Fantasy & Fiction is an escape from reality. Likewise, Romance is a possible fantasy of the very same reality that you are a part of.
Romance anime is a genre that’s suited for anyone that is in favor of love. The concept of a romance could be as simple as two characters looking at each other across a classroom or just holding hands, but a sure method of execution would emotionally fascinate you even on your worst days.
The well-known 4-panel rom-com manga “Tomo-chan is a girl” made its debut in April 2015 and ended in July 2019, with over 950 chapters. This rom-com series has entertained hundreds and thousands of fans worldwide. And the old fans and the new ones alike can now enjoy the brand new anime adaptation of the very same series, with the first season adaptation of 50+ chapters that aired between January 2023 to March 2023.
Tomo-chan is a girl anime, a brand new series that aired between 4th January to March 2023. The story follows our two main leads in a slice-of-life school setting, Tomo Aizawa and Junichiro Kubota, who are two of our best childhood friends.
Tomo Aizawa is a tomboy that wants Junichiro Kubota to see her as a love interest. However, Junichiro Kubota spent his entire childhood thinking Tomo-chan was a boy, contrary to the anime name.
Even though this might be a used trope in rom-com animes like Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-Kun, Romantic killer, Love is War, Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out!, Don’t Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro, and many more. But, the way Fumita Yanagida illustrates ‘Tomo-chan is a girl’ is very innovative with the character interactions making this series what it truly is bar none.
Considering the length of the series, we’re here to remind you of some of the facts that you might have forgotten.
Also Read: 50 Best Romance Anime To Watch On Crunchyroll
1. Sub & Dub Release On The Same Day?
Making the dub version of an anime takes up to days or even weeks to translate the script and schedule recording sessions with all the voice actors. And it would also be illogical to delay the original release and wait for the dub version to be ready. The main reason why, unlike some Netflix series, anime studios rarely make an effort to release sub and dub episodes on the same day.
However, when Tomo-chan is, a girl first aired on 4th January 2023. Crunchyroll shocked many fans by releasing the subbed and dubbed version on the very same day, then continued to do so throughout season 1’s serialization. This allowed Crunchyroll to attract the entire viewer base at the same time. Though it might have taken extra effort to simultaneously work on the sub and dubbed version of the anime, this could mark an emerging trend in the anime industry.
2. Misuzu’s Relationship
Tomo Aizawa’s childhood friend, Misuzu Gundou, is a well-rounded supporting character. Even though the same couldn’t be said about her past self, she now acts as a pillar of support for other characters throughout the series. Misuzu can be crude, but even she loses her self-centered and stale-faced character to show her kind nature. In fact, it’s because of Misuzu’s wingman ship, Tomo-chan, and Carol had major developments in their relationships.
Yet it is ironic to see Misuzu remain the only main-cast member with no romantic conclusion in the series. Although the manga and the anime teased fans of a possible relationship between Misuzu & Tatsumi Tanabe, the manga ended with no further leads.
But it also reflects the realistic nature of the story by serving as a reminder that relationships are not always guaranteed and that some things might remain loose-ended.
3. Tomo-chan’s Talented Voice Actor
Tomo-chan is the definition of a tomboy with her bright red hair, rolled-up sleeves, and fighting tendency. And most importantly, her loud voice and attitude add to her tomboyishness. That can only be fulfilled by a skilled voice actor, such as Rie Takahashi. A Japanese voice actor who also voiced another red-haired tomboy, Anzu Hoshino from Romantic Killer.
Rie Takahashi is very talented at voicing characters with an outgoing attitude. But, you would be surprised to learn. Rie Takahashi initially voiced some of the most popular level-headed or calm and quiet characters like Takagi(Teasing Master Takagi-san), Emilia(Re: Zero), Sumi Sakurasawa(Rent a Girlfriend), And even videogame characters like Hu Tao(Genshin Impact).
Rie Takahashi will also be playing Oshi No from Oshi No Ko. A highly anticipated anime, announced for 12th April 2023.
4. Junichirou Kubota Cares More Than You Think
The underlying plot of the series is, Tomo-chan trying her best to make Junichiro notice her, even going as far as to act feminine upon Misuzu’s suggestion. But, switched back to being her old self, as it didn’t seem to be working out.
Junichiro may not seem to pay much attention to Tomo at the beginning of the series. But later on, when we learn more about Junichiro’s character, we come to realize that Junichiro really cares about Tomo-chan a lot more than you would expect. He tries to go out of his way to do things just so he can be with Tomo-chan. Evidence of this can be observed in episode 4 when he beats up Tomo’s bullies, knowing full well that Tomo-chan is strong enough to defend herself.
In fact, Junichiro has been beating up people for Tomo for a very long time. This is a prime example of a popular quote, “Love cannot be found where it doesn’t exist, nor can it be hidden where it truly does.”
5. Carol Olston Is The Saddest Character
Though she was initially against Tomo, she is now a close friend of Tomo-chan, who is also an important supporting character in the series. The character interactions between Carol and everyone else are some of the most highly anticipated sequences of the show. Many fans consider Carol to be the “carry” for the series. Though at first glance, she might seem straightforward & honest. However, she has layers to her character.
Carol’s parents are Eddie Olston (mother) & Ferris Olston (mother). Eddie felt guilty for letting Farris carry a child when she was too young to do so. Leading to Eddie Olston’s mysterious disappearance, because of which 15-year-old Carol was raised without a father figure. Besides Kousuke Misaki, Carol didn’t have many friends throughout high school.
