Toradora: Aisaka Taiga’s Super Driver!

It seems the parodies and MAD videos craziness will continue for a while…This time, it is the turn for Haruhi’s Second Season OP Super Driver, Toradora Style!

I wonder if MAD video makers wants to make this OP legendary like the other Evangelion or Lucky Star videos…Here it is:

This OP version looks good, but I must admit I like the K-ON version better.

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Toradora ep.25

It’s the end! Yasuko reconciles with her parents, Ryuuji and Taiga both return home. But Taiga disappears! Oh no!?

Yay! On a side note, the budget’s back! They made everything look quite pretty for the finale.  (I could actually make some good animated gifs this time!) I’ll save my thoughts about this episode at the end.

Yasuko rushes to her parent’s home looking for Ryuuji after getting a message from Taiga. She relieved to find Ryuuji there and starts bawling, her father tells her that she did a good job of raising Ryuuji. Yasuko is scolded by her father, but she reconciles with them. After, Ryuuji talks to Yasuko, in which Yasuko confirms that she was never married and that her father had run off with another woman when she was pregnant. Yasuko says that she wanted to protect Ryuuji, but she failed and “things broke”. But Ryuuji says nothing broke and she did a good job raising him, just as his grandfather said. When Ryuuji ran away, Yasuko saw hoe big he was now, and was afraid he would never come back, leaving her all alone. Ryuuji tells her that even if he’s in no place to say this, running away doesn’t solve everything, and he’ll grow up in front of her.

It’s bedtime and Ryuuji discovers his grandparents put the same room with Taiga because “they’re getting married anyways”. Ryuuji thinks this is why his mom turned out this way. Taiga turns off the lights and opens the window to look at the stars. She tells Ryuuji that she thinks eloping won’t work. Ryuuji says that they don’t have to run away, that they’ll get everyone’s approval. Taiga looks concerned/upset and tells him that it’ll be a “long time” before that would happen (as I recall Juliet had more sense than Romeo, I think Taiga’s very right here.)

Taiga asks Ryuuji to practice their wedding in this room. Ryuuji is flustered and tries saying his vows, but Taiga realizes she doesn’t want a vow now, because even without one, they’ll always be together. Ryuuji is open to kiss Taiga, but Taiga says that his lips are cracked, and it’ll hurt if they kiss. But Ryuuji kisses her regardless of that. He asks how it was like, and she replies that it was dry, but warm. Taiga tells him to kiss her once more, over and over again.

It’s the next day and the trio head home. Taiga wants to go back to her apartment, Ryuuji is concerned and wants to go with her. However Taiga wants to face her parents by herself. Taiga goes into her apartment and is surprised to find it’s empty and no signs of her mother. She checks her phone and finds several angry voicemails from her mother. The final one is filled with silence, then a sudden burst of frustration as her mother states she’s giving up. Taiga smiles and comments that she’s like a child. ( I wonder where Taiga got her temper from.)

Taiga reflects on how she didn’t think she would ever be loved but that was an excuse to run away.She looks at the night sky and unlike the starry sky back at Ryuuji’s grandparent’s, she can only see one star. She compares herself to the star and how she was hidden and lonely. She says she blamed her lack of confidence on her family and environment, but despite that Ryuuji still loved her. Taiga tells herself that she won’t run away anymore, and that she’ll change and accept everything.

Ryuuji is back at school the next day, but Taiga is missing. Yumi-sensei announces that Taiga has withdraw from school due to family problems. Yumi tells everyone to respect her desicion, but everyone’s upset. They all whip out their cellphones start calling/texting her.

Ryuuji walks out of the room and is followed by Minorin and Ami. Minorin slaps Ryuuji and yells at him for coming back by himself. Ryuuji says that if he could bring her back, he would. But she believes in him, and all he can do it accept it.

Ryuuji goes to Taiga’s apartment and finds a bag next to her bed. He looks inside and attempt to find a partner for a loose sock, he discovers Taiga’s passport, Minorin’s savings, and a journal (?) with pictures in it. He firsts sees the picture of Taiga and Kitamura’s dance, but underneath is a picture of Taiga and Ryuuji. Ryuuji calls Taiga “stupid”. (Although Coalguy’s subs says “stupid”, I think “doji”  literally means “clumsy”)

Suddenly he receives a text message from Taiga, saying that he never told her that he loved her and calls him stupid. Ryuuji remembers he didn’t because they were interrupted. Then he recieves a mysterious black picture from Taiga.

