90 were impressed!
10 wanted the romance to go further and the fluff cut down
Nagatoro was a very enjoyable romcom manga, which stays pretty “feel good” and doesn’t bog itself down with contrivances. I have thankfully gotten a better eye for spotting them or there has been a change in the industry that more romances are shirking away from threats of NTR and other nonsense. Perhaps things have just gotten more radicalized. For every Rent-a-Girlfriend where our main character is a pathetic cuck, we get a host of Nagatoro and Dress Up Darling romances where we establish a qualifying characteristic for our characters to find attractive about each other and they pursue each other. The age of the childhood girlfriend coming in as an actual threat to the story is over. The time of the orcs is now.
I think what was truly enjoyable about Nagatoro was both her and Senpai’s growth. Senpai over the course of the series grows a backbone and finds motivation to pursue real growth and accomplishment while Nagatoro matures emotionally and learns to pursue her own goals. They both better each other. It’s quite heartwarming, fluffy, and cute. Would have liked to see them in the future with a little mini-Toro. Maybe someday.
