Toradora Episode 2 – Ryuji and Taiga

Sure its cute. Just remember the rules, don’t get it wet and don’t feed it after midnight!

Remember no good deed goes unpunished a fact someone should probably have made poor Ryuji aware of when he first fed Taiga. If he had known then that he’d be seeing her for breakfast, making her lunch and then seeing her again for dinner. Well he might not have been so generous with his culinary offerings.

Ahh Inko, its a good job your feather loss doesn’t reflect the level of your owners frustration.

Also unfortunately for Ryuji, his mother Yasuko has no problem with Taiga’s visits, so he’s pretty much stuck with cooking for her.

So the OP “Pre-Parade” is strange, I wouldn’t say I like it really, but the weird voices set to techno type music kind of make it stick in your mind a little. But in all honesty, you really don’t want it stuck there warping your fragile little mind!

Ha, good luck trying to get food back from Taiga. Say goodbye to your fingers my friend.

Oh I know its so cliche, but I really enjoy the relationship between these two. Taiga’s little insults are funny as is Ryuji demanding she give back the lunch he made her. Of course we all know Ryuji’s chances of that happening are about the same as seeing a flying pig.

His chances of getting a date with Minori have about the same odds. His only chance of improving those odds will be for him to help Taiga in her pursuit of Yusuke. He can turn her down, but he did offer her is help and basically if he doesn’t, Taiga will make sure he doesn’t get anywhere near her best friend!

Of course you just know that things aren’t going to go as planned, starting off with Minori seeing Taiga and Ryuji walking together in the morning. Which of course you know she takes the complete wrong way, although it seems like they are able to change her mind about it.

YEOWCH

Plan one goes into effect during P.E class. Assuming that Yusuke will get teamed up with a guy during ball practice. The plan is for Ryuji to peg, Yusuke’s partner with a ball and then escort the poor, bewildered dude to the infirmary. This will mean Taiga can partner up with Yusuke and get to spend some quality time.

And of course it goes wonderfully wrong, with Yusuke getting paired up with a girl. Ryuji has a hard time being able to hit the delicate flower. Taiga eggs him on and of course she ends up getting pegged with it instead. Plan one ends in an epic fail, but did we really expect it to end any other way?

“Can you feel the love tonight…”

Plan 2 involves baked good from home economics. Taiga bustles around working her hardest and that makes Ryuji want to look out for her.

Ahh yes the way to a mans heart is through his stomach. Well it would be if you could cook, or if you could actually get the cookies to him in the first place. Plan 2 becomes an epic fail when Taiga in her haste to get baked good to Yusuke slips and falls down the stairs. Ryuji catches her and keeps her from harm, the cookies however don’t make it through unscathed.

All this failure is pretty demoralizing for Taiga, but in true cliche fashion, Ryuji raises her spirits by eating her broken up cookies.

Nice try dude, but the block isn’t going to help. Taiga will find you and when she does, say goodbye to your balls…

Then of course you know things go from bad to worse. It seems there was a witness to the cookie eating and so by the next day the rumors of an illicit relationship between Taiga and Ryuji are making waves around the school. Considering they both want to date other people this rumor will put a serious cramp on their love life. Because of course you know this information has reached the ears of Minori and Yusuke.

Yes, yes my plan to take over the planet with trapz is close to fruition!

I have to say I really enjoyed the scene on the rooftop with Minori and Yusuke confronting Ryuji and Taiga about their relationship. I particularly enjoyed the music that went along with Yusuke standing up there laughing manically. It kind of reminded me of videogame, end boss level music. Minori begging for Ryuji to treat her friend well was just as funny, her flying into land on her knees with magical girl type animation and music was awesome.

Poor Taiga AND Ryuji it was a big blow to them finding out their best friends and the objects of their affection thought they were dating each other. Ironically enough the situation leads to Taiga and Ryuji getting closer.

Taiga feels bad that Minori misunderstood about her going to Ryuji’s house, but tells him that she found his home cozy. She didn’t get on well with her parents so they just bought her the apartment she lives in and left her to her own devices. And to make the cookie situation from earlier even more cliche, we learn the cookies were salty. Taiga in her frustration had tried some herself so she knew they didn’t taste good.

Along the way home Taiga’s frustrations get the better of her. Why don’t people understand them? Why doesn’t anyone support them? As she yells out people are pissing her off she starts kicking at a lamp post and eventually Ryuji joins in, as they beat on it yelling out whatever is bothering them.
Once they stop she asks if the pole is tilted and Ryuji confirms that it is, making Taiga happy.

But the situation has caused Taiga to come to a resolution of sorts. No more plans, she’ll meet her fate head on, by the next day Ryuji will no longer be her dog, they’ll just be people who live in apartments next to each. Tomorrow, Taiga will confess her feelings to Yusuke!

Her first order of business though is to completely trash the classroom and put everyone straight about her relationship or lack thereof with Ryuji. Thus making his chances of getting a date with Minori easier.

You want to do what?

You have to hand it to Taiga, she finally sucks it up and does it. But of course like everything else it doesn’t quite go to plan and she ends up talking about Ryuji and how much he’s helped her. Yusuke says they will be great friends and he’s happy to hear how she spoke of Ryuji, and that it makes her a wonderful girl.

So poor Taiga, she confesses but doesn’t really get the reaction she was hoping for. Because while she may not realize it yet, Kitamura is sharp enough to see what we all already know she is going to realize further on down the line, deep down she likes Ryuji XD.

But its okay she’s keeping similar dense company since Ryuji is blissfully ignorant of his own feelings towards her at this point.

Back to the episode though, Ryuji having heard the whole thing, tries to make her feel better and offers to make her food. This just pisses Taiga off and she wants to know why he’d do something like that when it would just make people misunderstand. Also he is no longer her dog and so there is no need for him to do things like that!

Of course while telling her that he doesn’t know why and that he can’t leave her be. He agrees he isn’t a dog and tells her he is a dragon and therefore able to be by her side saying that since ancient times a dragon is the only beast that could stand alongside a Taiga. Of course he’s just as dense as she is and hasn’t yet realized that he really likes Taiga. I’ll point out the obvious here for any that might not be aware, Ryu = Dragon, his name is Ryuji get it.

And that everyone is how Taiga got her bitch back.

His little speech though raises Taiga’s spirits, particularly when he calls her Taiga and so they continue as normal as she tells him she hasn’t given up on Yusuke so Ryuji had better work hard!

So their relationship is progressing steadily and we learn a little bit more about Taiga’s situation. 🙂