Toradora 08
Clues hint that Taiga likes Ryuuji. She doesn’t enjoy the fact that Ryuuji believes her motivation to compete against Ami was simply for Kitamura. Quite apparently, Taiga enjoy’s Ryuuji’s presence, she obviously isn’t comfortable with him leaving for Ami’s villa. Does this indicate love, or just Taiga being uncomfortable with a temporary lengthy loss of a so to say best friend. This obviously remains unclear for now, I would go with the latter as Ryuuji has indeed been doing much for Taiga, as mentioned by Minori. Given Taiga’s personality, she is reluctant to express her gratefulness, probably the reason why the audience only sees Taiga’s violent attacks on Ryuuji.
Hence, I disagree totally with viewers terming Taiga’s actions in the conclusion of the match as “random”. It wasn’t random for sure. Let’s put it this way, Ryuuji treats Taiga overwhelmingly well, Taiga is grateful but keeps her mouth shut in fear of embarassment, Taiga reveals her hidden gratitude under stimulus; in this case, Ryuuji falling into an unexpected predicament. Isn’t that just lovely? Being forced into displaying her hidden emotions when Ryuuji was in need of help, it was fairly touching, but she definitely had a weird way of putting it across…
In the concluding scene, Taiga confirms what she said at the pool was true, Ryuuji was indeed her’s, a dog. Evidently, she isn’t comfortable with thanking Ryuuji. This however, is not a surprise, she even had trouble apologising for assaulting him. Hopefully Taiga would be able to tell Ryuuji what she thinks of him properly by the end of the series. I would surely enjoy more Taiga and Ryuuji moments.
Well, that’s my take on the situation, enough of Taiga ranting. The episode was funny, but I found myself pondering over Taiga’s actions and came up with what I had written at the top more than thinking of the funny scenes. Still, sleeping Minori was awesome, jealous Noto and friend were funny, so was the match between Ami and Taiga. Taiga’s dirty tricks were amusing, but she really didn’t have to use them to amuse the audience and at the same time win. Her kicks are powerful enough, seriously…
Yasuko gives some important input other than minute fanservice, something that wasn’t expected given her being in a hangover perpetually. She certainly became a more interesting character by advising Ryuuji, informing him of what he might have not noticed.
The most baffling thing as of now is how Kitamura feels about Taiga, does he actually treat Taiga as a friend, or is merely using her as a tool against Ami. It seemed like a fusion of both when he gave tickets to a public pool to Taiga and Ryuuji. What’s on his mind? Does he feel that Taiga is better of having a romantic relationship with Ryuuji than him, or simply treats Taiga as a friend. His motives are vague and ambiguous, surely this will be made clear in time to come.
