Volumes 1-6 / Season 1
Episode 1
- Nagatoro's little performance has her doing a boxing 1-2 followed by a lot of spinning and finished with a perfect-picture reverse roundhouse kick, not a small feat even for a very trained martial artist (which is especially notable in this case because, given her competitive Judo background, Nagatoro should be trained mainly as a grappler and not a striker). Senpai later admits it was really cool.
- It's subtle, but the episode already gives a sign that Senpai is not as weak-willed as he might look. His flashback reveals he was bullied as a child due to his love for drawing, which was painful for him, but this also shows that being bullied for his hobby didn't make him lose his love for it. When Senpai puts his heart into something, not even the worst experiences can stop him.
Episode 3
- While she playfully bullies Senpai, Nagatoro actually stands up for him when her friends' jokes were going too far. She also savagely stops Yoshi from touching Senpai three times all while looking at her with a threatening glare.
- Gamo's little sharp smile, after watching Nagatoro acting so playful and territorial at once towards Senpai, all but states she saw through all the clowning. Her expressions almost feel like, "Don't tell me Hayacchi has finally found it".
- To Senpai's credit, he does try to stand up for himself, even if it is only for him to say that he wasn't Nagatoro's boyfriend, and leaves it at that.
Episode 4
- After Gamo and Yoshi once more tease Senpai, this time by trying to force him to touch Gamo's breasts, they immediately turn tail when Nagatoro enters the room.
- When Nagatoro pulls a prank on Senpai, making him believe she was going to kiss him and then replacing her lips with a stuffed seal, it turns out he was trying to deep-kiss her back. Considering how shy and nervous he is, it's remarkable that Senpai could assimilate the sudden romance and take over the supposed kiss instead of panicking - which perhaps only illustrates his inner desires.
Episode 5
- While waiting in the queue under the sun, Senpai notices Nagatoro's bra is seeing through her sweaty shirt, which two seemingly college-age guys are ogling. Turning serious, he immediately places himself between Nagatoro and them to stop the show, with such rotundity that the guys are shocked and don't try anything. Senpai then allows himself a smug, satisfied smile and a matching glasses adjustment.
- Senpai takes over the situation when Nagatoro seems about to faint. Now he's really acting like the senpai he is.
Episode 7
- Noting that Nagatoro, beneath her taunting and playful bullying, is really a shy girl with likely as little intimate experience as him, Senpai manages to tease her back by directly asking her what about him was "sleazy." This temporarily puts Nagatoro at a loss for words before she is able to bounce back.
- Upon seeing that two guys were making Nagatoro and her friends uncomfortable through unwanted advances, Senpai gathers enough strength to come out of hiding and intervene. Even if his insecurity only makes the two boys taunt him. Nagatoro herself is delighted and all of the girls leave with Senpai, with Gamo in particular looking proud of the boy her friend is becoming involved with.
- The situation looks nasty considering the two boys don't exactly sound like nice guys, as they aren't taking no for an answer and even make forceful physical contact (which is not a small deal in Japanese culture). However, in hindsight after later revelations in the manga, when we consider that the clique has a former competitive level judoka and a mixed martial artist who is also as tall as the guys, it's clear that none of the heroes was in real danger even if the thing went awry.
Episode 9
- Sakura gets Senpai to pretend to be her date to help her get rid of a stalker, with the rest of the girls following them as covert support. Nagatoro, jealous of the situation and wanting to finish it, quickly hunts the stalker down and brings him to them in a vicious hammerlock.
Episode 10
- Despite how unathletic he is, Senpai actually manages to hold his own in his secret running training with Nagatoro out of sheer determination, all in order to stop her (both intentional and unintentional) lewd teasing. She eventually takes back one of her playful insults upon seeing this.
- Nagatoro makes a stand against the Art Club President in Senpai's defense when she accuses Senpai of not taking the club seriously due to recent rumors. Those rumors are true to a point - Nagatoro and company had been hanging out and goofing around in the club's room, and Senpai's own activities had taken a bit of a wacky turn - but Nagatoro points out that it doesn't mean he's not taking it seriously, and that the President herself, having left Senpai alone in the club all the time, is not one to judge after all. In the end, Nagatoro makes the President stop and concede Senpai a last chance to keep the club going.
- The manga has a further nuance in that the President says she understands (and implicitly agrees) what Nagatoro just said in his defense, but she can't just leave things be because the student council itself has warned her.
