Manga / Tonnura-san

Tonnura and Ichino

Meet the Ichinose household, composed of Hinano, Ichino, Satsukino, and their strict mother, Kyouno. One day, Satsukino found a stray cat and decided to take him home. The sisters soon found out, but most importantly, the cat was able to talk! The sisters discussed their situation, how their strict mother would not allow pet in the household, even if the cat was able to talk. A brief argument with their mother resulted in Hinano getting a slap from their mother, as she still refused to allow pets in the household. However, the cat himself interfered in the argument, and with a small 'persuasion', managed to make their mother change her stance. A small discussion followed, and it is decided that the cat will be called Tonnura from thereon!

Thus follows the story of Ichinose household's daily life, and their talking pet cat, Tonnura.

---

Tropes:

• The Ace:
  • Tonnura is treated as such, winning over hearts with both his words and actions.
  • Ichino's PE teacher Kanie-sensei is admired by all of her students for her body, her athletic abilities and her willingness to get everyone in class involved. She's not afraid to show Tough Love to delinquents either through disciplining them.
  • Tsukuba Nabiki. She hails from a family of athletes and in gym class she dominates a dodgeball match against the boys' team.
• Abusive Parents: While Kyouno truly does care for her daughters and would often express her concerns about them, her introduction into the series involves her trying to intimidate her daughters into not keeping Tonnura with her harsh words and rather frightening countenance. When that fails she immediately gets physical, slapping two of her daughters in the face and would have slapped the third one if not for Tonnura stepping in. She mellows out a little bit after accepting Tonnura, but nonetheless remains a rather intimidating figure in her daughters' lives.
• A-Cup Angst: Ichino. Also somewhat of her Berserk Button.
• Alliterative Name: Ichinose Ichino, Tomonaga Tasuke, Shibaura Shibako.
• Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Tomonaga Minato. She isn't really that bad compared to most but she often talks about missing the days when she used to spoil Tasuke, which obviously embarrasses him. She also tries her hand at Fanservice for the opening pages of Volume 4, much to her son's dismay.
  Minato: Mommy is still young too, don't you think?
  Tasuke: Nooooo! Mother, stop!
• Annoying Younger Sibling: Charmie may be Tonnura's younger sister, but she squarely falls into this by being haughty, spoiled, uncomfortably clingy and overly affectionate — a noted contrast to her brothers' personalities. Duke Dural calls her obstinate on more than one occassion and even Tonnura notes that she's a bit difficult to deal with.
• Bifauxnen: Momose Yuri was mistaken to be Hinano's boyfriend when she's first introduced. Hinano made a joke that she wouldn't mind starting a relationship with her, only for Momo to tell her to be careful with making such jokes.
• Big Brother Worship: Charmie worships the ground Tonnura and Duke walk on, and is overjoyed to reunite with them in Japan. Unfortunately, she takes this to unhealthy and violently overprotective levels. She treats Ichino like garbage just for the crime of disciplining Tonnura via lifting him by his tail for being naughty. She later one-ups herself by attempting to humiliate Lucrezia for considering Duke as part of her family and holding him in her arms.
• Big Eater: Tonnura, as befitting his image. He once ate Nabiki's entire lunch, much to her dismay.
• Big Friendly Dog: Pero-Pero, the Tomonaga's family dog.
• Big Sister Bully: As well as her other flaws, Shibako constantly torments her little brother Yukiji by strutting around the house naked and only offers to put on her clothes if he does an errand for her. She also says that him seeing her naked excites her, understandably creeping the hell out of him.
• Butt-Monkey:
  • Ichino takes her lumps quite a bit in the manga. Tonnura uses Fantastic Arousal to make her avoid getting hit in dodgeball which only embarrasses her, she gets kidnapped by Lucrezia's butlers and tortured with octopuses over a Mistaken Identity, Shibako frequently sexually harasses her, her friends see her undressed during her Sick Episode and she get treated like crap by Charmie because she had the audacity to punish Tonnura for doing something naughty.
  • Tasuke. He's constantly kicked around literally and figuratively by his sister Kazari, Ichino hates his guts, his attempts to win Hinano's heart result in miserable failure and he usually suffers some of the most Amusing Injuries.
• Buxom Beauty Standard:
  • While Tasuke does like Hinano for her other traits, his little sister accuses him of liking her for how well developed she is and he can only sheepishly agree.
  • Nabiki is complimented by Shibako on having this. Shibako being Shibako, this doesn't make Nabiki happy.
  • Kanie-Sensei, much to the boys' joy.
• Cannot Spit It Out: Tasuke clearly likes Hinano, yet refuses to confess to her because his heart's not ready yet. His sister Kazari often berates him because of this. It gets subverted when he gets motivated to confess after Tonnura convinces him to do so...then double subverted when he barges in on Ichino changing her clothes, which results in him having the crap beaten out of him.
• The Charmer: Tonnura is well-liked by everyone. And for those rare ones to dislike him at first sight, this trope comes into play.
• The Chew Toy: Nakarai Yuu. Her attempts to play with Tonnura's tail frequently end with her being the one that's toyed with, and she also frequently receives Amusing Injuries, from being tied up upside-down by Lucrezia's butlers till the blood rushes to her head and having one of her pigtails set on fire due to Ichino not paying attention to how far she turned the Bunsen burner.
• Cool Big Sis: Despite her immaturity, Hinano is shown to really care about her sisters, whether through giving advice (such as when Satsukino starts avoiding Ichino due to failing arithmetic despite Ichino helping her), resolving disputes (when Ichino initially refuses to forgive Lucrezia), or comforting them when they're upset and giving them the positive reassurance they need. Even Kyouno acknowledges her skill despite her worries about everything else about Hinano.

