This series follows a group of five first-year best friends going from place to place. The interaction between the cat-like Tsumiki Miniwa and the stoic Io Otonashi, her best friend and longtime crush, drives a lot of the plot. With them, the ditzy Hime Haruno, excitable Mayoi Katase, and goofball Sakaki Inui add their own flairs to the group.
The common is often extraordinary - whether it's a game of kick-the-can, air hockey, or frisbee, home economics class, or a walk home. Slapstick, nosebleeds, and cat references are nearly constant and extremely cute. The series is one big WAFF-inducing cutefest punctuated by jokes.
The series is currently available to stream online in the US via Hulu
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This work contains examples of:
- The Ace: Tsumiki and Io (in general), Mayoi (technology).
- A-Cup Angst: Tsumiki. Sakaki and Mayoi learned the hard way.
- Adaptation Distillation: The anime is condensed into a 13-episode series. The manga is at least three times that many chapters.
- Adaptation Explanation Extrication: In Chapter 4 of the manga, Tsumiki and Mayoi didn't know Io has a job in the Hatch Potch (the store where Sakaki, Hime, and Io works). In the anime, this was never used to explain how Io got his job.
- Affectionate Gesture to the Head: Io pets and pats Tsumiki nearly anytime she's within reach. One manga chapter reveals that most of the time he isn't even aware he's doing it.
- Always Second Best: Sakaki's dynamic with Io. He's the only character who actively tries to one-up the resident Parody Stu and they're actually shown to be evenly matched whenever Sakaki isn't getting horribly maimed.
- Amusing Injuries: Usually with Sakaki as the target but Mayoi and Io get their turns too.
- Animal Motif: Cats. Tsumiki spends half her screentime sprouting cat ears, Mayoi has a permanent cat smile, Io seemingly attracts cats, the town they live in (along with the train stations and schools, by extension) has a cat name, even the cakes at Hatch Potch are sometimes cat-shaped.
- Arc Welding: The anime tends to merge certain storylines together and condenses a few storylines that are usually related.
- Art Evolution: The manga's artwork becomes progressively better in each chapter.
- Badass Adorable/Cute Bruiser: Tsumiki. She can throw you into walls, blast through giant snowballs, and even kick your virtual ass in fighting games, and look cute while doing it.
- Bears Are Bad News: In Episode 10, Mayoi spends a lot of the episode trying to scare people wearing a bear costume.
- Berserk Button:
- Tsumiki: Breasts and Io. Don't talk about her chest or tease her about her crush on Io.
- Io: Food. He will fight seriously for food. He'll even get annoyed if you don't eat a balanced diet.
- Hime: Weight. Just ask Sakaki (onion squirted in eyes) and Mayoi (launched out of the cabin door).
- Birds of a Feather: Tsumiki with Io share calm, laid-back demeanor. On opposite site Sakaki and Mayoi are both hyperactive and like to tease others. This fact has been realized openly by others in the team.
- Bishie Sparkle: Io, anytime he says or does something pleasant.
- Brick Joke: Tsumiki's use of her superhuman strength and power, which ends in hilarious results.
- Brown Bag Mask: In Episode 10, Sakaki puts one on to join bear-suited Mayoi in scaring Kikue-sensei.
- Butt-Monkey: Sakaki, Mayoi, and Kyouya are all repeatedly injured, beaten, lambasted, thrown through walls, blasted with snow, given cranial protusions, and so forth, especially the first two.
- Call-Back: During the Home Economics, Mayoi learns that onion juice isn't good for eyes. Later during the Beach Episode she passes the knowledge on to Sakaki... the obvious way.
- Cannot Spit It Out: Tsumiki towards Io.
- Cat Girl: Tsumiki often sprouts cat ears. Also Mayoi to a certain extent with her cat smile and verbal -nya.
- Character Tics:
- Hime and Tsumiki's nosebleeds.
- Tsumiki's cat ears.
- Io's pencil twirling. He's so badass he can actually deflect snowballs twirling chopsticks or do it with burning sparkler-type fireworks.
