Like Katsuki Bakugo, Tomo Aizawa is a tempered and competitive tsundere who hangs out with his childhood friends – minus being bullied.
Kodoani.com – Tomo-chan Is a Girl! is a new romantic comedy of the Winter 2023 anime season, and it’s the best compared to other high school rom-coms like Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro! and Kubo. However, Tomo-chan’s main characters may also have some overlap with larger real-life shounen characters such as My Hero Academia’s Katsuki Bakugo.
Tomo Aizawa has no Quirk and has no goal of becoming a superhero, but on a more personal level, she is very similar to Bakugo. Both have hot-tempered and competitive tsundere personalities who spend time with their childhood friend at school, but a few key differences set Tomo apart from her MHA cousin. The challenge is to make sure Tomo doesn’t become stale or stand still in the process.
Tomo Aizawa gives a twist to the old formula
Unlike The Ice Guy and His Cool Female Colleague, Tomo-chan is about the excitement of an energetic, enterprising tomboy female lead that sets Tomo apart from Fuyutsuki and Nagisa Kubo and makes her more like Hayase Nagatoro and most of all, like a tweaked version of Katsuki Bakugo. On a personal level, Tomo removes the most negative aspects of Bakugo’s personality and uses what’s left to create a lovable tomboy who is simply misunderstood. Unlike Bakugo, who really is the idiot he portrays, Tomo has some distinctly charming moe qualities because on the outside she’s tough and intimidating but on the inside she’s very girly and adorable. . This makes her a real tsundere rather than a bully who has lost all of her childhood innocence.
It’s true that Tomo is still rude, mostly with her “violent female tsundere” that anime fans are getting tired of. Besides, Tomo skillfully honed his tough tsundere formula and became a more empathetic Bakugo Katsuki. Like her MHA counterpart, Tomo is an outspoken and bubbly person who knows what she likes and goes after it, and she can defend herself with her attitude as well as her fists. Just like Bakugo, Tomo has a complicated relationship with her childhood friend, Junichiro. Their dynamics are different now than when they were children, but in a better way than the Bakugo/Izuku friendship.
Tomo never used his tomboy tsundere energy to bully others, especially Jun himself. Instead, she’s actually closer to her childhood friend than ever, and the anime’s lighthearted and humorous drama stems from her inability to openly express her amorous feelings. themselves and make Jun understand them. Tomo is also protective of all of her friends and classmates, and she would rather hit people who look like Bakugo than become one herself. She still has the ability to choose violence and sometimes hit Jun out of anger, which is a problem, but nonetheless she goes beyond Katsuki and his arrogant, self-centered way with as an aspiring professional hero.
Tomo Aizawa still has a way to develop
In most ways, Tomo improves on Katsuki’s formula as a tough but dependable childhood friend who likes others more than they allow. Tomo really cares about others and always prefers love to war, but of course, her personality is not and should not be perfect. Tomo is a character, not just an example of how to fix Katsuki Bakugo’s worst flaws. Like Bakugo, Tomo will become more likable and captivate audiences by overcoming her own faults, weaknesses, and insecurities over time.
Tomo-chan Is a Girl! Care must be taken not to turn Tomo into a character standing still and walking around for the sake of humor. Many anime rom coms fall into that trap, taking a step forward and a step back to extend the run time, and modern anime fans may not have much patience for that. Therefore, Tomo cannot rely on how adorable she is as Bakugo 2.0 in the Tomo-chan anime. She fixed Bakugo’s mistake, but there’s still room in her character for more. For example, Tomo can and should let go of his “violent female tsundere” traits and learn to express himself in healthier and more obvious ways than just hitting Jun whenever he annoys her. that. This can help break a negative joke and teach Tomo an important lesson: abused power is not strength.
Furthermore, as Katsuki did in later My Hero Academia chapters, Tomo was able to take his introspection more seriously and face his inner fears and doubts realistically, rather than hiding. Avoid them with karate matches or tsundere antics. Even in a comedy anime, characters like Tomo have to be serious about themselves and their relationships sooner or later, which can give Tomo-chan more cohesion and provide the characters with object an end goal to work towards. If Bakugo can admit to his many transgressions himself and apologize to Deku, then surely happy Tomo can fight a mental battle to process and express his true feelings, tsundere or not. . More than any karate match, this is a battle that Tomo must fight and win.
