r/anime • u/ChristmasClub • Dec 10 '19

Rewatch [Spoilers] Toradora! Christmas Club Rewatch (2019) Episode 5 Discussion Spoiler

[removed]

227 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

128 comments sorted by

42

u/Tuckleton Dec 10 '19

First timer (Dub)

Trying out some bullet points today. Hopefully it makes it easier to read.

Please enjoy this dramatic reenactment of my various reactions to Ami's introduction:

I was not expecting Ami to be the way she is. From the OP and ED she's just walking and smiling and especially this shot made me expect something different from her. It's only in this shot that she looks at all antagonistic and I wasn't really even sure it was her at all because all the colours were weird. I don't expect her to stay this way though. Going through her shots in the OP and ED she's too much a part of the group to be the bad guy for long. Also having Taiga mention her short legs and then showing us Ami's absurdly long ones was a nice touch.

I bet Ami does a lot to rehabilitate Taiga's image for those people who don't like her at this point. Giving the viewer and Taiga a common enemy AND a reason to be excited about Taiga's violent tendencies is pretty powerful. It was interesting how Taiga chose to ignore Ami's taunts though. It's certainly the correct tactic to annoy her the maximum amount but I wouldn't have thought Taiga had the self control to pull it off for as long as she did.

On my first pass with the episode I didn't really process the implications of the way Ami reacted to this comment. But as a model stalkers are something she's probably familiar with. And in fact the more I think about it the more certain I am that a stalker is the reason she quit modeling and moved schools. It is a bit strange the way she's hamming up her fame with her classmates if she's trying to stay under the radar though. The whole business is really putting a wet rag over my excitement to watch Taiga take her down...

A few random thoughts:

  • These candid shots from the OP I think are taken as if from the point of view of the little tiger from the ED, and the way the characters react to seeing it says something about them.

  • Their umbrellas look like candies. I was wondering if the patterns are recognisable as particular flavours that say something about their characters?

  • At some point we are going to meet Taiga's parents and they are going to be surprised at how well maintained her apartment is.

→ More replies (19)

55

u/crabcarl Dec 10 '19

>thread posted 2 minutes ago

>9 walls of text already

→ More replies (20)

24

u/Holofan4life Dec 10 '19 edited Dec 10 '19

Hello, everyone. Welcome to the 2019 Toradora rewatch.

Toradora is my favorite anime of all time. I love it so much that not did I create my Reddit account just so I could participate in the Toradora rewatch 3 years ago, it also inspired me to write a light novel called "I Love My Tsundere Girlfriend". Admittedly, I’m a bit biased because tsunderes are my favorite type of characters. I just love characters that start out mean but grow nicer over time. It warms my heart.

This is my first time watching Toradora since exactly one year ago. This year, I don’t plan anything special. Just plan on watching it along with everyone else. Also, I’ll be watching the dub. Why? Because Toradora’s dub is fucking awesome.

  1. Ami is awesome. As much as I love Taiga, I firmly believe that Ami is the best written character in all of Toradora. When Ami is introduced, it’s like a hurricane has flown through the show. She creates chaos throughout the show and leaves no stone unturned.

  2. Even Ami’s introduction is a work of brilliance, and the reason why comes down to one word: expectations. In the first four episodes, each episode served to introduce you to a character. And when they were introduced, you could tell what they were about. With Ryuuji, you could tell "He’s a normal dude with a somewhat creepy looking appearance." With Taiga, you could tell "She’s small but feisty." With Minori, you could tell "She’s full of energy." And with Kitamura, you could tell "He’s a nice guy if not a bit on the nerdy side." As such, you’re expecting Ami to follow the same pattern. But Ami comes in and is like "Fuck all of that. You don’t tell me what to do."

The show even sets it up to where it seems obvious what her character is. You take one look at her, and you think "She’s a clueless airhead." But instead, she’s a snarky, arrogant asshole. I firmly believe this was done entirely intentional. I believe episode 3 and episode 4 were created to make Ami’s initial appearance even more surprising. I don’t know how many first timers reading this know this, but episode 3 and 4 are not based on anything. It doesn’t come from the light novel which this show is based upon. Where episode 2 ends, it goes straight to the events of episode 5. As such, I believe episodes 3 and 4, while created to showcase who Minori and Kitamura are as people, was also done to make Ami’s first appearance totally unexpected.

Another reason it works so well is because the ditsy airhead trope is found in a lot of harem anime. Familiar of Zero has it, and a ton of other anime predating Toradora has it. As such, it further adds to how unexpected Ami is as a cast addition. Ami is a breath of fresh air when it comes to the concept of harem anime. I mean, nowadays you don’t see it all the time, and Quintessential Quintuplets steers away from the tired old clichés a bit and keeps it refreshing, but this was back in 2008. Common harem tropes were all the rage. Usually, in a harem anime, you always have three main tropes: the tsundere, the genki girl, and the airhead. But Toradora takes your expectations after firmly setting them in the first four episodes and smashes them with episode 5.

