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The following content contains spoilers from Tomo-Chan Is A Girl! Season 1, episode 9, currently streaming on Crunchyroll. Tomo-chan is not unlike any other average guy; muscular, loud, and boisterous, with a passion for sports, martial arts, and the great outdoors. Pretty normal, right? Apparently not, because Tomo-chan Is A Girl, and, although she has never let a silly thing like gender identifiers get in the way, her newfound love for Jun prompts her to make some drastic changes.

Spurred on by her so-called friends, Tomo begins to discard the very things that make her exceptional in favor of channeling the "fairer sex," to ensure that Jun is aware that she is, in fact, a woman. While Tomo and her paramour seem to have little issue with her "manly" characteristics, those pretending to "help" Tomo are simply trying to make her more feminine and conform with the masses, who simply see the world in black and white. For an anime that is technically all about girls, the female characters are unfortunately subjected to multiple stereotypical pitfalls, which is such a shame.

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Manipulative Misuzu

Tomo-chan Is A Girl! Subverting or Celebrating Toxic Femininity Tomo and Misuzu Gundou

Tomo and Misuzu Gundou have been friends since they were very young, although it seems that Misuzu has been a manipulative, antagonistic bully with a villainous grin from the very start. Overall, Tomo seems relatively unphased by the sinister side of her bestie, for which Misuzu is very grateful, as she is well aware that she would be friendless without dear Tomo.

However, as a result, this melancholic maiden has become overly possessive, showing strong signs of jealousy whenever she isn't the center of Tomo's attention. And even though she "assists" with her friend's love life, Misuzu clearly gets a kick out of playing with people's emotions and doesn't seem to truly want Tomo to succeed in winning Jun's affections, as that would make Misuzu the unwanted third wheel.

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Despite her glaring flaws, Misuzu shines in the academic field and is a strong, independent woman with nerves of steel, facing an entire gang of ruffians without breaking a sweat, all the while trying to protect Carol and Tomo from harm. Only Misuzu is allowed to take advantage of her friends; anyone else who tries has a death wish!

Clueless Carol

Tomo-chan Is A Girl! Subverting or Celebrating Toxic Femininity Tomo, Jun and Carol Olston

Carol Olston arguably represents the epitome of femininity with the most "girly" characteristics in the group; however, this statement is far from being a compliment to womanhood. She falls into numerous stereotypical traps as the blissfully aware "dumb blonde" foreigner who has perfect doll-like features and has seemingly swopped her common sense for some extra blessings in the bosom department. To make matters worse, Carol seems to be incapable of functioning without Kousuke Misaki's guidance; like a two-year-old toddler who has to be watched like a hawk. And her mother, Ferris, is even worse.

Carol's fanservice aspects perfectly compliment her manic pixie dream girl persona, as she seems to merely exist to accentuate Misuzu's ill-tempered attitude while making her life more difficult. She will also shamelessly use her body to get a reaction out of others, going so far as to throw herself at Jun, despite Tomo's feelings, or get herself into dangerous situations, making everyone involved very uneasy.

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On the plus side, Carol's sweet nature seems to be unencumbered by ulterior motives, and her upbeat charm is a breath of fresh air. Carol has also proven herself to be incredibly perceptive and swoops in to claim top marks during the exams in episode 5, proving that this bimbo is smarter than she appears (which in turn, makes Carol highly manipulative, too.) She is also fiercely loyal to her friends, who she often spoils with weird gifts, and is unapologetically true to herself, regardless of the situation.

Tomo's Toxic Sisterhood

Tomo-chan Is A Girl! Subverting or Celebrating Toxic Femininity Tomo, Misuzu and Carol dynamics

Misuzu is essentially an undercover villainess whose main mission is to emphasize Tomo's femininity, including the way she talks, walks, dresses, and acts (basically, everything that makes Tomo unique!) because, apparently, that is the only way that Jun will ever take her affections seriously. True, Tomo is trying to vacate the friend zone and stop being considered as "one of the boys," however, convincing a friend to be something they are not just to get someone's attention is not health advice. Misuzu constantly forces Tomo into uncomfortable situations, like wearing a skirt that is much too short or insisting on bikini wear to the beach, which ultimately decreases the redhead's self-esteem and makes her feel even more undesirable.

The fact that the pair have been friends since infancy is arguably the one thing keeping Tomo and Misuzu together, as they don't share many common interests. Constantly forcing Tomo to glam up essentially means that she is spending extra time with Misuzu during their make-over sessions, while technically creating more distance between Tomo and Jun. Misuzu is well aware that Jun gets tense around anything with sexual undertones, while a dolled-up Tomo sends him off the deep end; as a result, the effortlessness of their friendship has been replaced by awkwardness, with Misuzu and the only one with anything to gain.

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Tomo isn't the only girl suffering mistreatment, as Carol's airheaded comments are regularly met with abuse, as Tomo and Misuzu aren't reluctant to dish out physical punishments for ditzy remarks. The dark and twisty princess barely acknowledges their friendship, often treating the compassionate cutie as an irritating parasite. However, she is also unashamed of using Carol for her money and tag-team bullying Tomo into believing she must be more "girly," and breaks Carol's heart by spreading hurtful lies, just to see what would happen.

Neither Misuzu nor Carol are afraid to play with people's emotions just to make a point, and even if these mind game tactics are done in the mane of helping others, they are still underhanded, dirty, and borderline narcissistic. Episode 9 "The Angel's True Face," is the perfect example of this messed-up mentality and "friendship" dynamic; these two aren't against throwing others under the bus to get their way.

The Tomo Fan Club

Tomo-chan Is A Girl! Subverting or Celebrating Toxic Femininity Tomo's fan club

Things get a whole less toxic when assessing the boys' sentiments, as they simply admire (and fear) Tomo as-is and do not pressure her into modifying herself to fit in with the girly masses. Kosuke Misaki reassures Tomo that she needn't change a thing about herself, while Jun essentially treats her like a role model. Since their friendship began all those years ago, Jun has been pushing himself to "catch up to the big back I saw in front of me," constantly trying to keep on par with Tomo's awesomeness. He accepts her for who she is and recognizes that "it's not about gender" for Tomo, she does what makes her heart sing, regardless of sexist conformities. The fact that Jun isn't quick to regard his beautiful buddy as a potential love interest likely has more to do with their long-term, sibling-like friendship and has nothing to do with whether or not Tomo acts like a lady. In fact, that is more likely to put him off.

Furthermore, some of the girls can't seem to get enough of Tomo's alluring Chad factor; she has quite a substantial fan base to choose from if Tomo decides to join the LGBTQ+ community (assuming she hasn't already!) Mifune, Ogawa, and even Misuzu struggle to hide their attraction toward Tomo (who is oblivious to their admiration, unsurprisingly.) All-in-all, apart from being rather intimidating at times, this rambunctious redhead is the full package with her own unique, comedic charm and motivated, go-getter attitude that refuses to submit to a challenge.

Without forcing labels onto others, if she so chooses, Tomo could become the next best non-binary (or X Gender) representative, seeing as she is already relatively unfazed by gender boundaries in terms of what she can and cannot accomplish in life. That being said, just because Tomo isn't outwardly feminine should dictate an official gender change, either. She just needs to work on her communication skills and be more direct with her words to get the point across to Jun, without altering her appearance or personality in any way, shape, or form.

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