Teasing Master Takagi-san Season 2: A Growing Relationship

There has been a strong lack of romantic comedy anime that have been coming out recently. I think I have a general idea of where they are going. Netflix. Oh yeah, this is another Netflix anime review thing. SURPRISE…except not really if you have seen this show appear on netflix where they changed the dub voice actor’s voices and everything. Well, besides the whole industry not as interested in producing romantic comedies recently possibly. It’s kind of sad because I’ve been looking forward to watching every season and for a while, we’ve had at least one. I guess they aren’t selling that well to audiences unless they are a part of a big franchise like Fruits Basket. Still, when the goods are here the goods are here.

So lets do a little bit of a recap towards the first season of Takagi-san’s premise and ideas. Partially because this review is going to be shorter than my usual posts because I don’t want to talk about every detail in series. Otherwise you readers might not be interested in checking it out. Please do that.

So Takagi-san is an anime series formed out shorts centered on us being in a middle school boy named Nishikata trying to get a reaction towards a girl he has a crush on. You know, despite the fact that he refuses to say that. The thing is Takagi is always two steps ahead of him in thinking and plotting. So the end result is always the same even if you don’t know how. It’s like Looney Tunes, but with flirting and a couple you really like because they are adorable together. There is also a side trio of girls who have their own smaller, inside adventures in and out of school. Their names are Mina, Yukari, and Sanae. They aren’t as important to the show, but I like seeing their adventures anyway. Take them or leave them, they are there and having fun.

The second season of Takagi-san is constructed the same as the first season, except the balance in the relationship between Takagi and Nishikata is so different. It’s slowly leaning towards Nishikata even if he doesn’t notice this yet. I’m going to point to two different reasons why so you can understand my point of view of why this is true. The first thing was Nishikata starting to do pushups for each time Takagi has teased him that day. The other one follows the part in episode eleven of the first season called critical hit. A portion where Nishikata doesn’t try to tease Takagi, but chooses walking home with her instead of soccer practice. That sounds minor, but it’s the first time Takagi has ever blushed in the show. That can’t mean nothing. We all know it doesn’t.

Those pushups that Nishikata does pay dividends because he is now the more physically stronger member of that relationship. Takagi-san has to trick him in different ways. Mainly exploiting the fact that Nishikata is still getting to that “girls are kind of hot” phase. So you know, physically touching Takagi still embarrasses him quite a bit and causes him to lose whatever scheme he tries. Still, with each interaction, there is a tiny bit of growth here and there. Nishikata’s thoughts of teasing turn into actually having feeling towards Takagi-san. That ending of the last episode says a lot. Say what you want about romances being slowly developed in anime with the classic cliche of ignoring the obvious, it’s very satisfying when it comes to an end. I gave it away, but you don’t know what the situation is. Ha, there.

Takagi-san also felt a lot more like a person in this season. Not that she didn’t feel like a person in the first season, but we didn’t know her as well. She always had the jump on Nishikata, but there are even moments when she feels a lot more vulnerable than the always plotting person that she is. There was that day when Takagi didn’t tease Nishikata because she was depressed for some reason. Ok, she got into an argument with her mother, but a something thing like this does a lot. It shows that Takagi is more than just a non-stop teasing machine. She’s a person with feelings and a heart like everyone else. It’s great to see Nishikata having to cheer her up for once, because it adds more layers to their continuing relationship. Infact, everything does. Mina, Yukari, and Sanae often bump into the two or just follow them.

All of that cuteness move into the art and animation portion of Takagi-san. There are no larger action scenes that require heavy amounts of sakuga. Instead, the focus of the show is animated the mood, the short bits of movements when it’s necessary, and character animation. The character animation in this show is outstanding. Each character has their own set of expressions they use when planning, embarrassment, and victory. I feel like it’s completely possible to watch this show without any voice acting at all and still get what is going on. Takagi-san’s art is simplistic, but well detailed. Whatever is going on with this show, there is a lot of thought and heart being put into its production. Generally excellent stuff.

Despite how good I feel about watching Takagi-san alongside how worm and cute it is, I think it’s a good. It’s simple enough, powerful enough, and has a great conclusion that makes me want more, but I can’t say that it’s one of my favorite series. I know that I am being picky about this and it’s completely unfair to this anime because I do like it a great deal. In fact, I’m waiting for the third season right now even if it doesn’t ever get announced. I suppose what marks this show down for me is that it’s not that ambitious of an anime. It does what it does very well and gives you the right feelings and everything. It just doesn’t aim that high. Doesn’t do anything unexpected. You can tell what is going to happen in the end which isn’t a point against it, but a point that just sits there. Pretty classic shoujo stuff. I’m really having a hard time explaining this one and it hurts. Any

---