TOMO-CHAN WA ONNANOKO!

DESCRIPTION

CAST

MANGA ComedyTomo-chan wa Onnanoko!
MUSIC RomanceKurae! Telepathy

REVIEWS

• 

  Mcsuper

  72/100
  A Romcom Missing Good Rom, But Has Lots Of Com

  Tomo-chan is a Girl is a very hit or miss romcom in my opinion, with its louder style of comedy, and while being a bit repetitive at times, it worked for me. It has a rocky start in the romance aspect, and the comedy was definitely what made this show a decent one. It’s pretty goofy and episodic, while having Tomo and Junichiro’s relationship slowly build. It sadly falls into the category of a show where the side characters shine the most, with Carol and Misuzu carrying the show on their back, but they were so entertaining that it saved the show. It’s a comedy reliant on punchlines, and if you like that type of comedy, it may work well for you.

  The story actually starts with a confession in the very first scene from a tomboy, Tomo Aizawa, the main female character, to Junichiro Kubota, the main male character. As the title of the anime may hint towards, Junichiro has thought that Tomo was a boy for a long time, and thus, treats her like one of the boys, much to Tomo’s chagrin, as her confession isn’t taken seriously. Tomo’s friends, Misuzu and Carol, push her towards being a little more feminine to get Junichiro’s attention, and sometimes this works, sometimes it backfires. The romance is pretty generic, as it’s mostly the friends that push the couple together, and the friends just feel like the peanut gallery to the romance.

  Misuzu and Carol are amazing, and what made me like the show more. Misuzu is a savage, never holding back in abusing people socially, and in a way, she’s more intimidating than Tomo’s physical abuse. Carol is just a dunce, doing the dumbest things sometimes, though she can be quite clever in other ways, which is a fun balance to have. To make these two even better, their interactions with each other are just comedy gold.

  One thing I did enjoy from the romance was the exploration of gender roles and how true romance means accepting the other person for who they are, and not a forced version of oneself. Misuzu pushes Tomo to be more feminine, but she does address how in the end, romance isn’t purely liking more feminine or masculine actions from the other person, but for liking the other person as a whole, whether it’s Tomo’s tomboyish behaviour, and or her softer, more emotional side. I wasn’t a huge fan of the romance to start, but this pushed me to at least appreciate the attempt at writing the romance.

  While the romance felt slow, at times, it also felt like they were rushing through the manga chapters as well. I haven’t read the manga personally, but I know there were a lot of chapters in there that were probably skipped over. Ultimately, the romance development was just a little inconsistent, as it felt slow for a good chunk of the show, and then just sped up suddenly, which was a little jarring.

  Overall though, the comedy is the real charming point of this show, as a lot of the punchlines were decent and gave me quite a few laughs. The romance could have been executed better, but the comedy and the side characters were enough to allow me to enjoy the show nonetheless. It’s a decent show to check out if you have the time, it’s good for a laugh.

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• 

  Bergamont

  80/100
  A wholesome romance about accepting yourself as you are and being yourself around those you love

  Tomo-chan is a Girl initially did not sell me. The dub managed to change that. It's rare that I watch series dubbed, I switched to sub a decade ago and primarily consume anime this way. However, there are some exceptional dubs and I feel the portrayal of the characters in the English version managed to entertain me more as a viewer. They came across as more genuine, Jun comes across as a more complex character as his voice actor in the English version wears his fluster under his cool guy attitude, his chill persona and "bro-like" friendship with Tomo feels more natural and authentic. Tomo too comes across more masculine with her English voice actress, which makes her softer moments come across more effectively as her Japanese voice actress is the legendary Rie Takahashi who does an excellent job but her version of Tomo comes across as brattier and cuter, which changes how Tomo plays off Jun to a fault. And of course, Carol is reprized by Sally Amaki, a native English speaker who also voices the character in the Japanese version. Her performance is similar in both versions, however her speaking English works against Carol as a character at times as the kawaii strawberry princess cuteness comes across better when you can't cringe at how overly adorable the character is trying to act. Japanese voice actresses really do overplay the cuteness of their characters, and a huge part of anime character design is cute girls, when standing next to the other English performances Carol sticks out, especially when she has few lines in a scene she sound so different from Tomo's tomboy energy and Jun's wholesome gym bro vibes. The more Carol speaks the more her voice finds footing and Sally sells the character by the end. And personally, speaking for myself, I find jokes land better in English as the delivery of the line in a language you understand making small references to things you know is ever more amusing when the visual humor is not on the level of Bocchi the Rock, I find dramatic performances or cartoonish performances are sold better in Japanese however comedy or Western inspired stories often have excellent versions in both languages. Dubs have come a long way, it's just some animes that require more localization to sell cultural differences in how they tell a joke.

