I’ve come to conclude that Tonikawa works best as a pure slice-of-life.

It would be hard to construct an anime episode that was about less than this one in terms of plot.  Yet it was one of the more entertaining Tonikaku Cawaii eps this season, and that’s surely no coinkidink.  For starters Hata-sensei is exceptionally good at observational humor as it relates to the petty irritants and pleasures of daily life.  He’s also good at drawing up almost manzai-like set pieces, with minor absurdities contrasting with the mundane backdrop in which they’re occurring.  This sort of stuff is right in his sweet spot, and the confidence in the writing veritably flows from the screen.

The first chapter is all about A/C, which to be fair is certainly a major topic in a country where the weather sucks as badly as it does in most of Japan.  I bought an A/C (used) for my rental unit last summer (the landlord was too cheap to split the cost) and went through the whole rigamarole of trying to get it installed (it did indeed take about two weeks).  This is all a reminder that Nasa-kun is sort of a superhero when it comes to the small details of life.  He knows how to install an aircon.  He knows how they work, and can walk into a big box superstore and immediately know which one he wants (which kinda freaks the borderline OCD Tsukasa out).

Even a superhero needs his tools, and for those Nasa heads to the little electronics shop run by Ouka Nakiri (Mikami Shiori).  As it turns out she’s an old middle-school classmate of Nasa’s (Tsukasa is adorably just a bit jealous).  And while there’s a turbo lag, she’s stunned to find that Nasa has gotten married (she presents him with some sealing paste as a belated wedding gift).  This is a recurring theme this week – people have trouble accepting that the mild-mannered geek who looks about twelve is now a married man.

The installation goes swimmingly (this is Nasa we’re talking about), but there are a few growing pains adjusting to the new family member.  Like sleeping for example.  Nasa initially shuts it off, but now – having had a taste of the good life – the contrast makes Tsukasa feel too hot to sleep.  Nasa suggests a sleep timer, but 26 degrees turns out to be too cold.  Then 28, but that’s too hot for her.  Then an hour turns out to be too short a time for the timer.  I live alone but I sympathize with this struggle – what to do with the A/C when it’s still stupid hot overnight is a never ending struggle.

Next we have another new character and one of those manzai scenarios.  She’s Kagami Kyuuma (Kuno Misaki), and it was for her that the term “slow on the uptake” was invented.  She turns up at the bathhouse and starts talking to Tsukasa as if she’s Kaname, only realizing after repeated protestations that she’s mistaken.  She wants advice about a problem with Shiba-san (who she assumes Tsukasa knows), and eventually suggests that Tsukasa put her hair in pigtails to make her more amenable to offering advice.  This exchange is ridiculous in a good way, and fortunately for Tsukasa’s sanity Kaname does return (from school, where Kyuuma would have been had she not thought summer break started early).

How does Nasa know Kyuuma?  That’s never really explained, but she too is (eventually) stunned to learn he’s married.  And to Tsukasa, despite her having called him “darling”.  Kyuuma is completely absurd, but she works as a comic device – this whole sequence is really funny.  Eventually Nasa goes to return the aircon tools to Nakiri and things get a bit philosophical.  One can imagine that when Nasa talks about how being married has opened up new worlds and made him believe in potential he never knew he had, Hata-sensei is being somewhat autobiographical.  Certainly he’s found a depth and perspective in his writing with Tonikawa that he never displayed before, and it’s all the better for it.