REVIEW: ‘Tomo-Chan Is A Girl’ Episode 4 – “I Want to be Playful Like a Girl”

In Tomo-chan Is A Girl Episode 4, a classmate takes an interest in Misuzu and tries to make her smile. Tomo wants to experience more playful interactions with other girls, like hugging and hand-holding. However, Tomo’s increase in being physically affectionate with other girls bothers her best friend, Misuzu. Later on, Tomo’s help is requested when one of her friends gets harassed by an upperclassman.

Tomo-Chan Is A Girl is a youthful romantic comedy produced by Lay-duce, directed by Hitoshi Namba and Noriko Hashimoto, with Megumi Shimizu as head writer and character designer by Shiori Hiraiwa. Masaru Yokoyama does music composition. The voice cast consists of Rie Takahashi as Tomo Aizawa, Kaito Ishikawa as Junichirou “Jun” Kubota, Rina Hidaka as Misuzu Gundo, and Sally Amaki as Carol Olston.

Tomo-Chan Is A Girl Episode 4 masterfully packs a lot of hilarious stories in its 24-minute timeframe. The pacing of this episode and multiple storylines allows for other supporting characters to get further character development and depth. In some romantic comedies focusing on the protagonists, Tomo-Chan Is A Girl finds the right balance with the other couples and supporting characters. For example, Episode 4 put as much emphasis on Misuzu and Carol’s potential romance storylines as it did on Tomo’s storyline.

I also enjoyed how Episode 4 examined female friendship and how girls express affection towards one another. Although Tomo and Misuzu have been close friends for a long time, she and Tomo have never been physically affectionate with one another. This primarily due to Tomo’s strength and being unintentional roughness.

I loved that Tomo got the chance to practice being more physically affectionate with her girlfriends because it provided the development of her character. It is also an excellent example of how this anime is not about Tomo changing her behavior to be seen as a girl. But rather for her to be seen as the girl she is and allow herself to tap into more of the soft feminine side she has but rarely gets to explore.

Episode 4 makes it clear that Jun and Tomo’s relationship is changing, and Jun is starting ever so slightly to treat Tomo as a girl. For example, when Tomo initiates a hug with Jun, he quickly pushes her off. She asks why he reacted that way, especially when he always does it. Jun says it is okay when he does it, but he doesn’t think it’s right for Tomo to approach or touch him like that. This, of course, leads Tomo to clobber him for his hypocrisy.

The hugging incident between Tomo and Jun makes it abundantly clear that things are starting to change between them. Although Jun has not outwardly acknowledged this change to himself or Tomo. Instead, he picks and chooses the moment he wants to treat Tomo as a girl.

Personally, I find this to be unfair of him, especially with how comfortable he is being physically affectionate towards Tomo as long as it is in a best buds kind of way. I would like to see the show dives into Jun’s perspective and address if his double standards regarding Tomo are a reaction to him seeing her as more than just a friend.

Tomo–chan Is A Girl Episode 4 is another excellent addition to this season. Episode 4 is well-paced and packed with hilarious storylines that give supporting characters more depth. Tomo-chan Is A Girl continues to deliver a refreshing love story that evolves with every new episode. 

Tomo-chan Is A Girl Episode 4 is now streaming on Crunchyroll.