Tonikaku Kawaii is a series that uses a catchy premise in order to hook the audience but soon turns into something generic. Normally I would consider that to be a negative but in this case it works in its favor because to me said hook is unnecessary.
There is a supernatural element in the series which is barely present, not really adressed much and on top of that it has no real purpose in the otherwise generic plot so why is it even there? I don’t know. Thus said element is so underplayed that even the english name of the show hints to it more than the series itself.
Aside from fooling the audience into thinking there’s more with a 0.1% of mystery bait, Tonikawa definitely grabs the attention of the audience with its first episode because it begins where at least four decades of its genre usually ends. Even a romcom from not so many years ago like Ore Monogatari! seemed to move fast at first, only to slow down right after the main couple is established.
Tonikawa begins estabilishing a couple, having them holding hands and even getting married and starting to live together! Is a series that understands that in this time and age, not even a generic romcom can attach itself to the way things used to be. If your series starts slowly and does not hook the audience pretty fast nowadays, you might as well give up.
It also knows how to play with expectations because it indirectly mocks the isekai genre in the way the characters get to know each other, weird but effective use of trolling and comedy.
So it knows how to get an audience and it avoids the usual slow set up in order to get to the most interesting bits of its genre but at the same time the first episode makes the couple to feel completely unbelievable. I mean come on, would any of this really happen? No, this sudden girlfriend/wife appearance can only happen in anime and it has since at least three decades, especially in the harem genre. You know, My Goddess, Monogatari, Sekirei, Campione, Rec, heck even Monster Musume, and above all High School DxD which even has a bigger similarity with this show by having the protagonist being saved by the main girl in its first episode.
Another catch is the main protagonist who is far more direct than any other protagonist of its kind yet I have to point out how Nasa is really obnoxious in the beginning with his embarrassment towards his actual wife, and his referential comedy is easily among the worst I’ve ever seen. At least later on he becomes a little more direct and is shown as a capable guy able to manage just about every situation.
From there, the series unfolds in a close to what would happen manner, the daily routines of this couple has to do with living together, getting more stuff, buying rings, getting another better house, getting to know their families and friends, all that stuff.
Yet the tone is to the most part very light, there’s no conflict between the couple and their interactions stop at being cute. Also for a series with this fast beginning they sure don’t get any further than perhaps two or three kisses per episode with never getting to the juicy parts.
All of the paragraph above is still questionable because a valid criticism which I’ve seen made about the show is how it plays out almost like a kid pretending to have a wife while playing with a doll. That has to do with Tsukasa being so... submissive. This is a thing which makes sense in an anime because it comes from Japan but man would it cause an uproar if it ever becomes mainstream in the west. I don’t mind that much but I would definitely like a little more proactive character.
Her character stops at doing everything Nasa wants her to do, which makes him feel obsessive and possessive half the times. She’s also idolize beyond belief because she has all the traits otaku want in their perfect waifu. Tsukasa is cute, obliging, don’t want to spend much money, likes Nasa for the most generic reason that he’s kind and on top of that she’s a gamer, and that’s pretty much it. At least the references she makes are way better than Nasa’s.
She sometimes let out some lines in the likes of “your tongue will be completely mine” or “I’ll let you see me on my underwear whenever you want to” that makes you think that something juicy will finally happen but nah, both get embarrassed and the show keeps being cute and wholesome.
But since the tone of the show is very light and not serious at all, and Nasa don’t come off as too pervy or desperate to me, I give it a pass, however, if it tried to be dramatic or a serious romance, instead of a comical silly version of one, I would complain about it too.
Their interactions alone would make the series boring very fast and that’s why more female characters keep appearing and thankfully none of them makes the show feel like a harem, except perhaps for the 11th episode, which was easily the worst because of that and because of the way too obvious Capcom publicity. Other than that all of the other girls are funny in their own way except maybe for Chitose who’s really annoying at first but thankfully Nasa is a capable main character who knows how to deal with her and it has nothing to with romance nor misogyny.
As far as production goes, the show is nothing espectacular, it plays it very safely with ok visuals and ok sound, there’s people who don’t like Chitose’s voice and say her voice actress don’t fit the character, I personally don’t know her and her job at portraying an annoying little sister was properly done to me. What I don’t like is Nasa’s voice, he looks too moe for me and yet he has quite the deep voice which sounds older than he is and looks, with each passing episode he raises his voice a little so my issue with this disappeared as I got accostumed to his voice.
Down to it, despite a forced and unbelievable but otherwise weird and somewhat interesting premise with a quick set up, Tonikawa is still a basic romcom trying to be either funny or fluffly, it has nothing offending nor insulting, it can be funny at times and is to the most part just a watchable time passer, it got lucky to come out in 2020 where there wasn’t much hype, and not having any competition in its season. Is just a romcom which you watch and enjoy with your brain disconnected or hate because you don’t like the characters, then you forget in a week after it’s over and you move on to the next of its kind.