All of Taiga’s classmates also receive this picture, and everyone is trying to figure out what it is. Minorin says that it’s the picture of the dark night sky with a single star. She says that it means that she (Taiga) will try her best, because despite the sky looking pitch dark, there are still stars out there. And that the sky connect us, no matter where we are, and we will definitely see each other doing our best.

Ami fake-cries and tells Minorin she overdid it. But every agrees with Minorin and Ami thinks they should send a reply with Taiga’s precious Christmas star.

While everyone is searching for the star, Ryuuji tells Ami that she’s amazing for thinking of these things to make people happy. Ami is surprised, but looks happy to hear this from Ryuuji. She says that she was always loved, even if she caused trouble. She used to feel jealous of Taiga, but then she realized Taiga was timid and weak inside and took anything people threw at her, not letting anyone see her true self.

Ryuuji says that she’s just like a certain someone, but Ami says that she was found out at the very beginning. She says she’s a child, and hate pretending to be an adult and wanted everyone to accept her for who she truly was. But now she thinks that it’s okay, as long as there’s at least one person who knows her true self. (I’m not sure if this person is Ryuuji or Taiga. Ryuuji called her “child” a long time ago, but Ami said recently she felt closest to Taiga)

The whole class poses with the star, with Minorin and Ami forcing Ryuuji to smile “properly”

Ryuuji is alone outside and in his head tells Taiga that even if she’s not at his side now, he’d jump through time and space to be there always. He says that these feelings will never change.

Epilogue: During the ending song, we see Ryuuji’s class graduating. Providing commentary are some underclassmen who talk about all the great things the seniors did, especially the cultural festival. They mention how they won because of the Palmtop Tiger, and everyone gasps when the commentator says that she’s Takasu’s girlfriend. Ryuuji is walking in front of the school gate when he spots a familliar figure in the window.

Ryuuji rushes to his classroom and doesn’t see Taiga, but he knows where to find her. He opens the locker at the back of the room and Taiga is disappointed because he wanted to surprise him. (Definitely, Taiga’s new school uniform isn’t as cute as the red one). After Taiga gets out of the locker Ryuuji suddenly tells her “I love you”. Taiga gets embarrased and headbutts Ryuuji, yelling at him for saying itout of nowhere.

The end! D’awwwww

Impressions:

While in the past few episodes I was getting frustrated with the stupidity of Ryuuji and Taiga’s desicion, in this episode they did realize they can’t keep running away. Ryuuji decides to face his problem by making up with his mother and coming back to school. Taiga however goes back to her parents against Ryuuji’s wishes. While it was sad that Taiga and Ryuuji had to be seperated the rest of their high school life, it was probably the right decision for Taiga to reconcile with her parents first. I’m that Ryuuji, Ami, and Minorin came to a point of understanding Taiga and each other. Not sure about Kitamura though. I also liked the pitch dark sky with a single star. However I think it’s the pollution in Tokyo (?) that’s causing that to happen. I am also happy that Ami’s character development was completed.

While the ending was quite sweet and cute, and got me all fangirl-happy. It was predictable, but I don’t really mind since it didn’t leave a bad taste in my mouth. (For example, the X’amd ending was happy, but left an annoying bitter taste). It still left a lot of questions, such as what did Ryuuji decide to do with her future overall, how did Taiga solve her problems with her parents, what’s going to happen to the other characters, etc. While I really want to know the answers to these questions, it probably would cause clutter and probably the rest is up to us to think of (or to included in DVD specials or OVAs).

Initially I was expecting this to be some harem comedy or a romantic comedy, but around the end it veared more towards a romantic drama. At the beginning I wasn’t expecting much, the characters were alright, but as the series progressed they really grew on me (except Minorin who changed from weird to violently insane).I really enjoyed the character development throughout the series, (even if people don’t speak in neat metaphors in normal conversations). I really had a feeling that the characters did change for the better, discovering their true selves alongside the viewer. It’s nice to look back at the beginning episodes and see how they’re almost completely different characters now.