Carol is an airhead and terrible at sports, but she’s led a happy life since middle school with supportive friends and the love of her life. Signifying there’s always light at the end of the tunnel.
6. The Voice Acting Duo
You might know Colleen Clinkenbeard is the English voice actor for some of the old gen hit animes. And she also voices Misuzu’s mom, Misaki Gundou. Likewise, Sayaka Ohara is the voice actor for Carol Olston’s mother, Ferris Olston. They are two amazing voice actors who are part of the Tomo-chan, a girl anime voice-acting cast. But what you may not know is that they are known for voicing characters in pairs.
That’s right! Colleen Clinkenbeard & Sayaka Ohara are known to voice a single character in their dub and subbed versions, respectively. Some of the dub and sub counterparts of the characters they voiced are:
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Erza Scarlet from Fairy Tail.
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Erza Knightwalker from Fairy Tail.
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Elsie Crimson (Elsie Le Lendard) from Edens Zero.
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Yuko Ichihara from xxxHolic.
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Titania (Queen of the Fae) from The Ancient Magus’ Bride.
7. Carol Olston And Her Voice Actor Are Bilingual?
Individuals are classified as bilinguals if they speak two languages fluently. Therefore, this would make Carol’s voice actor, Sally Amaki, bilingual, who speaks fluent Japanese and English. And this canonically makes Carol Olston a bilingual character in the story as well. Though in the English translation, it’s depicted that Carol can speak French too, just like her English voice actor, Sally Amaki.
That’s right! Sally Amaki is not only the Japanese voice of Carol Olston but also Carol’s English dub voice actor. This could have been a reason enough why you might have noticed some resemblance between the voices. Though it is quite uncommon for voice actors to play the same character in their Japanese and English versions of a show, it just goes to show how much benefit a voice actor would get from being multilingual.
8. Is Junichiro Dense?
Dense characters in anime/manga with a romantic narrative are a common trope meant to serve as the oblivious character who is foreign to the concept of romantic feelings. A comedic trait is usually observed in male protagonists. Though it is meant to build a dramatic element in the story, it could easily become frustrating for fans when overdone.
Tomo initially found it difficult to express her feelings for Junichiro because Tomo-chan believed he looked at her just as a male friend because of her tomboyishness. However, Junichiro wasn’t completely a dense character. In fact, Junichiro learned about Tomo-chan’s true gender right at the beginning of junior high (40 chapter mark) and pretended to be oblivious to it and hide the fact. In the end, however, everything was concluded on a high note after a lot of back and forth.
9. Why Is Tomo A Tomboy
Tomo and Junichiro were childhood friends for a long time. They practically did everything together. From walking to school to playing in the evening, Tomo and Junichiro were best buddies. This friendship was a matter of circumstances since Tomo-chan’s parents happened to meet Junichiro because of something Tomo-chan did.
Tomo Aizawa’s father, Gorou Aizawa, runs a dojo where he teaches his students karate. Among his students, Tomo-chan and Junichiro were also part of the group. Thanks to Gorou’s teachings, Tomo and Junichiro are pretty strong, and he even helped them fend off high school bullies. However, this negatively affected Tomo-chan’s feminine side. Since she only used to mingle with Junichiro and other men in the dojo. Additionally, affecting Junichiro in the process by making him believe Tomo is a guy for way too long.
But at the end of season 1, Junichiro sealed the romantic relationship between Tomo-chan and himself by defeating Gorou Aizawa in a duel.
10. Inspiration Behind Tomo-chan’s Design
Anime girls with red hair are a common characteristic feature of female characters. Red-haired characters symbolize Individuality, strength, and furiousness. And Tomo-chan is pretty well-rounded in those aspects. Since it’s noticeably a common trait, even the fan-favorite Tomo-chan’s character must have some external inspirations, like other anime & manga series.
You would be right in thinking that. Since Tomo-chan was heavily inspired by Zombina’s character design and personality from Monster Musume: Everyday Life or Daily Life With A Monster Girl. In addition to that, Azuki Shinatsu from Maken-K is a major inspiration for her tomboy character.
11. Romance Of The Previous Generation.
Throughout the ‘Tomo-chan is a girl’ series, we’ve had many wholesome moments that established a bond between characters. A bond that remains strong even after the serialization ended. However, almost every main cast member ended up in a relationship. However, This wasn’t the start of a romance saga.
Matter of fact! The romance story of Gorou Aizawa (Tomo’s father) & Akemi (Tomo’s mother), and Misaki Gundou (Misuzu’s mother) as the third wheel, was a side story of the wholesome trio that ran along with the main story. Funnily enough, the trio of the side story reflected quite well on the Romance portrayed in the main story, with Misaki teasing Gorou and his childhood crush, Akemi.
12. Call Me Akemi!!
A running gag in most comedy anime is that when an older woman is addressed as “Oba-san” (old lady) or by her family name, it’s taken as an offense to insult her because of her old age, though that most definitely wouldn’t be the case. Likewise, Junichiro has also become a victim of this gag.
In episode 4 of season 1, when Junichiro arrives at Tomo-chan’s house for Karate training from Gorou. Miss Akemi enters through a hallway, which leads Junichiro to greet and address her by “Oba-san” or “Aizawa-san.” To which Akemi-san ferociously replied, “Call me Akami-san!”
Could this mean she doesn’t like being called by her family name?
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