Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san – 12 (Fin) – A Gentle Nudge Past the Status Quo

The last episode of KJT starts with a long shot of Takagi looking over at Nishikata without trying to look like she’s looking. It’s the first time we’ve seen her since Nishikata unwittingly made her heart go dokidoki, and when we hear that the girls in class are on a letter-writing kick, it’s natural to assume Takagi would join in.

When Nishikata finds a love letter in his textbook, he does everything he can to keep that information from Takagi…right up until she tells him she put it there, she wants him to read it before school ends, because she wants his “answer” by then.

When Nishikata discovers the “love” letter is really just a written request to walk home together like they always do, Takagi gets the reaction she wanted. But in a way, it was a love letter, albeit a coded one: Nishikata’s reactions provide her nearly as much info as direct words.

Her ability to read him like a large-print book goes back to when they first met and spoke, back on their very first day of school. Nishikata is late, but not because he overslept. Takagi senses he wants to set the record straight, and her first words to her new desk neighbor are “you didn’t really oversleep, right?”

Later, Takagi is the one who’s late, giving Nishikata cover, but also sets up her first guessing game with Nishikata, correctly guessing he was late because he found her handkerchief and brought it to the staff room.

Nishikata (unaware that she was “Takagi-san” until just then) reacts in the over-the-top flustered manner we’re used to by now—only it’s the first time Takagi is watching it. From that day onward, she was hooked.

Back in the present, Nishikata receives bad news: there’s to be a seat rearrangement. Nishikata pretends it doesn’t bother him, but Takagi doesn’t hide her dispiritedness, which in turn makes Nishikata dispirited. The status quo is at stake!

Nishikata ends up joining someone else despondent over the rearrangement: Mano-chan, who was perfectly content next to her boyfriend Nakai-kun, and whose life is now essentially over. Then Nishikata loses his one chance to switch seats with Kimura-kun, and sinks into his new desk of despair beside Mano-chan.

Thankfully, things didn’t end there: through a number of seat switches, Mano and Nakai end up up front together, while Takagi returns to Nishikata’s side. Nishikata can barely hide his relief.

Then she asks what he wanted to say earlier, and he produces her handkerchief, which she used to bandage his knee a while back, and which also brought them together on the first day of school. Nishikata expresses his gratitude he was able to return it, and that they’re next to each other again; the feeling is mutual. For once, he says what he feels without worrying about being teased.

That night, while inspecting her hankie, a little note slips out, and suddenly Takagi is in the same position Nishikata is when he found the love letter in his book. It’s no confession, just a simple “Thank you”…but it’s another critical hit on Takagi, who plops onto the bed and buries her head in her pillow, giddy with delight.

It would be an understatement to say I’ll miss Takagi and Nishikata. Could I watch the duo grow closer and closer together as they enter high school, college, and eventually adulthood? You BETCHA. But since that’s sadly unlikely to happen, I have to be satisfied with the snippet of their lives that we got. And I am, very much so!

Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san – 11

Since the new school term it seems like our lovebirds have been in a holding pattern, and the blame for that rests entirely on Nishikata, who continues to misinterpret pretty much everything Takagi says and does, and remains stubbornly obsessed with getting one over on her, despite the fact Wile E Coyote had more success chasing Road Runner.

When Takagi approaches a cat so easily, Nishikata is too proud to say he likes cats too, even though Takagi is already keenly aware of that fact, since Nishikata is such an open book. She rarely takes what he says at face value without challenging it in some way. Nishikata often accurately predicts Takagi’s behavior or responses, but where Takagi flaunts her ability to read his mind, he’s always second-guessing what he thinks is in hers…and almost always pays for it.

In art class, we find Nishikata and Takagi drawing portraits of one another, and right from the start I’m wondering: did they choose to draw each other, or were they assigned? Regardless, Nishikata tries to be funny by drawing how he “envisions” Takagi—like a monster—but she draws him exactly as he is, perpetually blushing around her with eyes to the side. The class likely can’t help but feel the chemistry.

