strictly not a fan term since it actually appeared in a dream of Senpai's first, but has yet to be used besides that, and it took off with the fans. It would have been used in a later storyline if not for 774 using "Toro Cat" (Toro Katto) instead.
    • Nagatoro is referred to as "Protecctoro" whenever she becomes fiercely protective of Senpai, as in the popular meme "he protec(c) but he also attac(c)".
    • Hispanic fans sometimes call her jokingly "Nalgas de Toro" ("bull's buttcheeks" in Spanish) to make a language pun. This one was probably helped by the time she forced Senpai to work out with her, and she deliberately chose an outfit that showed off her butt.
  • Senpai is called "Chadpai", echoing the "Virgin vs. Chad" meme, whenever he manages to act assertively.
  • Due to their initial lack of names, fans often referred to Gamo and Yoshi as "Friend 1" and "Friend 2" respectively, stemming from live translation threads on 4chan. During a livestream of 774 drawing, it was also noticed that he used A and B corresponding to 1 and 2, so that was as close as Word of God got for a while until their names were revealed. Sakura was also dubbed "Friend 3" or C and so on.
  • Sakura was initially dubbed "Sleepy" because of her langourous expressions, which were later downplayed or dropped in the manga.
  • Two of Senpai's male classmates who surprisingly have faces are dubbed "Kenny and Kyle" because they first appeared wearing coats and hoodies that made them resemble these characters, with Senpai as "Stan" (though "Kyle" may have appeared earlier in the school festival storyline without a face) and the manga arc where this happened was set during a school trip to a ski resort, akin to "Asspen". Much later, the manga named "Kyle" as Takao, and even later "Kenny" as Hino.
  • Bleeding over from (parodies of) the current Dragon Ball fandom, some other characters are referred to by Spanish terms like El Presidente,^note Wrong gender because it's funnier, La Hermana, El Hermano, etc.
  • The various eyeless characters appearing in the series are sometimes called "Hentai MC", as drawing male protagonists without eyes is a traditional resource in hentai (as well as other media, like some light novels) to help the reader place himself in his shoes.
  • The Public Morals Committee girl is "Moral-chan".
  • Orihara is "Genki" for obvious reasons and because, like the friends, she appeared long before being named.
  • Sunomiya is "President Jr./Prez Jr." because her cousin the President (Prez) also shares the same family name.
  • Since Nagatoro's sister is nicknamed "Anetoro" in the manga, this is converted to English as "Sistoro". Thus fans also apply this to their brother, calling him "Anitoro", or "Brotoro".
• Genius Bonus:
  • While giving Senpai his haircut, Nagatoro jokes about shaving him like "Ikkyu-san", which subs tend to change for a more universal comparison to a Buddhist monk due to the reference's obscurity in the west. Although it might be unintentional, Ikkyu happens to be a famous 14th century Zen Buddhist monk (protagonist of a popular children's anime series from The '80s, Ikkyu-san, almost certainly what Nagatoro is citing) who was known for defying celibacy and preaching that love and sex could help to attain enlightenment - a quite relevant topic for a series whose leads advance in their Character Development through their growing romantic relationship.
  • Episode 9 makes an obscure nod to the history of Mixed Martial Arts in Japan when Yoshi frantically gives up in Gratuitous English to Sakura's choke. She's referencing Yuji Shimada, a legendary MMA referee who was infamous for peppering the fighters with "give up?" in English, often despite letting them take a lot of damage before actually stopping the fights.
  • Before Sana Sunomiya's family name was outright spoken, it was once partially shown on a school form, with "Sunom..." being legible. Then the Official Fanbook had a map of the manga's town setting, and readers noticed it was based on a real-life place. According to the Fanbook, the President's house is located next to the town shrine, which corresponds exactly to a "Sunomiya Shrine" in real life.
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff:
  • The franchise has a sizable fandom in the west, including but not limited to both the Anglosphere and the Hispanosphere, and its popularity only went further up with the premiere of the anime adaptation. The author himself tweeted◊ that he's surprised at how successful the series would turn out abroad.
