APADFTMOM Day 29: Tonikaku Kawaii, and Romance As A Spectrum

Over the past month we’ve slowly expanded a bit on two topics: My enjoyment of romance manga that keeps compelling me to write about it, and how romance manga is a spectrum. The genre of romance in manga splinters off into multiple specific subgenres such as wacky harem romcoms, one-on-one love stories, single parents learning to love again, and stories about the magic surrounding a first love, to name a few. I could write about romance for days because it’s such a broad topic that I have a lot of strong opinions about, but today we’re focusing on a series that’s part of yet another romance subgenre. Today’s topic is a story of two newlyweds titled Tonikaku Kawaii.






Tonikaku Kawaii, sometimes stylized as Tonikaku Cawaii, by Kenjiro Hata follows a boy by the name of Nasa Yuzuki. Nasa was given a unique name at birth that caused him a lot of grief as he was growing up, which in turn motivated him to be as smart and successful as possible. One day while in middle school, Nasa is distracted by a girl and gets hit by a truck. The girl comforts him until he blacks out. When Nasa awakens, he views the girl as a goddess who visited him on his deathbed and seeks her out. Upon finding her, Nasa confesses his love to her and asks her to go out with him. The girl suggests marriage instead and Nasa agrees before losing consciousness again. Years later, the girl shows up on Nasa’s doorstep and introduces herself as Tsukasa between the two elope and begin getting to know each other.




Nasa’s backstory is extremely creative and helps set him up as an interesting character. Nasa grew up hating his given name because people would laugh at it or make fun of him over it, causing him to develop a chip on his shoulder as he set out to prove the world wrong about their perception of him. He dedicated himself to his studies and became confident bordering on arrogant as he regularly performed well on tests, further inflating his ego. Seeing Tsukasa and being hit by a truck humbled him. For the first time, Nasa was able to focus on somebody other than himself and grew into a much more tolerable person as a result.




Tsukasa is a bit of a mystery at first. Even with a backstory that justifies marrying a stranger from years prior on a whim, there is still a lot to uncover about who Tsukasa is and what her goals are. For the most part, Tsukasa comes off as a normal person with normal characteristics who also happens to be a huge fan of movies and video games. Her defining trait is easily her ability to go into long-winded explanations of movie franchises and cinematography, usually to convince Nasa to watch movies with her.




Tonikaku Kawaii sets itself up in a very silly way to deliver a very silly premise. Nasa rising from being hit by a truck just to track down the girl he was charmed by is presented as comedy, but there is also a very light serious element in play as this event is made out to be the defining moment in Nasa’s life and a major paradigm shift for him. Proposing marriage while heavily injured from a car wreck is absurd, and having the recipient of that proposal show up years later to make good on it is even more absurd. Tonikaku Kawaii does not pretend to root itself in reality and even has a bonus chapter early on pointing out how this would never actually happen.




While the romance genre exists as a spectrum that encompasses every point of a relationship from meeting to parting, the overwhelming majority of that genre takes place on the side of the spectrum leaning towards meeting. Romance is often about characters falling in love with the assumption that they will live happily ever after once they accept each other’s feelings and is rarely about characters staying in love. By beginning the series with both characters getting married while hardly knowing each other, Tonikaku Kawaii is able to draw from the discovery of an early relationship while also indulging in the security of a marriage. The stakes then become whether the main characters stay together instead of whether they get together, which provides a new sense of tension rarely explored by the genre on the occasion where their future looks grim.




Once Nasa and Tsukasa are married, Tonikaku Kawaii opens up to showcase its main premise of being a feel-good fluff piece instead of a romantic fantasy. The basic plot of each character discovering more about the other while the two grow closer is put in a unique perspective as Tsukasa and Nasa are establishing an emotional bond while a legal bond already exists. The characters are stuck with each other for better or worse, but this is presented as positive and consensual as opposed to the trope of a couple forced into a marriage.




Tsukasa and Nasa compliment each other in a classic book smart versus culturally smart way where Nasa is a scientific genius while Tsukasa enjoys video games and movies. Tsukasa is placed as the funny man the majority of the time as her passion is presented in an over-the-top comical fashion to a clueless Nasa who would agree and support her regardless of her opinion or knowledge out of love. Despite both characters having vast knowledge on specific topics, they are united by a common lack of understanding of basic domestic life. This acts as a much-needed driving force for the plot as Tsukasa and Nasa are not just faced with the challenges of living together but living with other people in general.




Tonikaku Kawaii may not be a thought-provoking series that brings big brain ideas to the table, but a creative take on romance coupled with a sense of identity help this series stand out in one of the oldest genres of literature. There are a handful of interesting ideas thrown into the mix, but the series is overall a relaxing romance for those such as myself who don’t always want intense gripping drama. Tonikaku Kawaii is not currently licensed for a western release but we stan most fan translators.