Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Bottom-tier Character Tomozaki
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Kuzu
Posts: 145 |
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Nice to see the pacing is fine then. Hopefully it gets popular enough to adapt the rest of the novels. |
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Fluwm
 Posts: 897 |
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I tentatively agree, but I worry the lack of romantic chemistry may simply be a result of the author not knowing how to write romance, which may lead to some odd swerves later on. |
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FilthyCasual
Posts: 2222 |
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Anyways good episode, interesting convo with Mizusawa and its implications re:Fuuka. |
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Kuzu
Posts: 145 |
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Well Kikuchi seems to be the only one who is romantically interested in Tomozaki as of now, but yea not much romance in the field yet.....
And history has taught me that can change later. |
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TichoSlicer
Posts: 175 |
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Episode 11 was released on friday, but they only did the review today? lol I wanted to have this type of easy job o.O
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FilthyCasual
Posts: 2222 |
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I laughed when Hinami called Tomozaki a weak human just like the rest of them.
I'm really interested in where their relationship goes from this; might even pick up the LNs. |
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Melicans
Posts: 621 Location: Canada |
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Loved the episode, love the series, just plain love it.
At the moment Hinami seems to need control all the time; not just of herself, but of the surroundings in general. This seems to be because of whatever happened to her in the past (at least as of volume 5 it hasn't been revealed) and this control, manifesting through her social mask, is her way of protecting herself. The old Hinami was weak, the masked one is strong. She is strong because she is playing to win, because losing means getting hurt again and that is something she refuses to experience. So of course anyone else who compromises in their playing of this game called life is weak; they will get hurt because they aren't willing to commit everything to total victory, and in Tomozaki her disappointment is doubled because she thought he was a gamer who could match her. This ruthlessness keeps showing up and will keep becoming more and more apparent as the series goes on; spoiler[especially in volume 5]. She is playing to hide and protect her true self, while Tomozaki is playing by staying true to his own self. Neither of them want to compromise but the difference is that Tomozaki accepts he will need to take damage as he plays while Hinami wants to sweep through with clean stocks. Enter Kikuchi. It's really interesting to me that she is basically the antithesis to Hinami in every way. She likes the honest and open Tomozaki, and has difficulty around him when he tries wearing the 'mask' he is creating with Hinami. If the two girls were to talk to each other directly it may very well be Hinami who comes off worst, because Kikuchi has the ability to see through the facade in a way nobody else comes close to; Mizusawa has hints of it and Tomozaki knows it slightly, but she seems to have a way to just cut through the bullshit on the surface that the rest of the class isn't aware of. Where Hinami is outgoing and (seemingly) open, Kikuchi is quiet and reserved. Where one is sporty the other is bookish, where one is ruthless the other is gentle, where one is the centre of attention and leader of a faction the other is a wallflower quietly observing the surroundings. They are black and white, yin and yang, and yet these two polar opposites are also the two main romantic candidates for Tomozaki as of this point in the anime. He respects and admires both of them, Kikuchi as spoiler[a goddess] for her beauty and reserved but honest personality, Hinami as a mentor he aspires to get closer to in the improvement of social skills. Hinami is being set up as a romantic interest almost entirely on the basis of her being the female protagonist of the story, Kikuchi as someone who he genuinely likes and respects. I find it fascinating that this quiet, mostly background character is being set up as the antithesis, the foil, to Hinami. I suspect that as the series goes on it will show that she is aware of, or perhaps even involved in, Hinami's past in some way. And while Hinami appears to be trying to set her and Tomozaki up, it feels inevitable that if they do get together she will then try to get Tomozaki to break up with her after a time; and if at that time he refuses, spoiler[based on volume 5 she will do some secret machinations that forces them to break up in a nasty manner], because that is how she plays this game. But if this does happen, she may be in for a bit of a shock herself because Kikuchi is incredibly observant and can see through her facade; it will not go to plan. My gut feeling (which is usually wrong) says that whatever happens at the climax of the series regarding Hinami will involve Kikuchi, her absolute opposite, in some way. And Hinami is too ruthless to not be knocked down in some way at that point. I'm absolutely fascinated to see where it goes. |
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Nom De Plume De Fanboy
 SubscriberExempt from Grammar Rules Posts: 614 Location: inland US west, pretty rural |
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Just watched yesterday's ep, with Tomozaki telling Hinami what's what with the game of life.
I'm not a big high school rom-com fan, but imho that scene in front of the ice cream shop was one of the best I've seen. And I really liked the music. 
Aside: I'm still having problems with Funimation's subtitles lagging behind. It doesn't matter too much when there's lots of one sided exposition, though. |
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yuna49
 Posts: 3804 |
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I originally didn't have Tomozaki on my list of shows for this season, but I discovered it's actually one of the better HS romances of the season. I've liked it better than Horimiya which seems too often to play for easy gags like spoiler[Hori's obsession with masochism].
DK where it's going after next week, but I'd gladly watch another season of this show. Funimation's subs do tend to get out of sync when I watch its shows on my Roku device. I've had to resort to watching their shows on the computer connected to my TV or via Chromecast from my Android phone. And don't get me started on the brain-dead Roku app for Crunchyroll. |
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zrdb
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This is one of the better shows of its genre I've seen in the past couple of years. I quite enjoyed it.
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Kuzu
Posts: 145 |
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I was so pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this series. I had heard about it before from online Oregairu threads, and having started the series, it didn't seem like anything special.
But as the plot moves along, it reveals a lot more about itself than what initially presented. It's a pretty perfect metaphor for Tomozaki himself; I was honestly expecting early Hachiman in terms of crudeness and sarcasm, and that opening speech in the first episode really gave off those vibes. But unlike Hachiman, Tomozaki doesn't hide behind an unjustified sense of superiority to hide his insecurities. He did wanna change for the better, he just didn't know how and once he got the push, he found how fulfilling it felt to do so. Its nothing groundbreaking in terms of writing or anything, but even Oregairu felt more than a little pretentious at times when it was exploring similar themes with all of the navel gazing it indulged in. Tomozaki takes a much simpler approach by comparison, but it's just as earnest about it, which makes it more easily digestible imo. These are teenagers who are all trying to navigate the complexities of adolescence and all of the insecurities involved, but they just wanna have fun and enjoy life at the end of the day because they're still kids. I might actually pick up the Light Novels now...against my better judgment. Hope this one sticks the landing more than Oregairu's ending did. |
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FilthyCasual
Posts: 2222 |
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The best part was Tomozaki walking his finger in front of Hinami only for her to shove it aside.
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phantom360
Posts: 59 |
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I enjoyed the show.
The only thing i disliked was that the student presidential race took too many episodes to conclude. |
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Dosmundos
Posts: 41 |
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I think the stage would be set for an even greater second season. There are way too few High School shows out there whose characters are more than just the usual tropes and actually have a second side to them.
Unfortunately, I guess it's too complex for the average anime consumer. It's way too easy to just dislike Hinami and be done with it. Who would have guessed that the show actually beat Horimiya in the end, even if it's because the latter squandered its potential? |
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