- Chaste Hero: Io, played completely straight.
- Chucking Chalk: Kikue-sensei throws a piece of chalk at Io's head for twirling his pen at high speeds. Somehow, it curves to hit Mayoi instead.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Tsumiki. Moreso in the manga.
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander: Sakaki and Mayoi have very interesting thought processes. Io even lampshades this calling them "Team Chaos" during Episode 3-A, they accept the moniker in stride.
- Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: Io and Tsumiki to Sakaki and Mayoi respectively.
- Clueless Chick-Magnet: Io. Sakaki himself in the manga as well to an extent.
- Cool Big Sis: Miiko Inui, Sakaki's elder sister.
- Covert Pervert: Given how often the girls are prone to nosebleeds. Highlighted in Episode 6-B, when all they can remember from the study meet is the scent of Io's shirt.
- Cute Kitten: Tsumiki can even be considered this. In addition to Sprouting Ears, she's been demonstrated to meow and terrorize fish with her mere presence.
- Does Not Know His Own Strength: Tsumiki can occasionally display a rather poor grasp on her superhuman strength (compared to the other characters).
- "Do It Yourself" Theme Tune: All the voice actors (mostly the main characters) do the opening song. Rumi Ookubo does the ending song.
- Engaging Conversation: Io's cooking in Episode 3 elicits this reaction from all viewing girls.
- Epic Fail: Sakaki's attempt at the "longer your sparkler stays on, the more popular you are" game. His sparkler falls the moment he lights it.
- Everyone Can See It: Tsumiki and Io. When the gang look through love horoscopes in a magazine and see Tsumiki and Io are compatible, they wave it off as obvious.
- Expy:
- Tsumiki would be Konata from Lucky Star if the latter was a Smitten Teenage Girl and not a total otaku.
- Hime shares traits with Tsukasa — the friendly appearance, the ditzy, feminine personality and the voice talent say so.
- Eye Scream: Played for Laughs twice, with Kana to Mayoi by accident by spraying her eyes with onions, and Mayoi and Hime spraying Sakaki's eyes when he remarks that girls do not like the sound trains make while driving on the railroad.
- Failures on Ice: Mayoi makes two of the biggest in Episode 13: landing on her face and elbow-slamming Sakaki by accident.
- Feminine Women Can Cook: Discussed by the girls. Poor Mayoi can't cook though.
- First-Name Basis: Tsumiki and Io with each other (no honorifics).
- Flat Character: All of them. Nearly all of the gags play off their exaggerated personalities and traits.
- Friend to All Living Things:
- Io, especially to cats.
- In the Goldfish Scooping Game in Episode 8, goldfish actually jump into Io's bowl of their own volition.
- Furo Scene: Averted. In Episode 7, Sakaki considers peeking at the girls bathing; lampshading it with his reasoning being it often happens in media. Io strongly advises against it.
- Gadgeteer Genius: Mayoi. From repairing room heaters and broadcast microphones to building an automatic snowball cannon with its own AI.
- Gecko Ending: Due to the manga still going on at this point, the anime ends with thirteen episodes.
- Good Angel, Bad Angel: Tsumiki has these pop up (with Hime as her Angel and Mayoi as her Devil) when debating whether to go through Io's stuff.
- Gratuitous English: Mayoi's Snowball Bazooka delivers status messages and prompts in English. Her speech pattern is full of it as well.
- Groin Attack: By accident from Mayoi to Sakaki on Chapter 30.
- Hammerspace: Mayoi somehow takes a lifebuoy out from her overalls in the cabin episode. For some reason.
- Honest Axe: Io tries this with Sakaki, but fails when the real one shows up.
- Huge Guy, Tiny Girl:
- Io and Tsumiki.
- Sakaki and Mayoi as well. Guys generally seem to be tall and lanky in this anime while girls of the same age tend to be petite.
- I Ate WHAT?!: Io and Sakaki do not react well to learning that the chocolate Mayoi gave them contained frog meat.