  • A lot of fans hail specifically from Mexico, partly because of Nagatoro's Loving Bully qualities, which is a very common trope in Mexican media, and partly because her tan makes her look Latina, fitting even more. To show, a famous Mexican cosplayer named Naty cosplayed as her dressed as a stereotypical low-grade technical student, which entails its own cultural joke about Nagatoro.^note To explain, Nagatoro's uniform resembles that from the schools from CONALEP, a group of goverment-owned technical high schools notoriously infamous in Mexico for having, at least until the 2000s and 2010s, very low standards on education, (not to mention that any student who graduates from those schools cannot obtain further degrees from other, better universities, which means they are automatically certified and can pursue a profession, except that, until recently, graduating from a CONALEP school didn't help much in securing a decent job in Mexico, through this is starting to becoming a Dead Horse Trope after CONALEP, aware of their awful reputation, started to improve their standards, to the grade their students are starting to win science competitions, both in Mexico and abroad) with most of their students being members of the lowest levels from the Mexican society, not to mention having higher levels of teen pregnancies. With her overall appearance and personality, Nagatoro looks basically like a walking pastiche of the people attending such schools, even although she's ironically not a bad student herself.
• Growing the Beard: The school festival storyline marks a shift towards having more dense story arcs which are spread over multiple chapters and often set up each other, compared to the largely self-contained storylines before it being resolved in one to two chapters.
• He Really Can Act: Although Sumire Uesaka was already known as a solid voice actress, her role as Nagatoro in the anime adaptation is considered one of her career highlights up to that point, especially due to the impressive way she can make the character sound variously cheery, sadistic, sensual, sweet, embarrassed or all at once.
• Memetic Badass:
  • Photoshopped images portraying Senpai as exaggeratedly musclebound or badass-looking became popular with his Character Development in the manga and anime, often under the fan nickname of "Chadpai", imported from the "Virgin vs. Chad" meme.
  • Parodying certain types of Dragon Ball fans, "power level charts" (in gratuitous Spanish) are unanimous in placing Nagatoro's big sister (nicknamed "Anetoro", fan-nicknamed "La Hermana") at the highest rank for beating Nagatoro at her own game in their sibling interactions, and essentially being an Older and Wiser version of her. Her big brother "El Hermano" who shows up later is equally ranked for much the same reasons, plus his notorious first appearance in the earlier webcomic. Then their yet-unseen mother is taken to be as or even more powerful and identified with one of 774's previous characters for comedic reasons.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • Comparing Nagatoro's facial expressions◊ to Eddy's from Ed, Edd n Eddy.
  • "NaruHina saved Nagatoro/774." ^ExplanationMost of 774's earlier work involved rather...strange fetishes, which included most of the original Nagatoro webcomics where she was at her most cruel. However, after the release of The Last: Naruto the Movie, which ended with Naruto marrying Hinata, 774's work became somewhat Lighter and Softer, with his NaruHina doujinshi in particular being the epitome of Sweet Dreams Fuel. Fans noticed that this attitude seems to have extended to Nagatoro, who has had her sadism toned down and her vulnerable and sweet moments more present. The result is that many joke that 774 and by proxy Nagatoro were "purified" or "saved" by Naruto and Hinata getting together. Became Hilarious in Hindsight with the anime as Hinata's voice actress was cast as the Arts Club President.
  • Changing the title to sound more aggressive or verbose, i.e. Don't Fuck with Me, Nagatoro.^ExplanationThe localized title was revealed to be Don't Mess with Me, Nagatoro, which sounds more aggressive than Please Don't Bully Me, and people ran with it. Later it was changed to Don't Toy with Me to some confusion. Curiously enough, and to the amusement of many, the Argentinian Spanish translation of the manga was precisely translated as No me jodas, Nagatoro, which translates exactly as that.^note Note this applies more in other Hispanic countries like Spain, where "joder" is a harsh word, unlike Argentine, where it is still profane but has a more casual usage.
  • Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro^note A natural pun with Don't Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro that gained usage with the leads' obviously growing attraction.
  • Recreating a notorious page^note "This is my girlfriend" from Onani Master Kurosawa with a "Don't Mess with Me" Title Drop at the end. Amusingly, a certain development^note The introduction of the President's cousin resulted in a manga panel eerily reminiscent of the meme and original reference page, though the composition is somewhat different.
  • "You can't spell Nagatoro without NTR" and other phrasings.^ExplanationLikely hearkening back to the original image-sets where she plays a cruel prank on Senpai revolving around this. It should be noted that 774's previous work otherwise never touched on NTR themes.
  • "Ganbare ganbare Senpai!"^ExplanationNagatoro's cutesy chant while Senpai draws her in the anime's first episode. It quickly caught up with fans, with some of them making loop vids of it in YouTube.