The next day Takagi has her fortune told by a classmate handy with Tarot. After losing a game of rock-paper-scissors, meaning she has to help Nishikata clean, she tells him what it was about: she’ll do well with her crush. She even gets Nishikata’s fortune: he’ll do well with his crush too.

There were moments in this segment when I thought for sure Nishikata would let something slip, but instead, he has a revelation: circumstances definitely point towards Takagi liking him; she did lose the game on purpose, after all.

Further, Nishikata correctly analyzes his reactions to this kind of talk with the assertion that he likes Takagi. He quickly dismisses the thought in his head, but the seed has been planted.

The day after that, Nishikata has a very favorable horoscope, essentially invincible for the day, which for him means he’ll finally strike a blow against Takagi. Takagi, naturally, knows he’s both a Cancer and correctly predicted he’s Type O, and so knows he has an invincible aura.

Yet…nothing happens out of the ordinary. Nishikata is teased his usual several dozen times, and laments the 150 push-ups he’ll have to do when he gets home. Yet it’s only after he agrees without a thought to walk home with Takagi that he realizes he still has a chance to deal a “critical hit.”

While walking home, Nishikata and Takagi run into Nishikata’s friends, who invite him to their house to play a video game. We then cut to Nishikata still with Takagi. He refused the invite, and when Takagi asks if he’s okay not going with the boys, he says yes…because “I wanted to walk home with you anyway.”

Those words cause Takagi to gasp and stop dead in her tracks, but Nishikata is too busy straining to think how he can deal a blow to Takagi to realize he just dealt her one. That is, until he considers what he just said to be “super awkward” and runs off in embarrassment, believing he only managed to scored a hit on himself.

But he’s sorely mistaken. His hit on Takagi was indeed critical, and it went straight to her heart, something she says is “terrifying” before getting on her bike and riding the rest of the way home blushing just as brightly as Nishikata usually does, with an bashful smirk on her face.

It’s one of the best moments from one of the best characters I’ve come across this season. Raw, honest, and true to her personality. Can Nishikata get over the embarrassment and continue telling Takagi the things she wants to hear, or does she have to be content with him letting things slip then halfheartedly taking them back? We’ll see what next week’s finale has in store.

Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san – 10

You’re not going to believe this, but this week Takagi teases Nishikata, he has no defense, and any feeble attempt to go on offense turns back on him. While Takagi engages in more physical contact and gets some interesting answers out of Nishikata, the fact remains he believes her primary motivation for hanging out with him is to tease him.

Their tandem riding lessons aren’t put to use, and neither do they ever text each other this week (although to be fair they’re rarely apart this week). But both the trio of girls and Nishikata’s nerd friends suspect he’s going out with Takagi, simply because they spend so much time together.

Takagi suggests they might think she’s the one in love with him because she’s always asking if they’ll walk home together, leading her to make Nishikata ask her directly, and seems very pleased when he does just that. He’s truly putty in her hands.

As for Nishikata’s grand scheme, it’s a poorly-planned game of asking Takagi “would you rather” questions, all of which she manages to answer without getting flustered, and then when it’s her turn to ask, Nishikata can’t help but get flustered.

That’s because Takagi wisely answers and chooses questions in a way that underscore one constant: she likes being with him. That means she’ll pick the tasty drink that gives her a fever, because it means he’ll come visit her, that he’d rather be teased forever than live in a world where she was gone…and would even rather kiss her than get zeros on all his tests.

Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san – 09

You’d hope Nishikata getting a cell phone would be a chance for him to grow up a little, but he only sees it as the trump card in his futile quest to successfully tease Takagi.

Perhaps he grew up a bit in spite of his intentions, since it doesn’t take long for him to cave and spout his whole plan to Takagi, who saw it coming from miles away. In any case, Takagi wants his contact info anyway, so they exchange it, and she promises to use it.

