TONIKAWA: Over The Moon For You 03
Tonikaku Cawaii: Fly Me to the Moon 03
Tonikaku Kawaii/トニカクカワイイ

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Tsukasa is impressed that Nasa cooks. She’s not impressed that all he eats is nabe. As such, she makes an amazing breakfast for them in ten minutes. After breakfast, the couple head to a convenience store to buy shampoo and soap for Tsukasa. Then they head to the bathhouse, where the owner’s youngest daughter, Kaname, is sweeping. She’s stunned to learn Nasa is now married.

Kaname allows Tsukasa to enter for free, but grills Nasa about this shocking development in his life. She also makes Nasa aware that he needs to propose to Tsukasa, buy her a ring, and have a wedding ceremony. Inside the bathhouse, Nasa starts pondering seeing his wife. However, Kaname enters the men’s section to “clean” and troll Nasa.

Tsukasa is enjoying the bath in the women’s side and is joined by Aya, the eldest daughter. Since Aya caught Tsukasa in an embarrassing moment, Aya offers to scrub Tsukasa’s back. Aya is puzzled when she learns Tsukasa has the same family name as Nasa. But she attributes this to Tsukasa being a younger sister.

After their baths, Tsukasa meets up with Nasa. Aya tells Tsukasa of everything Nasa did for the bathhouse to save it. As the couple walk home, Tsukasa becomes bothered by how Nasa talks about Aya. Nasa senses Tsukasa being troubled and believes it is because he hasn’t done thing things Kaname suggested. As such, Nasa races off to make preparations.

Thoughts/Review:

I may be way behind on watching this series, but TONIKAWA: Over The Moon For You 03 was quite enjoyable. It was also what the doctor ordered.

Modifications to the Source Material

As per usual, I will now document the modifications TONIKAWA: Over The Moon For You 03 made to the source (Tonikaku Cawaii) Fly Me to the Moon manga story. The episode was adapted from the remainder of chapter 8, all of chapter 9, all of chapter 10, and all of chapter 11.

• Since the “Nasa-kun” and “Tsukasa-chan” part was done in the previous episode, that was skipped in the anime for this episode. So although the scene was after breakfast in the manga, having it before breakfast isn’t a problem.
• The omake stuff is skipped, but that’s fine. Hopefully, it will be OVA extras added to the DVDs.
• The Urusei Yatsura characters are replaced in Nasa’s onsen imagination sequence. A pseudo Love Hina reference may have been thrown in. But it could have been some other series.
• The Fate/Grand Order references are now MUCH more subtle. “Buster” is replaced with “Critical” and the “Buster Chain” text is gone. As a former FGO player, having the actual reference would have been funnier to me.
• Tsukasa doesn’t look as sad at the end of the episode as she did in the manga.
• Finally, the car that finds Tsukasa makes a report to Tokiko and does not reveal Chitose.

So other than those minor changes, the adaptation is quite good.

Good Adaptation

While one element of a good anime adaptation of a manga is to be faithful to the source, another element is to make the adaptation as enjoyable or more than the original. Thankfully, TONIKAWA: Over The Moon For You 03 does just that. For a start, hearing Kaname’s voice as she trolls Nasa makes her an even funnier character. That’s because the manga doesn’t capture the accent shifts that she has.

I’d forgotten about the backstory of Aya’s and Kaname’s dad. While this will come up again, I’d forgotten the specifics and how their mother was forgotten during Aya’s monologue. As such, watching the anime with a faithful adaptation could lead to being reminded of things where the manga story is at present (if that makes sense).

Finally, while Chitose (unnamed in the anime) wasn’t revealed in the manga, I am looking forward to seeing her adapted in the next anime episode.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

In the end, TONIKAWA: Over The Moon For You 03 was a very enjoyable episode that pretty faithfully adapted the source manga material. Also, I’m glad the subtitles on Cruchyroll are retaining the honorifics.