Sometimes unexpected love is the best kind.

I admit, I wasn’t expecting to fall hard for Tomo-chan wa Onnanoko!.  Not when it was announced, not when I previewed it, not after the first or even second episode.  But it’s happening, slowly but surely.  “The first, be funny” comedic oath certainly applies here, because this show is seriously funny.  But I also really like the characters, even the one I (no secret) disliked at first.  Carol has a lot to do with it and was a huge turning point for the series (Sally Amaki is the MVP), but it’s pretty much all of them at this point.

These sorts of comedy manga – short comic vignettes – are not the easiest to adapt by a long shot, either.  Minami-ke is a particularly brilliant example of one that does it right, and I think Tomo-chan is following more or less the same template.  It’s padding out these little humorous passages just enough to make a 22-minute episode flow, but retaining the essence of their pointlessly baka nature.  Nanba Hitoshi is obviously a great director, but I have to admit I thought he was slumming a bit when I saw him attached to this adaptation.  I’m definitely re-thinking that now.

Everything clicked this week, even if it felt like there were about 50 mini-chapters.  First we had a new guy, Tanabe-kun (Matsuoka Yoshitsugu).  He’s fallen for Misuzu, poor lad.  He’s obsessed with making her smile, with predictable results.  And he’s stunned when Jun-kun tells him she smiles at him all the time, though he’s painting the wrong picture to be sure.  Tanabe keeps trying, to his credit, but when he finally comes clean about what he wants to see, Misuzu gets off one of several great one-liners this week – “Stop fooling around and approach me seriously.  Then I’ll shoot you down with a smile.”

Tanabe ends up with his mouth taped shut – along with Carol, whose crime was attempting to kiss Misuzu on the cheek.  That’s part of a theme here, as Tomo-chan decides she’s missing out on the glomping culture of teenage girls.  Unsurprisingly, everyone she’s tried it on has gone tilt, and just as unsurprisingly Misuzu shoots it down like an anti-aircraft battery.  I immediately thought “Carol would be totes into that”, and sure enough that’s where Tomo-chan goes for her fix.  After she finds herself liking it a little too much, Misuzu tells her “Don’t worry – that one’s built special”.

There’s a little mutual jealousy thing going here, with Misuzu a bit peeved about all that skinship, and Carol pining to take over the slot as Misuzu’s bestie.  Misuzu agrees to let Tomo have a go, but the result is “this is a lot more annoying that I thought”.  We also get out first interaction between Tomo’s Mom and Dad, and it turns out he’s still so shy around her that he passes out when she touches him.  As for their daughter and virtual son, Misuzu does some of her usual pot-stirring and asks Tomo why she doesn’t glomp Jun.  He glomps her, after all – but when she tries it on him, he too goes on tilt.  “It’s fine when I do it”, is his logic, but she’s in high school now – she can’t do that to him.

The next twist is quite an interesting one, which if hinted at earlier I missed.  As noted earlier Misaki-kun and Carol are osananajimi-cousins (I was thinking they were going for siblings for a second).  What’s more, he sees her as a little sister and – if I’m reading the scene correctly – it appears that she’d like that to change.  She goes to Misuzu for advice on this, which leads to an absolutely hilarious exchange where Carol co-opts Misuzu to eat lunch together and sends Tomo off to eat alone (!) with Junichirou.  There’s hilarity on both fronts, but my favorite part is the totally random way Carol returns her hair thingy to its rightful place at the end.  Tadaima!

Finally, Mifune and Ogawa come to Tomo for help (good choice) when Ogawa meets a third-year at a mixer, and he decides to pursue her.  Problem is he’s a yankee and a serial philanderer, who thinks he’s a tough guy.  After a terse exchange Tomo proves him wrong – but her real game here is transferring any potential reprisals to her, rather than Ogawa.  Very chivalrous – but Jun one-ups her in that department, and puts to bed any concerns about retribution.  He also gets in a boffo GAR one-liner of his own – “My name is Kubota Junichirou, Class 1-A.  You don’t need to remember that.”

What can I say, the heart wants what it wants.  I was very iffy about this show after the premiere, but I’m pretty well bought in at this point.  Getting an ace director was surely crucial here, but the characters themselves as written are clearly a big part of the success of Tomo-chan wa Onnanoko!.  There’s a certain relentless energy to the humor that carries you along, and let’s face it – Carol is just straight-up hilarious.  So far this series has managed to avoid the Aniplex hiatus curse – here’s hoping it stays that way, because I sure don’t need anything else spilling into spring and I don’t see myself dropping it.