Romance series, especially romantic comedies, can often be rather formulaic, and sometimes struggle to break out of certain bad habits, such as poor pacing. Fly Me To The Moon (aka Tonikaku Kawaii or Tonikawa: Over The Moon For You) makes an admirable attempt to try something different, but it doesn't manage the execution very well.
The story's about a young man named Nasa who gets hit by a truck near the end of middle school, but a young woman named Tsukasa saves his life. He ends up proposing to her, and years later, she returns to his life to marry him, leading to a story about their life as a married couple.
As you can see from the above paragraph, the story cuts through the Will They or Won't They? present in many romcoms by having the main couple get married in the first episode (or the fourth chapter of the manga). The plus side is that the story doesn't waste any time drawing out the plot or trying to keep readers guessing as to who the lead will end up with. The minus side is that it's not always clear where the story's going, especially since getting together is the generally the Series Goal of a romance story's couple. As a result, not much changes in the story over time, making it hard to stay engaged.
Now for the main couple. Tsukasa's a generally interesting and engaging female lead, but the series frustratingly stops short of disclosing more about her past. Nasa, however, comes off as almost a Marty Stu, since while the story frequently tells us that he's not very bright, and he can be rather dense, it seldom causes many problems for him, if only because his wife bails him out of trouble. He's also a bit too good at everything he tries, since while I can buy him being a top scorer on high school entrance exams, I find it a bit harder to swallow that he gets a job teaching a high school programming class despite never having attended high school.
The rest of the cast isn't terribly interesting or deep. The best I can say about most of them is that they aren't nearly as annoying as Chitose, who tries to break up Nasa and Tsukasa because she thinks Nasa isn't good enough for her sister. She eases up a bit over time, but disappointingly, doesn't have any real Hidden Depths, nor are there any moments that show that the sisters care for each other(apart from Tsukasa saving Chitose's life, which was the root of Chitose's obsession with her).
Ultimately, Tonikawa has a good premise and a reasonably strong start, but little staying power, so I can't really recommend it.
Manga Starts strong, but eventually falls flat.
This review covers up to Chapter 127
Romance series, especially romantic comedies, can often be rather formulaic, and sometimes struggle to break out of certain bad habits, such as poor pacing. Fly Me To The Moon (aka Tonikaku Kawaii or Tonikawa: Over The Moon For You) makes an admirable attempt to try something different, but it doesn't manage the execution very well.
The story's about a young man named Nasa who gets hit by a truck near the end of middle school, but a young woman named Tsukasa saves his life. He ends up proposing to her, and years later, she returns to his life to marry him, leading to a story about their life as a married couple.
As you can see from the above paragraph, the story cuts through the Will They or Won't They? present in many romcoms by having the main couple get married in the first episode (or the fourth chapter of the manga). The plus side is that the story doesn't waste any time drawing out the plot or trying to keep readers guessing as to who the lead will end up with. The minus side is that it's not always clear where the story's going, especially since getting together is the generally the Series Goal of a romance story's couple. As a result, not much changes in the story over time, making it hard to stay engaged.
Now for the main couple. Tsukasa's a generally interesting and engaging female lead, but the series frustratingly stops short of disclosing more about her past. Nasa, however, comes off as almost a Marty Stu, since while the story frequently tells us that he's not very bright, and he can be rather dense, it seldom causes many problems for him, if only because his wife bails him out of trouble. He's also a bit too good at everything he tries, since while I can buy him being a top scorer on high school entrance exams, I find it a bit harder to swallow that he gets a job teaching a high school programming class despite never having attended high school.
The rest of the cast isn't terribly interesting or deep. The best I can say about most of them is that they aren't nearly as annoying as Chitose, who tries to break up Nasa and Tsukasa because she thinks Nasa isn't good enough for her sister. She eases up a bit over time, but disappointingly, doesn't have any real Hidden Depths, nor are there any moments that show that the sisters care for each other(apart from Tsukasa saving Chitose's life, which was the root of Chitose's obsession with her).
Ultimately, Tonikawa has a good premise and a reasonably strong start, but little staying power, so I can't really recommend it.