- Imagine Spot: Each character has one, but Tsumiki's always has to do with Io.
- Improbable Aiming Skills:
- Io, especially the cabin trip episode when he uses sticks to catch fish, thinking it's impossible. Cue the fishes floating dead in the water.
- Later on, he repeatedly snipes mosquitoes with toothpicks.
- Iron Butt-Monkey: Mayoi gets her head thrown through concrete walls and takes a frisbee to the neck and gets back up a few seconds later. Sakaki takes two frisbees to the face and gets continually blasted by fireworks both unharmed.
- Lap Pillow: Tsumiki provides one for a snoozing Io in Episode 7. note
- Lethal Chef: Mayoi. Thankfully, no one tries her half-cooked, demon-faced egg mountain.
- Like Brother and Sister: How Io views Miiko, Sakaki's older sister.
- Made of Iron: Kana plows through the wooden trap made by Mayoi. Poor Hime isn't.
- Maybe Ever After: At this time, the anime's ending doesn't exactly resolve the question of Io and Tsumiki's relationship. The manga may have.note
- Moment Killer: Cue Mood Whiplash below when Tsumiki has her moments with Io.
- Mood Whiplash:
- Whenever Tsumiki's at the moment, she often goes berserk. The other characters especially do this when Tsumiki's at her moments with Io.
- Episode 13-A and Chapter 19 involve a sad moment when Tsumiki fails to give Io her chocolate when it's raining, but heartwarmingly, he accepts it anyway. Then he rubs her face mainly for her to not get sick (in the case in the manga, it happened once). Cue Nosebleed.
- Mundane Made Awesome: Air hockey, snowball fights, kick the can, volleyball, frisbee... pretty much any game they play.
- Nosebleed: It's Bloody Hilarious and Played for Laughs.
- Hime and Tsumiki shoot fountains and make puddles of blood in response to Io's kind words, actions, or uncovered body parts.
- Hime herself gets them when she gets excited, often when she sees a Tsumiki and Io moment.
- In Episode 4, Io's statements during their school TV interview cause all the girl in class (and presumably other classes) to shoot blood everywhere.
- Not So Above It All: Io will frequently get caught up in whatever competition Sakaki starts, assuming they aren't on the same side.
- Oblivious to Love:
- Io. Emphasized in Chapter 4 when he doesn't know what Miiko (Sakaki's older sister) is talking about when she specifically says being an "Ally to a maiden in love".
- In Episode 11, Tsumiki's expression of care induces a blush and love in Io that he doesn't understand. Oblivious? Perhaps. Unable to love? Definitely not.
- Kyouya has as much as a poor grasp to romance as Io, but unlike Io, Kyouya apparently does not know the meaning to give gifts to others as opposed to Io. Which is ironic actually. Also lampshaded by Kyouya regarding the subject.
- Oh, Crap!: Several things will happen if you tease Tsumiki, or if you unintentionally piss her off, to the point she'll break something in half. Literally.
- Overly Long Gag: The girls' nosebleeds. Particularly in the episodes/chapters involving Tsumiki waking Io up... by nosebleed.
- Parody Sue: Io's particular character trait is being irresistible to girls (and clueless about it) and incredibly competent in everything the cast has to do (except technology which is Mayoi's field) but it's usually (and effectively) Played for Laughs against Sakaki failing miserably.
- Perpetual Smile: Mayoi's face has a cat smile perpetually.
- Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Don't let Tsumiki's height fool you.
- Pun: Many of the jokes in both versions utilize Japanese wordplay, a staple of the yonkoma genre.
- Red String of Fate: Io and Tsumiki in the main theme - symbolized by a red scarf.
- Roboteching: Sakaki proves to be a firework magnet. Luckily he's an Iron Butt Monkey.
- School Festival: Episode 9.
- Sexy Santa Dress: The ladies sure didn't mind Io in a Santa suit, during Episode 10.
- Shipper on Deck: Everyone (including Miiko) towards Tsumiki and Io.
