Tomo-chan wa Onnanoko!

Childhood friends Tomo Aizawa and Junichirou "Jun" Kubota do everything together, whether it be training or just enjoying a fun day out. Anyone would think that these two are best friends for life. The only issue is that the tomboyish Tomo is in love with Jun, but he regards her like a brother.

At the start of their first year of high school, Tomo confesses her feelings to Jun. However, her rough mannerisms and lack of hesitance to throw a punch do nothing to sway Jun's heart. Realizing that he will remain indifferent to her affections unless she does something about it, Tomo must find a way to knock some sense into Jun and open his eyes to what is right in front of him.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Aizawa, Tomo Main

Takahashi, Rie Japanese

Kubota, Junichirou Main

Ishikawa, Kaito Japanese

Gundou, Misuzu Supporting

Hidaka, Rina Japanese

Olston, Carol Supporting

Amaki, Sally Japanese

Aizawa, Akemi Supporting

Watanabe, Kumiko Japanese

Tanabe, Tatsumi Supporting

Matsuoka, Yoshitsugu Japanese

Olston, Ferris Supporting

Ohara, Sayaka Japanese

Misaki, Kousuke Supporting

Amasaki, Kouhei Japanese

Aizawa, Gorou Supporting

Nomura, Kenji Japanese

Ogawa, Chiyomi Supporting

Tanezaki, Atsumi Japanese

Yonai, Noritomo Producer

Takahashi, Kanako Producer

Okamura, Kunihiro Producer

Kataoka, Yuki Producer

Reviews

Mar 29, 2023

Stark700

Recommended

You know the expression of 'being friend zoned'? Tomo got the friend zone treatment after confessing to her crush, Junichirou Kubota. While Tomo wants him to see her as a girl, he only sees her as a friend. And to be honest, there's a rather justifiable reason for that. For you see, Tomo represents the definition of a tomboy, but she's a girl.

The title of the anime is exactly what it sounds like. Tomo Aizawa is a girl, at least literally. The depressing fact from her point of view is that Jun always sees her as a guy. Based on the 4-koma, the series primarily ... takes on a romantic comedy approach of storytelling, with numerous gags and humorous moments. The fan service is not something you should not considered about as the anime is treated with lighthearted care. The anime's biggest goal is letting the audience and Jun realize that Tomo is actually a girl, not a tomboy that everyone sees her to be.

I'm not too familiar with the author but as I mentioned before, viewers shouldn't worry much about fan service despite their history of working on hentai. What they should worry about is whether Tomo will finally get together with Jun or be stuck in the friend zone forever. Watching the show also taught me that first impressions are imperative with Tomo's innocent confession. Quite frankly, I'm not a big fan of romantic comedies where it takes an entire season to see whether a couple becomes real or not. However, I let this anime slip through because it's the very premise of the show and every episode brings together new scenarios and narratives about the cast. There are also moment when Jun reacts to Tomo's figure such as the classic beach episode or even gets jealous when other guys pay attention to her. To put it simply, this anime will test everyone's patience, including Tomo herself.

Thankfully, you don't need to just wait to see our two childhood friends gets together along the way. The anime serves more as a the 'journey is more important than the destination', as the story covers Jun, Tomo, and their friends' relationships. While Jun and Tomo are the obvious superstars, we shouldn't forget about Carol and Misuzu either. The anime makes their roles prominent enough that they influence the anime, not just being extras. For instance, Misuzu had a history with Jun including being his boyfriend for a short period. Carol serves as a modern day rival against Tomo, at least from her perspective. The anime makes it clear that Tomo wants Jun's attention so when other girls enters his life, hilarity ensures. With childhood romance themes, one thing to be aware is the characters' pasts. Jun, Tomo, and Misuzu gets their background stories and compared to the present, their characters hasn't undergone much change. The only major difference now is how Tomo wants to be more feminine. Misuzu sometimes offer advice but it's ultimately up to Tomo to put her plans into action. This anime adapts a plot in sitcom-like format that has characters go to various places (ex. beach, school plays, festivals) for their opportunties. Let's face it, for a romance to work, it needs opportunities. And for Tomo, she needs to take those opportunities to heart to get Jun to notice her as a girl, not a tomboy.

