REVIEW: ‘Tomo-Chan Is A Girl’ Episode 5 — “Heart-Pounding! A Gaming Overnighter”

In Tomo-chan Is A Girl Episode 5, Tomo visits each of her best friends, Misuzu and Carole, houses. While visiting Carol’s home Misuzu and Tomo learn where more about Carole’s family and realize they may have underestimated. Meanwhile, upcoming midterm exams have Tomo stressed out. Thankfully, Misuzu and Jun come to her rescue. Lastly, Tomo gets invited to a sleepover at Jun’s house. 

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.

The storytelling in Tomo-Chan Is A Girl Episode 5 paces out well and packs a lot in its 23-minute run. Overall this episode has a lot of stories to tell, with little bits of character and story development to move the overarching plot forward. This episode comes with more filler. It could have been better or worth the watch. This is primarily due to this Episode 5 having three separate story segments instead of the standard two.

Sometimes it is easy to forget that Jun and Tomo are just regular teenage boys and girls because of their close friendship. It gives Carol some much-needed depth and rounds out as a character. So far in the show, Carol has been perceived as just a pretty-faced airhead. Although that can be true in certain situations, Carol only sometimes understands social cues and is oblivious to how modern society works. However, this episode reveals that Carol is brilliant and capable of doing advanced calculations in her head and strategist. I appreciate the show making an effort to give Carol this depth because it makes her multifaceted and shows you should never underestimate anyone. 

The romantic tension in Tomo-Chan Is A Girl continues to build up between Jun and Tomo in Episode 5. In this episode, Jun invites Tomo to spend the night and play video games at his house. I don’t want to give any spoilers away, but Tomo and Jun get into a precious situation that will lead to your heart pounding in your chest as you watch the scene.

The show’s writer and director have done a stellar job of building up the attraction between Tomo and Jun to make it feel genuine and natural. Sometimes it is easy to forget that Jun and Tomo are just regular teenage boys and girls because of their close friendship. But just like any other regular teen, they urge feelings they are trying to acknowledge and understand, especially regarding how they feel toward each other. Unfortunately, the latter part applies primarily to Tomo at this point in the show. 

Although the sleepover incident in Episode 5 gives a nice dose of romantic tension between Jun and Tomo, the episode still lacks in some areas. Particularly when it comes to showing Jun’s perspective, thoughts, or feelings toward Tomo, it would be great to hear Jun talk or at least internally analyze his feelings toward her, but we have yet to get that. Not including much of Jun’s perspective or how his feelings are developing toward Tomo feels like a missed opportunity in the show. 

Tomo-Chan Is A Girl Episode 5 packs many stories with well-executed pacing and storytelling. Episode 5 brings some much need character depth to be unlikely but well-deserving characters. Although this episode slightly heats the romantic tension between best buds, Tomo and Jun, it still lacks in some areas of the characters’ relationship dynamic. 

Tomo-Chan Is A Girl streams weekly on Crunchyroll.