Tonagura

Title:Tonagura
Tona-gura
Tonagura!
となグラ!
Overall:Rent
Keywords: , , , , , , ,
Notables:
Kazuki and Yuji were childhood friends, but Yuji had to leave for 10 years. When Kazuki finds out he is coming back, she is anticipating what kind of man he has become. Despite her illusions, he turns out to be a dirty pervert who is trying to win her love (or body?) Will Kazuki open up to him, or is he just a dirty pervert after all?

Based on a manga with the same name.

(Summary from www.thesafehouse.org)

13 TV Episodes
Animation by Doumu


1:50min Series Opening - YouTube Video
Episode Details 
01, 99
OverallArtAnimationCharacter Design MusicSeries StoryEpisode StoryReviewer
Buy 8 8 8 7 8 8 Dreamer [series:1405#2279]
Now here's a fun and entertaining anime. A surprising find.

Art, Animation and Character Design
The art and animation is average. Nothing out of the ordinary. Animation was more or less the same. However, the character designs were really good... a lot of them as very cute... well, the females that is. Kazuki is uber cute looking and Mari (Yuji's little sis) is charming in her own way.

Music
The OP wasn't anything of my interest. However, one song that did catch my interest was the soft piano piece near the end of episode 1... where they're having the reunion. the ED was okay... barely noteworthy.

series and Episode Story
Wow, I thought exactly what Jan-Chan thought below. At first, I thought Yuji was a perv, however, he's only a part-time perv. This story has been done a hundred times over.... well, okay, so I'm not being fair. It's been done a million times over. However even then, this was still humorous and fun to watch.... really fun! Hehehe! I loved Marie's teddy bear gun... hehehe! Poor Yuji get's it from his little sis. There's plenty of ecchi-ness here too. But not seriously over the top. Once you get past the humor and ecchi moments, you have a story that's actually touching.

Overall, it's a good anime. It surprised me since I was expecting more or less the same as the rest of the clones but it turned out otherwise. It's a fun watch so I recommend it.

Last updated Sunday, February 22 2009. Created Sunday, February 22 2009.
Watch Stretch [series:1405#628]
(All episodes watched):

"Looks like another Oh-God-only-in-Japan comedy" was one of the first thoughts to occur to me as I watched episode one of Tonagura*, namely a show where the humor comes largely from the shock you feel at seeing things which you'd always thought would never appear on TV--sort of like High School Girls. I noticed, for example, that one of the commercial break eyecatches consisted of a view of a girl's thigh with the show's logo on it. There's plenty of fanservice but not all that much ecchi--just absurdly perverted antics and a glimpse of panties now and then, so the show remains fairly funny without making me feel at all dirty for watching it. We have another childhood marriage promise--except when the supposed groom (Yuuji) returns after a ten tear absence, he's grown up into a complete pervert! The violence which is meted out to him reminded me of Girls Bravo, except this guy completely deserves it, so I'm not offended. I think Marie, Yuuji's unemotional little sister (who keeps him in line with an air rifle), will be my favorite character--I hope she gets an episode or two to herself. Then there's the obnoxiously cute and genki Niina (the blond girl); she's fun, too. My first impressions were that this show would be nothing exceptional, but I eat up this sort of comedy voraciously, so I'm not complaining. In fact, I waited anxiously until Ryo fansubs provided a version of this show for those of us who still live in the "Avi" era. Two-thirds of the way through I still detected little or no ongoing plotline, which was disappointing, and modest comedy. Still, I think Tonagura has a campy, fun feel to it--something must have been done right, because I've begun rewatching it from the start, even though the fansubbed episodes are still being released and I haven't even seen the entire series a first time. One intriguing twist, which I wish more had been done with, is that Yuuji can behave himself if he has to, and even seem like quite an admirable guy. As the series nears it's end, a fairly decent plot does come together. Going into the final episode, I think too many hints have been dropped about Kazuki's possibly faulty memory, thus spoiling what could have been a killer joke that might have climaxed the series as a whole. But, like I said, a show with a premise like this is a "must watch" for me, and there was no way I'd quit before it's over. I remained eager for new episodes right up 'til the end. Things worked out OK in the end, as one would expect, but the ending seemed rather lackluster to me. I can't help thinking that Tonagura as a whole didn't live up to it's potential, and turned out to be a thoroughly unexceptional show. Though I would pay to rent it, I think most people would consider it a "watch" at best. I would say the chances of Tonagura being R1 licensed are nil.

My favorite line: "Dash! Let's Go!" --Niina

Catch Marie-chan's montage at Cute Girls with Guns!

*What's the deal with anime comedies that have one-word titles of four syllables (and often an exclamation point at the end)? I can name at least six: Tonagura!, Inukami!, Maburaho, Magikano, Himawari! and Mahoraba...

Last updated Sunday, October 31 2010. Created Wednesday, August 23 2006.
Rent Jan-Chan [series:1405#967]
At first glance, I found myself thinking that Yuji (the main character) is a class-A lecherous teenage-pervert (on par with Satonaka Ikko of Amaenaideyo!! or Kawahira Keita of Inukami). But he quickly proves that when he sits on his hands and behaves himself, he can be a very nice and charming boy.

What starts out as a pervert story quickly settles down and proves to be a tale of hazy memories of childhood friendships and first loves. Both Yuji and his little sister are a bit over the top, but then again so is Kazuki's older sister. But that is what makes this tale so entertaining. And if you find yourself ticked off at Yuji's behavior (like I did), then take note that the only girl he really enjoys bothering is Kazuki.
Humm .. I wonder ....

This is easily worth a quick watch if you are into these types of stories.

Last updated Sunday, February 22 2009. Created Wednesday, July 19 2006.

Other Sites
NameURL
Official Starchild Series Web Site http://www.starchild.co.jp/special/tonagra/
Wikipedia entry for this series (English) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonagura

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