So begins the cycle anew.  Another anime season, another new year, another high school romcom.  I don’t see anything too original with Tomo-chan wa Onnanoko! – this is a path we’ve walked many times before.  But it has a pretty solid staff (including veteran director Nanba Hitoshi, fresh off three seasons of Golden Kamuy), and a decently pedigreed source material that isn’t a light novel or a cellphone game.  So for me at least it has to be in with a chance.

I would say I’m very much undecided after the first episode.  There were times it started to annoy me to “hovering over the slider bar” levels, and I don’t find any of the major characters likeable, per se.  But it had a nice sense of comic timing (directors matter), and a certain deftness at playing up the perverse nature of high school social tangles.  At the heart of the story is the titular Tomo-chan, a tom(o)boy of the highest order, and her childhood friend – and karate sparring partner – Junichirou.  There are various supporting kids who obviously will have significant roles, especially trollish mutual frenemy Mizusu, both the main pair are the star the subplots orbits around.

Characters like Tomo are certainly a trope (she even has a fang).  She and Jun-chan have been bros since toddler times, and as she entered puberty she started to see him differently.  Unfortunately he still sees her exactly the same way – or maybe he doesn’t, which is sort of the point.  Yeah, he tickles her and slaps her butt and fist-bumps her, but it’s pretty clear that on some level Jun is aware of the changing dynamics of their relationship (and her dimensions).  He’s not totally innocent here in other words, though I don’t see his antics as abusive or anything – just juvenile.  As for Misuzu she and Jun claim to loathe each other but she’s mainly interested in manipulating their feelings for her own amusement.  All pretty familiar stuff, though modestly well-executed.

Among the outer planets Tomo’s karate sempai (she’s joined the boys’ club to have genuine competition; Jun has abstained) Misaki-kun (like Jun, I originally mistook him for girl) is among the most relevant.  He very much sees Tomo as a girl and one he’d like to date to boot.  That also loops in the two goofuses Ogawa and Mifune, Missaki admirers who see Tomo as a rival but eventually wind up getting “romance advice” from her.  This is all moderately amusing, as is the whole aiaigasa gag.  Fairly good takes on the very familiar are what Tomo-chan wa Onnanoko! seems to be trading on at this point – I suspect to have staying power for me it will have to eventually show more than that.  But for now, I’m enjoying it enough to keep my eyes on it.