Tomo-chan Is a Girl! - The Complete Season Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		3.5

Tomo-chan Is a Girl! - The Complete Season Blu-ray Movie Review

Tomo-chan Is a Girl! The Complete Season is a comedy-drama anime featuring production by Aniplex, Crunchyroll, and the Star Seas Company. Created by Fumita Yanagida, Tomo-chan Is a Girl! explores romance and friendship in a compelling way. Tomo-chan Is a Girl! features a theme song composed by Maharajan (opening) and Masaru Yokoyama (ending). The series animation is produced by Lay-duce.

Tomo Aizawa (Rie Takahashi) and Junichirō Kubota (Kaito Ishikawa) have been through so much together. Tomo and Junichirō have been inseparable friends their entire lives. They’ve been as connected as any two friends could be. Yet sometimes things chance… in unexpected ways.

As high school begins, Tomo begins to develop feelings for Junichirō that are unlike anything else experienced before. Could these feelings be romantic? Unfortunately for Tomo, Junichirō still thinks of her as being a “close friend” and like she’s just a guy. Perhaps Tomo can change Junichirō’s mind if she can prove to him that she’s more than just a tomboy – she’s a girl, too!

Tomo is a fun and compelling lead character for the series. Tomo is named aptly with the “tom boy” feeling ingrained in the name of the character. Audiences will likely relate to the character for her outsider energy and feeling like she can never quite fit in to the “girl” zone – being considered as a tomboy. It’s that outsider feeling – the sensation that one can’t quite fit into a neat box or something similar. Anyone and everyone has felt that way at some point or another and it’s this aspect that helps make the character even more relatable.

The character designs by Shiori Hiraiwa are well done. The designs certainly play a big role in the story. Most character designs aren’t necessarily directly tied to the plot-line – here, the character design for Tomo reflects her tomboy appearance and that she doesn’t look as girlish as some of the other girls. There’s something to be said about the design effort by Hiraiwa. The designs work well for all of the characters. Especially in regards to Tomo – it directly connects to the plotline.

The animation is well-done on the series. Tomo-chan Is a Girl! features quality animation and the effort makes a big impression. The series features well-done art direction by Ken'ichi Tatefuji (Modern Magic Made Simple, Unlimited Psychic Squad) and chief animation direction by Miyako Kamiya (Adachi and Shimamura, Double Decker! Doug & Kirill) and Motohiro Taniguchi (Alice & Zoroku, RPG Real Estate). These aspects of the production help to enhance the entire effort. The animators did a great job with the production and brought together the pieces to make a compelling production.

The score composed by Masaru Yokoyama (Arakawa Under the Bridge, Classroom of the Elite) is an engaging score that helps the storytelling unfold. The music certainly plays a role in the series. The series music works well for the backdrop of the story and the character moments. A solid effort by a talented composer.

The cinematography by Yomogiko Murano (Heroines Run the Show: The Unpopular Girl and the Secret Task, Magical Girl Ore) is solid and adds to the production merits. Murano is a gifted cinematographer and someone who has a keen knack for visuals. The cinematography does a good job highlighting the series animation and the aesthetic vibe of the production. The series has a sunny and bright aesthetic which is a nice contrast to the darker and more overcast elements. Some of the darker series out there featured more subdued colors and aesthetic styles than Tomo-chan Is a Girl! The Complete Season.

Written by Megumi Shimizu (My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!, Banished from the Hero's Party), Tomo-chan Is a Girl! is a compelling concept for an anime series. Fans of romantic comedy-drama series will appreciate the attention to character storytelling. It’s not all about endless Shonen action and action sequences. For fans of series more character- focused that explore different elements of storytelling - Tomo-chan Is a Girl! shakes this up compared to many series.

Directed by Hitoshi Nanba (Golden Kamuy, Baki the Grappler), Tomo-chan Is a Girl! has some quality direction and visual sensibilities. The series explores the tale of Tomo Aizawa and her journey as a character. For fans of drama series with a more nuanced approach, Tomo-chan Is a Girl! certainly provides some nice romance and light fun. Tomo-chan Is a Girl! is well worth checking out.

