First Impressions / Toradora!

Summary:

During her New Years shrine visit, Taiga runs into Yuusaku and reveals to him that Ryuuji is sick at home. Yuusaku wants to go see him, but Taiga first puts her hands together and bows to Yuusaku as if she’s praying or about to ask him for a favor. A few days later, after he’s feeling better, Ryuuji gets a chance to speak with Taiga again, and although his thoughts were on how he got rejected by Minori, his more immediate concern is how Taiga is eating ramen again and hasn’t been coming over for dinner. Taiga, however, reveals that she’s doing this for his and Minori’s sake. She suspects that Minori has been misunderstanding the relationship between her and Ryuuji to the point where Minori thinks that Taiga needs him. Because of that, she’s decided to be independent from Ryuuji from now on, and she wants him to not run away and to go ascertain Minori’s true feelings.

The next morning, as Ryuuji is leaving, his mother hands him the signed permission form for the school trip to Okinawa. His thoughts are still on Minori though, and they’re even more so after he gets back the suit he traded for the Santa bear costume because with the it comes the gift he never got to give her. As he’s staring at the hair clip that he wanted to give her, Ryuuji suddenly gets dragged into Taiga’s rampage against Haruta for getting her to say a dirty word. When Haruta notices the hair clip, he takes it, but Taiga quickly rips it out of Haruta’s hair because she feels that it still belongs to Ryuuji. The three are then greeted by Minori, but instead of greeting her back, Ryuuji runs away. Once class begins, everyone finds out from their teacher that the hotel they were going to stay in burned down, so instead of going to Okinawa, they’re now going skiing.

That afternoon, Yuusaku notices that Ryuuji is going home without Taiga, and this reminds Ryuuji of how Taiga is doing her best by herself for his sake. By chance, he runs into Ami on his way home, and she’s not particularly happy to see him, claiming that she hates him because he’s an idiot. Ami is actually meeting with Taiga and has brought a bag that Taiga wanted. After telling Ami about the change to the ski trip, Taiga also makes it clear that she doesn’t want Ami around Ryuuji during the trip. This leads to Ami hearing about how Ryuuji got rejected by Minori and how Taiga feels that this trip will be Ryuuji’s last chance to ascertain Minori’s true intentions. Before leaving, Ami suggests to Ryuuji that it’d be better if he were the only one to get hurt. Taiga and Ryuuji then head home in the same direction, and he gets the opportunity to thank her for what she’s doing. He’s still unsure about Minori’s actual feelings, however Taiga isn’t and believes in Ryuuji as well.

The next morning, Ryuuji sees Minori on his way to school, and this time, he’s able to greet her. When Taiga comes running towards them and tells Minori to grab Ryuuji, Minori does so, but Taiga then dashes past them and throws them her bag. That leaves the two to carry Taiga’s bag to school together, just as Taiga wanted. Along the way, Ryuuji comments on how Minori got her hair cut, and the two start talking about her hair and then her little brother. In class, Yuusaku announces the groups for the trip, and Ryuuji and all of his friends are together. Since they need to make a trip guide, they decide to gather at Taiga’s house to plan things out. During all this, Ryuuji notices that Taiga’s able to speak normally with Yuusaku now, but Taiga turns his attention to helping Minori make tea.

In the kitchen, Minori comments on how it’s strange that there’s usable tableware in Taiga’s home because it wasn’t that way when she last came to Taiga’s house during their first year in high school. She attributes it to Ryuuji, but he explains how Taiga is doing things on her own now. Minori nevertheless thinks that Taiga was able to do it because Ryuuji was there. She also mentions how she’s looking forward to the trip since it’s the last time everyone in their class will be doing something together, and she wishes that they could stay like this forever. Ryuuji, however, realizes that that wouldn’t be any good, and he’s determined to ascertain Minori’s true feelings during the trip. He knows that he has to do his best to tell her his own feelings which got cut off on Christmas Eve.

