Tomo-chan Is a Girl! – 01 (First Impressions) – One of the Girls

Aizawa Tomo (Takahashi Rie) is big, tall, strong, boisterous, and a girl. Her childhood friend Jun (Ishikawa Kaito) once thought she was a boy due to those traits. Now that they’re both in high school, she doesn’t want to be his “bro” anymore. But it’s not so easy to shift such a long-standing dynamic.

This is a dirt-simple premise and the show drops us right into this close-yet-distant relationship. Close because Jun is far more comfortable (and physical) with Tomo than he’d be with any girl or guy. Distant because Tomo still doesn’t feel Jun sees her as a girl or potential romantic partner.

Just having these two bounce off one another would be too simple, so there are some key supporting characters like Gundou Misuzu, another childhood friend of Tomo who is now on bad terms with Jun despite the fact the three basically grew up together.

Misuzu (Hidaka Rina) is a lot of fun as the acerbic meddler of the trio, who makes it her goal to help Tomo get noticed by Jun the way she wants. Tomo is eager for advice but not so great at executing it. But whether she succeeds or fails, Misuzu will be entertained.

There’s some early hope for Tomo when Misuzu arranges things so neither she has to walk with Jun under an umbrella. Tomo is too bashfull to get too close to Jun, and eventually runs off. But because Jun is if anything more athletic than her (they do karate at her family’s dojo), he catches up to her easily.

It’s here where he notices that yes, his “bro” Tomo isn’t just a girl, but a beautiful, busty young woman in a soaked uniform, so it’s his turn to flee. Tomo doesn’t understand what’s up with him, but if she thought about it with both of her brain cells, she’d realize he just felt the same awkward excitement she feels when he gets a little too close.

Aside from Misuzu, we have Misaki, Tomo’s senpai in the karate club (she murdered all the girls so she’s in the boy’s club). Misuzu has a little thing for Tomo, and when she expresses her exasperation and claims to be “a failure of a girl”, he can’t help but rebut the assertion.

When he says she has plenty of “feminine charm” and she crowds him, asking for specifics, Misaki-senpai wisely tells her the truth: there’s no need for her to change, or to be more classically “girly.” She’s plenty charming just being who she is. I gotta agree with him!

Misaki also happens to be a very pretty young man who attracts a couple of gyaru-ish classmates. When they spot Tomo, they invite her to an after-school meet-up. Tomo, naturally, assumes a fight is afoot and is all for it. Misuzu has to break it to her; they’re interested only in verbal sparring, not the kind with fists.

Tomo, not one to back down from a fight, meets the girls at the appointed time and place, and strikes a fighting stance just in case. The girls then tell him how they’re interested in Misaki, and she delightfully misunderstands that they approached her for love advice since she knows him. She’s all too eager—giddy, even—to take them under her wing!

That shows us it’s not just guys like Jun, but girls other than Misuzu who don’t treat her like “one of the girls”. We tend to want what we don’t have, so even though many a girl would be envious of Tomo’s relationship with both Jun and Misaki, she wants something else. Something it will take no small effort to obtain.

And there you have it. I should mention that watching and listening to Tomo is an absolute blast thanks to Takahashi Rie, who really brings it. Jun’s a jolly meathead who, while clueless about Tomo’s true feelings, is clearly not totally unaware of the fact she’s a girl. The only question is how much romantic progress they make in the 12 episodes to follow.

Assault Lily: Bouquet – 08 – Field Day at the Garden

Yuri is assigned her ring and CHARM, making her an official Yurigaoka Lily in addition to being the new talk-of-the-academy. The Student Council is weary of arming her, but as far as the (Acting) Chairman is concerned, until new information comes to light, Yuri is as entitled to defend herself as any Lily.

While lounging on their bunks, Shizu reveals that she’s already thinking about the war that could follow the defeat of the Huge: a return of humans fighting each other. Now that humanity has found Magie, what will they (or to be more precise, its shadier elements) do with it?

Shizu ultimately apologizes to Lily for being so somber, especially on the eve of Yurigaoka’s athletic festival. But as Yuri senses with her nose, all the Lilies are carrying a measure of sadness due to their roles as sole defenders of mankind. Athletics aside, there’s also a mood-lightening cosplay division for which the Legion decides Yujia is best suited.