I think JC Staff did a good job. Although I only read some of the manga and barely any of the novel, so the “drastic changes” made didn’t really bother me. Although now I want to check out the novels to see if I’m missing anything. My only big complaint was the animation for the last few episodes (minus the finale) that looked terrible. I don’t mind terrible animation, but when the other episodes are gorgeous, it’s hard not to notice.

I do like romance in anime, ironically I always like to see romantic couples in action anime (or any non-romance genre), however I always find watching pure-romance anime exhausting. All the back and forth “I love you”, “oh no I can’t” and all the stupid, frustrating reasons the couple can’t get together in order to make the show longer. However Toradora tricked me. I watched it thinking it would be a comedy,  but I got a lot of romance instead. Which I actually found quite refreshing, because although it did have some “Oh no I can’t love him because my best friend loves him” or other kind of frustrating stuff, the characters of Toradora eventually wake up to reality.

Overall, Toradora was a fun series to follow. There were highs and lows, but I was consistently entertained every episodes. Although I admit I bawled my eyes out more often than I laughed out loud. I haven’t seen enough anime to judge how good it was, but I would definitely recommend it.

Now that Toradora’s done, I’m not too sure what series to follow. I’ve been busy this time of the year due to college applications and preparing for AP tests, so I’m out of the loop of what the upcoming series are about. I also dropped many series that I wanted to continue last season. Any suggestions? Also where does one get that image of all the upcoming  series and their summary?

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Toradora ep.23-24

Last Saturday I came down with either the nastiest cold I’ve ever had or it could’ve been the flu. It lasted the whole week and I still feel a little miserable, but at least I can function properly.

I haven’t seen Toradora in a week, but the animation still looks pretty shaky. Everyone still looks a little out of place, even Taiga who usually looks fine during her close-ups looked terribly off character. Ryuuji looked the worst, looking inconsistent scene to scene.  It seems like they saved most of the budget for the end of the episode, but even those part looked a little odd. Usually bad animation isn’t a problem for me, but this time it was very distracting during the very dramatic and supposively touching scenes.

It seems like the creators are rushing to close all the ends of Toradora before the finale, making things kinda rushed and sudden. While bringing Ryuuji and Taiga together, we also fully close Ami and Minorin’s arc in the process. Since I’m late anyways, I’ll focus on my impression for these two episodes.

I was going to complain how Ryuuji is acting stupid for not listening to her mother’s wish to go to college, but I’ll cover that at the end of the episode. Tsk, tsk Ryuuji, to think I respected you at the begining of the series. When Taiga said that she wouldn’t need to work since she was rich. In real life that wouldn’t made me very angry, but of course I reasoned she was lying. Taiga says that since she doesn’t really know her present self, she can’t really think about the future. Well, you guys are making some pretty stupid decisions, but whatever. Although I did think it was interesting how Taiga wanted to live a normal life.

Next up was Ami. Ami was going to leave after the first semmester of school, but discovered after each day she wanted to stay. She especially connected which Taiga, whom she understood and wanted to save if no one else did.

Ryuuji finds out that his mother has fainted, probably from overworking. He gets all angry and leaves to get food for Yasuko, Taiga runs after him with his coat. Ryuuji is acting like a douche, blaming Yasuko’s fainting on him, breaking down, Taiga tells him to get a grip, etc. I really think Ryuuji’s regressed in terms of character. He used to be the only sane, mature one in the bunch. Now I’m not too sure why Minorin and Ami would like him. (Taiga I can understand though). His attitude makes Taiga’s look like a saint. My rankings for these characters changed quite a lot when I first saw this series.

Overall, Ryuuji and Minorin especially feel down on the rankings.  Ryuuji, in most recent conversations just usually nods and says something to the equivalent to “I see”. Taiga improved trememdously, she’s like a completely different character. Although she’s lost a lot of her feistyness. Ami has gone to a pretentious bitch to taking the role of “the most sane one here”. Minorin went from genki-girl to absolutely batshit insane.

