It occurs to me that Tonikaku Cawaii can be a series whose appeal can be hard to explain.  It tends not to take a straight line in any direction – everything is approached from odd angles.  I’d almost go so far as to call it iconoclastic, as Hara-sensei clearly doesn’t give a damn about satisfying genre expectations with it.  In no way would I put it on par with Cross Game, but it does fill the same slot for me in the mangaka’s canon.  Less popular than the sensation they had as young writers, but more interesting thanks to the perspective the intervening years have given them.

I think the way Hara approaches camping is typical of the way he tackles most themes in Tonikawa.  Quirky humor, geeky asides, obsessive detail.  It starts with Aya’s riffing on camping jargon (bleeped) and goes from there.  These city folk broadly have no sense of what camping is like.  Little Kyuuma’s ideas (she’s invited herself along)  come from her dad, until Kaname points her in the direction of Yuru ***).  Ginga (he’s invited himself, too) is all about burying bodies in the hills.  And Chitose (IBID) is primarily guided by Survival, the dystopian camping horror manga by the legendary Saito Takao.

In truth, everyone is going to Tokiko’s private moon-viewing campground, which comes complete with glamping amenities.  But even though drive-in “camping” is of course easy peasy, Nasa wants to take the four-hour hike up the mountain.  And of course Tsukasa has to do so as well if he does, though for her that’s why cars and trains were invented.  Ginga, Kyuuma, and Aya tag along.  Kyuuma naturally becomes distracted by every trailside weed, having the attention span of a gnat as she does.  Tsukasa hangs back to shepherd her up the hill (and keep her away from white mushrooms), though falling behind is no problem – it’s pretty obvious that the “ninja” thing is a lot closer to the truth than she’s making it out to be.

Once everyone has found their way to the top, Nasa and Tsukasa find themselves separated from the others (that “tsundere” thing really had me LOL).  And naturally a young man’s fancy turns to thoughts of love, and Nasa’s is especially hair-trigger where Tsukasa is concerned.  Tokiko may be pushing them together but her presence is an obvious wet blanket as far as Tsukasa is concerned.  Eventually though she does get into the spirit of the moment, and the allure of acting naturally in nature asserts itself fully.

Against this idyllic backdrop, though, are the dreams Nasa keeps having of the strange encounter that led to this moment.  This is also typical of Tonikaku Kawaii, juxtaposing the dark foreshadowing from Tsukasa’s past with the soothing bonhomie of her present.  Surely these dreams are not happening now by coincidence.  And with the presence of everyone (especially Tokiko) it seems very likely that some sort of seismic movement with the main plot is going to happen in these last two episodes.