  • "Nagatoro.exe has stopped working."^ExplanationA joke referring the instances in which Senpai being kind to Nagatoro leaves her embarrassed and/or speechless.
  • "Barges in. Says let's go. Refuses to elaborate. Leaves with all the girls."^ExplanationA play on the "Refuses to Elaborate Further" meme, either this or some variation, used to describe Senpai's intervention to help the clique in Episode 7, especially how it probably looked like from the two guys' perspective.
  • "Amazing!"^ExplanationYoshi's spontaneous Gratuitous English line from the last episode of the anime, which she uses to describe the Prez' artwork. Fans often use it in reference, especially to praise Yoshi herself.
  • It's become an in-joke to treat the Nagatoro stuff and the author's other works as a shared setting in some way, like with familial connections. The author's own occasional nods to these works within Nagatoro itself just add more fuel to the fire.
  • Due to Sakura being a potent mix of The Cutie and The Tease, being the outwardly nicest and sensible of Nagatoro's friends and also the one most linked to boys (to the point of being the only one who's seen actually making out with a boy), many tend to joke about her being a sexual tyrannosaurus who devours all in her path, and citing this as the reason why she's frequently absent from chapters, etc. This is exaggerating a bit, since it's stated that she lets boys "pitch" but never "score".
  • "MAIDEN IN LOVE"^ExplanationReferring to Nagatoro's especially smitten expressions and behavior, for self-explanatory reasons. One of the big recurring complaints about the anime was its failing to convey one such big moment (Nagatoro finding the drawings Senpai did based on her and thus running after him overjoyed) with the proper impact, particularly since it's mirrored by Senpai later on. Funnily enough, some arcs later, Orihara refers to Nagatoro as a "real maiden" after learning about them.
  • Nagatoro is Messi's wife.^ExplanationArgentine and other fans have likened Nagatoro to a manga/anime version of superstar footballer Lionel Messi's wife, Antonela Roccuzzo, who is noticeably browner than him (their resemblance to Nagatoro and Senpai is even more marked in pictures from when they were younger, which they have because they are more or less a real-life Childhood Friend Romance). By extension, this means Senpai is Messi and will accordingly Take a Level in Badass.
• Misaimed Fandom: Nagatoro's nightmare in Episode 5, where the dream version of Senpai acts dead serious and leaves her for her two friends, has been interpreted by many people as meaning that she harbors the petty fear of Senpai ever growing a spine and standing up to her abuse. In reality, given that the scene showcases Senpai being not really self-affirming but rather emotionless and cold, the real meaning of the sequence leans more towards that she's afraid of Senpai ever becoming callous to her (and especially abandoning her for her more sexually mature friends, who openly make Nagatoro jealous in multiple instances). In fact, as seen in other episodes, Senpai being more assertive is precisely what Nagatoro wants to accomplish and appreciates whenever it happens, to the point of becoming anguished herself whenever she sees her teasing has had the opposite effect instead.
• Moe:
  • To some, Yoshi, with her Girlish Pigtails, big blank pupils, perennial Playful Cat Smile, and her behavior like her parroting of Gamo.
  • Despite her being possibly the most mature girl of the clique, Sakura, which the voice acting amplifies thanks to Shiori Izawa's soft, soothing tone and playful delivery.
  • The President's cousin is basically her, but younger and alternately more demure or just as (or more) hammy about a topic of interest (love) and with shorter hair.
  • Unexpectedly for this type of manga, one of Senpai's male classmates with a face looks distinctly more childlike with his round face and large eyes and being shorter than the other guys. In his first appearance, he also wore a jacket and hood that often kept his mouth covered, reminding many of Kenny from South Park who is often seen as "cute".
• Most Wonderful Sound: The meowing sound for scene transitions, accompanying visuals of a chibi Nagatoro and cats.
• Narm Charm: The moment in Episode 7 where Nagatoro looks about to be carried off by a mass of people in the summer festival before Senpai heroically reaches to her and pulls her to safety. While certainly melodramatic and a bit silly, the direction, soundtrack and context all make the scene completely work, to the point you'll find people deeming it one of the cutest and most moving scenes in the anime. There's a reason why Mundane Made Awesome is a trope after all.