Episode 11
- After a misunderstanding involving Nagatoro, Senpai, and a near-naked President, the latter demonstrates her true colors when she immediately understands their situation and shouts at Senpai to go after her and not let her slip away. Just previously, she had advised him that "love" must be reflected in art-making, more than just the desire to do things properly, and now she added that art-making is also about "chasing after something". In short, she understood that Nagatoro was his muse who could help him know what "love" is.
- Senpai saves Nagatoro from falling into the pool, with admirable and almost superhuman speed.
- In the manga he saves her from injury from falling down a tree. He tries to catch her but she lands on top of him instead.
Volumes 7-12 / Season 2
Episode 1
- Compared to the Senpai from Season 1's first episode, this one is a completely different person. Not only he handles Nagatoro's splashed shoe with a professionality and serenity that surprises even her, he also takes the initiative to try to return her teasing and actively enjoys the girls' company. Adding to that, one can infer that his experiences with Nagatoro and company definitely opened the door to being more in tune with his feelings (though, whenever Nagatoro catches them, much to his embarrassment).
Episode 2
- After some schoolmates mock Nagatoro's amateurish drawings, Senpai gets mad and defends "other people's hard work". This just gets him laughed at more, but then Nagatoro turns up and the schoolmates are spooked off since they didn't know the drawings were hers.
- We also find that Nagatoro overheard Senpai defending her work; after the other schoolmates have left, she tells Senpai "You do you" when he laments that he would have gotten in trouble had she not turned up. It's framed by her - as always - as her teasing him, but it's clear she's delighted Senpai showed some backbone - and for her.
Episode 3
- During the school marathon, the President is a surprisingly fast runner and the girls resolve to outrace her and they rope Senpai along. However, Senpai sprains his ankle and first Nagatoro (despite her size) then the rest decide to carry him. They manage to catch up to and then outrun the President as a group while bearing Senpai on their shoulders. Yoshi overtakes the President on her own by sheer power and thus acts as a windbreak for the rest. Though a teacher then immediately disqualifies them from the rest of the race for carrying another student.
Episode 4
- When he ends up at Nagatoro's house again, Senpai has the opportunity to learn Nagatoro's given name since she lost a bet, but he tells her he'd rather learn it on his own terms, not in a trivial way. Nagatoro is taken aback, but also impressed. Then Nagatoro's sister bursts in and calls her by her name, Hayase.
- When leaving, Nagatoro informs Senpai that she's going to mess with him even more at school the next day; Senpai then actually has the composure to casually ask her to cut him some slack, which would have been impossible early in the series.
Episode 5
- When Nagatoro is doing her whole tug-on-sleeve act to "prove" that he was flustered, Senpai refuses to admit that he was, and keeps pulling his arm away. This leads to her insistent attempts to grab it, but he consistently keeps himself out of her grip, even when the pace becomes very rapid-fire; in fact, he's barely paying attention by the end and Nagatoro still can't do it. Though Played for Laughs, it's a nice indicator of how much backbone and ability Senpai's been building.
- When Nagatoro ends up at Senpai's house in turn, no less than Senpai's mother calls her "an adorable girl", being very amused about the whole situation despite both kids being embarrassed.
Episode 7
- During a school trip to a ski resort, Senpai saves a kid from crashing into a tree.
- Then Nagatoro saves Senpai from crashing into two careless skiers who swerve in his way (in the manga, this merits a full double-page spread). Nagatoro then gives the reckless boys one hell of a Death Glare, warning them to be more careful.
Episode 8
- Nagatoro reveals all her martial magnificence while posing for Senpai, demonstrating successively Muay Thai, boxing, Jeet Kune Do (with the obligatory Bruce Lee quote) and Capoeira (the latter with a picture-perfect meia lua de compasso).
- The first time we see her in the Gamou Fighting Gym, sparring in MMA with Gamo, Nagatoro gets distracted by Senpai's presence and ends up knocked down by a bomb to the jaw, but she later makes up for it in the last round by catching Gamo with a no-gi ippon seoi nage Mach Sakurai would have been proud of.
Episode 9
- Senpai and Nagatoro inspire each other to join the school judo tournament, overcoming their respective insecurities to a degree and doing better than they ever expected or could have dreamed of until recently, even though they're both eliminated early on due to being outmatched, despite their efforts.
Later manga chapters
Later chapters
- The President's younger cousin seems to be set up as a third wheel, but she comes to support Senpai and Nagatoro getting together just as fast as or even faster than the President had, and she goes even further beyond by telling Senpai to just date her for real already. Then the President herself shows up and tells Senpai to follow his heart. And he does ask Nagatoro out.