The sports day is an opportunity for outside onlookers to infiltrate academy grounds and observe their defenders; the Chairman calls them “voyeurs” but orders the StuCo only to “take care of them” if they overstep their established bounds. Like the Lilies of the academy, all outsiders’ eyes seem to be fixed on Yuri, so what better way to keep her safe than keep her in the spotlight?

Yuri (re-)learns defeat in her first game to an elite first-year. Rokkaku Shiori shows off her dual-CHARM-wielding skills, while second and first years demonstrate new CHARM mods from the Arsenal Division. Gropi ends up beating her rival Tanaka Ichi in the target-blasting game by using her Phase Transcendence.

This has the side-effect of draining all Gropi’s Magie for the day, so someone else must fight Moyu’s special “Huge-roid”, which she makes clear she designed to defeat Gropi. Instead, it’s Yuri who faces off, and shows off the same stance as her big sis and unofficial Schutzengel, Riri.

Riri is as worried as a flustered mother hen about dropping Yuri into a veritable lion’s den, but her own Schutzengel Yuyu tells her to calm down and watch, as she once watched her. All the Lilies cheer her on and yell advice her way, and in a gorgeously-choreographed and animated sequence, Yuri defeats the Huge-roid with both ease, grace, and style.

It ends up being Riri crying tears of pride and relief and Yuri comforting her, while Tazusa swoons at the cosplay division-winning Yujia’s cat pose. All in all it’s a successful festival; no real Huge interrupted, and Yuri was kept safe while Moyu was able to gather quite a bit of new data about her.

Moyu makes her report to the Chairman, and sure enough, Yuri is an odd one; average human woman at first glance, but all too normal, as in lacking any of the usual slight abnormalities all humans possess. This jibes with a report the Chairman received from both Grand Guignol and the research institute G.E.H.E.N.A. of a joint “test subject” lost at sea.

The two organizations claim Yuri was born from Huge stem cells—a Synthetic Lily. This is not only super illegal but super immoral, but the groups came clean about it anyway because they are demanding she be returned. The Chairman notes that his purview is limited to educating and protecting humans, so if Yuri isn’t human, the law says he must turn her over.

That brings us to Kaede, the daughter of the Chairman of Grand Guignol, calling her father in the middle of the night. Has she been a Guignol plant, and all of her fawning over Riri been an act? Or is she turning traitor now only because her father’s prized test subject has mistakenly fallen into Yurigaoka’s custody?

For now, I’m inclined to believe the latter is the case. Even if Kaede wasn’t always a spy for her father, she clearly takes deep pride in being her father’s daughter, and her loyalty to him may simply trump her loyalty to anyone else, even Riri and her Legion. If that’s the case, Yuri could be in grave danger.

Assault Lily: Bouquet – 07 – A Brand New Sister

When a mysterious unmanned vessel is shipwrecked by an apparent Huge attack, who should be first on the scene but Yuyu and Riri’s legion, while on a routine beach patrol. They discover the remains of a Huge, while Riri finds a strange pod and inadvertently sends a tiny shock of energy through it with her CHARM.

Before she knows it, a beautiful girl with lilac hair has emerged from the pod, and immediately embraces Riri. She is brought to the infirmary and made everyone’s immediate object of intense curiosity. That’s right: it’s time for Assault Lily’s “Mysterious Amnesiac” episode.

Not surprisingly, the girl, identified as a Lily, “imprints” on Riri, whether due to the fact she made first contact, due to Riri’s natural charm, or both. She also has the precise “Skiller Value” as Riri, which can’t be a coincidence. In a fraught conference call with a concerned Security Committee brass, Yurigaoka’s Acting Chairman asserts the academy’s autonomy in matters of Lilies.

Due to the girl’s attachment to her, Riri is compelled to step back from her usual studies and Legion responsibilities to become her full-time caretaker. Yuyu and her comrades are understanding, supportive, and admiring of Riri’s compassion…but Yuyu’s restless leg betrays a tinge of jealousy—something Kaede knows all too well and is amused to see in the “lone wolf” Yuyu.

With Riri by her side, the girl not only learns to talk (again…?) but stand, walk, and eventually run, making great progress in a short period of time. When Riri finally reunites with Yuyu, her new “ward” is in tow, making a Yuyu sandwich. All their other comrades crowd together to get a look at the adorable new face. As for her name, she seems to like Yuri, the couple name Fumi gave to Yuyu and Riri, but also apropos in this case as it’s almost as if Yuri is the “fruit of their love.”