• Never Live It Down: Nagatoro making Senpai cry in episode 1 of the anime led to some Hype Backlash for the whole series among outsiders, many of which refused to continue. Despite her Character Development in later episodes, many who did continue felt that moment was too uncomfortable to watch and that Nagatoro should have faced some sort of punishment for it (even though it could be said she technically did, almost crying herself in regret the next time she did it again to Senpai). Of course, on the other hand it served as the kind of fetish-fuel that had hooked people onto the manga in the first place, and if anything was toned down from the original webcomics which built an audience for the manga version. Longtime fans tend to laugh off those trying to criticize this part of the anime by affirming and embracing the underlying kinks and "degeneracy" the series has always had for its roots, beneath the fluff.
• No Such Thing as Bad Publicity: The anime benefitted greatly from word of mouth about it being an exceptionally hardcore example of the teasing girls anime wave, as well as all the controversy with its premise supposedly glorifying bullying, even if both notions ended up being more bark than bite in all senses. Then there's the fact that the original webcomics are much more hardcore and biting (and predated the teasing girls wave by several years), and thus their reputation, as well as that of the author's much more explicit other works, greatly boosted the manga hype from the beginning.
• Older Than They Think: While the manga and especially the anime has given the character an explosion of mainstream popularity, the original Nagatoro works predate the anime by 10 years, attracting something of a cult following which in turn helped support the manga when it got serialized. The manga and anime are also often lumped in together as part of a "teasing schoolgirls" Loving Bully trend and compared to broadly similar titles, but the original web works predate the wave and can be seen as an unusually twisted prefigurement of them.
• Periphery Demographic: The author is somewhat notorious for his previous ero works, and while such backgrounds are more common in Japan than one would think, the author made his name with particular stuff that makes his transition to mainstream manga success all the more amusing. So a good chunk of the manga and later anime fans are in it to support him because of this, even if they don't otherwise dabble in the highschool rom-com genre.
• Signature Scene: Despite the Lighter and Softer manga and anime, Nagatoro is still most notorious in certain circles for her shenanigans in the webcomic, most infamously tricking Hachiouji with an NTR prank involving her brother, as well as using Hachiouji as a punching-bag, kicking him in the ass until he collapses, and many longtime fans will playfully allude to or show these things to the newer fans. So when the brother scenario was reused after a fashion in the manga, it got longtime fans uncommonly excited.
• Slow-Paced Beginning: It takes a bunch of chapters for the Character Development to start kicking in, when the initially ruthless teasing gives pass to something deeper, and this is cemented when Senpai starts hanging out voluntarily with Nagatoro and her friends. In the anime, the trope is especially present in the first episode, which depicts a full-on Nagatoro viciously delighting at making Senpai cry, and it's not until roughly two episodes more that the pair starts visibly bonding and caring for each other. A very usual reaction among viewers new to the franchise is precisely surprise at how wholesome and romantic the story turns out after all the early ruckus.
• Tainted by the Preview: The franchise's marketing tends to emphasize the bullying aspect in particular, with manga covers featuring Nagatoro smacking Senpai over the head, official anime posters showing Senpai terrified, and the anime's very opening sequence being made of cut and pastes of her most deranged faces. Added to the latter's first episode, which portrays Nagatoro at her most unsympathetic by a wide margin, this caused quite a few people to mistrust what kind of story would the series actually showcase. Those bad feelings were generally dissipated by the next episodes, but the impression is still around among people external to the fandom.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!:
  • The "softening" of Nagatoro from the original webcomics to the manga/anime, for some.
  • The anime's first season is often regarded as a decent condensation and/or expansion of the first six manga volumes, but some readers found the results uneven depending on the episodes, arguably missing some nuances and subtext, like Senpai's self-drawn manga possibly being influenced by his past with the President, or not conveying them as impactfully as the manga, like Nagatoro's "maiden in love" run which was mirrored by Senpai later. The second season continued this trend for some by covering a longer timespan than the first season did and thus leaving out more manga content (thus missing out on more characterization, worldbuilding, fanservice, etc.) that can't be moved to future seasons due to timeline issues.
  • The anime's translation of 774's artstyle is often seen as a decent/serviceable effort, but for some readers it doesn't quite stick the landing, with line weight being noticeably thinner and lending a "flatter" look to the art, characters looking a bit too "off model" from the manga at times, and some design choices that downplay individuals' characteristics by ironically making them look more "conventional" like with Yoshi's and later Anetoro's eyes.
