Tona-Gura! (となグラ!) is a manga by Hidetaka Kakei, which ran in the shonen magazine Comic Rush from 2004 to 2011. It was adapted into an anime by Daume in 2006.
Kazuki Arisaka remembers her childhood friend, Yuuji Kagura, very fondly. When she and her older sister Hatsune learn that Yuuji and his younger sister Marie are moving back next door after 10 years, she is delighted. That delight quickly fades when she realizes that her friend and crush is now a blatant pervert, and his little sister is a machine-gun-toting maniac, tasked with keeping her brother in line (with paint balls, and on occasion, smoke bombs). Hatsune still wants the two to hook up, an idea that revolts Kazuki, but are things as simple as Kazuki believes? Is her friend still inside the hyper-active bag of teen hormones called Yuuji?
The series comes off a bit like Love Hina with some roles and motives switched, and the mystic elements removed. But with a trimmed-down cast and the same basic settings throughout, it works on its own, and no one is so perfect as to not see at least a chapter or three where things don't go their way. If you want an anime wherein the guy arguably deserves his beating but is still someone you'd want to be around, and where the girl is not so Tsundere as to wonder where the attraction is, this may be your cup of tea.
Tropes:
- Accidental Pervert: Subverted almost entirely in Yuuji. He knows exactly what he is doing and saying, though he thinks of it as far more playful than it comes across to the girls he pursues, particularly Kazuki. Despite this, he still manages to walk in on situations he didn't intend, but tries to exploit.
- Adaptation Expansion: The manga made after the anime provides much deeper looks at the characters and their stronger points to balance off their more extreme ones: Yuuji's loyalty to Kazuki and their friendship; Kazuki's admiration and encouragement for Yuuji's skill at photography; Marie's love for her brother; Hatsune's ability to handle people in almost any situation, like in Chapter 37 of the manga where she manages to successfully chide Haya, the bipolar assistant to Yuuji's Dad for not letting Yuuji call home in a crisis.
- All Men Are Perverts: The underlying belief, ("All Boys Are Like That") though playfully toned down, of Kazuki's best friend, Chihaya Suzuhara. This enables her to tolerate and even encourage Yuuji's behavior, to the point of flashing her underwear at him.
- Always Someone Better: She is better at almost everything than Kazuki, and has a legion of admirers including a former teacher and Yuuji himself.
- Axe-Crazy: Marie is possibly this in Chapter 43 when she threatens Kazuki, after she and Yuuji finally start clicking.
- Beady-Eyed Loser: Yuuji.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: Very, very Yuuji/Kazuki, though subverted somewhat by Yuuji not gladly taking those beatdowns he does not have coming, almost going Tsundere on her when she is in the wrong.
- Berserk Button: Calling Hatsune "motherly" means a Tickling Hell for whatever poor soul did so.
- Broken Pedestal: Kazuki was hoping for her 'first crush' to grow up to be a fine young man, but unfortunately, Yuuji grew up to be abnoxious and lecherous guy. And because she built up his reputation to her friend Chihaya and the others in his absence, she tries her best to hide Yuuji's negative, perverted side.
- There are indications, direct in the anime, hinted at in the manga, that Kazuki has idealized the past and that Hatsune remembers a playful Yuuji and a less uptight Kazuki. See The Reveal.
- But Not Too Foreign: Nina is a half-American half-Japanese.
- Cannot Spit It Out: Yuuji can't bring himself to call Kazuki cute until Chapter 40 of the manga.
- Chivalrous Pervert: Yuuji will not touch or dream of touching Nina, and despite Marie's early explanation of her role in "punishing" him and it being for her safety as well, there are places he will never go. Unless the target is Kazuki.
- Comedic Sociopathy: Both Yuuji's intrusive, often juvenile pursuit of Kazuki, and his sister Marie's literally armed response to any and all signs of such lewdness. Possibly also Hatsune tying Marie up to stop her punishment of Yuuji, and her ignoring Kazuki's stated desire to stop her extreme efforts at matchmaking.
- Cool Big Sis: Hatsune.
- Crazy Jealous Guy: Yuuji becomes rather sullen when he thinks Kazuki has a crush on Kogorou-sensei.
- Cute Clumsy Girl: Tojo Haya, the junior partner in photography to Yuuji and Marie's Dad. A manga-only character.
- Emotionless Girl: Marie, though in reality, her indifference hides a wish that her brother would revert to being the playmate he was before puberty.
- Epiphany Therapy: Kazuki, when she realizes (at least in the anime's finale) that it isn't that Yuuji changed into a pervert; he's just never outgrown his childish playfulness, while she herself has grown considerably more uptight and controlling. This leads to the pair's first real steps as a couple.