They can welcome Yuri (registered under Riri’s surname of Hitotsuyanagi for now) as the newest member of their Legion because the Acting Chairman Takamatsu agreed to make her a full-fledged Lily, complete with uniform and academy admission. StuCo president Izue Shinobu wonders if that’s rash, but the concern from the brass means “people are snooping in the shadows” over Yuri, and Takamatsu wants to draw them out.

The mysteries that surround Yuri herself are also, well, legion: Did she lose her memory, or is she a newly-awakened Lily? How much did Riri’s initial interaction with the pod influence how she’d awaken? Are Riri and Yuri now inextricably connected? Was Yuri some kind of experiment in mass-produced Lilies? Will Riri, Yuyu, and the academy be able to protect her from whomever seeks her out? Hopefully we’ll get insight into these matters next week as Yuri settles into her new life.

Assault Lily: Bouquet – 06 – Trial by Fire Lily

After a decidedly slice-of-life episode last week, Assault Lily delivers an almost entirely action-packed outing at its halfway point. The new Hitotsuyanagi Squad (notably named for Riri, not Yuyu) was going to simply sit back and observe as Alfheim takes care of an approaching Huge.

But this isn’t any old Huge: it’s a battle-hardened Restore that’s able to withstand their Neunwelt Tactic finishing move. With Alfheim’s Magie spent and their CHARMs damaged or destroyed, Riri & Co are thrust into a real battle far earlier than expected.

For her part, Riri doesn’t shrink before the task at hand, rushing to pick up the ball Alfheim dropped. Yuyu joins her, but is soon paralyzed by the discovery that the captured CHARM at the core of the huge is her old CHARM Dainsleif…the weapon with which she stabbed her old senpai Misuzu.

Yuyu’s PTSD kicks in and her Rare Skill Lunatic Tracer is activated, and her chaotic, indiscriminate slashing makes it impossible for the others to join the battle. Riri jumps in to try to calm Yuyu, blocking her attacks and trying to reassure her that she’s not alone and needn’t despair.

It’s Misuzu who told Yuyu that Lilies are essentially Huge who have retained their hearts and thus aren’t controlled by the Magie they wield. But if there’s a Lily closer to an out-of-control Huge than any other, it would be Yuyu while under the influence of Lunatic Tracer.

Yuyu snaps out of Lunatic Tracer, but she’s still an emotional mess. As the other team members rush in to harass the huge and pull Dainsleif out of it, Riri tries to pick up the pieces with Yuyu. Yuyu starts to tremble and weep, calling her Rare Skill nothing but a horrific curse that makes her hate and attack everyone and everything.

She doesn’t even want Riri to look at her, she’s so worthless and volatile … but Riri isn’t interested in Yuyu’s self-pity party. She doesn’t care how many times she has to pull Yuyu out of her berserk rage or how much she’ll be cut in the process, she’ll never stop doing it. Yuyu can take that to the bank. Yuyu sports some wonderfully subtle facial expressions and her seiyu Natsuyoshi Yuuko really nails her anguished state.

With Yuyu sufficiently calmed (perhaps thanks to Riri unknowingly using her “Charisma” Rare Skill) and the CHARM removed, the squad regroups and Thi Mai produces the Neunvelt bullet, which she has Fumi fire first, producing an orb of Magie that changes color and grows in power as it is progressively passed from one CHARM to the other. Nine Lilies, Nine Worlds.

It’s a beautifully choreographed sequence that almost feels like a game of aerial lacrosse. Riri and Yuyu catch the final pass of the orb together and thrust it into the heart of the Huge, obliterating it once and for all, and the nine Lilies of Hitotsuyanagi Squad spread themselves out on the soft sunlit grass, reveling in their first victory.

It’s a huge win (no pun intended) as it shows that despite its members’ individual eccentricity, they had both the talent and the leadership to get the job done, while bailing out an established squad that didn’t have their best day. As Alfheim’s Lilies have their CHARMs repaired by Moyu, she doubts it was only Dainsleif that contributed to this latest Huge’s power. This was a great win, but it might end up looking like an easy one if the Huge have other tricks up their sleeves.

Arte – 05 – Art as Capital

This week Arte meets Leo’s oldest patron with whom he shares “an inescapable bond” despite not being able to stand the guy. Ubertino is a hugely wealthy merchant who presents a detailed order to Leo.