Anyways Ryuuji and Taiga sell chocolates in place of Yasuko. They meet Haruta, who surprisingly has a girlfriend (who I initially mistook as Kihara’s best friend). Noto also stops by, and Taiga says that he’s looking for Kihara and that he likes her. Since they’re not selling much, Taiga takes out her secret weapon and asks Ami to advertise. Ami reluctantly does it when onlookers start to recognize her and she then walks away (Did anyone notice she just walked off without paying?). Ryuuji runs after her and says that she should stay longer, since everyone adores her. Ami thinks to herself, she wouldn’t mind if everyone didn’t like her. There a probably a million ways to interpret this, but my assumption is that she doesn’t care what others think, as long as she gets Ryuuji’s approval or something.

Taiga brings chocolates for everyone in thanks for rescuing her at the ski resort. Taiga especially thanks Kitamura for carrying her on his back, which shocks Minorin, who realizes Ryuuji lied to Taiga.

Minorin angrily confronts Ryuuji staring him down, calling him a liar with the nasiest face ever. Taiga tries to stop her, but Minorin grabs Taiga’s hand, shaking her asking her why she can’t be honest. Taiga tries to run away, but Ami and Kitamura are blocking the entrances. Minorin grabs on to her shoulders and tries to talk some sense into her, telling her that her (Minorin’s) happinesss depends on herself, not Taiga. Taiga runs away and escapes as Ami moves away from the door.

This was a pretty intense moment and I was absolutely caught off guard. I could feel all the pressure building when Minorin heard Ryuuji’s lies, but I didn’t expect Minorin to absolutely blow up, even being quite violent and forceful with Taiga. It was pretty scary (it was like Minorin could just murder Ryuuji with her eyes), I’m thinking a lot of it stemmed from Minorin’s own guilt of leading Taiga “astray” from Ryuuji because of Taiga’s dedication to her. But if I didn’t know the circumstances before, this scene looked a lot more like some sort of alcohol or drug intervention, not “confronting your romantic feelings” intervention. Well it’s safe to say Minorin’s batshit insane. However she was right that it’s up to oneself to be happy. I don’t know if this scene went so well with me, as I felt more uncomfortable than emotionally touched.

Episode 24

Takasu decides to run after Taiga with Minorin. Minorin calls out to Taiga, admitting she does like Ryuuji (in front of Ryuuji too), but wants to give him to Taiga, because she needs him the most. Taiga hears her, but leaves the entrance before the two could make it.

Minorin collaspes, but only has a nosebleed. Ryuuji takes her to the nurse office and they take the time to explain Minorin’s background. What. the. Why now? Anyways Minorin explains that she was saving up all her money to go to a sports college so she could prove that women can play baseball. And that she can that Ryuuji likes Taiga, in which Ryuuji confirms it. Minorin cheers him on after he runs after Taiga.

Taiga goes to the pastry shop, surprised to find Ryuuji there. Ryuuji says that Taiga is honest enough to not miss work. Taiga tells him to meet her after work and if she tries to run away,  to stop her. However as the two walk together after work, they’re confronted by their two angry moms, Yasuko and Taiga’s real mom. Taiga’s real mom wants Taiga to live with her and Yasuko is furious that Ryuuji is working without telling her. Ryuuji yells at his mom for pushing all her failure on to him, when in reality she’s the biggest failure of all (well he said something equivalent to that, but he was still being a big douche). Taiga takes Ryuuji’s hand and they both make a run for it.

Taiga explains that her father’s business failed and he ran away. He asked Taiga’s real mom to take care of her, but Taiga didn’t think she’d fit in her new family. Ryuuji says that he think that if he weren’t born, his mother’s life would’ve been better. She’d gone back to high school and not have such a burden. Taiga looks distressed and tells Ryuuji that the reason why she is alive is because Ryuuji was there for her. And if her weren’t born, she wouldn’t know what she would be doing. (At this point I finally get teary-eyed, you’re letting me down Toradora!)

Taiga accidentally pushed Ryuuji over into the river. Ryuuji proclaims that he’ll run away until he’s 18, then he’ll marry her. Taiga interrupts him saying that she promised that she would tell Ryuuji (her feelings) before that. She jumps down into the river, and Ryuuji says they should do it at the same time. However they’re interrupted by Kitamura who tells him to hide from their parents at Ami’s house.

Friar Lawrence agrees to let Romeo marry Juliet, despite being Romeo being infatuated with Rosaline not too long ago.