- Failure Is the Only Option: Marie, whose stated goal of controlling her brother's hormonal behavior may be attainable, but her secret goal of having Yuuji back as he was before puberty, and interested only in her is one that can never be, even if Yuuji became a complete gentleman.
- Fanservice: The series has some Panty Shot and few scene of Kazuki in lingerie.
- Genki Girl: Nina, whose manic attentions freak Marie out, to the point of almost 'punishing' her with paint balls, one of the only other people besides Yuuji to get this attention, and the only female. On occasion, Tojo Haya as well, though in her case it plays out mainly as nerves.
- (Not-so-) Heroic BSoD: Put 'Kazuki' and 'break up' in the same sentence, and Yuuji becomes a stone statue of shock and despair.
- Hot for Student: The teacher, Kogorou, towards Hatsune, and Hatsune towards him, though Yuuji suspects/accuses that he feels this towards Kazuki as well. The age difference between Hatsune and Kogorou earned him the title of biggest pervert in a manga poll, beating out Yuuji
- Little Miss Badass: Marie.
- Lonely Rich Kid: Nina's reason for being so grabby.
- The Matchmaker: Hatsune, who at one point in the manga, even writes fanfic that has an older Yuuji/Kazuki pairing, much to her sister's disgust. It is presented as though it were a real flash-forward. Hatsune 'knows' what her sister wants, whether she wants it or not. She even on occasion ties up Marie to stop her from 'punishing' her brother's clumsy efforts to win Kazuki.
- Megaton Punch: Both Kazuki and Marie, albeit through use of her paint-ball gun, can knock Yuuji clean across a room. Very very rarely, he can even become A Twinkle in the Sky.
- Parental Abandonment: Both Kagura siblings feel this towards their father, whose frequent moves have made it difficult for them to make friends. He also has left curbing Yuuji's enthusiasm towards girls to his pre-teen daughter. At least in the anime, and in the manga as late as Chapter 37 none of their parents make a real showing. Nina does not resent her parents, but hates how often they are away.
- Parental Substitute: In the complete absence of their parents (certainly in the anime, likely in the manga as well), Hatsune serves as the mother-figure to both her own younger sister Kazuki and to their childhood friends, Kagura Yuuji and his younger sister Marie.
- Porn Stash: Yuuji's spills out right in front of Kazuki.
- Precocious Crush: Nina toward Yuji.
- The Reveal: Yuuji didn't suddenly turn into a pervert. Even as a little boy, he was playful. He's just never grew up, and now hormones make it obnoxious. Kazuki, it turns out, had both over-idealized her memories of Yuuji and those of herself, who used to actually enjoy Yuuji's antics up to a point. To coin a cliche, they both had some growing up to do.
- Secret Diary: Subverted in the anime. The pivotal diary that Hatsune gives Kazuki is her own forgotten childhood diary which reveals that Yuuji's always been playful; teen hormones now make that playfulness obnoxious and immature, rather than cute. She also sees in it that she herself used to be a great deal more playful, but that she has also not outgrown her childish tendency to want complete control over how things are, especially with Yuuji. The Reveal in this case marks a huge turning point.
- Stalking is Love: "Isn't that proof he thinks you're charming?" in reference to Yuuji's constant perving and peeping on Kazuki.
- The Tease: Chihaya. Unlike her more uptight friend, Chihaya has little problem with the extremes of Yuuji's behavior, even encouraging him by doing things like flashing her underwear at him.
- Time Skip: One chapter of the manga seems to do this early on, but it turns out to be merely something Hatsune wrote, pairing off a college-aged Kazuki and Yuuji. Kazuki is not amused.
- Tsundere: Kazuki, though only when truly provoked. Somewhat of a subversion, as very few of the blows she lands on Yuuji are examples of misplaced affections.
- 12-Episode Anime: 13, really, but with a semi-firm conclusion. The manga is ongoing as of 2011.
- Unwanted Harem: Mostly subverted. Only three main characters (Kazuki, Chihaya and Nina) have even directly stated an interest in Yuuji. One is resistant to openly stating it, one is mainly teasing her best friend, and one is underaged to the point Yuuji does not consider her even a remote possibility. Marie may have an arguable brother complex. Hatsune seems to think of him more as a brother, and possible future brother-in-law. A new character in the manga is Haya, a bespectacled photography assistant to the Kagura siblings' absent father. She is a bag of nerves and backhanded comments that usually deflate Yuuji to the point even Kazuki defends him. At work, she is a ridiculously stern taskmaster. She is, despite being hard on him, deeply grateful to Yuuji for his assistance.