For calling him out on his attempted tease, Takagi appeals to Nishikata’s general honor by telling him he should make it up to her by helping her with classroom day duty; Nishikata does not resist. He’s tired because he couldn’t sleep after watching a scary video on his phone.

When he sends it to Takagi, she first teases him by showing him a picture of a woman in a bikini, asking if that’s what he sent, then watches the video, only to not be that scared at all because it’s not nighttime (and because let’s face it, it’s a dumb video).

That night, at the same time Nishikata is about to send her another scary video, she calls him to head it off, again correctly predicting his behavior (though that isn’t that hard at this point).

What results is what she wanted all along: to simply talk on the phone with Nishikata, for the first time at night, even saying it makes her heart flutter. Because of that, Nishikata can’t sleep a second straight night, though for a totally different reason!

Nishikata’s efforts to take a phone photo that will beat his friends’ lead him to beg Takagi to do her patented funny face so he can snap it; Takagi’s cost is high: he’ll have to do “whatever she says.” When she finally does the face, Nishikata isn’t ready. Then Takagi pulls out a toy snake and snaps three pictures of his reactions.

While she’s laughing at those pics she’s so happy to have taken, Nishikata tries to take her picture, but she snaps immediately into a normal peace-sign pose. Nishikata proposes they each delete the photos of one another, but Takagi refuses, and tells him not to delete her picture off his phone, though also asks him not to show it to anyone else, as it’s “embarrassing.”

While he may have thought he’d have a new weapon to even the odds in his cell phone, the truth is Takagi is far more adept in its use. It’s a tool, after all; it’s all about the talent of the person wielding it. So he’s merely given her another avenue to “tease” him, though it’s mainly a means for them to get a little closer.

Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san – 08

This episode is bookended by instances of Takagi making physical contact with Nishikata and Nishikata having to deal with it. He seems to be mostly fine with her holding onto him while they bike, but it was a long, tough road, and his ribs are ticklish.

Now that they’ve mastered the skill, Takagi says they won’t have to practice anymore, and gets Nishikata to say he’s both relieved and bummed out (though in truth its probably mostly the latter).

The second term starts in a typhoon, and Nishikata stands in the wind and spouts giddy shonen lines like a chuuni. Naturally Takagi spots him doing this, and gives him a chance to win her silence. He fails, yet again because he dismissed his first, correct guess as to why she didn’t have her bike.

The marathon segment is an apparent test of wills, as the two have stakes on winning – having to do what the other says, as usual. When Nishikata’s classmates ask if he’s going out with Takagi, his reaction is Pure Girl-from-100%UL.

He’s also been training extensively in order to be good at long distance, and initially employs a “mind emptying” running mentality, but emptying his mind only makes it easier for him to fill that space up with Takagi.

He gets trapped in a mind game in which he tries to run far enough ahead to spook Takagi, only for her to pull the very same trick on him, only successfully. And again, she gave him an honest chance for him to win (he merely had to touch her) which he simply did not take.

On another trip to/from school, the touching theme continues, with Takagi taking the initiative (of course) by starting a habit of poking Nishikata in the ribs, with the very clear implication that he is welcome to poke her back.

When he doesn’t, she beats him in another match (making a funny face to make him laugh), and rather than forbid him from eating rice or reading 100%UL, she has a simple punishment: all he has to do is poke her ribs.

He gives one half-hearted tap against Takagi’s side after much hemming and hawing, and Takagi reveals that while she’s not ticklish in the ribs, she is ticklish in the armpits. Again, Nishikata is welcome to test her claim, but he’s too embarrassed.

Summer may have given Takagi a few new opportunities to tease Nishikata, but it also brought the two much closer together. We’ll see what the new term will bring.

Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san – 07

Nishikata may not be able to fully appreciate it because of all the stress he assigns to his interactions with Takagi, but he’s having the best summer vacation of his life. And he’s simply not being honest with himself if he privately enjoys manga like 100% Unrequited Love but can’t see the requited love right in front of his face. When Takagi leaves her mom’s side at the mall to buy a bathing suit, her first thought is what kind would Nishikata like?