Preview

It’s good to see that the series doesn’t waste any time at this point on people – mainly Taiga – being confused/in the dark about what happened. Granted, we’re only a handful of episodes away from the ending now, so they can’t really afford to waste time, but I’m still glad that Taiga realizes from the get-go that Minori likes Ryuuji but rejected him because she thought Taiga needed him. The characters are maturing, and while I can’t help but think that the fastest solution is for Taiga to have a direct talk with Minori to clear things up, I guess there’s no fun in that, plus Taiga will eventually have to stop relying on Ryuuji anyway. On the other hand, after the end of last week’s episode, I was hoping that Taiga would be more upfront about her own feelings. I’d hate to see the series end without some acknowledgment of that.

Meanwhile, after weeks of being so gloomy, Minori manages to be cute again this episode, making her a lot more likable. I don’t think it’s too late to rehabilitate her character (and in fact it’s a welcome change), but it’s disappointing to see them doing that while at the same time having Ami becoming less and less a viable option for who Ryuuji can end up with. Ami spends most of this episode in kind of a subdued pissed-off mood, and she doesn’t look too happy in the preview either. Speaking of which, it appears that another special event (the school trip) will lead to the next advancement of the relationships. These kids never have a dull moment do they…

80 Comments

  8. It’s kind of disappointing how they don’t create any progress between Ryuuji and Ami. So far, Ryuuji sees Ami as a friend, nothing more. If anything, I’d say he gets mildly annoyed at times. He’s also oblivious to the hints Ami drops from time to time.

    Isteb
    Reply

  20. Who was the guy who wrote… “this a story of a journey, not destination”? Everybody seems worked out about it… I like ryuujixMinorin, but it won’t change the fact that will be TaigaxRyuuji… just enjoy the show!

    Rick
    Reply

  23. pissed off ami isn’t cute for sure, but i do sympathize with her situation. as they say: you don’t have a second chance to make a first impression. it definitely seems as if the first impression that ryuuji got of her completely turned him off in terms of seeing her as a viable interest. i say i sympathize because she seems to have recognized this a few episodes back when she was having her “you’re like a father daughter couple” conversation with him.

    there doesn’t seem to be any way to redeem herself to ryuuji, and while it may definitely have been an interest in him because he’s not interested in her initially it does seem that her feelings have progressed beyond that.

    Show Spoiler ▼

    RickyMack
    Reply

  35. Despite Minorin finally looking a bit happier, it still doesen’t exactly rehabilitate her character for me, she still comes off as competely useless in my opinion.
    besides that, looks like a decent episode and hopefully there will be some development at the ski trip, the assumption is obviously towards Ryuji and Taiga.
    Im dissapointed in Ami as well, i thought she was an interesting character but she seems to be taking a back seat to literally everything, it doesen’t really help that Ryuji is oblivious to her hints. Kitamura seems to be out of it as well, but its mere speculation at this point.

    Precise Moment
    Reply

  36. @ Rick
    You’re absolutely right. It’s obvious from reading the description of the anime, months before it started airing,who the pairing would be. And considering how at the end of Vol. 9 Show Spoiler ▼

    . any other ending but Taiga x Ryuji would be anime original, or just stop before where the Novel is going to end.

    huh?
    Reply

  37. We’ll i’m totally for Ami X Ryuji just because they look the best combination. Aesthetics wise. Minorin always seemed wierd to me and Taiga and Ryuuji is just too generic. More plot and ENDING TWISTS please Ya’ll!

