Like The Tomato
Nothing here but my musings about daily life, books, anime, and food.
- Anime Title: Toilet-bound Hanako-kun
- Episodes: Season 1 – 12 episodes
- Where to Watch: Crunchyroll and Hulu
- Publisher: TBS
My man actually found this. If I recall correctly, he watched a couple of episodes while he was at work one night and decided to suggest for us to watch. And I’m glad he did. We enjoyed this one a lot. And we actually wished there was a second season made.
This anime was set in a school, Kamome Academy, famous for its rumored Seven Wonders and supernatural events. Here we met Nene Yashiro, a first-year high school student obsessed with having a boyfriend. Because of this romance obsession, she summoned the Seventh and most famous of the wonders, Hanako, in hopes that the spirit would grant her a wish regarding her love life. And the adventure began.
There were a couple of characters that I loved of course. Hanako and Kou Minamoto. Hanako was a given. I knew I would enjoy his character off the bat. He was characterized as childish and mischievous. However, that was a mask of how serious the character was. And that was without the character’s background. His main duty was to monitor all supernatural activities in the school and ensure that there was a balance between the supernatural and humans. And he took this duty seriously. Honestly, he was just so fun to watch with his playful character and his weapon of choice – a kitchen knife. He was very secretive about his past life, with reason. And the more we got to know about him, the more I found him so endearing.
Now, Kou Minamoto has the most character development in this. He came from a clan of powerful exorcists and believed that all supernatural beings were evil. And we got introduced to him when he tried to exorcise Hanako. But as he continued to tag along with the Hanako-Nene duo, he realized that not all supernatural beings were evil. We saw him questioning his upbringing and beliefs, especially when he encountered a spirit that he genuinely cared for. He has some heartbreaking scenes that made me cry. The way his character developed through the whole first season was so beautiful to watch.
Not going to lie, I was not a fan of Nene whatsoever. Not that I hate her. I just did not like her boy-obsessed character. But then I guess, some girls do focus on romance and having a boyfriend in their high school years. I mean, I would be hypocritical to say that I did not have a crush on someone back at that age however, I did not actively search for romance either. This girl decided to summon a spirit that could grant her a wish – to have her crush return her feelings. I thought that was a pretty extreme obsession, especially after realizing the consequences of her actions. Sure, she mellowed a bit but I still did not care for her as the anime went on. However, I did enjoy her interactions with Hanako and Kou. And I think their relationship naturally progressed to an actual friendship and genuine caring for each other.
Anyway, the artwork was amazing in this anime. Honestly, when my man sent me the link to the anime, the first I thought was, is he going to make me watch a Lolita anime? What is this? And that was not the case. That was just the art style of the anime/manga. And I loved it. We loved the bold black lines for sure. This anime was just fun and I loved the story. A season two was announced and it should be out mid-2024 or end-2024. It would be a while but we would be patiently waiting.
- Anime Title: Tomo-chan Is a Girl!
- Episodes: 13 episodes
- Where to Watch: Crunchyroll
- Publisher: Aniplex of America
Since I saw this anime on the list of winter anime, I knew I would watch it. Why not? Finally, a tomboy in a romance anime. In this anime, we follow Tomo Aizawa (a tomboy) who has been in love with her best friend, Junichiro Kubota. This follows Tomo as she tries to get Junichiro to see her as more than one of the boys.
The comedy here stemmed from Tomo trying to be “girly” so that Junichiro would notice her. This was due to the fact that her other best friend, Misuzu Gundou, told her that she needed to be more traditionally girly. Honestly, this was the only thing that I found a bit meh about the anime. It was funny. Seeing Tomo out of her element and trying to navigate the girl world was chaotically comedic. Though I laughed, I just found it a bit difficult to agree that Tomo needed to change herself and be girly.
Anyway, Gundou as a character was interesting to me. Why? She seemed like a dark character to me. A lot of girls were scared of Tomo because she was tall and loud and could kick a dude’s ass without batting an eye. But honestly, Gundou was the scary one. She was cunning and almost sadistic. I loved her devilish smirk that often graces the screen. She was often seen messing with Tomo and Junichiro.
There were some characters that my boyfriend and I did not know how to feel about at the beginning – like Carol. But it did not really take away from our enjoyment of the anime. It was really nice to see the progression of Tomo’s and Junichiro’s relationship. I mean, it was young love. What not to enjoy about it?
Overall, this was a pretty good romance, slice-of-life anime about young love. We definitely enjoyed it. Would I watch it again? Maybe. I mean, it would not be my first choice of anime to rewatch. I want a season two though just to see what happens to this love story. Just note, if you’re going to give this one a try, watch the sub. The dub for Tomo sounded unnatural.
- Anime Title: Haikyu!!
- Episodes: Season 1 – 26 episodes; Season 2 – 25 episodes; Season 3 – 10 episodes; Season 4 – 25 episodes; 2 movies; 2 Land vs Air episodes; 3 OAD episodes
- Where to Watch: Crunchyroll
- Publisher: Toho
I am not a sports anime fan. All these years, I’ve only watched one sports anime, and that was Slam Dunk from back in the day. I watched it when I was still in the Philippines, and the reason why I watched this was because basketball was or still is big in my home country. Anyway, we’re not talking about that. I am just saying that I would normally not watch a sports anime. Haikyu!! was highly recommended to me by Chris. I just never got around to watching it until recently.
And oh boy, I was glad I finally watched this. This anime was that good even if you don’t normally gravitate to something like this. Not going to lie, this anime made me care about a sport. I am not a sports person. Period. But it did! I wanted to keep on watching and watching just to see where these characters would go, how much each player would improve in each episode, and how much the team would grow as a group.
Every episode in this anime was exciting. There was no downtime. Even what you would consider downtime was exciting. Every single episode has something going on in it. Just because in every episode, there was some kind of internal realization, some kind of character development, some kind of struggle. And it was a treat.
It was nice watching Hinata Shoyo improve every single time. It was nice watching Kageyama Tobio not just improve as a setter but actually be a team player. The anime could’ve stopped there and focused on these two characters alone. But no, they extended the character development to the whole Karasuno team. Sure, there might be a couple of characters that barely got any screen time, however, they were shown improving as volleyball players as well as actually integrating themselves into the team. It was actually great seeing them turn from individuals to a cohesive Karasuno team.
Again, the anime could’ve stopped there and just focused on the Karasuno team. But no. The anime showed the other teams. Sure others got more highlights compared to the others, but it was great seeing each team adapt to pressure. Especially the ones that went against Karasuno. As Karasuno was improving on the spot, so did the team they were up against. And it was exciting seeing each team one-up the other. Some members of the opposing team got their own character development in the series as well, which was great. It made me root for other players that were not from Karasuno.
This anime adaptation did so much and did it really well. The story was great. The character development was top-notch. The animation during the games was chef’s kiss. The soundtrack was good too. My boyfriend and I were pumped the whole time we were watching this. And that was all we could ask for a sports anime. And we cannot wait for the conclusion of this series.
The normal benchmark, if I liked an anime, is if I would ever watch it again. And I would definitely rewatch this anime again. I might do just that before the conclusion movies come out. This anime became one of my favorites hands down.