English Dub Season Review: Tonikawa Over The Moon For You Season One

Based on the manga written and illustrated by Kenjiro Hata, “Tonikawa (or “Fly Me to the Moon in Japan) follows a high school kid named Nasa Yuzaki (Zach Aguilar of Jojo and One Punch Man Fame) who becomes the subject of jokes by his school peers due to his weird name. In a nutshell, Nasa is a guy who seems to have his shit together in life and has worked hard ever since he was a child to preserve that success. But everything thing changes one day when Nasa encounters a beautiful girl after he received his practice exam grades for high school. When he tries to talk to her, he gets hit by a truck. After the girl saves him, Nasa miraculously follows her at a bus stop and he confesses his love for her. The girl who’s name is Tsukasa Tsukuyomi (Voiced by Lauren Landa), agrees to become his girlfriend, but only if they are married first. When Nasa, who had previously decided to not go to high school in order to look for Tsukasa, reaches his 18th birthday, he is still committed to the promise he made on that night. Suddenly, Tsukasa shows up at his doorstep with a marriage form, and their new life as a married couple begins.

On the technical side, the character designs properly replicate their source material and the animation remains consistent and pretty well done. I don’t know how anyone could not like it. The art style in the background scenery gives a tranquil feeling. However, there are some backgrounds and color combos that look like they were made in with rushed CGI. As for the music, It was composed by Endō while Akari Kitō performed the opening theme “Love Song (feat. Tsukasa Yuzaki)”), while KanoeRana performed the ending theme “Moon and Starry Sky”. Further complimenting the wholesomeness and occasional wackiness of its proceedings.

In theory, the premise alone sounds ridiculous. But don’t let it fool you, this show excels at wholesomeness. I was very hesitant to watch this show because the synopsis sounded quite weird or at most, or that it was ripping off the concept of “90 Day Fiancee” minus the “Fiancee” aspect but this turned out to be quite a decent watch that manages to 1-up a few anime romances in a plethora of ways. For starters, nobody plays roundabout games with one another, no bullshit violent tsundere women, and most of all no “will they/won’t they” drivel that’s plagued anime romances for decades. Our protagonist Nasa isn’t much different than your usual rom-com protagonist, he simply embodies us, the medium of people who watch other’s romance prosper through anime. Though this time, he is the lucky victim whom we, the viewer, would most likely envy. Why do you ask? Simple. He has that beautiful “A Walk to Remember” kinda love that most of us will rarely have or experience. Nasa is a fun character who is understandably flawed with his share of insecurities but that could be due to his inexperience with women growing up.

On the other hand, Tsukasa, our beloved new wife, helps us realize that the best girl doesn’t have to be an obnoxious tsundere. No, it can be Tsukasa the all caring wife, true to her feelings, won’t hit you for a stupid reason. Tsukasa also has quite a mysterious background that’s yet to be revealed. Honestly, Tsukasa brings a breath of fresh air that manages to differentiate her from the usual “childhood friend” trope which also has plagued most anime shows because let’s face the reality. Not everyone is destined to marry the best friend they grew up with, opposite sex or otherwise…

Overall,  this still is a somewhat nice change-of-pace from other anime as it has a laid-back atmosphere. The only thing that worried me about this adaptation is the “Crunchyroll Originals” tagline because shows under the series brand rarely have a track record for subpar production quality (As exemplified with their other work which was the anime Manhwa adaptation of Noblesse). But thankfully those worries were put to rest as the production team over at Seven Arcs did a fine job at adapting Kenjiro Hata’s work, and even in an interview where the creator himself assured people that “this work is left to good hands” and as an added bonus at the time of this review, season 2 was recently announced. And with how screwed up the world is right now, we all could use some wholesome escapism that doesn’t require contrived or dysfunctional conflict that has no place in the narrative (I’m looking at you, Black Clover!).