One can only tip their cap to Takagi-san, because she’s really taken the art of boyfriend grooming to new levels. Even setting aside her borderline esper moments, Takagi makes plenty of hay just based on what any sharp girl her age can figure out – that at her time of life girls have a pronounced maturity advantage against boys most of the time. It’s not by any means a level playing field in 7th Grade – to the point where it sometimes seems almost unfair. Takagi is exceptional, but she’s an observation on something that’s quite normal.
What’s interesting (and evolving) in Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san of course is speculating on just how Nishikata-kun is aware of all this. I think the goalposts are always moving on the answer to that one, but I would say if Takagi is at all exceptional for girls her age, Nishikata is every bit as much typical. I do feel sorry for him, and pretty often too – he’s clearly being led by the nose. But there’s a part of me that wonders if he’d keep letting himself be led if he didn’t like it, at least on some level. And that’s setting aside the extent to which he actually understands what’s really going on here.
A little story like the conclusion of the tandem bike training is a good example. On some superficial level he surely feels as if its been torture for him – and Takagi-san does nothing to lessen that with her constant teasing. But that he’s sort of been enjoying it is obvious in his reaction to the fact that it’s coming to an end. For Takagi’s part we can pretty clearly see what this has all boiled down to for her – it’s part of the process of making Nishikata comfortable being physically intimate (in a for-now non-sexual way) with her. And copping a bit of a feel, too.
The typhoon and marathon chapters are more straightforward teasing (the anime has tended to start and finish episodes with more “shippy” stories sandwiched around comedic ones). I did enjoy the way the marathon sketch tied in the Nishokata-Takagi side with the Doyoubi trio (who generally had their funniest episode this week, I thought – that whole “test of courage” bit killed me). The marathon bit is one of those cases where Takagi-san may be technically truthful when she says she’s never lied to Nishikata, but she certainly has no qualms about deceiving him. I find these less endearing than the ones where Nishikata’s troubles come from his own overconfidence and/or obsessiveness – here, Takagi just basically cheated.
Finally we have that tickling bit – and that was about as overt a flirtation as it’s possible to get. A tickling contest is one Takagi can hardly lose, both because Nishikata-kun is ticklish (which is particularly irritating for boys, for some reason – perhaps because it seems childish), and because there’s no way he can just come right out and tickle her in public (though I suspect she wouldn’t mind). Again, it’s all about breaking down the bonds of physical intimacy (and that feel-copping thing) – and if you don’t believe that, just look at the “punishment” Takagi-san chose after she won that challenge…
