PLOT:
Every day, Nishitaka tries to think of ways to get a reaction out of Takagi, the girl who sits next to him in class. Every day, Takagi finds a way to get Nishitaka to freak out and make weird faces, giggling all the while. Will Nishitaka ever find a way to outwit her? And will he ever figure out what her REAL motive for teasing him is?
STORY:
I could be glib and just sum up Takagi-san as "A shojo romance spin on My Neighbor Seki," but that's not entirely fair. It's not that it's inaccurate ( it's actually seinen), it's more that doing so dismisses the quality of the humor and the main couple.
Yamamoto maintains a delicate balance in the interplay between Nishitaka and Takagi. It would have been dangerously easy to take her teasing too far and turn it into bullying. Thankfully, they never let you forget that as much as Takagi laughs at Nishtaka, she is very clearly smitten with him and does it in part to get close to him. It's also to understand her temptation. Nishitaka is just so high-strung, his buttons so easy to press that it's hard to blame Takagi for having some fun at his expense. He's also clearly smitten with Takagi as well, although he's largely in denial over it.
Another thing that helps the humor work here is that Yamamoto gives each new scenario the time and space it needs. The prank each chapter is based around builds up long and slow, giving plenty of time for Nishitaka to overthink things all the way to the punchline. If there's any downside to this, it's that it's a dynamic that threatens to get stale as the series goes on. We don't see much of their classmates, and introducing some supporting cast would probably go a long way on keeping the set-up fresh. There's also the fact that at some point, the romance has to make some progress or else the whole thing will get tedious. Those are concerns for later volumes, though. Right now, Teasing Master Takagi-san is delightful.
ART:
Yamamoto's characters designs are fairly simple, but they get a lot out of them. There's a lot of subtle movement and looks between the two, and they definitely get a lot of mileage out of Takagi's knowing smile and long, draping hair. Visually, it's a very restrained manga, with most scenes consisting of little more than back-and-forths between the leads. The only thing that gets wild is Nishitaka's face, which amplifies his mental monologue and boosts the comedy. Teasing Master Takagi-san doesn't have the sort of art that blows minds, but it's perfect for what it does need.
RATING:
Teasing Master Takagi-san is a gentle romantic comedy that makes the best of its particular formula through careful pacing, tone, and art. For those seeking a rom-com manga that emphasizes the latter versus the former, this is a good pick.
This series is published by Yen Press. This series is ongoing in Japan with 9 volumes available. 2 volumes have been published and are currently in print.
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