Two great exponents of romantic comedy manga like “Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san (Teasing Master Takagi-san)” and “Ijiranaide, Nagatoro-san (Don't mess with me, Miss Nagatoro)” have one thing in common: both stories involve their female protagonists playing pranks on the male protagonists.

Although it is assumed that in these stories these behaviors are intended for the girl to show her affection, it seems that not everyone agrees with this view of romance. A debate recently broke out on Japanese comment forums about this topic, started by a Twitter user who criticized Takagi-san's story as actually "a romanticization of bullying":

• «Although Takagi-san thought she was “a master of pranks,” the protagonist certainly saw her as a bully.", he wrote.

It didn't take long for another user to clarify that Author Soichiro Yamamoto stated in an interview that he took extreme care when making Takagi-san jokes. They will never exceed a certain limit:

• «The author, Yamamoto-senseiwas also very careful about this, and He said in an interview that he was aware that there were good intentions behind Takagi-san's "joke" and that he drew a clear line between "joke" and "not making the other party feel uncomfortable."without malice on the part of the prankster or displeasure on the part of the victim", he wrote.

When this opinion began to have weight, Others began to say that in the case of “Ijiranaide, Nagatoro-san,” no care was taken with this kind of representation.. Saying that Nagatoro was a bully and that her manga romanticized this aspect seems to be a trend:

• «I read some comments saying that “Nagatoro-san failed in this aspect”, but when I check the history, I think it is because of the author’s history. The second half of the story gets progressively softer and I feel more comfortable with it, but I wonder if it's a matter of diversity that the author doesn't allow for more gross sexual inclinations. By the way, there are some people around me who say that both Takagi and Nagatoro look like bullies, but I disagree. Everything is relative, and I don't agree with that "Takagi is good, Nagatoro is not" thing. I personally prefer Nagatoro simply because he always shows his legs", he wrote.

And of course, the community's comments couldn't be left out:

• «“Someday I will definitely catch Takagi-san by surprise.” Nishikata still has that competitive feeling. I like Takagi’s story because it shows that Nishikata is not afraid of her and is willing to play a prank on her. If that weren’t the case, I would consider this a story of abuse.».
• «The previous stories of Nanashi, the author of Nagatoro-san, were hentai with quite edgy themes. I think that's why Nagatoro-san starts out so intense, because the author was just transitioning out of the hentai industry. Eventually he gained more experience in the "all-ages" world and that eventually showed in his work.».
• «The pilot chapter of Nagatoro-san, that is, the one-shot, was even more visceral regarding Nagatoro's abuse of Senpai. It's incredible and I recommend reading it sometime, so you can see what the author's original idea was.».
• «Nanashi-sensei came from the hentai industry right before starting Nagatoro. That's why the beginning is so intense.».

Source: Esuteru Blog