She doesn’t have to see Nishikata buy the latest volume of 100%, since he’s already established he’s a fan of it. She plows through all of his lame obfuscating and happily takes the bet that what she believes he bought is what he actually bought. Not sure what he was going for with his futile bluff; he should know by now he simply can’t fool Takagi. He’s “punished” by being “forced” to pick out a swimsuit with her.

Now I get it; Nishikata’s right in that awkward phase between thinking girls have cooties and actually liking them. Those conflicting feelings are constantly swirling chaotically, while Takagi is an island of tranquility. He can’t hide his embarrassment at the situation, but she lets him call it “being hot”—as long as he helps her pick out a bathing suit she looks good in.

Nishikata is simultaneously thrilled at the prospect that Takagi is a mere few feet away from him removing her clothes, but also terrified of being seen, worried about what his classmates might think. Well, two of his classmates actually do appear, but they’re a couple, and they’re there for the exact same reason he and Takagi are there.

Finally, Takagi takes advantage of Nishikata’s automatic “yeahs” in response to the suits she shows him by slipping in a swimming date proposal, knowing once he says “yeah”, he won’t go back on that “yeah,” because going swimming with her is hardly the end of the world.

After the girl trio heads to the beach, we’re back with Nishikata and Takagi, and the latter proposes they do some of their summer homework together. The most logical place to do it turns out to be Nishikata’s house, and suddenly, like some kind of surreal dream, Takagi is in his house, in his room, and doing homework on his bed.

While watching the lovely Takagi right beside him writing lovely kanji, Nishikata makes a mistake in his book and reaches for the eraser…at the same time she does. Their hands touch and linger.

He’s reminded of an identical scene in 100% where the guy doesn’t let go and draws the girl in for a kiss…but he’s currently incapable of doing such a thing, preferring to live through the guy vicariously…despite the fact he’s far more similar to the girl in that manga than the guy!

In any case, while Takagi’s visit is stressful as all interactions with her are, he doesn’t not enjoy himself, and when she leaves for the day, saying she’ll be back soon, he decides it’s only proper to clean his room for that future occasion. Maybe, just maybe, Nishikata is getting into the swing of things.

Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san – 06

It’s Summer Vacation, which means, presumably, that Nishikata won’t have to deal with Takagi’s teasing. But one can never presume when it comes to young love, as Takagi and Nishikata end up spending a lot of time together despite not being beholden to it by school schedules.

When Takagi proposes the two of them practice tandem riding during the summer, Takagi might bristle, but he doesn’t refuse. After all, while he’d probably never admit it he enjoys her company, and not just for the challenge of trying to best her.

Because Nishikata can’t pull off the tandem riding on the first day, he owes Takagi a juice, but can’t afford one of his own. Takagi first offers a sip from her can, which would be an indirect kiss, but then buys him a juice with her own change, because more than wanting to tease him, she wants him to be hydrated.

After a rainy day during which only the class president does her homework, Nishikata is late for his “appointment” with Takagi, and when she arrives, she’s in such a cute summer outfit he hardly recognizes her, so used he is to seeing her in her sailor fuku.

But there are too many puddles in their practice lot, so Takagi proposes they hang out anyway by doing a test of courage in a nearby “haunted” tunnel. Predictably, Nishikata falls for a number of pranks Takagi all too easily executes, capitalizing on the fact he’s scared even though he insists he isn’t.

Once they emerge on the other end, two young siblings passing by spot them and the sister deduces Nishikata and Takagi are another couple having a date. Which, sorry Nishikata, you kinda are. Sucks to be you! Oh wait, no it doesn’t.

The next day Nishikata doesn’t expect to see Takagi, who is on a family vacation. But when he spots her in the road (in another adorable outfit) he attempts to follow and surprise her, only for her to spot him first and devise a countermeasure.