With the work and expensive media required there’s no way he’ll make a profit. Not eager to negotiate, Leo accepts Arte’s offer to go in his stead, hoping a pretty young girl might warm the old coot’s frigid heart.

Arte ends up failing completely, but asks Leo to give her another chance. Seeing that this is a valuable opportunity for someone who wants to someday go independent, Leo lets Arte keep trying. She first seeks advice in how to get what you want out of a negotiation from her new friend Veronica.

In normal circumstances an artisan’s apprentice would never dream of seeking help from a courtesan, but as we’ve seen Arte is hardly normal! Veronica’s advice helps Arte in Round Two, even though Ubertino immediately detects a courtesan’s manners in her constant smile, straight posture, and slow, steady manner with him.

The most important advice Veronica offers is for Arte to show Ubertino that’s she’s worth paying a high price for her work. Arte doesn’t use her noble status to demand a higher payout, but cites the crochet skills she learned as a noble as evidence of her value to him as an artisan.

Ubertino claims not to care about art in the least, but understands its value as capital; that is, as gifts to rich business partners or donations to the church. Thus, Arte must come to terms with the fact that not all of her future customers commission work out of a love for art, but out of an appreciation for its monetary value.

Arte also learns Ubertino’s salon is full not just of Leo’s work, but that of his master’s, then learns that Leo was a beggar whose natural talent and hard work was nurtured by that master. When the master passed, Ubertino’s patronage passed to Leo (hence the inescapable bond).

Learning about Leo’s modest past excites Arte, since as we’ve discussed, she’s in a similar underdog situation, and like Leo must reach out and take what she wants from life; it will never be given to her. She’s also amused that while Leo and Ubertino claim to not stand each other, they’re a lot alike—especially when it comes to never spending money on themselves.

Arte – 04 – The First Step to Hell

When Arte first experiences heartache, she has no idea what it is, just that it is negatively affecting her work and making her absent-minded. All of that makes Leo annoyed with her. Fortunately, his regular patron Veronica, who requests that Arte paint her portrait, is a font of wisdom in matters of love.

Arte comes right out and says she doesn’t necessarily respect Veronica’s profession, but does respect the hard work and resolve Veronica puts into it. Veronica is flattered, but makes it clear that her job and success is only possible because she avoids falling in love. If she falls for one of the men she entertains, she could end up ruined and in the gutter like one of her former contemporaries.

When Arte learn part of Veronica’s routine with men is to play hard-to-get and intentionally make them wait for days so they’ll be more devoted when they do see her. This angers Arte because she knows what heartache feels like and can’t imagine someone being okay with causing suffering on purpose.

While Arte was initially smitten with Veronica’s smile and charms, she soon see’s it’s to a large degree by design. Veronica and her manner is a brand, and the portrait is part of that—posing in a library with a book to evoke intellectualism). But Arte’s condemnation of how she manipulates men doesn’t preclude their becoming friends who can talk to one another anytime.

As for avoiding love, Arte tries to bury herself in her work and not let Leo distract her. It may seem like cynical advice from Veronica, but in their day and age women who want to live by their own power must fiercely maintain that power, and not cede it to others. Of course, in Leo’s case, maybe clearing the air could be advantageous?

Arte – 03 – Different Kind of Animal

It’s Carnival in Florence, and Leo has Arte dress like a boy so they can sit in on a hospital dissection. On the way, Arte meets one of Leo’s patrons—a courtesan—and sees him smiling in a way she’s never seen before. While normally forbidden by the church, Carnival time is an exception. Some guys go pale or faint from the sight of a cadaver being carved up, but Arte is just fine…she truly has the guts to draw guts!

What the church apparently will not abide is to have a woman at a dissection, so when Arte loses her hat and lets out a very feminine yelp, Leo has to get them both out of there lest they get into some serious legal trouble. It ain’t fair, but that was the time. In the process of running and hiding from their pursuers, Leo draws Arte so close that she notices for the first time how a man’s bone structure and skin differ greatly from a woman’s. She also feels an unpleasant pain in her chest that she’s never felt before. Hmmmmm…I wonder what that could be?????

Arte dismisses such sensations as temporary illness and moves on. She also moves up, as Leo is willing to accelerate her progression through the artisan ranks by assigning her the task of a journeyman: creating a background for a real commissioned painting. Arte sets out and braves the cold, comes back with a fine sketch of a cityscape, and it’s rejected.

