Teasing Master Takagi-san

Despite only a handful of romantic experiences, I can still confirm that it is fun to tease and gently pick on someone you love. I can also confirm that if you can get to know the other person a little, in other words, if you are a little observant (and usually you are if you are with someone you care about) then there are deductions you can make, and you can also sometimes predict what is going on in that person's head. From my experience as a viewer, I can also, therefore, confirm that watching an anime series based on such a relationship is usually a very enjoyable experience. When the central couple works well together, the entertainment and romantic elements of the show are properly balanced, plus, there is some development in the relationship and characters occurring - then you have something like Lovely Complex... The biggest problem I have with this anime series, and the fact that I decided to give it an above-average rating only at the very end of the first season, stems from the fact that the central couple are not really that equal, and there is no character development most of the time. Regarding Takagi herself, I would probably just ignore the latter criticism completely as she is an amazing character, she is very cute, funny, and smart... In other words, she is a girl who could keep me entertained for maybe a lifetime. However, there is also Nishikata. The boy is far too straightforward, his plans are extremely naive, and by being so shy all the time he does not stand a chance of keeping up with the girl. If it had not had that romantic aspect, and if it had not been for the last two episodes, as they partly convinced me that the main male protagonist might perhaps not be such a waste of space in the future, I would not give it more than average rating, however, as it is - yeah, this is a very charming anime series (mainly thanks to the main female protagonist) with lovely animation (which helps make Takagi seem even more endearing), a good soundtrack, plus a lot of comedy... 7/10. (12/23/2019)

The second season is more or less in the spirit of the first, except, I guess, with the difference that the innocent competitions and games have become much more about how the main female protagonist is trying to hook up with the main male protagonist. It is much more about that supposed romantic element, which doesn’t work that well because of Nishikata's wooden nature, and sometimes it is not even that funny. The other supporting characters are given less and less screen time, and the main focus is on Takagi, who seems to literally want to put Nishikata in the situation where he is forced to choose between making a move towards a relationship with Takagi, or just losing another bet. Nishikata is therefore simply pushed into dealing with the same dilemma over and over again - if he does this, it is going to be embarrassing, however, if he does not, he is going to lose again... So, with the way Nishikata is, it all ends up the same way in most cases, and even when he is finally pushed so hard that you could talk about some kind of development, you still feel like that development is just once again a tiny step. So my question is - does someone like Nishikata deserve someone like Takagi? I for one do not think so. However, Takagi is of a different opinion, and so everything just repeats itself again, and most of the time it is just going around in circles, and it gets boring and pretty exhausting... Plus, that is why I was not so entertained, and the second season is not going to get more than 6/10 from me. (09/26/2019)

Takagi is back! So everything finally started to progress during this season, the love story finally started to get good, and I can say that I enjoyed the third season at least as much as the first one. Yes, there are again some filler episodes where you get the impression that nothing is going on besides the never-ending banter between the main two protagonists (and the banter of the trio of Yukari, Mina, and Sanae). Still, they are interspersed with stuff that somehow moves things along. I was happier with the character of Nishikata, who turned up more, and Takagi seemed unexpectedly a bit more charming as she seemed more vulnerable. It was not as forced, one-sided, and boring in terms of the synergy between the main two protagonists as the second season was. So finally, the best episodes are the ones where the main two protagonists are given more screen time, since they are the driving force of the narrative (you can tell by the simple titles, like "Christmas"), and the others feel like filler. I found interesting bits and pieces in some of the better episodes, which have stuck in my memory (the best episode is number eight, and its four different perspectives on the same journey). Likewise, I quite liked the pairing of Hamaguchi and Hojo as I found their love story more interesting and relatable than Nakai and Mano. I am quite satisfied with the third season of Teasing Master Takagi-san (7/10) and curious about the movie coming to theaters on June 10, 2022. (03/25/2022)