It’s not always easy to mix comedy with something sterner. Although it’s absolutely possible – just look at Terry Pratchett, whose books regularly have messages that belie their comedic style – it takes a special kind of flair to pull it off. Tomo-chan Is a Girl! could easily have fumbled in trying to combine its goofy brand of comedy with its more serious elements, but I’m pleased to say that it did not. This makes it a series that can be mostly funny with some more introspective moments and still come out on top.
Based on the manga of the same name, the story follows childhood besties Tomo and Junichiro. The two have been inseparable since elementary school, although the backstory reveals that Jun initially thought that Tomo was completely unhinged and possibly dangerous. Things were great until middle school, when Junichiro was suddenly confronted with something he never, ever suspected: that Tomo is, in fact, female. It took him a bit but he did eventually regain his equilibrium. Now that they’re in high school, Tomo’s not sure that’s all she wants out of their relationship. Thus begins her quest to make him realize that she’s a girl, a girl he could date, with some very mixed results.
Most of what makes this series work is the characters. The term “loveable idiots” could have been coined to describe Jun and Tomo, both of whom are so earnest, but also so completely off base at all times, that it’s hard to dislike them. It’s fairly obvious early on that Junichiro isn’t oblivious to the fact that Tomo is a girl, as we see in the episode where he notices her uniform skirt. While Jun’s not sure why she wears one (their school allows girls to wear pants), what he really dislikes is the way that other guys notice her in it. This implies that he’s fully aware of her gender and is uncomfortable with the fact that he’s aware of it. As the series goes on, it becomes clear that this stems from fear: he’s afraid of losing Tomo if he changes the way he acts with her. Can he be in love with his best friend? That’s a fraught question for a sixteen-year-old boy, and most of him not noticing (or “not noticing”) Tomo comes down to the sheer terror of possibly losing her altogether. He doesn’t voice this until almost the end of the series but it’s remarkably apparent throughout, and that’s a definite strength.
It also plays well with the comedic aspects of the story. Tomo is equally aided and hindered by Misuzu, another childhood friend whom she’s known slightly longer than Jun. Misuzu is what might charitably be called “difficult,” although it’s worth mentioning that she’s not doing it on purpose. Misuzu simply is who she is, and she doesn’t really care what you think of that – in fact, her interactions with Tanabe, a boy who has a crush on her, and Carol, who has a puppy’s understanding of personal space, show that she really has zero interest in most other people’s feelings. The exception is Tomo, although an argument could be made for Jun as well, just on the opposite end of the feelings spectrum. Misuzu, and later Carol, is Tomo’s sounding board, the people she turns to when she’s trying to figure out how to get Junichiro to notice her in the right way, and their advice is…let’s say “mixed.”
That’s mostly because Misuzu is simultaneously enjoying Tomo and Jun flailing around and afraid of what their beginning to date would mean for her. Again, this doesn’t fully come to light until the end of the series, but the hints are there throughout, giving the impression that she’s helping Tomo against her own inclinations—or at least against some of them. Part of this is definitely fueled by her antagonistic relationship with Junichiro, whom she resents as an intruder into her friendship with Tomo, something he’s very well aware of. She knows that he’s desperate to repair his relationship with Tomo after the blip in middle school, but she’s also really entertained by the way he consistently makes the worst choices. None of this is ever shown in a cruel light, which is another strength of the series. The balance between the characters’ inherent silliness and emotional interiority is both unexpected and delightful.
If you wanted to, you could easily read this as being about deeper issues. Misuzu could be believably aro/ace, struggling in a world where things she doesn’t care about are increasingly important to the people she does care for; she’s honestly quite a good example of how that feels. Similarly, Tomo’s struggles to get Jun to see her as a girl can be viewed through the lens of gender nonconformity. Tomo thinks of herself as a girl and her body is female, but she doesn’t fit society’s image of what a girl “should” be. She’s also constantly placed on boys’ sports teams and otherwise treated as if she’s not sufficiently feminine. It almost doesn’t matter that this isn’t the ostensible point of the series, because there’s a message there if you need to find it: that you are enough, no matter how you present yourself. Tomo’s English voice actor, Lexi Nieto, even mentions this in the brief interview in the booklet included with the special edition.
The physical extras far outstrip the digital ones in the limited edition. They include the aforementioned booklet, eight art cards, and two sticker sheets. While the on-disc extras are very brief – the intro to the screening of the first two episodes by the Japanese voice cast, tiny making-of clips, and then the usual clean theme songs, commercials, and trailers. The discs and booklet come in a sturdy, shiny box, while the cards and stickers come in a separate, flimsier box. This may not make the limited edition worth it, although the booklet is very nice and includes original manga strips. Honestly, the show is good enough that its physical media is enough.
Tomo-chan Is a Girl! manages to balance its comedy and more poignant bits beautifully. It can be frustrating to watch Jun consistently sabotage himself (and entertaining to watch Misuzu sabotage him) and to see Tomo doubt herself, but it ultimately pays off. The show is funny and still manages to make a point while faithfully poking fun at the rocky road to love in high school.
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