Winter 2023 Anime: Tomo-chan Is a Girl!

Synopsis

On the first day of high school, Tomo confessed her feeling to her childhood friend, Jun. The problem is that Jun never considers Tomo a girl because of her tomboy-ish nature. Because of that, Tomo wants to become more girly so Jun can notice her. Will Jun answer her feeling?

Comments

Dany Muhammad (The Indonesian Anime Times)

I was surprised that Tomo is voiced by Rie Takahashi. She nailed Tomo’s voice so well that I thought maybe Tomo was voiced by a male voice actor. Then again, Takahashi also nailed it when she voiced Tsubasa Katsuki from Comic Girls, so I shouldn’t be that surprised.

In a sense, Takahashi has to nail this performance because there’s a discussion about gender expectations here. To attract Jun, Tomo thought that she needs to be more girly. That’s why Tomo’s happy when she thought Ogawa and Mifune come for her to ask for advice, or when Misaki said that Tomo is charming. For Tomo, those things are validations that others see her as a girl. However, Tanabe confirmed that people still misunderstand Jun and Tomo’s relationship even when Tomo acts normally. Other people still see her as a girl even with her usual tomboy behaviour. So, what’s the problem here?

To answer the problem, we definitely need to talk about Jun. Why does he bro-zoned Tomo? It’s easy to assume that’s because Jun is your everyday dense rom-com protagonist à la Nozaki from Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun, and maybe that’s the right answer. However, there’s also a hint that Jun is aware that Tomo is a member of the opposite sex. His action at the end of the umbrella scene, or his uneasiness when Gundou teased him, confirmed this. There’s a certain vagueness in Jun’s actions and I think it’s a good spice for the series. It makes the viewer curious. We don’t know if Jun is insecure about their relationship, or just plain stupid. Either way, I’m interested in checking another episode.

Facts and Figures

Screenshots and Trailer

The Indonesian Anime Times