First Impression: TONIKAWA: Over the Moon For You (Season 2)

Time to fly to the moon and dance among the stars with the girl from the moon and the boy with a stellar nomenclature as TONIKAWA kicks off its second season! This time around, the newlywed star-crossed couple are having a movie date, during which time our lavender-haired bro ruminates about the shifting moods of his bride. Baby girl really gets into the movies! Afterward, we get into the nitty-gritty of the episode: even though our couple is officially married on paper, they didn’t do the full-on wedding ceremony! Nasa is all for it; after all, how hard could it be to put on a wedding? And besides, he would get to see his salmon-haired bride in a beautiful dress. However, Tsukasa brings her Space Agency monikered husband down to earth—putting on a decent marriage ceremony would cost millions of yen and take loads of time to plan! After doing their own research into the logistics of putting on a wedding, our young couple decides they don’t really need a big ceremony and would much rather spend their time, money, and energy living their lives together, as they’re already married and happy. If only every newlywed couple had that same mindset. Hoo boy, I’ve heard some stories on Reddit…but I digress.

That’s right boys and girls, it’s time for another go around with one of anime’s cutest couples! In a year that looks to be crowded with different romcoms with more on the horizon, TONIKAWA still finds a way to stay relevant and stick with the formula that got it a second season: character development with drips and drops of mystery scattered about. One thing that I noticed this time around is that, even though not that much time has passed, Nasa and Tsukasa seem a good bit more comfortable with each other. While they’re still discovering things about each other and still sometimes get flustered when certain topics come up, they’re a little more grounded. They can now share a drink without being all blushy, and they can even cuddle in a futon together with no problems! The supporting cast is still a joy to watch as they in turn watch over these newlyweds and guide them toward happiness.

Production-wise, you’re getting the same great animation that you have come to expect. Though this time, instead of a lyric-spitting OP song, we get a completely passable yet nowhere near as great OP song, “Setsuna no Chikai (feat. Tsukasa Yuzaki)” by Akari Kitō. I do like that they used her prodigious rhyme-spitting skills for a small chunk of the song, but overall, there’s nothing too special about this one. With regards to the visuals, while they are stunning, they do seem to overload the viewer with what I would presume to be spoilers as to the characters we will come to meet and possibly also drop hints as to Tsukasa’s nature. I REALLY wish they wouldn’t have done that. Part of the appeal of the series is that we are given some small clues in the show proper as to Tsukasa’s nature. She says something or does something that gives you pause but doesn’t distract from the narrative. Putting blatantly obvious items in the OP is not fun and takes away from any future revelations, at least to me anyway. Let me be surprised about what’s to come, darn it!

Speaking of surprises, we got a Day-1 English dub of this one! Will this continue? Honestly, I have no idea. But it is a nice surprise. The dub cast sounds just as good as always, though I can’t help but notice that Zach Aguilar as Nasa sounds a little deeper than he did in the first season when he sounded more like Tanjirō from Demon Slayer. It’s not bad at all, mind you; in fact, it kinda shows that the character has matured a bit since we last saw him. But the thing is, from a story aspect, not that much time has passed, so the vocal change is noticeable if you’re going from season 1 right into season 2.

So where does that leave us? Seriously? Do you even have to ask? I’m on board for this second season! Even with the issues that I brought up earlier, they’re easy enough to overlook because the meat of the show remains prodigiously good. Watching these two precious buns go through their newlywed married life was an unspeakable delight during season 1, and season 2, barring a completely disastrous left turn into Bayou Lafourche*, will be the exact same way. Add in the fact that we get an excellent English dub right alongside it and you owe it to yourself a revisit to the bathhouse-turned-love-nest of Nasa and Tsukasa Yuzuki.

*Bayou Lafourche is one of the many beautiful bayous in Louisiana. It’s actually a really nice place to spend time and watch the day drift along. It’s located in Cutoff, Louisiana and, if you Google it, you’ll see why it has that name. Fill up the gas tank if you wanna visit.

TONIKAWA: Over the Moon For You is available for streaming on Crunchyroll.

Josh
Latest posts by Josh (see all)

Leave a Reply