The two tell their friends of their plan, and although they disapprove of their decision, they decide to give them support.  Minorin lends her life savings, Ami gives the key to her villa, and Kitamura gives them… some sort of papers I’m not too sure what those are…

Since we’ve been both dumped, let’s become lesbians Ami!

After they leave, Minorin starts bursting into tears. Ami is thinks she’s upset about giving up Ryuuji, but Minorin says she’s not even sure herself why she’s crying. She compares getting a nosebleed from tripping in the hallway, to crying when you trip in life. Ami points out that they can’t talk about life since it’s always going on and on. (Ami, you’re still my favorite character)

Ryuuji goes home to get his stuff, but finds that Yasuko has also ran away, leaving his grandfather’s watch and a note to go to his grandfather’s. I was mad at Ryuuji for not treating his mom like an adult who can make desicions,etc, but Ryuuji was right about her afterall… I mean Ryuuji should go to college to have a better life, but forcing to not work is a little unreasonable.

Ryuuji and Taiga are looking at their future selves here

Taiga and Ryuuji go on a train and they then visit Ryuuji’s grandparents, introducing himself and Taiga as his wife.

Okkkkaaaaayyy. Where to start. You know I was really enjoyable all the romance and the proposal made me a happy fangirl. However, everything just popped out of nowhere and had to be respectivly explained in a few sentences. Oh! We forgot to explain Minorin! Oh! How about Taiga’s real mom? It was a little too much for me, and didn’t give me any time to think about those topics. While I always rooted for a Taiga and Ryuuji ending, they’re going for full blown Romeo and Juilet-esque stupidity. Eloping without thinking? You guys just admitted you liked each other this very episode. It’s rash, but dramatic, which well, what this anime aims to be anyways.

Preview: Things sound a little ominous in the next episode with Taiga apologizing to Ryuuji….IT BETTER BE HAPPY DAMMIT.

Looking forward to the finale!

-shirokiryuu

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Toradora ep.22

Taiga is not at school after her accident, and Ryuuji is worried. Everyone is talking about the future, but Ryuuji seems unsure. Minorin takes a new approach to her feelings and Taiga unexpectedly shows up at Ryuuji’s doorstep.

Ryuuji is worried about Taiga and is unsure what to do after hearing Taiga’s unintentional confession about loving Ryuuji. He screams out Taiga’s name in the middle of class after waking up from a nightmare. He talks with Kitamura and tells him that he hasn’t been able to get in contact with Taiga ever since. Taiga is apparently staying with her real mother. Ryuuji tells Kitamura to tell Taiga that she was rescued by Kitamura. Kitamura picks up that this is related to when he met up with Taiga at New Year’s Eve (meaning he knows that Ryuuji knows Taiga’s feelings).

Concerned about Ryuuji, Noto, and Haruta take him a ramen restaurant. They talk about the class assessment which asks them to fill out their future plans. Noto wants to be an editor for a music magazine, while Haruta says he has to work for his father. Ryuuji isn’t sure if he should go to college at all, despite his good grades.

LIBERAL ARRTTZZZZ

Noto asks Ryuuji about Minorin but are interrupted by Minorin herself who declares she’s going into liberal arts. Then some crazy ramen stunts happen and I’m confused.

Ryuuji talks to his mom about his career assessment and is reluctant to go to a 4 year college due to the costs. Yasuko reassures him that it’s not a problem and that he should strive for his full potential. Yasuko tells him not a get a job either and should study. She says that’s always another way.

Minorin is now the boy’s softball team captain. Ryuuji asks how she can manage all these jobs and responsibilities and why she’s doing it. The reason she gives is that she doesn’t want to hinder anyone and it is something that “can be seen”. There’s probably an obvious interpretation of what this means, but I can’t figure it out. I personally think it’s humanly impossible to do the amount of work Minorin does with the same amount of energy. Anyways, Ami is avoiding both Minorin and Ryuuji, criticizing the “father” of playing around when the “child” here. Minorin follows after Ami to her usual stop. Ami looks disappointed to see Minorin (it appears she was expecting Ryuuji).

THERE’S A GHOST IN THAT GAP!!!!

