Tomo-chan Is a Girl! – 10 – Turning Point

It’s the class marathon, and no one is happier or more fired up than Tomo and Jun. Jun in particular loves nothing more than to compete against Tomo, and the two end up far ahead of the pack, and even threaten to overtake their teacher…who is on a moped! When they reach the turning point for the girls, Tomo runs straight through it, because she’s not racing the girls—she’s racing Jun!

Alas, her intensive training the previous day (which left her lying face up naked in the bathroom) gave her a fever, and when she collapses, the race is over. With no phone and no one around, Jun finally gets to put the body he’s spent years building up to good use, carrying Tomo on his back to the finish line. Tomo wakes up with Carol snuggling with her and Misuzu freaked out that she’d actually get sick.

Both girls insist that Tomo make use of her rare “moment of weakness” to let Jun pamper her. She even gets him to carry her on his back again when she’s awake to enjoy it! They both note how they’ve grown in this moment of closeness.

He gets to say the words she once said to him: if you’re in trouble, of course I’ll be there. And, to his shock, she uses this opportunity to give him back his handheld video game. After all, he was the stronger man than she was…if only today!

Getting his video game back is a much bigger deal for Jun than Tomo probably realizes…so much so that the second half of the episode is a flashback to when Jun first learned Tomo was a girl when he saw her in a girl’s uniform when middle school started. The two were so close, rumors immediately spread that they were going out. Jun, who believed those rumors would cause trouble for Tomo, decided to start ignoring her.

A whole damn year passed without Jun having the guts to approach Tomo and apologize, and they devolved into mere acquaintances. Meanwhile, Misuzu was having a friendship crisis, unsure if she’d be able to stay close to Tomo when she was continuing to jock it up like their earlier years.

Misuzu and Jun’s individual crises brought them together into that brief weird fling. It’s nice to see Jun grappling with the sudden reality that Misuzu is his girlfriend (accompanied by shots of her looking cute) and even Misuzu admits it feels good (at least until the grueling exercise started). It was, after all, the first time either of them had dated anyone.

Misuzu’s hope was that Jun could “slow Tomo down”, but after their dates, she determined that he might have the opposite effect. It really brings her down, and when Tomo asks about her in class, Misuzu plainly declares that they may not be able to stay friends.

Tomo takes her aside to get her to clarify, then tells her athletic prowess has nothing to do with their friendship. Tomo tells Misuzu that their time together is far more precious to her than all her guy friends. This immediately brightens Misuzu’s day.

After dumping Misuzu (who is devastated by the fact he beat her to it), Jun finally speaks to Tomo, but as he walks behind her, can’t seem to find the words. Finally, Tomo opens the conversation with her fists, angrily and tearfully demanding to know why he’s been ignoring her for so long and only now deigned to talk to her. When he tells her the reason, he asks her why they should give a rat’s ass what anyone thinks if they want to “be together like they’ve always been”.

Jun admits he wants to be with her like always, so she tells him to be with her already…a-as friends, j-just friends, yeah? Jun wants to be together with Tomo forever. The both of them may have changed, and their relationship has changed with it.  In the present, Jun wants to find a way to still be with her forever. That he was able to make up and get back with her in middle school gives me hope he’ll manage to find a way in the final three episodes.

P.S. I almost forgot to mention that after nine episodes of the girls singing the cute ED, it’s the boys turn to sing this time, and it’s awesome! It’s also good timing, what with Kou x Carol being codified last week and Jun seeing Tomo as a romantic partner more than ever this week. As to whether Misuzu will ever agree to a date with whasisname…I won’t hold my breath but that would be sweet too. BFs for everyone!

Tenten Kakumei – 10 – Duty and the Heart At Odds

With the big bad that was Prince Algard dispatched and MagiRevo having now fielded not one but two episodes that could have been fine finales, I was, like everyone else, wondering “what now?” At least in terms of the succession thing, this week answers that immediately: Anisphia is the successor to the throne once more. It means, among other things, she’ll eventually have to take a prince consort, despite being gay as hell.

Both Euphie and Lainie are a little unnerved not by how okay with all of this Anis is—she clearly isn’t—but how resigned she is to her new fate to ascend to a throne she had previously refused. While they are more polite and subtle in their concern, Tilty makes no effort to hide her distaste for this resignation, and almost tries to wipe that fake, sad smile of Anis’ face before storming out of the room.

That night Euphie finds Anis keeping to herself atop the castle battlements, feeling low about how things went down with Tilty. Anis soothes her bad mood by inviting Euphie on a plainclothes date into town to pick up Arc-en-Ciel, which she sent to her go-to-smith Tomas for repairs. A woman recognizes the princess, and before long she’s swarmed with adoring commoners.

Her queendom feels like a wave she’s caught in, and even if she’s able to escape, she won’t try. When asked for her unvarnished opinion by Euphie, Ilia says she knows Anis may be the only one who can unite the nobles and commoners, but the fact she’s being forced into rule may not suit her.

Ilia then shows Euphie the completely stripped down magicology lab, saying Anis likely have to abandon it forever to be “a ruler for all”. And it probably won’t be the only precious thing she casts aside for the sake of duty and country.

The thought of Anis never having a genuine smile once she assumes the throne and does her royal duty is unbearable to Euphie, who goes to Tilty for help, knowing she also objects. Tilty gets Euphie to be completely honest by saying she doesn’t want Anis to be queen, even if it’s her duty to support her with everything she has. Tilty tells Euphie there’s nothing wrong or right about those feelings; they should inform which path she takes.

Euphie marches into her father’s office and declares her objection to Anis taking the throne. When asked why, it’s because the throne is somewhere Anis will never be able to smile. She knows that smile can’t be traded for the lives of everyone in the kingdom, but she still doesn’t want to automatically accept her ascension as the only possible outcome.

Euphie clarifies that at its core this isn’t about duty or sympathy, but simply her love for Anisphia, which makes protecting her smile a hell of a lot more important than it would be to just anyone. Grantz tells her as Duke Magenta he cannot accept her position, leaving unsaid the fact he likely feels more sympathetic to her in his capacity as her dad.

Grantz reminisces on how Anis’ father Orphanse was just as much a wild child as his daughter, and “threw away his dream of happiness” to ascend to the throne and put down the rebellion, just as Grantz supported him with all his strength. His story is interrupted by the arrival of several magical spirits, which then float out the window and surround a mysterious blonde lady in the courtyard.

Grantz introduces Euphie to Miss Lumi, a spirit contractor. Spirit contracts establish authority as a member of the royal family, which means those who enter into spirit contracts can start new royal dynasties. Just as Euphie is considering this as an option to keep Anis off the throne, she learns that not only did her father consider but ultimately choose not to do that way back when, but that Lumi is here specifically to stop Euphie from doing it.

I’m torn. I want to see a kingdom ruled by a Queen Anisphia, but I don’t want her to abandon Euphie, nor her magicology studies. She could place Euphie in the role of Royal Magicologist, and keep her close as her mistress. With Algard creating a power vacuum, things are suddenly very complicated and have the potential to get messy. But the simple fact remains that Anis and Euphie love one another. I hope it’s enough.