She succeeds in scaring him, but more importantly, she wants to know what he’s up to, and since they’re both going shopping, she makes it another “date.” However, she did not expect a cicada to be under her hat, and almost falls backwards; Nishikata tries reflexively to catch her, but trips and falls himself, skinning his knee, while Takagi managed to regain her balance.

The caring Takagi comes out once more, insisting Nishikata wash the wound at a water tap. She gives him her personalized handkerchief to tie around his knee (thereby literally marking him as hers), then slips off her sandals and soaks her feet in the tap, inviting Nishikata to join her.

Nishikata had been having the “worst summer vacation day”, but Takagi counters his assertion by saying she’s having a good one because she got to see “a certain someone.” Lady, just tell him you got to see him. Either that, or fall for someone less dense!

Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san – 05

Takagi and Nishikata’s delicate dance continues, as Takagi slyly inserts herself in nearly every aspect of Nishikata’s life. Knowing her teasing has caused him no shortage of distractions, she feels obligated to tutor him in math.

At first, she sits opposite Nishikata, reading a regular book and not studying herself. But when she notices he answered a question wrong, that’s her opening to sit much closer to him and help him through the equations.

Of course, while she taught him something he didn’t know, she didn’t teach him what’s actually on the test. Can’t be doing all the work for him!

The next day, Nishikata manages to pass with a 59, while Takagi is praised by the teacher but tells Nishikata she got less than a perfect 100. Then she suggests they engage in yet another game: whoever guesses closest to each others’ scores wins.

Nishikata has no poker face Takagi can’t read, so she easily narrows down his score to within three. She acts sincerely surprised when he guesses 92, but he doesn’t trust her face, and decides on 97 instead.

In the end, he was right with 92 the first time, while she was going to guess 59 but decided to give herself a three-point handicap. She gave Nishikata a shot, even though she didn’t have to, and both end up staring at each other quite a lot, which she clearly doesn’t mind.

In another skit outside of school, Takagi “coincidentally” bumps into Nishikata leaving a bookstore after  clandestinely purchase the shoujo manga 100% Unrequited Love. Takagi spotted him buying it, but again gives him a chance to tell her the truth. Naturally, he fails, but he also admits he lied, and begs her not to tell anyone.

Takagi decides she’ll give him a secret of hers, so they’ll both have secrets. She then tells Nishikata, flat out, that she likes him. Big move, Takagi! Nishikata turns beet red, much to her delight, right before she pulls back. Because he lied to her, she lied to him; she says she doesn’t like him.

Of course, that is the true lie; Nishikata just doesn’t know it, even though he has all the evidence in the world to confirm it sitting right in front of him.

Not satisfied with getting away with confessing in his ear or teaching him math, when Takagi is stuck under a shrine in the rain, she decides to claim his clothes as well. Specifically, she changes out of her wet school shirt and into his gym shirt. Later, he puts on her gym shirt, and notes how doing so feels kinda ‘dirty.’

Having swapped shirts and scents, Takagi proposes another game—guessing whether the rain will end by 5—and wins yet again. What she wins is Nishikata’s obedience, and even if he wants to hurry home so as not to miss his anime, he wisely seems poised to obey and follow her rather than run off. TV or nice girl…not really a tough choice.

Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san – 04

This week  the happy little world of Nishikata and Takagi is invaded, as the secondary characters begin to notice the two are together an awful lot beyond class. Take the first segment, in which Nishikata has to clean the science room because he’s so loud.

Takagi joins him, not to help clean, or because she feels guilty, or even to tease him more. Rather, she wants to “enjoy their youth”, the way another couple is clearly doing when they spot Nishikata and Takagi on the way to the rooftop. For Takagi, enjoyng her youth means spending as much time as she can with Nishikata.

Clearly Nishikata doesn’t mind hanging out with Takagi that badly, even if she does tease him a lot. Indeed, he seems to savor the challenge of fighting against such a formidable opponent, and never lets the discouragement of virtually never winning against her get to him for very long.

