More of the Same (For Better Or Worse)
Watching Tonikawa can be comparable to eating junk food; it's fun in small portions, but if you try too much in 1 sitting it starts feeling bad.
Summing up Season 1 (since I never gave it a review)
Season 1 was well recieved because it was different and new. At the time of it's release in 2020, Tonikawa was way ahead of the curve in comparison to most other SOL romance anime. A couple getting married from episode 1 and starting to pan out how they'll live together was a very unique and interesting concept, which was a rarity among other shows around and before it. It drew people (myself included) in and generally lived up to expectations. And while it was fun watching the cutesy antics of Nasa and Tsukasa going about things in this crazy, bizarre scenario - there always felt an air of grounded realism found in the characters realtionships and interactions with each other. It was genuninely well written. And even if the SOL shenanigans started getting old and repetitive, the show has 1 more card to play to try and keep its viewers interested: the promise of a building, supernatural element related to the heroines backstory - that may potentially end their relationship in tragedy some day. This gave people who may have dropped it otherwise for it getting repetitive a reason to stick around, and was a big draw of seeing explored in a future season someday.
So now we're season 2, how'd it fair? Did it live up to expectations?...
Sadly, no.
The Premise Has Started Becoming Stale
In the years following Tonikawa, the number of shows being made about a couple already starting off - or getting started in a relationship from the first couple of episodes have rocketed upwards. Almost every season now since then we get at least 1 new addition that attempts to work with this premise. What was once shiny, unique and new is now almost the standard formula of many seasonal, run-of-the-mill throwaway shows. If Tonikawa was to keep up with it's high held reputation, or ahead of it's new competition, it would need to dip further into expanding upon it's already built up premise and dive into more interesting territory. The supernatural backstory of Tsukasa is exactly what I'm talking about here. Tonikawa had the ideal tools at their disposal and the pre-made buildup to make it happen and shine.
However, instead they did what I hate the most: led us on, c*ckteased us, and then deliberately didn't deliver. The OP this season heavily implied that we we're gonna dive into Tsukasa's mysterious, long-lived backstory. But after 12 episodes of sitting through uneventful and honestly... a lot of generic and boring SOL anime shenanigans, I feel almost betrayed. We got bare bones nuggets for Tsukasa's backstory and barely any new progress in their relationship. The season felt like it had no point.
It did continue following the life of Nasa and Tsukasa, which is fine - but we've already seen them do essentially everything before at this point. Now we're basically just diving into re-run territory. If you came here looking for more of the same, then you'll get what you want, but given the buildup Tonikawa appeared to be implying it was heading I can't help but feel that it rubbed on me the wrong way.
That being Said, I did say it was more of the same - Which some of you may continue to like
Tonikawa still has it's enjoyable moments however. Nasa continues to be a ball of geeky wholesomeness, his neighbors continue their quirky antics, and a couple of new characters added in do add new and fun dynamics and interactions within the shows runtime - continuing to uphold the animes standard of it's secondary characters. Chitose doesn't do nearly as much in this season, but some people may find that a benefit as opposed to a downside since she does come off a generally annoying. However it did mean that we didn't get as much of the 2 maids antics this time around, which was a shame since that was some of my favorite moments from the first season.
Conclusion:
The feelings I have Tonikawa season 2 are almost identicial to those I had about My Next Life as a Villainess S2. While their first seasons are credited for being trendsetters and impactful to the point where they have spawned on a wave of new shows and stories that almost copy that premise, their 2nd season fell flat because they didn't attempt to change anything, or embrace the part of the show that made it so unique. Tonikawa didn't do enough to stay ahead, and struggled to keep me interested. There is still fun to be had with it, between it's fun character interactions as well as frequent otaku and pop culture references that many are bound to enjoy. But I recommend taking it in small bites, 1 or 2 episodes a sitting, or you'll likely get sick pretty quickly. The initial magic is still there, but not as much of it.
Screenshots
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