Tomo-Chan Is A Girl: Season 1/ Episode 5 “The Girls of the Olston Family / A Feeling I Won’t Give Up / Heart-Pounding! A Gaming Overnighter” – Recap/ Review
The homes and many parents are met, as we see where Carol, Misuzu, and Jun live.
[Unless Said Otherwise] Spoiler Alert: This summary and review contains spoilers.
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The homes and many parents are met, as we see where Carol, Misuzu, and Jun live.
| Aired (Crunchyroll) | February 1, 2023 |
| Director(s) | Makoto Sokuza |
| Writer(s) | Megumi Shimizu |
| Noted Characters | |
| Jun | Kaito Ishikawa |
| Tomo | Takahashi Rie |
| Misuzu | Hidaka Rina |
| Carol | Amaki Sally |
| Ferris | Oohara Sayaka |
| Misaki | Kawasumi Ayako |
| Akemi | Watanabe Kumiko |
| Gorou | Nomura Kenji |
Recap
This content contains pertinent spoilers. Also, images and text in this post may contain affiliate links which, if a purchase is made from those sites, we may earn money or products from the company.
Welcome To Carol’s House – Tomo, Misuzu, Carol, Ferris
Just for fun, Carol invites Tomo and Misuzu to her house, and they accept the invite because both are naturally curious. What they don’t anticipate, though, is how big Carol’s house is, nor that Carol’s mom, Ferris, would be as weird as her.
But, while Tomo is able to just enjoy herself without issue, Misuzu is different. Being that her interest in Carol stems from more than just friendship, she gets nosy, and for a second, Ferris is eagle-eyed when it comes to Misuzu. But, with Misuzu outright pushing the idea she is friends with Carol due to her money, Ferris laughs, and Misuzu finds herself, once again, realizing there might be more to this family than she easily can pick up on.
Welcome to Misuzu’s House – Jun, Tomo, Misuzu, Carol, Misaki
With mid-terms on the horizon, Tomo realizes she needs to study, leading to Misuzu offering to help at her house and Carol inviting herself. Jun tries to get Tomo to study with him, but Misuzu is chosen over him.
Why? Well, because Misuzu rarely invites anyone to her house, Tomo especially, because she used to break things when invited over. Yet, despite this issue, when Misuzu’s mom, Misaki, sees her, she is more shocked by how much Tomo looks like her mother, Akemi, than fearful of her breaking anything.
That isn’t the only shock of the night, though. Carol, who is socially inept, but learning, showing that she is better at math than Misuzu, is shocking. However, while good at it on her own, Misuzu is better at explaining the process, and thanks to this, Tomo has a grade that puts her in the first half of her entire class. But this doesn’t compare to Misuzu coming in at #2 or Carol at #1.
Welcome To Jun’s House, Where There Are No Adults Present?! – Jun, Tomo, Misuzu, Carol, Akemi, Gorou
Before Tomo met Jun, he mostly played video games. So, with having a new game, he invites Tomo over to spend the night and play. Before factoring over the sleepover element, Tomo agrees and then tries to get out of it. Carol and Misuzu shut down this idea, leading to Tomo, low-key, hoping her parents would shut things down. Gorou doesn’t care, and Akemi jokes about having grandkids, so there is no win on either front.
But, there ultimately doesn’t seem to be anything to worry about. Jun doesn’t peek at her when she bathes, is only slightly awkward when she comes into his room wet, and even their sleeping arrangements aren’t that awkward.
Yes, Tomo does take note she is sleeping in Jun’s bed, which smells like him. Also, with having a good view of him sleeping on a futon on the floor, she realizes this is one of the rare opportunities she has had to just look at him, even examine him. This does cause him to potentially awaken and put her into a sleeper hold, which also makes it look like they are cuddling. But nothing is said of that, and while things are weird for a week, they seemingly are back to normal in no time.
Things To Note
Question(s) Left Unanswered
- How did Tomo get out of Jun’s headlock during their sleepover?
What Could Happen Next
- Jun slipping and doing more things that convey his feelings
Review
Highlights
Meeting The Parents & See Everyone’s Homes
The method “Tomo-Chan Is A Girl” uses is very natural, so that we get to know the characters. Parents are being met about halfway through the season, for these kids are teenagers, and their worlds don’t revolve around their parents. Especially Misuzu since she is mature and while Carol clearly, loves her mom, you can see a desire to make friends, get a boyfriend, and build a world outside of Ferris.
To us, this is one of the best ways we’ve seen of a show showing you more than telling you.
Recognizing Jun Knows What He Is Doing, He Just Doesn’t Want To Be Open About It
In my mind, Jun knows what he is doing when it comes to Tomo. His fear is, like a lot of people, that if they make that step forward, there is no going back, and if they were to break up, it would end things. If not, as shown by his relationship with Misuzu, make it so they are friendly, but perhaps nothing like they were before.
So when it comes to this sleepover, there is a mix of recognizing everyone is barely in their teens yet recognizing things are changing. Tomo is interested in dating, in some capacity, and thus getting to look and touch Jun, even if just pulling his ear and feeling his nose, is a level of intimacy that is strange, inviting, but a slight bit naughty.
But then, with Jun rising up and putting Tomo in a headlock, while the show doesn’t comment on him cuddling her violently, the camera pans up to show they are in contact. And it could be said the way boys play fight, as a means of intimacy, is how Jun handles Tomo. Hence that awkwardness that lasted a week was from them sleeping together so closely, and Jun maybe not making it awkward with an erection, but perhaps recognizing it was nice in some way.
People Seeing Beyond Misuzu’s Exterior, And Her Sort Of Happy About It
“You’ve spent a lot of time building walls […], it’s natural to see if someone is clever enough to climb over them.”
— “Fromage.” Hannibal
To us, Misuzu, for whatever reason, likes the idea of being the smartest in the room and an enigma. Maybe it offers protection of some kind, it is hard to say. The only thing we know for sure is as much as she may create this sense of wanting distance, that is not her goal.
More so, it seems she wants people to make an effort and show her they truly value who she is, whether or not she makes it easy on them, and with that comes some sort of power. But as shown by Tomo’s willingness to study hard to get to remain close to Misuzu and her even calling Misuzu her best friend, the power acquired isn’t something she wishes to abuse. She just wants to not be in the position of feeling more invested than the other person and perhaps being taken advantage of.
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