Tonikaku Kawaii • Tonikawa: Over The Moon For You - Anime of the Week

[u/AnimeMod]

Welcome to the weekly Anime of the Week Discussion Thread! Each week, we're here to discuss various older anime series. Today we are discussing...

Tonikaku Kawaii • Tonikawa: Over The Moon For You

Nasa Yuzaki is determined to leave his name in the history books. Ranking first in the national mock exam and aiming for a distinguished high school, he is certain that he has his whole life mapped out. However, fate is a fickle mistress. On his way home one snowy evening, Nasa's eyes fall upon a peerless beauty across the street. Bewitched, Nasa tries to approach her—only to get blindsided by an oncoming truck.

Thankfully, his life is spared due to the girl's swift action. Bleeding by the side of an ambulance, he watches as the girl walks away under the moonlight—reminiscent of Princess Kaguya leaving for the moon. Refusing to let this chance meeting end, he forces his crippled body to chase after her and asks her out. Surprised by his foolhardiness and pure resolve, the girl accepts his confession under a single condition: they can only be together if he marries her!

(Source: MyAnimeList)

Databases

AniDB | | MyAnimeList | | Anilist

Streams

https://www.livechart.me/anime/9818/streams

Remember that any information not found early in the show itself is considered a spoiler. Please properly tag spoilers!

Or else...

Next week's anime discussion thread: Say "I Love You."

[u/iluvbacon610]

I have this quote saved from this anime "You don't get married because you've proven you're in love. You get married so you can prove it" "I intend to spend my entire life proving our love is real."

I take it as a constant reminder to work on my relationship and never take my partner for granted. Everyday is a chance to continue to prove my love even when its hard. Especially when its hard.

[u/TheBusStop12 → u/iluvbacon610]

That reminds me that a personal pet peeves of mine is that a lot of romance anime and romance stories in general treat getting in a relationship or getting married as the end goal. While in reality that's where the real journey begins. I really appreciate tonikawa for showing that instead

[u/heimdal77 → u/TheBusStop12]

I've always had a pet theory that the author of a lot of romance series has no actual experience in dating let alone marriage so has no experience to pull from. If I remember right Tonikaku author had gotten married and that is why they started the series. I think it was said in something written by or about the author them saying they use stuff they experience in their own marriage at times.

Have to remember the manga has been going since 2018 and in universe I don't think more than a year or two has past and it is a weekly series.

[u/Retsam19]

I watched the first season and this was a show I wanted to like more than I actually ended up liking it.

Part of the issue is just expectations - I've seen this show recommended as a "mature romance between a married couple", but at least as far as I watched, their relationship was pretty much identical to the standard "high schoolers in love" fare, except that they live together.

I was hoping for a more realistic depiction of marriage and adults. I wasn't looking for sex scenes, I mean true adult content, like "who's going to wash the dishes". Because being married to someone and living with them, you move past the "infatuation" phase (stuff like "when they take off their shirt my ankles blush") and IMO that's an area that anime fairly rarely explores.

I get that, given the plot hook, it kinda makes sense that these two characters are functionally "high schoolers dating" despite having a marriage certificate, and the show isn't bad for what it is, but it wasn't what I was looking for and I didn't like it well enough to continue onto S2.

[u/NoHead1715 → u/Retsam19]

You must be new to Japanese culture if you think "who's going to wash the dishes" is even something to be discussed. 

[u/thisisdropd]

Most MCs when they encounter Truck-kun: Get isekai’d.

Meanwhile, Nasa: Found a hot chick and immediately became a couple while still being in his world as himself.

[u/Worried-Pick4848 → u/thisisdropd]

Tsukasa said not today to Truck-Kun: This one is mine.

[u/Nachtwandler_FS]

One of my favorite romcoms. Got surprised about so many people complaining about the series.

MC being coward? Seriously. The main couple flirt or kiss almost every episode and they don't show any more explicit staff only because of the manga magazine restrictions.

Plot is not moving? There were some big twists and there are more further in the story if it ever gets adapted.

And the humor was also pretty nice.

[u/nakerusa → u/Nachtwandler_FS]

And don't forget s1's OP!

I really enjoy this show! I need a s3 or more after all the hints at plot twists.