  If you enjoyed this series subbed, I would highly recommend the dubbed version if you plan on rewatching this.

  Subbed: Good, 7/10; fell off watching it week to week as it didn't grab me
  Dubbed: Very Good, 8/10; watched several episodes across a long weekend to finish where I had left off in the sub and enjoyed the series a little more.

  Ultimately, I really think this series has a wholesome message. The themes of being enough as you are and not needing to change yourself for those you love, because they already love you is uplifting and seeing these two blush is enjoyable.

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• 

  matebooo

  82/100
  8/10. Solid narrative/ending, but the series misses lots of the in-betweens, the wordless acts of love.

  Despite my hyperaware personality, I went into _Tomo-Chan is a Girl_ with the impression Tomo would change through some generic gender social-construct bs, and I'm happy to say this is __not the case__. It felt great to be wrong and be reminded how real these dynamics work their way irl relationships. Each time the show kept putting off their getting-together, the reasons felt pretty real, and with a bit of comedy thrown in, it holds true to being a wholesome rom-com from beginning to end. 
  </center>~~~
  !Sometimes in shows like these, they introduce too many characters, and it bogs down the attention and proper conclusion that the mc's deserve; Tomo-chan did exactly what it should've by not bs-ing us with <span class='markdown_spoiler'><span>a Misuzu romance, and only focusing on Carol's for an episode. </span></span>

  With that in mind, while its pacing is admirable, too much of the wordless moments of connection, its just missing. This is absolutely the only place it falters in. Love exists outside of words and kissing, which it does show in the last episode, but hardly anywhere else. There were way too many times to count where my only thought after a scene was, "aww, that was cute...wait, why did we skip that? Why are we here, now?". The most clear-cut example was In the episode with the marathon, Tomo and Jun are racing together, though not for very long, as Tomo passes out and Jun has to carry her for the duration of the race. But for whatever reason, the show cuts to white and Tomo's awake in the hospital, completely skipping the rest of the race. I get the point of the show, they're crazy athletes, and they do show Jun jog sometimes, that ain't enough for me. As an avid runner, seeing what Jun did and him looking completely fine afterwards felt veeery half-baked. Any normal non-runner person would've died doing what he did, and cutting the struggle of him persevering solely for Tomo's sake, that's wasted potential...On top of that, afterwards, Misuzu convinces Tomo to ask Jun to carry her out of the hospital, and again, they cut it...although after doing some research, the manga was serialized in one-page chapters, and they really do use nearly all of the chapters in the anime. The truth of the matter is, they didn't actually cut anything, it just didn't exist in the first place. As a one-page manga series, this works, but as an anime, it needs to connect more of those dots...and only finding out about this serialization-style afterwards, I feel like it'll take a bit for me to separate this fact from any future watches...disappointing.

  
  That being said, though, the series does nail the idea of not needing to confine yourself to gender norms that only exist to hold us down from change. And that feeling is really empowering, honestly. Solid englush voice-acting, dialogue, realistic recent slang that make Tomo really feel like a modern tom-boy, and with no real fan-service bogging emotional scenes down, I had a great time and will definitely rewatch one day. I can't wait to see more series that go outside the box with more dynamics like these, hopefully with a smidge more subtly. Or if they aren't subtle, that like _Tomo-Chan is a Girl_, they're at least well-written.

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