TONIKAWA: Over The Moon For You

Episode 10

Slice-of-life-styled romance series do not get much more mundane than this episode. That the production still manages to keep the content even mildly interesting despite that is a credit to the story and humor design.

In the first segment, Tsukasa seems particularly insistent on cooking for Nasa and not letting him help. While this could just be ordinary “cook for a loved one” sentiment, in this case it feels like it carries a little extra meaning, as does Tsukasa's comment about how rice has been cooked without a rice cooker for “hundreds of years” when Nasa wonders how she did it; too many hints have been dropped to ignore the possibility that she might know that from first-hand experience. That aside, I can easily sympathize with Nasa's enthusiasm for tonkatsu pork; I became enough of a fan of it during my trips to Japan that I tried making my own katsu sauce and eventually found an imported brand. (Kikkoman Katsu Sauce can't be found everywhere, but some grocery stores with international food sections will have it.) The method Tsukasa described for cooking the pork cutlets now has me wanting to try this myself. Contrarily, I do not at all get the high regard here for muskmelon. It only qualifies as “barely edible” for me.

As for the second part, if anyone still had doubts about whether the high regard the Arisugawa family has for Nasa is warranted, and whether lending him and Tsukasa the outbuilding was too charitable, the description of all of the upgrades he did for their bathhouse should put those to rest. (Granted, Nasa's handy nature is practically a running joke at this point.) Kaname's perverse comments are also still good for a chuckle, though the best joke of the episode may be the indication that she gets that part of her character from her mother. They seem to be having a little too much fun with this, although admittedly Nasa and Tsukasa are so tentative about things that they could use a hard push. Their romance is sweet and all, but they are married, and just about anyone would expect a bit more activity than this. Meanwhile, Aya is left to lament a missed opportunity and Tsukasa shows that she also learned to clean bathhouses at some point, but her being thrown into a near-panic that the old TV set may not work also amuses.

The model home segment was easily the most forgettable part; while that did establish a long-term goal, that felt the most like the content was stretching. The nighttime stroll, on the other hand, was more of an expected element.

Finally, we have the cultural references for the episode, which are fewer than normal. Tsukasa tosses off an obvious reference to Tony Stark from Iron Man, and her comments about how much top YouTubers make are not off the mark, in 2018, the top 10 YouTubers were pulling in $14.5 million or more, so I would believe that the top YouTubers in Japan probably do have some of the country's best hourly earnings. I also feel like the name of the upscale apartment building – Yukari's Place – must be a reference to something, but I could not place it. Hayate's mother, perhaps?

Rating:

TONIKAWA: Over The Moon For You is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.