  Tonnura: To me, she simply looks like an older sibling who cares for her sisters...

• Cloud Cuckoolander: Satsukino's friend Yokko is noted for being unpredictable and weird.
• The Corrupter: Shibaura Shibako tried to corrupt Ichino into cosplaydom. She succeeded a tiny bit, but every corruption starts small...
• Covert Pervert:
  • Kyouno. Whatever it is that she and Tonnura get up to, she clearly likes doing it a lot. The chapter Tonnura's Daily Life also shows that her choice in underwear is a bit less conservative from what'd you expect from her.
  • Tonnura's brother, Duke Dural. Despite his high-class upbringing and demeanor, he chanced on groping and commenting on Hinano's and Nabiki's massive breasts.
  • Shibaura Shibako is a quiet, antisocial girl at school, who just plays her game and is immune to Tonnura's charms. Ichino found out the hard way that at home, she's a very enthusiastic cosplayer with a 180 degrees shift in personality, with exhibitionist tendencies and admitting she derives pleasure from people admiring her cosplay. The worst (and funny) part is when Ichino got dragged into it and Shibako won't take no for an answer, while fending off Tonnura from interfering with pizza.
• Fantastic Arousal: Tonnura just knows what makes other people tick. Less squicky than it sounds.
• Fantastic Fighting Style: Tonnura and Duke Dural have a tail-based fighting style. Potent enough to single-handedly win a dodgeball match.
• Fanservice: Various, from Panty Shot to Fantastic Arousal, but is quite mild overall. Still not what you'd call SFW.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Hinano is the carefree one, while Ichino is the more responsible one.
• Friend to All Children: In addition to his fanbase of adult women, kids of all ages love Tonnura. Satsukino's classmates have a blast playing with him in the park and Ichino's classmates think he's awesome. He even gets clearance to come and go whenever he pleases from the principal. It's safe to say that Tonnura may be a Friend To All Humans.
• Friend to All Living Things: Satsukino loves animals and aspires to be in a field where she can help them. Fittingly, she's the one who first discovers Tonnura.
• Genki Girl:
  • Hinano is this, and combined with her Cool Big Sis tendencies she's got a lot of friends (and admirers) around the neighborhood, including her sisters. The downside is that it often leads to her being extremely flippant, careless, messy and undisciplined.
  • Yuu is childish and energetic, always wanting to play with Tonnura's tail.
  • Lucrezia A. Dural, the exchange student from Europe. As an Ojou she knows how to rein in her energy when she needs to look dignified, but her emotions are shown to be a wide range of only the most extreme qualities.
• He Is Not My Boyfriend: Ichino, regarding Tasuke. Her schoolmates think that they're in a relationship because they're seen walking to and from school together, when it's really because they live next door to each other. It doesn't help that Tasuke is completely apathetic towards this.
• Hot-Blooded:
  • Tasuke always gets fired up whenever Hinano's involved.
  • Tsukuba Nabiki. Her subtitle in her introductory chapter is even "The Lively and Vigorous 'Can-Do' Girl". From what we see of her little brother it's safe to imply that the rest of her family is just as hot-blooded as she is.
• Implausible Deniability:
  Tasuke: Wha...What are you...
  Tonnura: I am just a normal cat.
  Tasuke: A normal cat doesn't talk...
• Innocently Insensitive:
  • Tonnura, despite his gentlemanliness, sometimes fall into this.
  Tonnura: Hahaha... Please excuse me... Ichino's chest is nice and flat, which makes for a great sleeping spot.
