Manga 92149 Tomo-chan Wa Onnanoko

With massive chapter count of 953, Tomo-chan might seem like an unconquerable mountain to those who don't know what the catch here is, but the truth is almost the polar opposite. Tomo-chan falls under the definition of 'short but sweet' as its chapter count is almost equivalent to its total page count due to it being originally released in one-page-a-day format. The overall length is the one of four regular manga volumes (tho for some reason they were released in eight), and time-wise, most people should be able to read the entire series in 2-5 hours. A mountain it is not.

The second thing that might ... raise some questions is the title itself, 'Tomo-chan is a Girl' as it's giving quite strong implication of gender-bender, but that's not its deal either. Tomo-chan deals with much more simple concept. Childhood friendship between a girl and a boy starts developing into something more. Tomo herself is the first one to realize that she is in love with her best male friend, but unfortunately conveying those feelings seems to be a hard task due to mr. love interest seeing Tomo as his "strongest bro", but... Tomo-chan is a Girl. Hence the title. The daily lives of our two main protagonists are presented as a romantic comedy.

In terms of characters, Tomo herself is a tomboy who is very ignorant to how female x female frienships commonly work as well as to romantic feelings that boys have. The way her tomboyish traits are dealt with counter her weaker sides and make her very likable and real person, making it easy for the reader to side with her. The main dude himself doesn't have very strong characteristics or many visible character traits even, but the way the story is approached makes this seem like a decent choice. He is at his best when he embarrasses Tomo with bro acts or throws in some dialogue/witty remarks that rekts everyone. Since both of our main leads have some dense and embarrassment going on with their characters, side characters goof around and wingman the shit out of our main leads, sometimes teasing them, other times actually proving to be helpful and very much all the time cracking up due to Tomo's and her crush's reactions and behavior. The entire cast certainly has been created one things in mind: to work better as a team, together than alone as separate characters, but it all works well here and offers some nice chemistry and charm. I won't go into detail with how good the side characters are, but they stand out a lot, tie the series together, and as a whole the series feels like light, casual version of Kaguya-sama thanks to its cast.

Story-wise, we face a lot of cliches here. This is not a series one should read for its original take on plot. It's a rom-com that relies on comedy and interactions, going into further detail with what type of events these resolve around would be rather pointless. However, it should be noted that comedy is prioritized over romance and that the work doesn't contain much actual romance development. The entire series has two strong sides that stand above the rest and those are;

1) The colorful characters and their interaction with each others. This is perhaps best seen in forms of casual talk which is close to banter majority of the time. Such simple yet essential things as word choices and ways to phrase a sentence with euphemisms are put in the spotlight. Creativity is chosen most of the time for the sake of comedy and entertainment value + to make the characters more likable. While it occasionally seems like the author is just trying to deliver gags and wits with the help of characters, it's a mild flaw when character behavior remains loyal and doesn't go out of character even when the dialogue seems like sit-com script at times.

2) its unusual 1-page long format which manages to capture good amount of detail and present the story and its characters with minimalist story events via art that has gone thru great deal of planning and polish. The artwork itself is not technically mind-blowing or anything of the sort. It's simplistic and not very praise-worthy when it comes to drawings itself. The part that stands out is the way its panels are constructed, how much is manages to do with so little, how incredibly smooth the series is to read due to its artwork and the art format. So basically, the art itself is a form of story-telling and story presentation, and these are among the greatest merits this work has to offer. This manga presents itself incredibly well and its strongest sides benefit its comedy a great deal. In short: it delivers.

As far as enjoyment goes, Tomo-chan is quality time. It's not a ground-breaking work that can be read with serious mindset. It's a rom-com and can be disliked for the same reasons why any rom-com fails to entertain. Many seem to dislike its ending/not be pleased with it, but this is an attribute that majority of romances have. It's true that the length is unnecessary long for this content when taking into consideration the things that were not done instead of what was done. Partially filler-ish comedy is chosen over character development/relationship development for example. But as for me, this was rather fresh, smooth and entertaining read + ever so smooth reading experience. It managed to make me laugh and react + tomboy is the best girl type, so yes, easy pass from me. With fewer blushing scenes and more solid pace, and definitely with fewer feelings pondering, it could have been even better, but nevertheless, a good series for the reason that it's so enjoyable.

