Summary
With one of its strongest episodes yet, viewers get a beautifully done flashback that helps us to understand not only Jun but Tomo and Misuzu more as well.
This recap of the Crunchyroll series Tomo-Chan Is a Girl! Season 1 Episode 7, “Junichiro’s Promise/When Tomo Puts on a Swimsuit,” contains spoilers.
With every episode, the relationship between Tomo (Rie Takahashi) and Jun (Kaito Ishikawa) grows a little more complicated as viewers learn just what is holding Jun back. Although it’s easy to root for Tomo and hopes she succeeds, fans can’t fault viewers for Jun’s reluctance to change his dynamic with Tomo until he feels more like her equal. It’s definitely a complicated scenario that’s only made more evident whenever Tomo and Jun are forced to engage in physical activities like sports.
Tomo-Chan Is a Girl! Season 1 Episode 7 recap
The episode opens with Jun on a jog by himself. As he runs stairs, he reminisces on ten years earlier, when he’d first moved to this town and met Tomo. After accidentally breaking his game, Jun punched Tomo, only for her to tell him he wasn’t trying hard enough. Tomo promised to make it up to him, before returning with her parents to apologize and asking to be friends. From there, the two find themselves hanging out almost every day, although it’s clear Jun isn’t used to being as active or outdoors as much as she is.
Tomo, Jun, and Misuzu hang out for the first time
Tomo introduces Jun to Misuzu, hoping the three of them can all be friends. They immediately begin butting heads, but still, go out to hunt bugs together anyway. As they climb a large set of stairs looking for bugs, Misuzu continues to tease him about his obvious lack of stamina and strength compared to Tomo.
Jun’s reality check
After hanging out with Tomo for a while, Jun finds himself proud of the fact that he can keep up with her more than before, at least he thinks. After running into some bullies who take his video game, Jun shows up to hang out with a bandaid on his face, saying he fell, but Tomo clearly finds his explanation suspicious. The next day she returns his videogame to him, pretending to have just stumbled on it.
READ: Tomo-Chan Is a Girl! Season 1 Review
Jun immediately knows Tomo confronted the bullies and scolds her for it. He slowly gets angrier, saying he never asked for her help, but the real reason he is upset is that he realizes he would never be strong enough to return the same types of favors.
What promise does Jun make Tomo?
Jun allows Tomo to borrow his video game. When she asks how long she can hold on to it, Jun tells her to keep it until he is a stronger man than she is. He will only come to reclaim it when that happens.
After his declaration, Jun joins Tomo’s father’s dojo, looking to get stronger. Neither he nor Tomo can believe it’s been ten years since then, with Tomo wondering when Jun will finally he’s stronger than her and return to retrieve his videogame.
How does Jun react to seeing Tomo in a swimsuit?
Since it is summer break, Tomo, Jun, Misuzu, and Carol decide to spend a day at the beach together. Upon seeing Tomo covering up in a hoodie, Jun is confused and encourages her to take it off. However, once he unzips it, he finds himself flustered and zipping it right back up to the top. Jun ends up sitting under the umbrella with Misuzu while Tomo and Carol enjoy the water. With time, Tomo seems to forget about being nervous in her swimsuit and drags Jun to the water.
Tomo gets hit on
While enjoying their time in the water, a random beachgoer begins hitting on Tomo. At first, she’s intrigued, not used to being approached by males she isn’t familiar with. However, as his approach becomes more forceful, she begins to find herself creeped out. After trying to push him off once, she fears she won’t be able to hold back if she tries again. Just then, Jun pops out from the water, scaring the beachgoer away.
He makes a point to say that he is not Tomo’s boyfriend when helping her, but Tomo notices that when Jun does the same for Carol, he lets the other men think they are together, saying he “doesn’t have to explain himself”.
The ending
Although Tomo’s still upset, Misuzu assures Tomo that this is still her best chance to change Jun’s mind about their relationship. She encourages Tomo to stay close to him, and she does so by buying them ice cream to enjoy together. As they eat, she tries to sit as close to him as possible but doesn’t think Jun even notices. Meanwhile, he is internally freaking out.
After they finish, Tomo leads Jun back into the water. He begins to realize something has been different lately, causing him to act strangely. When Misuzu asks him if something’s wrong later, he only responds that he has been distracted while she realizes that it’s because he’s finally starting to see Tomo as a girl.
Despite the fact that Tomo is the main character of the series, and an easy one to root for, I think the show’s decision to focus on developing Jun’s feelings has been one of the best parts of the series that I wasn’t expecting. Not only does their constant back and forth make this series feel like a true romantic comedy, but it adds far more depth to their characters. A lot of animes do the friends-to-lovers thing, but it isn’t as common to see the characters have such a deep connection that extends far beyond the beginning of the series. It makes everything more complicated, but also feels more realistic.
With each episode, I find myself enjoying the series more. Now that it seems we’ve met most of the characters and got a feel for the world, it’s starting to flesh out the storyline and characters with real heart making for some consistently better episodes that only leave me wanting more.
What did you think of Tomo-Chan Is a Girl! Season 1 Episode 7? Comment below.