  Ichino: ...Get out!!!
  • Kyouno isn't a very sensitive person in the first place, leading to a lot of these moments whenever she speaks about her daughters. From off-handedly remarking that she didn't plan to have to have a third child (while Satsukino was right in front of her), to constantly worrying out loud that Hinano will only get a job that using her body, it only serves to make her seem even more intimidating and abusive to them.
  • Tasuke's bio notes that he sometimes lacks tact, and he doesn't hesitate to prove this fact right. His lack of tact especially gets him into trouble with Ichino, as he often embarrasses her and hurts her feelings with some of the things he says.
  Tasuke: Don't worry Ichino, I have no desire to see you in your underwear!
  Ichino: Shaddup!
• Kindly Vet: Minato initially seemed to be a malicious and sadistic vet, but she turns out to be this instead. She's just a firm believer in not making compromises on the safety of animals, to the point where she's able to intimidate Kyouno into surrendering over Tonnura for his vaccination. Even when Satsukino refuses to hand over Tonnura, she just gently explains that the vaccination is for Tonnura's sake and that she's seen many cats that didn't get theirs until it was too late, an unfortunately common event in real life.
• Lady and Knight: Lucrezia and Duke Dural, her proclaimed shield and sword.
• Lethal Chef:
  • Kyouno's cooking has been noted as bad more than once. When he eats it, Tonnura describes her cooking as tasting like nothing but butter.
  • Hinano similarly struggles with cooking, seeing as her attempts to make creampuffs resulted in the food carbonizing.
• Mama's Boy: Tasuke, according to the extra material. He doesn't show it in the manga likely because he finds it embarrassing, but Minato misses how she used to pamper him.
  Minato: And he would always come shouting "Mama" and jump into my arms~
  Tasuke: Stoooop! Don't say it, Mother!
• Meaningful Name:
  • Fittingly for her status, Lucrezia's name comes from the Latin word lucrum, meaning profit and wealth.
  • Duke Dural is a two for one meaningful name. A duke is a member of nobility, befitting of his royal like demeanor. The name Dural, along with also being the last name of his owner, comes from Dura mater, which is the toughest membrane that protects the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord). This fits in line with him being Lucrezia's proclaimed sword and shield.
• Mundane Made Awesome: In contrast to what Ichino expects, Tonnura is completely amazed by cosplay. Interestingly, he compares it to that of cats displaying their coats to one another, which is arguably not too far off of a comparison. Duke is similarly in awe when Tonnura tells him of what he saw at the cosplay event.
• Mythology Gag: A rather cruel one. Kyouno stating that she never planned on having three children refers to how Satsukino was only added into the manga once serialization started.
• Ojou: Lucrezia is a Western variant, she's even referred to as such in her character bio.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: When Tonnura's taken to the vet, he's suspicious of Satuskino and the normally-energetic Hinano looking remorseful, but he immediately realizes something is up when the Tomonaga siblings bring in Pero-Pero...and the big, friendly dog has his eyes wide open and is straining to smile.
• Parental Substitute: Tonnura can sometimes be seen as this, especially when Kyouno discussed her concern of her daughters with him. And the time they shared together.
• People Puppets: Tonnura, combining his Fantastic Arousal and Fantastic Fighting Style is able to do this.