- Ship Tease: Mayoi does this to Tsumiki all the time. Sakaki does this sometimes as well with Mayoi. Go too far, you know what happens next.
- Shout-Out:
- Tsumiki pulls a parrying move against Xia-Li's Super Move, then finishes it off with a Shun Goku Satsu Super Move.
- This is also a shout-out to Daigo Umehara's comeback victory against Justin Wong in EVO 2004.
- Mayoi's snowball launcher is also one, with its voice and her use of "Zenryoku zenkai!". It's quoted again in Episode 5.
- In Episode 5/Chapter 29, Mayoi talks about 300 Spartans who dines in hell (complete with their battlecry).
- Sakaki refer to the frogs in the school pool as "Sergeants" during Episode 6.
- He does it again in Episode 12 when he tells Mayoi he'll draw eyes on her buns and call her Sergeant if she put frog in her chocolates again.
- Episode 8 has a bike flying against the moon, along with speaking about aliens.
- After neko Tsumiki "defeats" Mayomancer (Mayoi as a witch in a shared dream), a victory fanfare suspiciously sounds like the one from Final Fantasy.
- Chapter 41 has a snake hiding inside a cardboard box, Mayoi saying "Search and Destroy", and Sakaki saying "Shall I turn you into a doll?"
- Tsumiki pulls a parrying move
- Shrinking Violet: Hime, but not painfully shy, but more into not get into situations her friends put her through.
- Single-Target Sexuality: Tsumiki for Io. Io for Tsumiki.
- Source Music: In Episode 8 of the anime Io plays the soundtrack for one scene transition on a keyboard while falling asleep.
- Spin to Deflect Stuff: Io could deflect snowballs by twirling chopsticks. Tsumiki can do the same with a simple towel.
- Stalker with a Crush: Mayoi hypothesizes this regarding Tsumiki's morning run-ins was systematic to meet with Io. She's dead on.
- Super-Strength: Tsumiki, in Episode 3, is able to lift an enormous snowball, and throw it at least several feet into the air. She can also throw people through concrete, blast clean holes through giant snowballs, and pounce like a cat after a considerable leap.
- Token Mini-Moe: Tsumiki is by far the shortest character.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: The characters tend to discuss a lot the fact that Hime (whose name means "princess") is very feminine and acts cutely, while Mayoi is the exact opposite. Interestingly enough, they are both mediated by Tsumiki who has both girlish and boyish qualifies.
- Touch of Death: Despite Sakaki's Iron Butt Monkey status, Io can disable him with a light tap. However, this may be due to Minor Injury Overreaction by the former.
- Tsundere:
- Tsumiki, who's both types. It even gets lampshaded when she utters an archetypal tsundere line in Episode 1. It's even flat-out stated in the manga. In addition, Tsumiki becomes Type A whenever being teased by Io or embarassed.
- Even Kyouya has his tsundere moment in Episode 12.
- Unwanted Harem: Io, however since he's completely Oblivious to Love in this regard, he wouldn't notice. And Tsumiki goes Clingy Jealous Girl mode when girls are thinking about him, touching him, or considering going out with him.
- Verbal Tic: Interestingly used. Tsumiki has a recurring cat motif but hardly ever uses cat onomatopoeia when it's not being invoked. Mayoi on the other hand tends to throw a 'Nya' into every other sentence.
- When She Smiles:
- Io, and it's near deadly to Tsumiki and Hime. Complete with Bishie Sparkle.
- Not even Mayoi is immune. Io's caring smile and occasional charming words cause area-of-effect nosebleeds.
- Would Hit a Girl:
- Io, of all people, did this to Mayoi, when she got distracted by video games during their study session in Io's room. Io is shown to be clearly irked afterwards.
- He also pinches Mayoi's cheeks in irritation when she admits that she was not able to bring her notes. Justified in the fact that the whole idea to have a study session in Io's room was all Mayoi's idea.
- Also shown to pinch Mayoi's cheeks when she lifts up his shirt to "sneak attack" Tsumiki and Hime in Episode 7.
