I’m out of the loop with anime stuff which is fine. I like being at my own pace but Rin showed me this anime series called, “Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro” (Ijirinaide, Nagatoro-san) a week ago and my first reaction to the screenshot she showed me was, “Wtf is with all these smug^tm looking anime girls?!”

I swear to Ra, it’s like a virus, lol. I’ve been seeing those faces so often I wonder if that’s the new trendy thing like how moe yanderes became big and trendy in the 2000s/early 2010s (I’m not sure but I distinctly remember the plethora of yandere anime girl series that cropped up during those years. )

Anyway, I was curious. I thought of watching an episode of it. Like, maybe it’s better than Uzaki chan and I’m judging too much.

Ummmmm…..

First episode and I was already disturbed. The animation was good and it was refreshing seeing a darker skinned Japanese girl but I don’t understand the appeal of the series at all. She taunts and bullies the MC until he cries and I’m supposed to root for them as a couple?

(RANT AHEAD.)

I thought of giving it a chance so I decided to watch three more episodes and by the fourth one, I wanted to drop it.

It is nothing more but a masochist fetish piece masquerading as a romantic comedy anime series. Already in the fourth episode, the MC was sexually assaulted by Nagatoro and her friends.

You have them taunting the MC for being a virgin which is…quite strange and degrading imho. Strange in a way because usually the male virgin-shaming comes from guys themselves from my personal experience. It’s often guys who bully other guys for being virgins. toxic masculinity, as usual.

This was clearly written by a guy, lol.

There are some girls who do mock guys for being virgins but only when the guy is acting all incel-ish and entitled towards them. An example would be when a videogame featured a female character with a peach fuzz recently, and some gamer guys were complaining, saying she “looks trans” all because she had those baby hair that everyone has in their face. Comments were like,”Tell me you’re a virgin without saying it…” In this context, male virgins are those guys who come across as if they’ve never actually seen a woman irl and are only surrounded by 2d waifu, distorting their ideas of women.

But Nagatoro and her friends are “bullies” so it’s obvious they’d be fixating on the MC’s virginity especially?

Why the fuck are all the characters here constantly fixated on male virginity? it’s so creepy.

It clearly was just made for guys with a femdom/ humiliation fetish. Even in this interview by Anime Corner with the creator of the series, when questioned if he had any interactions irl with women like Nagatoro and her friends, he replied, “Unfortunately, I haven’t.”

Yyyyup. Definitely a kink.

Anyone who has experienced bullying of this magnitude would never romanticise this or even kawaii/moe-fy it. I’ve experienced bullying from girls and guys akin to this kind (without the virgin shaming and sexual assault) as a child and a teen and it’s not cute. It’s traumatising and goddamn depressing.

Let me be clear that there is nothing wrong with having that kind of fetish but to market it as “romantic comedy” is appalling. It’s not romantic, in my opinion. It’s abuse. She’s only abusing him for fun and gratification. At most, it’s just a fucked up and very unhealthy relationship. If they’re aiming for the whole romantic story set-up instead of being transparent that it’s a masochist kink and softcore porn/ecchi anime, then they’re sending a terrible message to the audience especially towards impressionable guys and bullying victims, in general. “They just bully you because they like you. You should be receptive and not stand up for yourself. “ How fucking toxic.

And…I’ve seen people excusing how she’s just bullying the MC so he can have more spine and be out there, basically justifying her bullying. What kind of mental gymnastics is this? Bullying a person NEVER ever makes anyone more socially adept and confident.

eughh…

I know it’s a bit hasty for me to judge the series in just four episodes along but even then, reading the synopsis, it seems to just be a masochist/bullying fetish anime. Nagatoro’s bullying or “teasing’ if you want a softer language, is the center of the story, regardless. I don’t think she’s redeemable in my book no matter how hard the story tries to insist “she gets better.”

She won’t stop with her animu smug ^tm face because that is what she’s known for. That’s what the entire series is known for. She’s a sadodere, another dere term for a girl who likes to manipulate people’s feelings. and finds pleasure in hurting others.

Sigh..another dere archetype in anime.

I’m really exhuasted with these archetypes frankly. There’s nothing wrong with having a dere archetype, yeah but the problem for me is the execution. ___dere should be the basic archetype for a personality, not the whole thing. It feels like nowadays, they just pull some cliches together and call it a day. Just making the character into a caricature.

That’s a big problem when it comes to the writing of female characters in anime. Their personality is an archetype, a cliche. It’s not complex or multifaceted. It’s the __dere that defines their entire being. It’s kind of sad, really. It’s not just in anime but even in western animations that male characters seem to have a more varied, complex personality compared to female ones. Like, I often noticed in western animations I’ve seen that female characters there are either the outspoken, overachieving, smart feminist who is the voice of reason (the brains) or the airheaded bimbo.

Ahh..I’ve gone on a tangent and ranted about moe anime again. I still love anime. Though it seems I’m more fond of the older ones atm and will stick to them.

Geez, what’s the next trendy dere type I wonder?

NGL, I’ve been incredibly suspicious with the anime industry lately with them releasing….er…very problematic seinen isekai series for the past year or so. Apparently, there was a recent anime that aired about some paedophile who got reincarnated as a kid and uses it to molest people with no consequences, and Redo of a Healer which seems to be a Revenge Rape Fantasy porn and from what I’ve seen in forums, incels seem to idolise the MC of that series. And another recent isekai anime, “Rising of the Shield Hero” that shows casually having slaves is okay, good slavery is okay, slaves being part of his harem and fans using “muh historical realism” as an excuse even though the series is in some fantasy land with loli girls having angel wings and a bird horse flying around.

goddamnit.

At this point, isekai as a genre is already a big write off for me, lol. It’s a shame that such a compelling and good genre has been plagued by these kinds of series.

END OF RANT.

Gods, I have so much to talk about in terms of media and writing, lol. Why does it have to be late at night? ORZ