  • The decrease in quality of animation and direction between the anime's first and second seasons, caused by the change in production studio from Telecom to OLM Incorporated, has been inevitably received with some dismay from the viewers. While the second season is not necessarily bad, a lot of the quirks, medium energy and visual poetry of the first are still missed. Plus more of the manga's racier content was toned down this time around, possibly due to the new studio having stricter rules; given that future manga chapters get even racier, this may pose more issues in the future.
  • The first anime episode gives Senpai a montage indicating an even more explicit Friendless Background than the manga's vaguer approach, which sets up a Continuity Snarl since Senpai having at least one guy friend was shown at the start of the school festival arc in the manga and later two of them were given faces and names, to say nothing of his relationships with the President and her cousin (weirdly, the two friends had already showed up in the manga before the anime aired, but the production elected not to acknowledge their existence in any way even if it skipped the part where they would have been shown). It is also a case of Franchise Original Sin, however, as the manga itself, despite the school festival stuff, still borders on Remember the New Guy? territory when the other guys suddenly show up with faces compared to the usual faceless mobs.
• Unexpected Character: A lot of readers were surprised by the season 2 promo art of the anime prominently showing the President's cousin Hana, given that she shows up in the manga after everyone moves up a year, and takes the plot up a notch, or several, and that the previous story arc immediately prior to her debut took place by the end of the schoolyear, and seemed to be telegraphing its place as a season cutoff point due to plot reasons and Playing With a Title Drop, so said character was more expected to show up in a possible season 3, or a Sequel Hook scene like a Stinger at most.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: How some feel about Nagatoro. Bonus drawings in the first volume try to present the incidents where she made Naoto cry as her being Innocently Insensitive in merely trying to flirt, realizing she's "overdone it" while running out of the room, but that's hard to believe when she looked like she was taking great pleasure in it, and also considering the roots of the manga as a SFW femdom/soft S&M fetish webcomic, so it feels like a retcon to obfuscate this past.
• Woolseyism:
  • Nagatoro occasionally calls things Senpai does "suspicious", only she specifically says a shortened version of the Japanese word for it. To keep the same idea while also having some fun, the subtitle version used "sus" when she would do so. The English dub uses "sketchy" interchangeably with "sus", which doesn't entirely avoid the show being dated - via invoking the contemporary popularity surge of Among Us - but it is a clever pun on Senpai being an artist who sketches.
  • Senpai and later his male classmates occasionally use the slang term "riajuu", which originated on online forums like messageboards and imageboards, havens of otaku culture. The term is a contraction of English "real" and the Japanese word for fulfillment, roughly meaning "people living fulfilling lives in the real world", i.e. "those unlike me/us". To keep the same idea while also having some fun, the manga's fan translators on Western imageboards (which were inspired by the Japanese ones in the first place) naturally substituted their own equivalent slang term, "normalfags". The official manga translators used "normies", which also comes from Western imageboards as a satirically juvenile variant of the former, but has more... "normie" acceptance for obvious reasons. The anime subtitles went for the more oblique "popular kids".
  • Some of the more out-there puns in Japanese just don't work if translated literally to English. Examples include "sketching = ejaculation" and "being worked hard = masturbation/manual stimulation". For the first one, any ingenious solutions are limited by visuals of fish sperm sushi, so the fan translators just put a footnote after much hand-wringing and brain-racking, while the official translators tried "planting/spreading the seeds" of "art-making"/"artistic knowledge", but it doesn't quite work for reasons like: the classic euphemism is "seed", and even if used correctly, it's overly formal and old-fashioned talk so it seems less likely to be misunderstood in a sexual way, since "seeds" and "seed" may just bring to mind literal gardening or farming, and the translated phrase is indeed a figure of speech using that kind of imagery. Then the second one became "getting physical" in the fan translation.
    • When the sketch pun made it into the anime, the subtitlers simplified the dialogue to "make her come with you", hinging on the different senses of "come", but as a result there's no direct art-related command in the subtitled dialogue compared to the audio and the line is a bit redundant as "bring her" is said right before.
  • Yoshi sometimes says Gratuitous English words and phrases that are sometimes fan-translated to other languages like German or French to keep them foreign. The last is justified because she also sometimes says Gratuitous French in the manga ("C'est bon!" and "foie gras!").
  • At one point Yoshi quotes a line of Chinese poetry, "Countries may fall, but their rivers and mountains remain", due to being single on a couples' night. The subbers didn't even attempt a Cultural Translation with a Western poem and instead made it a Braveheart reference, "They may take our boys but they'll never take our freedom".

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