If there's actually one other character to pay attention to, it would be Misuzu. She's a more complicated character than the rest of the cast, not just because of her history with Jun, but also her motivations. Emotionally distant and cold towards others, she is Tomo's best friend. Unquestionably, she is the most manipulative in the anime, although not for malevolent reasons. It appears that she just doesn't want to lose Tomo as a friend if she truly becomes Jun's girlfriend. But don't worry, the anime doesn't get too deep into Misuzu's plans. She still has her wingman moments and isn't evil, although more manipulative than any other character in the show. But at the root of the anime, Misuzu brings in the most excitement because how unpredictable she is. Romance feels like a game to her. I believe if there were more characters like Misuzu in this show, the story would get much more complicated. Either way, she's a breakout character to keep a keen eye on. For what's worth, it's refreshing that the author created a diverse range cast to entertain the fans.

While Lay-Duce hasn't been a mainstream studio that made everlasting impressions from their portfolio, I can confidentally say that this is their most impressive one yet. Character designs are crafted with vibrant colors and expressions that makes sense. Their cartoony reactions are amplified often during moments of anxiety or surprise. Tomo is the biggest culprit because of her crush on Jun. We shouldn't look away from Misuzu though as she always has that devilish look of mischievousness. But perhaps most noticably is the way they dress up Tomo in various episodes. It feels as if the anime wants to experiment on how much she can look like a girl, and to me, that is nothing short than entertaining. (ex. putting on a dress or a wig) Finally, the decorative theme songs will catch your eye especially upon your first viewing.

Tomo-chan Is A Girl! is the type of anime that its fanbase wanted to see an anime for a long time and it finally happened. This was not a matter of not 'if but when'. And that time is now. We have a series here that entertains fans from day one and stayed true to its premise throughout the duration of its run. Although it didnt't adapt the source material at fullest, it worked its magic to craft a colorful cast of characters and story. Yes, Tomo-chan is a A Girl! is a recommendable show. And yes, Tomo is definitely a girl. Jun just needs to accept it.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Mar 29, 2023

julescore

Mixed Feelings

I get the appeal.

Tomo-chan is a very sweet romcom anime about young love, that is very apparent. I think it started off quite strong, with good comedy and cute strong characters. I love the dynamics between Carol-chan and Misuzu, with them bickering at times but always having one another's back. Misuzu also is like definitely the best girl in the show. As for our main couple, I'm not really that interested in them? Even after watching I don't feel much sentimental value for them which is? Questionable. It just dragged a-lot with the whole romance aspect, it's a ROM-com, so I was expecting like ... a little more romance, maybe a few more kiss scenes, like please? We did not really see Jun's perspective like that much at all, which also would've been interesting... I was just disappointed in that aspect, and the fact it it paid so much attention to the fact Tomo is a tomboy, I think it could've been better with like just embracing it? Sure, her being dressed up is adorable but I think their best scenes came from when they were being themselves and there was some cute tension in-between.

Comedy wise, I think this show does a good job, some of the jokes are hilarious, and they really make sure to bring them up at the best times. I do wish though we had more of a variety... but nothing to really complain about. Except for the fact it can get pretty boring, I kind of did just leave it on it the background at times while working forgetting it was on because it kind of did get repetitive with the 'Jun doesn't think of me as a girl omg...' scenes.

By the way, the voice actors did great on this series, if you do watch this... You'll notice the same.

Anyways, this series was fine I guess ,,,, it's not really anything special to me. It needed more work and more planning for me to enjoy it. If you do like slowburn and a good laugh than this show is probably for you.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Nov 13, 2023

Maese_Hambre

Not Recommended

In general, is a forgettable anime. Typical romantic comedy without any difference from other regular shows of the same genre, the only difference with them is the plot of "a really strong tomboy as main char" and all the jokes will be around that idea. The story is left with an open end, it won't get a second season and nobody will care about that.

This anime passes without trouble or fanfare, not being good or bad, simply mediocre. It's like popcorn without salt, you can eat it but it won't taste at all.

Regular art and animation, regular characters, regular plots. If you enjoy most of ... the animes from this genre you probably will enjoy it, maybe you will even love it. If you where looking for something better than the average this won't be your show.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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