Minorin exclaims that there’s a ghost that lives in that gap between the vending machines. Ami is shocked and jumps up, asking why she was never told that. It was a big surprise for me, because Minorin hasn’t done something this crazy in a while. It reminds me of the earlier episodes. However, Minorin switches back to her serious self. Minorin then goes on about how ghosts have personalities and want to be seen by people who understand them. She admits she had seen a ghos, she didn’t want to yearn for them and get so lost in her feelings she can’t see reality. However she declares that she won’t hesistate anymore. Ami tries to act uninterested, but seems annoyed. I’m not sure what is Minorin is trying to accomplish by telling Ami this. Is she trying to tell Ami to butt out? Or is she trying to prove that she’s not the weak girl at the ski resort anymore? It would be interesting if Ami and Minorin started yelling at each other with doll house and ghost metaphors.

A sign of the changing times??

Yumi-sensei asks about Ryuuji’s career assessment and Ryuuji says it’s normal to not want to go to college. However Yumi-sensei wants to know how Ryuuji feels about it, not how others do. Ryuuji returns home and finds out that his mother is working a part-time job. I can see why Ryuuji is concerned about paying for college and doesn’t want his mom to overwork herself for him, but I think that going to college would make Yasuko very happy. Well, I’m still looking for to see what Ryuuji’s planning to do with his future. He could probably just be a live-in manwife or something.  Ryuuji puts away Minorin’s hairclip into his box of “embarrassing things” that Ryuuji showed Taiga in the first episode. Looking back, the art looks almost completely different. The characters look a lot more grown up now, it feels like they were showing a different series in that flashback.

I’m not too sure what the V sign means in this context

The doorbell rings and Ryuuji thinks it’s Yasuko. Much to his surprise it’s Taiga. He starts stuttering and frantically grabs Taiga and questions her. Taiga beats him up and end up facing each other, causing each other to blush. (This made the fangirl in me go “kyaa~!” despite how awkward that moment was). Ryuuji is still blushing and says he’s just surprised after not seeing her for so long.It turns out that Taiga was not seriously injured and skipped school so she could spend time with her mother. I’m curious how Taiga’s real mom is like. Especially why Taiga isn’t living with her despite how much Taiga loves her mom.

jiiiiiiiii~

Taiga came to Ryuuji’s house because she forgot her keys and wanted to break into her house from Ryuuji’s balcony. Ryuuji tries to get Taiga to stay, offering dinner and then saying Inko-chan wants to say hi. Taiga stays to play with Inko-chan, and Ryuuji thinks to himself that being with Taiga is the best. Taiga realizes that Ryuuji is staring at her and crying. Not only was that really awkward, I thought it was a little creepy the way Ryuuji’s face was drawn.Taiga gets up to leave and sees Ryuuji’s box of embarrassing things. She sees the pin and says she’s clumsy, but serious and can’t stop thinking about it. I’m still sure what she means by “it”. She then changes the subject, reassuring Ryuuji that things will be fine between him and Minorin. Ryuuji looks a little frustrated since he now knows Taiga’s feelings.

Don’t do it Taiga! You have so much to live for!

Before Taiga jumps to her apartment, Taiga tells Ryuuji she had a dream when she was unconscious that she said something “stupid” to Kitamura. Ryuuji assures that it was Kitamura who carried her and that she was dreaming. Taiga is relieved and crashes into her apartment.

Note: jumping headfirst into an apartment isn’t always the best idea.

Things are awkward between Taiga and Ryuuji, but at least Ryuuji admits he prefers being with Taiga. Minorin has terrible timing, just when she decides she’ll seriously pursue Ryuuji, Ryuuji is realizing his feelings for Taiga. It seems he’s dependant on Taiga’s companionship. I’m also curious about Ryuuji’s future because it seems like he’s never done much for himself. Same goes with Taiga who seems a little too self-sacrificial. I would’ve said the same for Minorin, but I can’t really say about anything going around in her head. However it seems now she is doing things out of her own will.

I spy fanservice.

The next episode looks pretty light, however it seems like we will get a look into Ami’s feelings as well. I’m glad we’re finally out of the Minorin “arc” and now I hope it’ll delve a little into Ami. (Taiga of course is last.)

See you next time!

-shirokiryuu

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