Like The Tomato
Nothing here but my musings about daily life, books, anime, and food.
- 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: Horimiya
- Episodes: 13
- Where to Watch: Crunchyroll and Hulu
- Publisher: Aniplex of America
Who does not want a good cute slice-of-life romance anime? Well, to be honest, my boyfriend would not watch this anime on his own. He most likely would not even give this one a second glance. And that was fine, I was just glad that he has been open to watching some anime that he would normally ignore himself.
Anyway, what made me watch this? Because of this clip. One day, I just saw it on my YT feed and I was like, what the heck is this? And I was glad, I took the time to look it up. This anime was golden.
What is this about really? Sure, it’s easy to just say that this is a rom-com about young love. But ultimately, this is about people having part of themselves that they hide from other people. When it all comes down to it, you only let people see what you want them to see. And this is about finding that one person who will accept that part of yourself that you hide from the world.
I really appreciated how this anime did not make mundane things over the top as other anime had done. The storyline was solid. Nothing to complain about that. It was seamless. The natural progression of Hori and Miyamura’s relationship was great. There was nothing more amazing than finding someone who can accept and also love that hidden part of you.
The way this anime dealt with conflict was pretty good too. There were definitely some misunderstandings among the characters and you know what? They talked about it. It was so easy to just let these characters wallow in doubt and let them jump to conclusions, but no, the anime let the characters talk about these things. We as viewers were not waiting for the resolutions until the last episode. I say that was pretty healthy way to resolve some conflicts.
The anime did not shy away from heavy topics either – from separation anxiety, bullying, isolation, suicide even. They were presented perfectly and dealt with healthily.
What made this anime for me though was Miyamura. I just love his inner monologues. Also, I felt like he had the most visible character development. I mean, his experiences in season one shaped him to be this person by the end and I loved it. He started as this shy high school loner kid and by the end, he was this confident person with friends.
I also liked the fact that after Hori and Miyamura got together, the anime shifted to the characters around them. It would have been so easy to just keep these characters as background and just focus on the main love storyline. I really loved Tooru Ishikawa. Sure, he was not the main character but he was so fleshed out. It was impossible not to love him. He was friendly, supportive, and just an awesome guy.
Overall, this anime was really good. I loved the story. I loved the pacing. I loved how real the anime was. I loved the characters. This anime was pretty up there for me. I gave this a 9/10. My boyfriend gave this an 8/10. This would be one of the anime that I rewatch from time to time.