Toradora! manga volume 1 cover. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
**Spoiler Alert**
So I just finished watching up through Episode 8 of Toradora! on Blu-Ray with the English dub. So many feels, especially in Episode 8! I teared up when Taiga declared from the bottom of her heart at the top of her lungs that "Ryuji is MINE!!!"
Although I remember a lot of the story from the manga still, the anime adaptation and voice acting pack that much more emotional punch. It was a welcome reminder of why I love this story so much...precisely because both Ami and Taiga are just so complicated and messed up in the head!!
My heart goes out to Taiga because she herself doesn't fully understand her own emotions. She still has her naive puppy love for Kitamura, but literally everyone else around them can see she's actually falling for Ryuji. Her explosive, possessive jealousy whenever Ami flirts with Ryuji is a dead giveaway. Ami's not the only one being dishonest about who she is and how she feels. Both Ami AND Taiga are deeply flawed in their own ways, not to mention at each other's throats as social rivals.
Ami has the problem of acting cutesy and innocent in public but in reality being quite vain and abrasive, selfish and rude. She admires Taiga for her ability to be abrasive and nasty OPENLY. She also admires Taiga's take-no-shit-from-anyone attitude that emboldens Ami to confront her own stalker and put the fear of Gawd in him. Taiga criticises Ami's two-faced nature, but Taiga won't confront the division in her own heart, the fact that she's infatuated with Kitamura but falling in love with Ryuji in a deeper, more mature and profound way.
In Episode 8 (spoilers!), Ryuji is nearly drowned when a bunch of classmates fall into the pool on top of him. He probably takes an elbow to the head, is forced under water and starts drowning. Aisaka saw what happened and the last thing Ryuji sees is new swimmer Aisaka swimming desperately towards him to save him. After nearly losing Ryuji, Aisaka comes undone emotionally...her emotions are laid bare and raw, she won't let anyone come near Ryuji, she's crying hot tears of pain, relief, anguish and love. That episode especially and the few preceding ones make me very happy I preordered this Blu-Ray. The emotional drama and turmoil is amplified even higher in the anime adaptation than was conveyed in the manga. I love this series so far and look forward to where it's going. I anticipate I'll soon be passing where I last left off in the manga proper.
Oh, and the anime makes it way more obvious that Minorin is probably a lesbian in denial. This is harder to pick up on in the manga.
I look forward to seeing where this story goes.
