TONIKAWA: Over The Moon For You S1 Review
Tonikaku Cawaii: Fly Me to the Moon S1 Review
Tonikaku Kawaii/トニカクカワイイ

I’ve long been a fan of Hata-sensei’s work, ever since I became aware of Hayate the Combat Butler many years ago. That continued with the Tonikaku Kawaii manga series (which I’m chapter reviewing). As such, when an anime adaptation of that manga came out, I had to watch TONIKAWA: Over The Moon For You.

* * *S P O I L E R S !* * *

The Story, in Brief

Nasa is a genius, sixteen year old high school student. One night while walking home, he encounters the most beautiful girl he’s ever seen. As a result, he isn’t paying attention and gets run over. The girl sees to him, then walks off after instructing the driver to call an ambulance. Despite his injuries, Nasa walks after the girl, finding her in a bus stop shelter, keeping out of the snow. Nasa confesses and receives an acknowledgement if he marries her. He then passes out.

Two years later, Nasa is living alone in a shoebox apartment above a video rental store. He’s never forgotten the girl, but has never seen her. Then suddenly, she shows up at his door, luggage in hand, and a marriage form signed by her guardian to boot. After making it legal, Nasa is married to the girl, named Tsukasa. The two then go to get Tsukasa a futon and other items.

Tsukasa’s “little sister”, Chitose, is outraged by Tsukasa’s marriage and tries to end it. Nasa takes Tsukasa to meet his parents as part of their honeymoon. When they return home, they find their apartment has been burned down. Nasa’s former classmate Aya and her little sister Kaname allow Nasa and Tsukasa to move into the guesthouse.

Nasa and Tsukasa throw a party at their new home. Nasa gets sick, so Tsukasa tends to him. And then they go to a summer festival, held at a local shrine.

Modifications to the Source Material

For the first eight episodes of TONIKAWA: Over The Moon For You, the anime adaptation is mostly faithful to the source manga. There are two big things that get heavily reduced. I’ll talk about that in a bit. For episodes 9 through 12, the anime adaptation starts skipped chapters or shuffling things about more.

With only twelve episodes, plus one OVA episode (a second OVA episode came out later), Seven Arcs decided to remove as many plot elements as they could. I suppose from their perspective, it was better to not have dangling plot threads as they could only count on one season. But they are getting a second season, and that is going to cause problems. Tokiko can be properly introduced later, but things like Tsukasa’s knowledge of swords is gone. She revealed that and a whole lot more when visiting Nasa’s parents.

The other major cut was most of Tsukasa’s love of movies, games, and pop culture. The most the anime did was touch on these things. Seven Arcs removed vast swaths of material showing Tsukasa’s knowledge and love of game consoles, including classics. As such, in episode 11 when they have a party and gaming comes up, Tsukasa out of the blue has major gaming knowledge not previously seen in the anime.

We’ll see how season 2 handles things as season 1 as mostly focused on the newlywed aspect of the story.

Newlyweds

Although I may have been annoyed with some of the cuts and changes made to TONIKAWA: Over The Moon For You, I did enjoy seeing Nasa and Tsukasa begin their newlywed life. It was fun seeing them do the things that married couples do.

We also get the comedic aspect of the “little sister” with the complex over her “older sister” in the series. Chitose is pretty funny and her maids add to this, especially Charlotte.

Finally, the only other characters of note are Aya and Kaname. The anime did deal with Aya’s crush on Nasa and her acceptance of his marriage. As to Kaname, she was done exactly as she should have been — sassy and a total troll.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

In the end, TONIKAWA: Over The Moon For You is an okay adaptation that goes out of its way to avoid as many plot elements as it can get away with. And it removed a lot of Tsukasa’s love of pop culture, movies, and games. If you are a fan of the manga like me, this can be problematic. If you’ve never read the manga, the series is probably pretty good.