    Gootingberg
    Reply

  40. Doesn’t the 10th and final light novel come out in March? then maybe the animators were given the final details and already know how it will end. The timing will be such that the final episodes would be when the novel is out so they could follow it perfectly instead of going with an original ending

    Cybergig1
    Reply

  43. The only thing that is certain that we have to wait.
    Let me say something objective: The most people started watching this because of the unique characters, but they are killing the unique endings slowly but surely, and we will have a japanese-style tsundere ending… Just a little bit disappointing.
    I know, there are a lot of Taiga fan, but the majority is Ami fan(including myself).
    But this show if for japanese people, and maybe they are mostly Taiga-fans(Just maybe, I don’t know)… I’m still rooting for an Ami x Ryuuji ending despite the lack of hope…

    Yogasa.S>
    Reply

  45. I’m guessing the author is scramble on how to end the story, He’s probably looking for the right direction to end the story without a big controversy over the fans. Boy is he going to have to pull a code geass twist to end the story. I’m still rooting for Ami even though, thats unlikely going to happen.

    ForReal
    Reply

  47. @ ForReal

    just to let ya know the author is actually a female, not to be sexist but i think her gender does play a role on the impact of this story. not sure if this is correct or not but from what i heard she fashioned the story to show that relationships stem from intimacy greater than just physical contact.

    seeing as how TaigaXRyuuji’s relationship developed, one of the pinnacle scenes being at the beach house where they were in a large room yet still chose to sit close to each other as if they were in his small apartment, i think that explanation seems to be valid as to why we most likely will be receiving a “toradora” ending and why the author probably wouldn’t be as concerened about what fans would want.

    the fact that she isn’t obligated to produce model kit sales ensures that she’ll get room to craft the story on her terms O_o.

    RickyMack
    Reply

  49. @ jankiel: witaj bracie! ale tu gadaj po angielsku 😛
    @ everyone: translation of the above:
    welcome bro! but speak english or die!
    Ami FTW! she’s a supermodel, everyone in the school is hot for her and Ryuji does the “cool male lead who doesnt have a clue” trick! tsk!

    ewok
    Reply

  52. My own opinion:

    In this episode, I saw a boy who is really a transvestite, and a girl who is having some menstrual problem…

    I guess Ami-chan is not very happy while she is working in Hawaii.

    LQY
    Reply

  58. Well different couples are a good match for different reasons. Kinda like a jigsaw puzzle. It’s not always obvious why they match but they do. Do they really match or is there better matches out there? We’ll see it eventually.

    P.S. I want to put Inko chan out of its misery immediately. It had been a while for me since I got annoyed at the mere sight of a character.

    Teo
    Reply

  59. @seung
    I think that u r just bored as all of us in tsundere endings. 😉
    I also can barely imagine that one for now, and still hoping for Ami x Ryuji ending.
    (Minorin character was for me kinda strange from the begining of the series, I just didn’t and still don’t like her even now)

    jXr69
    Reply

  60. i want ryoji and ami to be together..but i don’t think it would end like that…if you notice there was a moment when ryoji told taiga that now she can talk normally with kitamura…so that means she doesn’t like kitamura anymore…..

    focker27
    Reply

  70. Ami is a great character and she seems to be the most understandable, but i doubt ryuji will end up with her because he would have to have some feeling for her by now at least. It’s a shame because I would prefer that ending, but I know well enough that it’s not going to happen at least from where the story stands now. The only way I see that happening is if they do one of those time skip at the end and show them together, but even that sounds like wishful thinking. All I hope is that they don’t end the story with her being angry with everyone. They have to bring resolve to her and ryuji story. I want Ryuji to end up with minori, not because I like her character that much, but because it shows that ryuji can defy all odds and get what he wanted even though a lot of things stood in his way.

    Craig
    Reply

  76. I still say its gonna end up like school rumble, where noone gets with anyone, they all decide that its less messy that way, and they all get over it and get old.

    OR we go to a 2nd season 😀 Which I’m all for.

    Dazzer
    Reply

  78. Just curious…why dose evry1 want Ryuuji & Ami together??? I just don’t get it!!! I never really liked Ami’s attitude…however I do feel for her…her feelings not being noticed by Ryuuji at all!!! (O_O)

    Kuromigrl
    Reply

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