• Phenotype Stereotype: Lucrezia rounds out the foreigner stereotypes with blonde hair and blue eyes.
• Prone to Tears: Satsukino is very easily frightened, is prone to apologize a lot and is prone to breaking down in tears. Kyouno's strict parenting style doesn't help.
• Psycho Lesbian: Shibaura Shibako, maybe. The scene where she forced Ichino into her hobby is very reminiscent of rape; on the other hand, she mostly expressed her interest in Ichino due to their similar hobby.
• Punny Name: Pero-Pero. 'Pero' is the Japanese onomatopeia for lick, and he definitely likes to do so as Tonnura finds out.
• Really Gets Around: Tonnura, when asked how many lovers he's had before, replied that "[my] lovers are as numerous as the stars."
• Shout-Out:
  • Post No-Holds-Barred Beatdown from Kazari and Ichino in Chapter 3, Tasuke adopts the infamous "dead Yamcha" pose.
  • The cosplay event is naturally filled with these.
    • Ichino, Nabiki and Shibako dress up as stand-ins for BlackRockShooter, Reimu and Hatsune Miku, respectively. In a previous con, Shibako also forced Nabiki to dress up as Yoko Littner.
    • One of Shibako's admirers looks like Kaiji Itou.
    • Cosplayers dressed up as Haruka Amami and Yayoi Takatsuki ask Ichino to take her picture.
    • While musing about cosplay, Tonnura recalls two girls dressed up as Yuno and Marisa.
  • Tasuke's soccer volley with Yukiji naturally features references to Inazuma Eleven and Captain Tsubasa.
• Talking Animal: The main premise.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Tonnura isn't just all about being friends to little children and making women weak in the knees for him. When Tasuke weakly says that he's waiting for the right time to confess to Hinano because his heart's not ready, Tonnura doesn't sugarcoat how he thinks that Tasuke is being unrealistic and stupid because Hinano's natural charms won't keep her single for long.
  Tonnura: How long have you liked Hinano, boy?
  Tasuke: Since elementary school...she's cheerful, she's kind, she's cute...
  Tonnura: If it's that, it's likely she'll be snatched up by someone else! And if she gets snatched up...you end up as a loser. Struggle, and win!
• Theme Naming: The Ichinose family are all named after Japanese dolls. Hinano's name comes from hina-ningyō (雛人形), dolls that are given out on Hinamatsuri. Ichino's name originates from ichimatsu-ningyō (市松人形), which are traditional Japanese dolls. Satsukino's name originates from satsuki-ningyō (咲月 人形), dolls that are displayed on Children's Day. Lastly, Kyouno's name is derived from the kyou(京) in kyou-ningyō(京 人形), which are ceramic dolls that originate from Kyoto.
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Zig-Zagged. At first it seems like only Ichino seems alarmed that Tonnura can talk. However, several other people, such as Tasuke and Satsukino's classmates are shown to be initially shocked at this fact, only to soon ignore it due to Tonnura's natural charisma. Then there's the time where he had to go to Ichino's school to deliver her bentou, and everyone (excluding Kanie-sensei for obvious reasons below)seems to find it awesome that Tonnura can talk. Including the principal, who immediately approves of Tonnura staying in school. The weirdness gets even further complicated when Tonnura is revealed to have a brother and sister, as well as four other siblings, so there's seven cats that can talk and not a single governing body finds this weird or worth monitoring.
• Why Did It Have To Be Cats?: Kanie-Sensei has a severe phobia of cats which could result in her breaking down in tears. Tonnura helped her get over it, even if only a little.

---