A high school romCOM where the friends outshine the main pair.

Story: Generic school life events that follows and drags out the plot of what you'd come to expect for a high school romance.
Art: Solid and improves throughout the story, especially considering Tomo-chan was a daily release.
Characters: Main cast consists of a generic main couple, Tomo and Jun, overshadowed by their friends Carol and Misuzu. Side characters are mostly forgettable or adult versions of the main cast.
Enjoyment: It's a light read and has its comedic moments, but blue balls the reader when it comes to the romance and compensates by overusing some jokes.

Tomo-chan is all about ... the chase. The quality fluctuates quite a bit from arc to arc, especially as the story progresses. There's nothing really special about the plot at all, as it doesn't try to innovate, but rather focus mostly on the interactions and dialogue between characters in their positions.

The art is solid for a daily 4-koma. It improves throughout the story, although as it's a daily release, the limitations the mangaka faces are obvious. The panels leading up to the jokes flow nicely and although each "chapter" is split into a page, that doesn't really affect the continuity of the manga.

The main couple are simple people, which makes chapters that revolve solely around the two feel rather repetitive. Both are naive, strong, clueless, and good people at heart. However, Misuzu is a welcome change of pace as someone who's a bit edgier, serving as a valuable foil to the flat personalities of the main two. Carol is the wild card of the cast, able to make things happen while maintaining her misleading smile. As for side characters, the most notable one is Misaki, who makes up for what he lacks in strength compared to the main couple with his common sense. The parents of the main characters are just older versions of the main ones, aside from Gorou, who is just the typical jealous doting dad. The rest of the characters are entirely forgettable and may as well not have a name.

Strangely enough, the best character and romantic developments are reserved not for the main couple. Not only do they act as wingwomen for Tomo and Jun, but they also legitimately learn from their mistakes and try to improve as people. When it eventually does come time for Tomo and Jun to make some progress, they fall flat in comparison. Their static characters can make the manga feel stale for a while, especially considering how plain their initial character design is in the first place. For a titular character, Tomo is surprisingly underdeveloped (outside of her physical growth).

Tomo-chan is first and foremost a comedy, with the vast majority of its chapters setting up for punchlines at the end of them. Although I don't think it's as funny as others do, it certainly does have some good jokes. At points, it relies on a bunch of running jokes, but they generally manage to continue being funny throughout. There are certainly some parts, however, that feel like filler and are a slog to get through. It's really only until the last couple dozen or chapters that this feels overly obvious. Despite my criticisms, it still has some fun arcs, but just like a hospice patient, the enjoyment flatlined at the end.

Overall, it's a mediocre/decent comedy series with a unsatisfying climax. It feels like Tomo being a girl is often only relevant to the comedic bits rather than to the romance; if only the mangaka had remembered Tomo-chan is a girl earlier.

Honestly I can't tell you how much I began to grow bored of this 4-koma 1 page comic after reading 435 chapters. All it's about is dimwitted lad called Jun who isn't just bothered by his childhood friend Tomos confession just because she ain't "girly enough" to make him self aware that she is in fact, the opposite sex. Literally gender labelling involved in this manga is just a joke. It's like I feel the characters surrounding Tomo just can't accept for who she is. I have to give credit tho that she does stand up for herself whenever any character pisses her off.

I ... really thought this long manga series was going to change my mind as the comic went on, of course it didn't. It gave me the waiting game to when both characters finally admit they love one another. Bro...945 chapters is too much to find out and rather too little too late in my personal opinion. I just don't care anymore what happens at the end of it, I literally give up!