Thoughts on Toradora! An Emotional Storm Brewing in a Water Glass

Author: nova

I’m sure most of us who have tuned in for the current season are aware of Toradora!, a light novel adaptation being produced by J.C. Staff. I had my doubts about the show, partly thanks to already seeing how the production group has handled some of its previous works in novel adaptations. In addition I was already full of little bitch characters voiced by Kugyuu and I was rather sure that Toradora! would end up being something of a highschool equivalent of Zero no Tsukaima. However, the show managed to prove me wrong and win my interest. In this post I’d like to share some of my thoughts on Toradora! and especially how I see the relationships building between characters. Now please keep in mind that I am doing this solely based on the anime – I have no knowledge on any other works in the franchise.

As I have written before, I believe that the true strength of Toradora! lies in its characters and a successful formation of their relationships with each other. The basic setup is rather straightforward: We have Male A (Ryuuji) who likes Female B (Minori) and Female A (Taiga) who likes Male B (Kitamura). Males A and B as well as Females A and B are also good friends with each other. Male A and Female A find out about each other’s feelings towards the B’s and decide to help each other out, both being a friend of their partner’s object of affection. The A’s both face family issues which tie them together stronger than what a mere Love Alliance would – this is the main thing A’s have in common. B’s are also similar in a sense that both are very eccentric personalities and that both seem to be extremely oblivious to emotional storm around them. To mix things up a bit we have a wild card, Female C (Ami), whose true affections and objectives are yet unknown.

There are two great theories in human relationship forming: 1. Opposites attract each other and 2. Birds of feather flock together. If you look at the setting to Toradora! from the POV of Theory 1, the result is clear – A’s pair up with B’s. A’s are down-to-earth and serious, even passive, negative and melancholic at times, while B’s are bright, positive, assertive and eccentric personalities – in short, clear opposites of each other. However, if you go for Theory 2 the process does a complete 180 – A’s pair up with each other due to their similarities and same goes for B’s. These are the two most likely outcomes I see for Toradora! But this is using just the basic setup and general personality traits as the basis of deduction. A harem situation in which both Female A and B go for the same Male or the other way around is also possible.

We must also consider Female C. Surely she has flirted with Male A but in my opinion this is no proof of any actual emotional affection in a romantic sense. In fact I believe that Female C rather considers Male A has her comrade in fate of sorts that has no romantic bond involved – as the statement she makes to him “I won’t cling to you like Taiga, nor will I become your sunshine like Minori-chan. I, Kawashima Ami, will take the same path as you, but I’ll always be a little ahead of you.” This path probably refers to the will to change as a person that drives both Male A and Female C. As such I see the relationship between these two characters as a sort of bond of brotherhood. True comrades in arms.

Let’s talk about Ryuuji-Minori-development – what chance has Male A with Female B to form a romantic relationship? In a short timeframe I’d say his chances are very limited and mostly dependent on pure luck. As Female B states in episode 9 after Male A asks her about if she has someone she likes “I feel distant to those who talk about love in this world. That’s because I can’t see it. Since ghosts don’t exist, I’ll never see them, so I’m going to give up. That’s why my answer to your question is: No, I don’t.” In other words, Female B has never felt any romantic feelings towards anyone and does not harbor such feelings at the time of the statement either. Male A responds to her “Maybe there is a ghost who wants to be seen by you.” and I believe that this would be enough for most people to start suspecting something. A low-level confession if you will.

This is continued in the following episode when the scare-Minori-plot is revealed to Female B and she asks Male A why he would do such a thing, as it isn’t something she thinks he would do just for the lulz. He explains “I wanted to show you ghosts. I want you to believe that ghosts exist. Even if you can’t see it, it’s too early for you to give up. That’s what I was thinking.” to which she answers “I see. Takasu-kun, let’s go UFO hunting next time.” When Male A brings up this topic later with Female B, she completely ignores it. I can only think that Female B is now rather certain that Male A has feelings for her although no direct and solid proof, and is trying to avoid any situations with him that might cause any romantic development. As such I can only see the chances of Male A being very slim at best in the short run – however in long timeframe and with very careful movement his chances of success can be moderate. The fact that she did suggest the “UFO hunting” by herself is something that gives Male A hope.

What about Taiga-Kitamura? The main difference between Female A and Male B-pairing compared to Male A and Female B is that Male B has expressed romantic interest in Female A in the past. However his sudden confession confused Female A and made her turn him down by reflex. Now the question remains – does Male B still harbor similar interest in her as he did in the past? Female A is too awkward to effectively communicate her feelings to him and Male B is even harder to read than Female B. We are yet to see similar scenes that deal with his emotional interests as episodes 9 and 10 did with Female B. As such I’m working on a rather limited data and would like to refrain from making any assumptions for now.

What if Male A ends up pairing with Female A? What if after that Female B becomes aware of her feelings for Male A, all too late? Someone on IRC said something about “not realizing one’s relationship potential“. A’s pairing is not something I would think to be unlikely as both have a family situation that gives them great mutual trust and even dependence – Taiga has already shown signs of being dependent on Ryuuji as an emotional support, but this may not be anything different from the notorious Friend Zone. Personally I strongly doubt the anime takes this direction but I cannot deny the possibility and its potential for an epic ending. As I mentioned before, a two-on-one situation is possible and should not be overlooked. But regardless, I dare say Female C is out of the question as far as relationship with Male A goes. I understand a whole lot of people are wishing for this sort of development but in all honesty I cannot think it’s likely to happen. However Female C is a wild card – it may be that how she is effectively played is yet to be seen.

I guess this bunch of TL;DR gibberish is all I had to say so I can spend today’s shift at work in peace without having a massive bunch of text boiling in my mind. I would also announce that I’ve decided to blog Ride Back when it starts airing. Thanks for your attention.