Tomo-chan wa Onnanoko! – 13 (End) and Series Review

If indeed 2023 is to be the year of the romcom in anime – and it’s hard to see how it’s not – winter got it off to a good start.  Between Koori Zokusei Danshi to Cool na Douryou Joshi and Tomo-chan wa Onnanko! it had a couple good ones.  And this was the better of the two to my tastes, a really smart and skillful adaptation of the sort of manga that’s not easy to bring to the screen.  The fact that it so roundly exceeded my expectations only makes the experience that much sweeter.

If I’m honest the finale would fall more in the “pretty good” category, not on par with the best episodes of the series.  But that’s fine, honestly.  Things thematically wrapped up in Episode 12, really, leaving the finale to basically be a cross between a coda and a fun romp.  Anything we got out of it was gravy, and there were a lot of cute and funny moments.  It was mostly a one foot in front of the other, by the books finale – and Tomo-chan works best when it lets the character dynamics have the wheel.  But a 13th episode of a one-cour series is almost like a bonus ep these days anyway.

To wit, Jun and Tomo are now a couple.  Except they’re kinda not, though she’s not aware of that yet.  The best part of the episode – and I wished there’d been more of it – was Tomo grinding her gears over how the pair’s dynamic has changed.  Jun is acting very much like a good boyfriend – treating her like a girl in fact, which is obviously what she’s been pining for all along.  But now that they’re officially a couple (she thinks) Tomo-chan pines for the days of Junichirou being awkward and flustered around her.  Which is perfectly natural of course, though it’s not exactly fair on him (which “greedy” Tomo fully realizes, to her credit).

Misuzu’s plan (honestly, Tomo really should stop listening to her relationship advice at this point) is to get Jun flustered about kissing by having Tomo take him to see a romance flick.  Tomo steels herself against its impact by staring at the poster for a week, and Jun-bo is indeed rather taken aback by how into the whole thing Tomo seems.  But when the movie turns out to be rather more than PG-rated, the tables turn quickly (much to her embarrassment) .

When the movie date finds the pair of them back in Jun’s room (with his mom out – have we heard mention of his dad?), things seem to be moving in a certain direction.  And Tomo’s reaction to that is quite interesting – just what exactly does she want to happen here?  I mean, they are 16 and in love.  It’s all moot, though, when Junichirou punches himself in the face when things get a little too hot.  The reason?  Tomo’s dad has told Jun that he can’t date his daughter unless he beats him in combat.  Tomo-chan is understandably pissed at her pops when she finds out, but even more at Jun for not just telling her in the first place.

That whole twist has an air of plot for plot’s sake, and on the very few occasions when this show has stumbled a bit that’s invariably been the reason.  It’s just a thing to give the final episode a conflict, pretty unnecessary in the big picture, though it’s not without its amusements.  Dad is fully aware he’s done a dumb thing here, though if he wasn’t the women in his life are only too happy to remind him.  Jun being a total stand-up guy is focused on doing things the right way, no matter how the odds are stacked against him.  In the end Gorou basically throws the fight – his only option really – though not before dishing out a fair bit of punishment.  Even if he thinks of Jun as a sort of stepson, he’s a dad first – and I’m guessing he rather enjoyed that part under the circumstances.

Anime romcoms rarely take the story into the couple stage for long, and Tomo-chan is no exception.  But we do at least get to see them smooch – a sort of revenge kiss instigated by Tomo after Jun steals her thunder by formally confessing his love before she can do the same.  A show about Jun and Tomo as a couple would be very interesting, but it wouldn’t be the same show.  As to our supporting cast, they didn’t really have a lot to do here, but again – the true end was last week, where they were critical (especially Misuzu).

For Tomo-chan wa Onnanoko this stands as a pretty definitive ending.  The manga concluded in 2019 and as I understand it, the anime adapted it all the way to the end (even if it skipped over some bits here and there).  As a series of basically one-page chapters, that the anime staff was able to make such a coherent episodic story out of it is truly to be admired.  You’d always like a sequel to a show you love as much as I do this one, but I never complain when it gets a full adaptation – it’s what every good manga deserved but so few actually get.

For a series that kicked off with such a middling first episode, Tomo-chan wound up being remarkably good.  These kids turned out to be very complex and interesting people – no angels, but flawed young people quite capable of being petty and selfish (as indeed most of us are).  And as over the top as the central conceit was, it really did explore some fascinating relationship questions with real wit and intelligence.  Where does friendship end and romance begin – and does the one have to happen before the other can?  I’d like to think not but I don’t claim to know the answer.  I do know that it was a great ride seeing Tomo-chan wa Onnanoko! put its own spin on finding out.