While on the way home, Nishikata challenges Takagi to a high-bar kickover, something he’s only just recently mastered. Takagi agrees to do it, but only if he looks the other way, as she’s wearing a skirt. The first time they both do one, but he doesn’t know whether she cheated, so the next time, he peeks.

When he does, he learns not only that Takagi is doing proper kickovers, but is wearing gym shorts under her skirt. But even if she made him look away despite that, he’s honorable enough to admit defeat because he peeked, even if she calls him a pervert.

Nishikata often shows he’s a good lad, but his desire to best Takagi sometimes leads to unnecessary deceit. When he comes in with an apparent cold, Takagi immediately presumes it’s because he stayed up all night watching 100% Unrequited Love anime.

Nishikata intends to make Takagi blush by telling her she’s “cute”, but ends up too embarrassed to say something meant to embarrass her. He’s so thrown off he claims to not have a cold after all!

While Takagi still believes he has a cold (which he actually does), she seems frustrated she can’t tease him as usual lest she make him cough, so when he later insists he’s fine (after watching how damn cute she is when sitting quietly), she just starts teasing him even harder to make up for lost time!

Finally, Nishikata and Takagi are spotted by the three girls. Yukari assumes they’re a couple and decides to tail them to confirm it. Takagi being a particularly observant person (and the trio not being that stealthy), she and Nishikata take a quick turn around a corner and then hide, throwing the girls off the trail and causing them to give up.

In the process, Nishikata and Takagi have to squeeze together very close—closer than under the umbrella last week—and Nishikata is understandably flustered, but when asked if he would have preferred a different tactic, he drops the matter.

Takagi then immediately sets off on the race to the shrine they proposed. Nishikata cries ‘false start’, but honestly, the only thing he can and should do in such a situation is chase after Takagi…which he does.

 

Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san – 03

When Takagi spots Nishikata and suggests they walk home together, Nishikata offers her some of his drink, thinking she won’t go for an “indirect kiss.” Of course, she’s fine with it; it’s Nishikata who wigs out at the prospect.

Nishikata then makes a fluke shot with the empty can in the garbage can and gets all cocky when Takagi misses. Turns out her miss was a trap; her next shot goes right in, then interrupts his shot by saying she’ll give him her first kiss if he makes it. He misses.

The next day Nishikata estimates he was teased fifteen times by Takagi, so when he hears form a sports figure on the TV that he trains ten times harder when he loses, he begins doing pushups. At school, he’s all sore, and Takagi takes advantage by poking his arm.

Nishikata keeps up the training, despite the fact Takagi teases him more and more with each passing day. However Takagi later admits that she’s starting to notice the effects of the training, saying he “looks pretty good;” while she may be sincere, she’s also trying to make him blush, and she succeeds.

Finaly, on a rainy afternoon Takagi forgets her umbrella, so asks Nishikata if he can share. He tries to scare her with a frog, but it doesn’t faze her in the least, and when she notices his wet shoulder, she scoots closer to him, causing his heart to race even more in such an awkward situation.

In all three segments, Takagi is both testing and expanding the limits of contact with Nishikata, all while inducing the priceless reactions she lives for. It gets to the point where she tries to get Nishikata to say “I love you” in both Japanese and English.

He bristles as expected, but some day, perhaps a couple years from now, he might not think all this attention from and contact with Takagi to be so torturous.

Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san – 02

Nothing new to report, but that’s a good thing: Master Teaser Takagi-san continues bringing the warmth, charm, and sweetness. It does so with a trio of new situations, starting with calligraphy class, in which Takagi and Nishikata agree to write “what they want from one another.”

Nishikata, believing this an opportunity to get Takagi to stop teasing him, first writes”restraint”, but she writes “status quo.” When he writes “kindness”, Takagi suddenly seems really kind, even though she didn’t see what he wrote.

Finally, he decides not to dance around it anymore, and simply writes “Don’t tease me,” then backs it up with direct spoken words as well. Takagi really enjoys teasing him, but she says she’ll “try her best” not to.

