Tomo Aizawa is a bit of a tomboy and her best friend is Junichirou “Jun” Kubota, an absolute meat-head that did not realise Tomo was a girl until much later in their friendship. The two spar together, walk home from school with each other and are as close as possible. However, Tomo is madly in love with Jun, as expected when two people spend so much time together, but Jun is so dense that he sees Tomo as just another one of the boys, even when she explicitly confesses her feelings of love straight to his face.
Tomo-chan Is a Girl! is an interesting premise for a romantic comedy anime, changing up the standard formula a little as the love appears one-sided from the outset, with the idea of relationship progress seeming unlikely. Let’s break down what we have thought of Tomo-chan so far in our first impression!
Ignorance is Bliss
Jun is a typical male RomCom character, but slightly denser. In a majority of RomCom anime, there is a lack of progress in the leading pair’s relationship, favouring the chase over the final result, and Tomo-chan Is a Girl! is interesting in the way it changes up this formula. Usually, ignorance on both sides results in misunderstandings, a lack of communication, and conflicts through feelings not being reciprocated properly, but Tomo-chan throws this out the window on one side of the couple with Tomo clearly stating her love for Jun despite his complete ignorance.
This creates a sense of frustration for the audience, in a good way, as Jun’s ignorance is hilarious from the start, being completely ignorant of how his actions make Tomo feel for example when he casually puts his arm around her from behind startling and making her blush. There is so much room for comedy in this series and we hope Jun’s ignorance plays as big a role in it going forward.
Conflicts Ahead
The key to a good RomCom anime is a conflict between the main couple and the other characters so as to spice things up, and even within the first three episodes Tomo-chan Is a Girl! has set up some interesting conflicts. A good example of this is Tomo’s best female friend Misuzu Gundou, admitting that she and Jun previously went on a date in the past which she had not told Tomo before, laying the groundwork for possible conflict.
Another is the introduction of Kousuke Misaki, a member of the karate club with Tomo and one of her sparring partners as she no longer goes to Jun’s family dojo. Seeing Jun’s flashes of jealousy as he finds out Tomo is in the men's club due to her muscle and skill, it is clear he has feelings somewhere deep down and there could be a conflict between him and Misaki.
Final Thoughts
Tomo-chan Is a Girl! is an exciting new RomCom anime that has played with the usual formula to spice things up making love between two best friends more interesting. Jun’s ignorance toward Tomo’s feelings is bound to break down at some point and we can not wait to see where it goes! What have you thought of this anime so far? Let us know in the comments!
Author: Lewis Williamson