Toradora relationships

I watched episode 17 of Toradora last night on Veoh. My Japanese isn’t very good so I understood maybe about a third of it. Regardless of that, it was still pretty compelling. I usually wait for a fansubbed translation for most shows, mostly because I want to understand in detail about what’s going on. If I like the show, I’ll pick up the DVD later when it becomes available. However, Toradora is one of those rare shows that almost compels me to view it as soon as a new episode show up. I really think it’s that good.

I had low expectation of this show at first because I thought Taiga would be another Louise (of Zero no Tsukaima) and the show would be a two dimensional comedy about a tsundere girl having trouble expressing her feelings. Basically, a stock show that many anime viewers have seen dozens of times at least. 

I’m glad that I was wrong. Taiga’s character development has been pleasing to watch. From a girl who could barely control her emotions and who disguised the lack of self confidence through violence, Taiga has come a long way in 17 episodes. She’s still nervous around Kitamura, but she stammers less and doesn’t completely freeze up anymore. However, her greatest development has been around Ryuji, who has an easygoing, almost sibling-like relationship with her.

Of all the relationships on the show, the platonic relationship between Ryuji and Taiga has been the most fun.  When you see scenes of Taiga lounging around Ryuji’s apartment, eating with him and his mom, playing video games, you sense the closeness. It’s there without the stereotypical blushing and accidental viewing of naked bodies contrivances used by other shows. Their relationship has a foundation and depth that puts to shame the flat, uninspiring relationships that exist on other shows.

The perfection of this relationship is why I view future episodes of Toradora with both anticipation and dread. You know it won’t last. It doesn’t take a genius to see that circumstances will put Taiga and Ryuji into a romantic situation that will force them make a painful choice between not admitting their romantic feelings or leaving their easygoing platonic relationship behind.  The pain will be compounded by the complexity of the feelings of their closest friends.

If I had it my way, Taiga would end up with Kitamura and Ryuji with Minori, thereby keeping the platonic relationship between Taiga and Ryuji intact. But I have little hope for this occurence. One of the inviolate laws of anime seem to be that the main female protagonist must end up withe lead male protagonist. I haven’t read the Toradora light novel (I don’t want to be spoiled), but my gut just tells me that this is the way it will end up.

Regardless of how it will end up, I anticipate that the ending will be surprisingly bittersweet, something I would have ever predicted during my first impressions of the show. All in all, Toradora has been a fun ride and has been for me a sleeper hit for this anime season.

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