Of course, she wrote her calligraphy before making that promise: “You have ink on your face,” and she put it there while acting kind! Mind you, she kinda cheated by writing what was on him instead of what she wanted from him. Alas, Nishikata is too embarrassed to point that out.

After a brief interlude in which the three girls in Takagi and Nishikata’s class struggle to change to their short-sleeved uniforms on the same day, it’s back to the cute couple who have eyes only for one another, who are in English Translation class. (Hey! A school anime that actually depicts students in class most of the time! AMAZING!)

Nishikata finally gets a relatively clever idea: it’s June 18th, and Takagi is student #18, so he tries to distract her so that when the teacher calls on her, she’ll be unprepared. The plan seems to succeed at first, with Takagi even betraying a half-moment of flustered-ness we’ve come to expect of Nishikata. But when called upon, she knows exactly what line to read.

Noticing Nishikata looking at her, Takagi turns the tables by saying she’s “always thinking” about Nishikata, and the teacher decides to add the month and the day to select Student #24…Nishikata. And yet, for all her teasing, you get the feeling she’s being honest about thinking about Nishikata a lot, just as he thinks about her.

Teasing Nishikata is Takagi’s way of expressing her interest in him, it’s just that he’s so wound up in the cycle of teasing, he either overlooks the underlying affection or suspects it as another layer of teasing. And it’s often both!

That inability to ever interpret Takagi correctly rears its head in the final segment, “Pool.” Nishikata can’t swim due to a bandaged hand, and to his shock, Takagi is also sitting it out. She correctly guesses that his hand was injured when he tried to pet a stray cat, so she asks him to guess why she’s not swimming.

When she holds her stomach, he remembers a classmate saying girls on their period don’t swim and experience abdominal pain. But he doesn’t want to say that, because it’s generally considered rude. Searching for another reason, he remembers another sage classmate telling him small-chested girls are self-conscious about their chest size.

This time, we get visualizations of how Nishikata thinks the interactions with Takagi will go after giving each answer. When he also remembers that periods are nothing to be ashamed of, he finally guesses that, which is wrong…and rude, says an apparently offended Takagi.

However, she immediately laughs afterwards, then slowly removes her shirt and shorts in front of Nishikata to reveal her school swimsuit. Turns out she only stayed out of the pool so she could tease Takagi. She says hopefully next time they’ll be able to swim together. Takagi is dubious as always, but I don’t doubt Takagi’s sincerity in the slightest. So till then, Nishikata, avoid stray cats!

Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san – 01 (First Impressions)

It’s said that boys tease girls that they like. It’s also said they do this because, in their adolescence, they don’t yet know how else to express their like properly.

Well, in Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san, the titular girl Takagi teases the Nishikata, the boy who likes her, and the time and effort she puts into getting him to laugh, shout, and/or otherwise disrupt class and get in trouble, suggests the affection is mutual.

Of course, this is middle school, so Nishikata treats Takagi’s incessant teasing as something that must be responded to in kind. He focuses on the fact this girl is beating him at the teasing game he wants to win, instead of the fact that, hey, this pretty girl is interested in me.

This teasing takes three forms in the first episode: an eraser (upon which one writes the name of their crush), during early day duty (where Takagi lies in wait behind a curtain) and with funny faces (which Takagi immediately turns back on Nishikata).

In every case, Takagi always wins and is always at least one step ahead, and Nishikata always fumes internally, his pride constantly being shattered.

To which I say WHO CARES? If this lady wants to tease you, let her! Don’t get so worked up about being beaten. (I know, I know, he can’t hear me. Even if he could, he wouldn’t listen.) 

In any case, I never tired of watching Takagi get one over on Nishikata, and I don’t think I ever will, which is why I think I can keep this on my Winter list. Takahashi Rie and Kaji Yuki’s voices are a delight to listen to. The show is oozing with warmth and charm.