Another fun anime I’ve been watching during the current season has been Tonikaku Kawaii (English title TONIKAWA: Over the Moon For You), a rather adorable story of the main character with the unlikely name of Nasa who sees the girl of his dreams while walking in the snow. He walks towards her but is nearly killed by a truck, though the girl saves him at the last minute. He confesses his love to her, though he doesn’t even know her name yet, and she agrees to date him…as long as he’ll marry her. As he passes out from his injuries, Nasa agrees.
The accident has a negative effect on Nasa’s plans to get into a top-rank university, and several years later he’s working in a convenience store, wondering if the girl he met might have been a trauma-induced hallucination. Then the impossible happens: the girl, whose name is Tsukasa, shows up on his doorstep so that Nasa can fulfill his promise to marry her. They get married and begin an adorable life together that can only be described as dere-dere (“lovey-dovey”).
Who Names Their Son “Nasa”?
While finding the girl of your dreams who fits you perfectly in every way might be so small that you could calculate it using Drake’s Equation, which is normally used to estimate how many sentient beings might be in our galaxy — a romantic theme of the show — one thing that’s not so difficult to find are Japanese people with really colorful names. This is thanks to a trend called kira kira name that took hold around the year 2000, during which parents started giving bizarrely creative names to their children, using flamboyant kanji characters with ad-hoc pronunciations tacked on. While the parents likely thought they were being cute and creative, society in general mocked the parents as being irresponsible and felt sorry for the unlucky children forced to grow up with highly irregular names that no one could read.
Some examples of actual names that exist as a result of the kira kira name boom include
- 宇宙 Sora, written with characters that mean “space” though the pronunciation means “sky.”
- 心愛 Kokoa, aka Cocoa, the delicious chocolaty drink.
- 希星 Kitei, as in Hello Kitty.
- 皇帝 Shiizaa, phonetically Caesar. And the characters mean “Emperor.”
- 亜富 Atomu. Apparently chosen by parents who are fans of Astro Boy.
- 七音 Doremi, as in musical notation, or the influential magical girl anime.
- 綺羅 Kira. Yes, there are some 20-year-olds walking around Japan today who are named after the villain from Death Note.
One parent even tried to name their son 悪魔 Akuma, which means “devil,” but the Japanese government had to get involved to stop it. This caused a big public discussion about individual vs. government rights.
Does Tonikaku Kawaii Have the Best Anime Opening This Season?
One thing I love about the wider anime world of fandom is that there are many ways to be a fan and discover new things to love. You could choose anime to watch based on the manga, or focus on series made by certain creators, or discover new anime to watch through memes. Another way to seek out new shows is through anime openings, and I know some fans who are mainly fans of anison (anime songs), only willing to watch a series if the OP and ED (anime opening and ending themes) are really outstanding.
I found the Tonikaku Kawaii OP quite awesome, and asked J-List customers to share their favorite theme songs of other show airing this season. Here are some of the other standouts of the current anime season that they suggested!
I’m thoroughly enjoying the third season of Strike Witches, which brings back all the action, lovable characters, and panty shots that made the original so special. Read my post about the new Strike Witches: The Road to Berlin here!
Another series with an epic anime opening is Assault Lily: Bouquet, in which the Earth is being attacked by mysterious creates…but don’t worry, because elite girls who train at a “battle high school” have the skills to defend us all.
Being a card-carrying fan of stories about girls who love girls, I’m loving the low-key yuri anime Adachi and Shimamura, about two high school girls discovering feelings for each other. The OP is great,
Can you believe that we’ve got a new Higurashi When they Cry series? And while hardcore fans of the original might balk at some of the pacing changes, I’m enjoying the new series thoroughly. My post on the new Higurashi series is here.
Jujutsu Kaisen is a popular series about a boy who finds himself surrounded by demons known as Curses who he must battle. And the anime opening song is great!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJid2hqzHsQ
When Jun Maeda makes a new series, fans pay attention, as the man is responsible for some of the most memorable series of the past 20 years. Read my post on The Day I Became a God here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ob0NR7zlirE
Another show I love to evangelize is Golden Kamuy, an outstanding adventure series set in Japan’s frozen north in the early 20th century, as different groups search for a trove of hidden Ainu gold. And the anime opening for season three is great. I’ve got a blog post about the series here.
Isn’t it weird to have more Inuyasha after all these years? But the series looks solid, and the OP definitely is.
Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina is another series with a great OP I can’t bring myself to skip.
Finally, the ending theme to One Room season 3, which comes up at the most emotional scenes as each of the girls looks into your eyes and confesses her love for you, which really gets us right in the kokoro, as this is a POV anime in which “we” are the main characters experiencing the romance first-hand. Read my post on One Room here!
Thanks for reading my post on the Tonikaku Kawaii anime, and exploring the best anime opening songs of the fall 2020 season. Got any more awesome anime openings to recommend? Tell us in the comments below, or share them with us on Twitter!
One of the odd realities about 2020 is that the safest sex partner for all of us is probably ourselves, and J-List has your back with tons of fun new ero products for guys and girls that can really take the edge off. Plus we’re having a “Nutvember” sale giving you 5x J-List Points on all these great products, which can be spent on future purchases. Browse our awesome lineup of Japanese stress-relieving products here!