She goes back out and does it again, and again…and many more times before Leo has her look at the painting and discern what it is the client truly wants. The woman subject should be the focus, which means the background should have less detail.

That Leo doesn’t spell it out for her, but lets things dawn on her naturally, speaks to his growing respect not just for her work ethic, but artistic instincts. It’s why he’s drawn up a new contract that gives her both a promotion and a raise, and why he rejects her feeling that in obsessing with art she neglected her womanlike charms. Like her father, Leo is one who prefers an independent woman with a strong will and drive to the period’s ideal of a woman: quiet, complacent, and above all idle.

That’s why I’m not the most enthusiastic about Arte suddenly developing a crush on Leo. In her defense, she’s been so absorbed in art in her life she’d never felt romantic feelings for anyone before. The only other person who didn’t look at her like something was wrong with her was her dad. It makes sense that the first man not related to her not to treat her like “just a woman” would make her heart beat a little faster.

Just Because! – 10

In its third-to-last episode of the Fall, nobody has a particularly happy Valentines Day, both as a result of bad luck, poor timing, simple misunderstandings, and an inability to resolve those misunderstandings in a timely fashion (hence the two episodes remaining).

Komiya Ena—who may be the more charming and less passive of the two girls, but is nevertheless someone I don’t think Izumi should end up with—still wants to give him chocolates, but becomes dejected when she sees him with Natsume.

Meanwhile, Natsume seems on the cusp of giving Izumi chocolates as well, but a LINE message from Souma leads Natsume to glance at Izumi’s phone, and Chekhov’s Phone Background goes off, upsetting her to the point of running off with a face Izumi has never seen. THANKS A LOT, SOUMA.

Almost immediately after Natsume retreats, Komiya goes up to Izumi and gravely removes the background before running off herself. And when Natsume finally stops running, she beams, happy to be so “completely serious” about Izumi, even if he has no idea his love is requited.

Frankly, I found the need for Natsume to see the background a bit of a cheap stunt, even if it was telegraphed as a potential point of conflict as soon as Komiya made it Izumi’s background.

I get it: these crazy kids take their social media seriously, but they’ve also proven capable of using their words with one another in person. Sure, emotions ran high, but Izumi made no real effort to go after Natsume or explain the reason Komiya was on his phone.

Speaking of communication, Souma and Morikawa meet up, ostensibly so Morikawa can deliver her answer—which she does, but not before they do a kind of performance piece in which she’s playing the trumpet while Souma pantomimes hitting a home run and rounding the bases.

It was…odd, more than a little corny, and not really effective. That being said, their exchange after their little “dance” went better than Izumi’s triangle, even if Morikawa asks Souma to be patient and let her get settled with college before dating.

Asking for another delay is cruel, but hardly avoidable. The two being able to see each other regularly is practically impossible, no matter how gung-ho Souma claims to be, he’s not made out of travelling expenses, and it wouldn’t change the fact they’d be leaving the gate in a long-distance situation, which is never a good way to start.

Ultimately, I’m satisfied with Morikawa’s position evolving from “no way” to “I don’t know what I’m doing” to “yes, but later.” As Souma said, she gave it a lot of thought and consideration. Could he fall in love with someone else in the weeks and months he and Morikawa are apart? Perhaps, but that’s not presently the case. If it’s to be, it’s to be.

That’s kind of the attitude I have to take with Izumi and Natsume too; if it’s to be it’s to be. Komiya decided to bike to temples all over the place to grab as many amulets as she can. It’s a gesture simultaneously self-serving (to impress him with her dedication) and selfless (she got them to ensure he’ll pass the exam). She both wants him to fail so he won’t go off with Natsume, and wants him to succeed because he’s studied so hard.

Izumi likes that part of Komiya, and so do I. She also gives him chocolate—albeit one small store-bought bite rather than her homemade sweets—and he gives her one of her charms back, in hopes she’ll win her competition, something he didn’t use to care about, but now does because he considers Komiya a dear friend.

As for Natsume, she’s going for it. She’ll get into Joei and then “lay bare all her feelings” regarding Izumi. Here’s hoping she and Izumi don’t end up at different schools, thus having same problem of distance and time as Souma and Morikawa. Don’t do that to me, show. I’m warning you. DON’T YOU PUT THAT EVIL ON ME JUST BECAUSE!