Tomo-chan Is a Girl! - The Complete Season Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Released on Blu-ray by Crunchyroll, Tomo-chan Is a Girl! is presented in 1080p MPEG-4 AVC encoded high-definition in the original television broadcast aspect ratio of 1.78:1 widescreen. The series has excellent high-definition video and the animation is capably preserved with the presentation. The animation looks bold, colorful, and vibrant. The series features great background animation and excellent line art.

One of the greatest qualities of the Blu-ray disc format is the commitment to providing an excellent presentation. Blu-ray provides superior video quality compared to streaming video services. With streaming video services, bit-rates are lower compared to physical media. Physical media provides higher bit-rates and better encoding. For videophiles and home theater enthusiasts seeking the best possible presentation (eeking out every bit of data), the presentation on disc provides an improvement.

Tomo-chan Is a Girl! - The Complete Season Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The release includes a selection of lossless audio options: English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 surround sound and Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0 (with English subtitles). The sound direction by Masanori Tsuchiya (Brynhildr in the Darkness, Chronicles of the Going Home Club) is well reproduced. The English dub offers a slightly more immersive soundstage with the surround track enhancing the presentation and allowing room for the score and sound effects in the soundstage. The Japanese language version will be the preference of those who prefer the original language version. The English subtitles are excellent and are free from having egregious spelling or grammatical errors.

A testament to the Blu-ray disc format is the lossless audio encoding. Lossless audio provides a more immersive and impressive soundstage. For audiophiles and home theater enthusiasts, this provides notable gains over other options. Streaming video services provide only lossy (non-lossless) audio encoding. For a more immersive and detailed experience the Blu-ray disc format offers a clear advantage.

Tomo-chan Is a Girl! - The Complete Season Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The limited editions collectors release includes deluxe chipboard art-box packaging. The deluxe packaging contains a standard Blu-ray case inside of the chipboard art-box as well an extensive 76-page art book featuring character profiles, art boards, special comics, special illustrations, cast interviews, character maps, and hand-drawn illustrations. The photo galleries, cast interviews, and illustrations (consisting of a huge percentage of the artbook) add a lot of value to the book. These additions are certainly something worthwhile for die-hard fans to enjoy.

The limited edition also includes an additional box of extra pack-in bonuses for the collector's release – the set includes a series of 8 art cards (featuring Tomo and all of the other friends featured on the series), and an additional two-sticker sheets containing Chibi style images from the series.

Not only does the limited-edition release come with a chockful of goodies and collectable packaging, the set also comes with a selection of on-disc bonus features as listed below:

Anime NYC – JPN VA Comments (before showing 1^st 2 episodes) (HD, 1:50)

Making of Shorts (HD, 00:34)

Promo Video (HD, 1:07)

Trailer Collection (HD, 4:29)

Textless Opening Song (HD, 1:31)

Textless Closing Songs (HD, 3:04)

Kudos to Crunchyroll for providing a superior supplemental package on the release. The box set includes a plethora of content. Though the on-disc contents might be somewhat brief it is nice to see additional extras different from the norm. It is especially nice to see the effort given to the set's physical goodies, including the expanded artbook and collectables. These elements make the package all the more well-rounded overall. A great release for fans of the series.

Tomo-chan Is a Girl! - The Complete Season Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Tomo-chan Is a Girl! is a cute and charming anime for fans of slice-of-life anime. The series has a nice blend of comedy and drama. The production values are excellent. The animation looks beautiful and impressive. The release includes a quality high-definition presentation and lossless audio encoding.

The package also comes with an extensive and impressive 76-page artbook, 8 art cards, and two sticker sheets. These are great physical goodies and the extras are nice additions to the collector's edition chipboard art-box. Enthusiastic fans won't be able to resist. Recommended.