Season 1 |
Episode Guide
I Want To Be Seen As A Girl / A Terrifying Challenge -| Review Score – 3.5/5
Tomo’s Skirt / The School Idol -| Review Score – 3.5/5
Best Bud’s Secret / Let’s Go on a Date! -| Review Score – 3.5/5
The Reason for Her Smile / I Want To Be Playful Like A Girl / Heroes Fall A Lot -| Review Score – 3.5/5
The Girls of the Olston Family / A Feeling I Won’t Give Up / Heart-Pounding! A Gaming Overnighter -| Review Score – 3.5/5
Birthday Present / Burn Up! The Ball Sports Tournament -| Review Score – 3.5/5
Junchirou’s Promise / When Tomo Puts On A Swimsuit… -| Review Score – 3.5/5
The Night of the Summer Festival / The Distance Between Them -| Review Score – 4/5
The Angel’s True Face -| Review Score – 3.5/5
How The Contest Ends / To Stay Best Friends -| Review Score – 3.5/5
My First Part-Time Job / The Abandoned Cinderella -| Review Score – 3.5/5
Goodbye, Best Friend -| Review Score – 4/5
To Stay By Your Side -| Review Score – 4/5
With another season comes a boatload of new romantic comedy anime for viewers to sink their teeth into. Romantic Killer was a fun Netflix romantic comedy series that offered a refreshing spin on the subgenre with Anzu’s path to shoot down romance. Tomo-chan Is A Girl happens to be another anime that aims to give fans a distinct take on the subgenre with its premise and female protagonist. Although this anime has its flaws, it gives fans a comical and pleasurable experience.
Tomo-chan Is A Girl consists of 13 episodes with a runtime of about 23 minutes each. It’s directed by Hitoshi Nanba and animated by Studio Lay-Duce. The show is also based on a manga written and illustrated by Fumita Yanagida. This one has gained quite the following for itself due to having charismatic characters, delightful comedy, and gripping drama. It also opens with a captivating plot point that helped keep fans invested in its tale from beginning to end.
Our story revolves around two childhood friends named Tomo Aizawa and Junichirou “Jun” Kubota. Many will consider them close companions since they like to attend events and train together. What some don’t know is that Tomo harbors strong feelings for Jun. Before they start their first day of high school, Tomo tells Jun she loves him. However, due to their connection and Tomo’s tomboyish qualities, Jun only thinks of Tomo as a fellow guy friend.
This results in Jun misinterpreting Tomo’s words, believing she only meant she loved him as a close friend. To get Jun to realize the truth, Tomo will team up with her childhood friend Misuzu and her later friend Carol to learn how to become a proper female. By doing so, Tomo hopes Jun will understand what she meant on that fateful day. This anime contains a nice blend of slice-of-life, romance, and hilarious moments to keep viewers engaged with its storytelling. Many episodes maintain a two-to-three set-piece structure.
These are meant to showcase Tomo and her friends’ daily lives in their surroundings. Whether it’s attending karaoke sessions or having a relaxing time on the beach, you can anticipate this anime to follow similar tropes established from other romantic comedies. On that note, the humor is on par with what you’d find from other anime like it. It has exaggerated facial reactions, enjoyable slapstick, witty jokes, and light suggestive humor. The anime’s comedy is well-executed and never feels like it’s getting in the way of the drama.
Although the story offers some great highs, it comes jam-packed with some lows. The narrative includes segments with redundant takeaways and some chapters that feel unneeded in the grand scheme of things. For example, there are three instances where Jun realizes Tomo’s alluring looks, which is an odd creative choice.
The anime’s plot can feel a tad predictable concerning Tomo and Jun’s romantic affairs too. While it introduces some competitors to their romance, none of these opponents offer a worthy challenge. This is because the author made Tomo and Jun so compatible that it’d be ridiculous not to believe they wouldn’t become a couple at the end. The anime also shoehorns characters with others for drama purposes. Some receive a slight build-up toward their results, but they don’t receive as much attention as Tomo and Jun’s relationship.
Furthermore, there’s a relationship inserted into this tale that many may find appalling since it involves two people of the same family hooking up. Although the story had its fair share of drama, romance, and cheery occasions, its plot isn’t flawless by any means. Tomo-chan Is A Girl has a fine cast of characters that will appeal to many people. From Tomo to Carol, each character has a nice set of quirks that many will find relatable or alluring.
Tomo struggles to get Jun to recognize her feminine appeal and resorts to wearing girly outfits and asking Misuzu for advice to grab his attention. It’s her consistent failures and moderate successes that will assist people in maintaining a tight connection with her character, especially those who suffer from similar issues Tomo endures in the show. Jun was a fun love interest for Tomo and the series fleshes him out enough for people to care about him.
Viewers got to peer into his background, learn about his affair with Misuzu, and got to witness why he was afraid of getting into a romantic relationship with Tomo. Misuzu and Carol also received some attention in the story and had fabulous characteristics. Despite Tomo and Jun being the series’ protagonists, Misuzu and Carol held my interest the most. Despite Jun’s dimwitted blunders and Tomo’s embarrassing antics, Misuzu and Carol come off as more fascinating characters.
Misuzu always had this cunning and mysterious aura around her, making her intriguing to monitor. Although Carol follows the blond stereotype, she can be secretive and intelligent when she wants to be, leading to some satisfying scenarios. It’s Carol and Misuzu’s chemistry that always made me smile and laugh throughout. While these two have their debatable flaws, Carol and Misuzu feel more delightful to follow than Tomo and Jun due to their riveting chemistry and peculiarities.
Studio Lay-Duce provided folks with a sufficiently animated and designed experience with Tomo-chan Is A Girl’s adaptation. There were a couple of points where the animation looked immaculate and impactful, though. Scenes like Carol crying in her bedroom after receiving heartbreaking news from Misuzu and the wind blowing in Tomo’s hair during Jun’s confession made their words and expressions feel natural. Besides that, the animation was traditional throughout and didn’t offer anything too groundbreaking.
The soundtrack follows a similar path as the animation. The music is decent and helps to keep folks immersed with its cast and storytelling. As always, I watched this anime with its Japanese dubbing. Rie Takahashi delivers a solid performance as Tomo similar to how she handled her role as Anzu in Romantic Killer. Other actors and actresses like Sally Amaki, Rina Hidaka, and Kaito Ishikawa portray their characters effectively too.
Overall, Tomo-chan Is A Girl presents viewers with a romantic comedy series that attempts to be different from others. However, it winds up offering tropes many have seen in the past. Nonetheless, it shouldn’t be written off as another generic romance series. There are some interesting characters many will resonate with, alongside laughable and dramatic scenarios that will keep you watching. It may not live up to everyone’s expectations, but those who can connect with the cast and its storyline will find it the most entertaining.
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Verdict - - 7/10
7/10