It’s a bit of a broken record by now, but it is what it is.  Tomo-chan wa Onnanoko! is great pretty much every week –  a series that understands its core appeal innately with a first-rate director to get the message across.  That self-awareness in the writing is a lot less common than you’d think – how could any writer not totally get their own creation?  But you may as well ask how parent could not understand their child – it happens all the time.  Being totally comfortable in its own skin and sticking with what its best at is a recipe for success for any series, and it’s the one Tomo-chan is following to the letter.

One of the (many) great things going on here is that all of the major characters are really relevant in inter-connected ways.  Misuzu and Carol carry out a fascinating interplay with each other, and it’s entangled with the main couple.  Misuzu’s feelings about- well, everything – are complicated.  She plays the role of matchmaker yet as she falls asleep she villainously promises to keep “using” Jun.  For what, exactly?  Is Misuzu sort of in love with Tomo, or is she merely afraid of being alone if Tomo and Jun formally become a couple?  Carol’s endgame is equally interesting  – she’s manoeuvring the other three in her own ways.  They’re a great comedy team that’s also endlessly interesting – a smart girl pretending she’s dumb and an emotionally vulnerable one pretending to be unfeeling.

Take the summer festival and fireworks.  It’s Misuzu who forces Tomo to invite Jun to go with her – alone.  And it’s Carol who drags Misuzu along to the festival (with Kousuke) so she can make sure Misuzu doesn’t interfere with Jun and Tomo.  What do each of them want?  It’s complicated.  As it is for the main pair, to say the least.  This event is another one of those familiar romcom tropes that this series tweaks to advance its own story in really inventive and meaningful ways (one of those things it’s best at that it’s sticking with).

These two are so close to figuring it out, honestly, yet they may as well be a million miles away.  Tomo is right that Jun is being “careful” around her.  She’s even starting to get an inkling of the possible reason.  Just as Jun knows deep-down exactly why his feelings about Tomo are so jumbled up.  But these things are scary when you 16 (hell, 15 in Jun’s case).  And to make it worse, they’re already incredibly close.  They have fun together and operate on the same wavelength and have each other’s backs.  What does what each of them is contemplating mean for all that?

Indeed, this is all about the “now” Tomo trips over.  It all seems so perfect – the yukata, the fireworks – but when the moment comes, Tomo can’t step off that cliff.  The now she knows, and she likes it.  Something else?  Who the hell knows what that’d be like.  And worse, you can’t find out unless you give up the “now”.  Both she and Jun are confused, but they understand that – when they accept what both of them are feeling, it means giving up what they already have.  Can you blame them for being conflicted?

Next up the local yankees decide to get revenge against Tomo for showing them up.  But being afraid of actually dealing with her again, they decide to go through Misuzu – which is pretty dumb when you think about it, as it’ll just piss Tomo (and Jun) off.  It’s initially Carol who comes to her rescue – and she carries a taser.  But the fleeing doesn’t go so well, and the two of them wind up hiding out in an abandoned factory with Carol stewing over Misuzu saying they had nothing to do with each other (which was to try and protect her).  In a pinch, it’s Jun Misuzu calls for help – and he unhesitatingly gives it.  Their relationship is incredibly complicated too, of course.

Then things get really interesting.  Tomo lamps what’s going on and insists on following Jun, and Kousuke overhears and decides to follow too.  Jun and Tomo are more than a match for this bunch of losers, but when Kou-chan gets the wrong idea about why Carol’s shirt is off (it’s because she face-planted in a puddle) he shows a side of himself we’ve never seen before.  Kousuke is relevant too of course – his feelings for Tomo are hopeless but sincere, and it’s clear that he and Carol are extremely close in a familial way.

Did Jun need to stay behind when Misuzu was finishing things up (in especially nasty fashion) with the thugs?  No – but it’s notable that he did, which like so much else puts the lie the idea that he and Misuzu are enemies.  All of their lives are tangled together so exquisitely, and that’s the engine that powers both the comedy and the feels with Tomo-chan wa Onnanoko!.