Don’t Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro is a series that has picked up a decent following outside of Japan. Its manga is consistently being released overseas, and it has two seasons of anime that have multiple international dubs. Let’s get a closer look at the start of this series with a Nagatoro Manga Review!
First Thing’s First
Don’t Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro (イジらないで、長瀞さん) is a manga created by Nanashi774(ナナシ). It was originally published via the online manga service Magazine Pocket. This series is published by Kodansha through their Vertical imprint in North America.
I like the manga a lot. I have watched the anime (subbed and dubbed), I own every English volume digitally, volume 1 in Japanese, and also picked up a special edition English copy of volume 1. That Nagatoro nendoroid that got announced? Yeah, I’m gonna pre-order that as soon as it’s available.
Putting That Aside
I will attempt to not show bias. Just kidding, it’s impossible to be non-biased when you’re talking about something you like. I will, however, try not to be defensive and try to be fair to other views on the series.
Nanashi’s Art
I like it. Nanashi’s art isn’t revolutionary stylistically or anything. I DO think that it has a ton of charm. Obviously, his art improves as the series goes on. He gets better at drawing humourous faces and actions. He also knows when to draw simply and in more detail. These aspects aren’t as clear in volume 1, but you can definitely see that he’s having fun drawing these poses and expressions.
Steamy Raunchy Humor??
The two major traits of the Nagatoro manga besides the Slice of Life and Romance themes are comedy and raunch. A lot of situations where the main character is teased or Nagatoro fails at teasing are propped up by, and prop up the SoL and RomCom themes. What I mean is that the divide between these theme sets creates a dichotomy that results in a satisfying read for me. You get an interesting mix of cuteness and crudeness.
Admittedly, this could be more of a turn-off rather than a turn-on for some prospective readers.
Finding a Weakness
I adore this series, but I can admit that there’s a rough veneer that coats the early chapters. Nagatoro is a bit on the sadistic side. This does stem from this manga being somewhat of a transitional phase for Nanashi, going from masochistic fetish art to something more heartfelt. Some of the teasings are moreso bullying in these early chapters which may not jive with some readers.
Nanashi does seem aware of this because of the after-chapter bumpers characterizing Nagatoro in such a way that makes her self-aware that her actions are freakish. Though, readers of the Magazine Pocket chapters didn’t get these as these were added to the later tankobon release.
I’m going to state the obvious. If you don’t enjoy crude humor, some fanservice, or Slice of Life antics then you won’t enjoy this series. Volume 1 definitely won’t change your mind, as I feel that the series is at its weakest at the beginning.
The Stories in This Volume
I’m going to offer a basic synopsis of this volume. Feel free to skip it if you wanna read it or watch it.
Things start off pretty simply. The intro chapter has Nagatoro and Senpai meet. Senapai is an artist and Nagatoro is a big teaser (and athletic!). The following chapters involve Nagatoro finding Senapi’s club room and Senpai learning her name. After that, there’s a chapter where Senpai has an ecchi manga, a chapter where you see where I got the thumbnail panel from (vampires!), and a chapter that shows that Nagatoro treats Senapai in a “special” way. The bonus chapters involve some Valentine’s day shenanigans and a bath scene. You can bet that the entire volume is filled to the brim with jokes and teasing! Don’t forget the splashes of cute romance. That’s what I signed up for!
I’d say that this is pretty standard beginning series stuff. It establishes characters, sets a structure, and begins arcs. It’s all enjoyable to me and creates a strong foundation!
I have spoiled some panels, sorry about that. It’s only for demonstrative purposes and it’s only about a dozen pages out of around 160. That’s less than 10 percent!
Walking Home, Concluding the Day
I love this series. You can see the sprinkles of genuine love and growth that later becomes more realized as the series goes on. Nanashi’s art and character writing isn’t quite as polished as it is newer chapters I admit. Though, everything starts somewhere right? It can be argued that early Nagatoro has a bit of an edge that some people may prefer.
For the series as a whole, I’d love to give a 5/5. That would be my Nagatoro Manga Review score. I feel that when looked at as an entire, and as of now, unfinished work that is very enjoyable and well crafted in many ways. The first volume is the weakest for me.
I’d have to give Don’t Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro Volume 1 a 3.5/5. I really like the art and how the arcs are started. I say this acknowledging that if it ended here that I would think it’s neat, but not a favorite. That being said, the series is a favorite of mine!
~Omake~
Alright, bear with me for a second. As I stated at the start of the review, I own the entire English series digitally. Though, I did pick up a physical book of the first volume when I was browsing a Books-A-Million store. I saw a “special edition” BAM! exclusive cover of the first volume. That’s kind of awesome! Right?! Japan gets a variant cover for each volume of the series. I felt lucky. Though, the cover itself annoys me in a VERY nerdy, otaku-ish way.
The English limited edition cover has Nagatoro in an outfit that she doesn’t technically wear until around volume 6 I think? The outfit may show up in some sketches of Senpai’s a bit earlier than that. I understand that it’s marketable and she wears it in some anime promotional material. My question is: Why didn’t they just give us the special edition art on the Japanese volume?? The real answer is probably something like that the retailer that had that volume had some sort of exclusivity deal.
Despite complaining about it, I don’t care THAT much. I mean, I did buy it.
Nagatoro Manga Review Related Links
I’ll be working tirelessly to provide more and more content for Manga March here on Final Weapon. Here are some other choice manga articles and reviews, conveniently linked here for your viewing pleasure!
Thank you for reading my Nagatoro Manga Review! Here’s more manga reviews!