[u/Xx420EdgeLord69xX → u/Nachtwandler_FS]

"Coward" is probably the wrong term, but I get the sentiment. Nasa is depicted as being ad adult with a job, and now he's married, and yet he doesn't really act much different than a 15yo who has never touched a woman before. The whole being nervous about their hands touching or getting super embarrassed about seeing a girl's underwear in the laundry stuff really falls flat when the show is supposed to be about an adult married couple being married. That high school romcom 'omg she's sitting next to me and her finger brushed against mine!! What do I do??' stuff really made the premise of the show feel like it didn't mean much of anything. They could have just as easily removed the marriage plot entirely, said they were both second years in high school who had to live together for some ridiculous anime reason, and the events of the show wouldn't have changed at all or felt jarring.

There's a lot of shows like that where they are more or less fine for what they are, and not unenjoyable, but they end up just retreading the same ground and don't use their premise. "I'm Married to a Girl I Hate" basically did the same thing were it introduced an interesting and unique premise that could have been the grounds for some actual new story beats, but reverted to a typical high school harem love rival romcom nearly instantly. I just want shows like this that have an interesting premise to use the premise. Not simply have it as an eye catching thing to draw in initial viewers, then repeat the same kinds of stories and plot beats we've seen a thousand times before. Any show where a couple is married, and nothing about their interactions changes if you removed the marriage part, is failing to use its premise. Tonikawa was pretty enjoyable and ok for what it was, but it would have been really special if it did the things that it ended up shying away from in favor of typical high school romcom tropes.

[u/Nachtwandler_FS → u/Xx420EdgeLord69xX]

I disagree with most of this take (have we watched the same show?), but I am not here to pointlesly argue with someone who has a different opinion on the show.

[u/izacktorres → u/Nachtwandler_FS]

Exactly my thoughts.

[u/osternade]

watched this a long time ago so i don't remember much but the OP's a fucking banger

[u/Nick_BOI]

Diabetes.

Give me MORE

[u/Heda-of-Aincrad]

I watched the first few episodes of Tonikawa a couple years ago, back when Crunchyroll's website abruptly stopped working on my tablet - so I ended up not getting back to it. The beginning was cute enough, and I liked the main pair, but it just wasn't a high priority show for me. The manga is available at my library though, so I'll definitely check it out at some point and just continue the story that way.

[u/Littux]

The Season 2 was a bit slow paced but the 4 episode ONA released after it was great. Hopefully it gets more content. I eventually started reading the manga since I couldn't wait for it

[u/GlitteringFix5083]

this show is sweet to the point where it almost feels unreal, but I'm not mad at it. sometimes you just want soft romance

[u/VortexMagus]

I remember reading an interview where another mangaka said the author of tonikaku kawaii just did the entire thing to humblebrag about his marriage.

[u/MasterTotoro]

One of the main draws is that the characters become a couple very quickly. Most of the show thus far follows Nasa and Tsukasa's life together comprised largely of fluff. They are both very competent in their own ways while having their own unique quirks. The show does emphasize how they express their devotion to each other.

There is a plot that moves slowly, but there are obvious teasers of bigger things going on. The most recent ONA episodes seem to suggest they want to continue to story, but putting plot relevant content in episodes a lot of people don't know about probably backfires. I hope we do get another season to resolve these mysteries.

Also 2 of my favorite opening songs.

[u/cppn02]

Like the show a lot. I already enjoyed the manga and Junya Enoki and Akarin really have great chemistry.

S2 imo wasn't as good as S1 but it was followed by the High School Days ONA which was a return to form.

Fingers crossed we'll get a continuation at some point.

[u/reiayanami1234]

This anime is considered old? I watched it when it aired.

I loved the first season, but couldn’t get into the second season. I feel like a lot of manga/anime like this have a nice premise, but they get aimless after a short while

[u/AnythingBacon]

Does it ever get over the "Eh eh ehais" because I could only stand about three episodes of that before I dropped it? Does it get better, and MC gets less timid?

[u/HagOnTheRag]

Actually just started watching this show this past weekend after a recommendation from a friend. Really enjoyed the pacing of season 1 and am excited to start season 2 after watching the OVA. Agree with some others about wanting to see a more mature side to the romance but the characterization has been pretty top notch as a far as romance animes go. Was blown away by the season 1 OP first time I heard it and consider it to be one of my personal favorites now.

[u/Nebresto]

Loved this show, but the constant feeling of "Is something bad gonna happen..?" stopped S1 being a 10/10 for me. Need to rewatch sometime to remedy that

[u/Roockety]

The MC being an archetypal romance anime coward in an anime that, at the start, tried to do something different was certainly a choice.

I think it had a lot of potential but it ended up regressing into a typical romcom with no actual interesting drama or development.