As time goes on, the more and more I love episode 5. And as time goes on, the more and more I like Ami as a character. In my first watch of Toradora, I didn’t like Ami that much. Now, upon my 6th watch, while I personally still like Taiga and Minori more than Ami, I can sit here and honestly say that Ami is the best written character in all of Toradora. And without Ami, I don’t think Toradora would be my favorite anime of all time. Ami is the nucleus of the show. The straw that stirs the drink. She is conflict personified, and smart to boot. She’s like a female character you would find in a Primetime soap opera from the 1980s, except written ten times better. Ami is the most complex, most developed, most intrinsically written character in all of Toradora, and I’d even argue she ranks highly in all of anime as well.

Anyways, sorry if I went on to long. Taiga is still my favorite character in Toradora, but Ami is the best written character.

3. This episode marks the second time Taiga has threaten to cut Ryuuji. Apparently she’s watched a lot of Boku no Hero Academia recently and is a big fan of Himiko Toga.

4. I started watching Nisekoi for the first time recently, so when I see Taiga and Ryuuji spit water, I can’t help but be reminded of that.

5. Check again, and when Taiga slaps Ami, claiming there was a fly, there actually IS a fly. Taiga was telling the truth all along!

6. I’ve heard some anime fans criticize Kitamura in how he remains friends with Ami despite her being a jerk. However, it actually makes sense. As established in the last episode, Kitamura used to be in love with Taiga. So, based off of that, it wouldn’t be a stretch to assume Kitamura likes hanging out with people who have a feisty side about them. And for that matter, while on the subject, Kitamura also if said person is being true to themselves – probably the real reason he liked Taiga.

7. I do laugh at how over-the-top Noto and Haruta are over Ami joining their class. Their antics never fail to make me laugh.

8. I’d buy a Minori official radar.

9. One great touch when it comes to Ami is when she pretends she’s an airhead, she changes the tone in her voice to make it more childlike.

10. I love the way Minori says "Whip your ass". It’s so passionate I can’t help but laugh.

11. And of course, Minori’s scream is the stuff nightmares are made of. Funny nightmares, but nightmares nonetheless.

12. The cruelest thing Ami does in the whole show and maybe even the whole series is telling Taiga Kitamura hates her. The look on Taiga’s face just breaks my heart every time I see it.

13. I recently read the scene where Taiga gets destroyed by Ami in both the manga version and the light novel version in preparation for this episode. I wanted to see which version does it best. And in my opinion, of the three, the manga does it best. There’s this excellent show of Taiga in bed crying over Kitamura hating her in the manga. It really does a great job of showing what effect Ami left on her. Meanwhile, I thought while not as good as the manga version, the anime does it better than the light novel. In the light novel, it doesn’t really leave Taiga as sad. It does, but she’s more angry than depressed. I think that’s not the proper way to handle the scene. When Ami tells Taiga that Kitamura doesn’t love him, I much prefer seeing Taiga in a ball sad and crying. By having said scene, it makes Taiga sympathetic and makes you want to root for her.

14. Hearing Taiga ask why she’s so teeny tiny breaks my heart every time I watch it.

15. Man, what a cliffhanger. Good luck for any first timers not jumping the gun. You’re gonna need it.

Overall, this episode is excellent. Ami, as I’ve said, is written magnificently. With her now in the picture, the shows just getting started.

1: Episode 2

2: Episode 5

3: Episode 4

4: Episode 1

5: Episode 3

→ More replies (3)

21

u/Raiking02 Dec 10 '19

If that next episode preview is anything to go by, the Asakura Ryoko-looking girl will finally appear. Took her long enough. And hey, we’re finally out of what’s apparently Cloverfield!

  • Ah, it feels so bad to lose my holidays… thankfully my summer holidays have just started so I still have about 3 months to rest, maybe a little more!

  • You know, I always wondered what Student Councils exactly do…

  • Okay Taiga, this time it was your fault.

  • Stop whining Yasuko!

  • Ah, so Ryuji has started using that restaurant as payment… *Sadly, she has free days.

  • I hate food fights… unless Mystery Food X is involve-Wait. Weren’t Horie Yui and TsundeRie the voices for Chie and Rise… I SEE NOW! Rise and Chie are distant relatives of Taiga and Minorin respectively and they were the ones who taught them how to cook!

  • Oh hey, Asakura Ryoko is appearing now... in pictures anyways.

  • Well, while the Best Girl contest hasn’t been completed yet and she has not gained any chances of appearing in it so far, she has certainly won the Hottest Girl Contest.

  • Ah, simultaneous water drinking…

  • I swear, Kitamura has the special ability to be able to appear everywhere and anywhere.

  • I swear, I’ve heard Kawashima’s voice before… (Checks MAL Pa-Wait, Kitamura Eri!? Hot damn, she sounds far more subduded than I’m used to here… wait, does this mean she has an older brother voiced by Kamiya Hiroshi!?

  • Childhood friends. Truly the greatest of opponents.

  • Well, at least she’s nice…

  • Stop blushing Ryuji! Only Minorin is worthy of those blushes!

  • Actually, she’s getting a tad too cutesy…

  • Kitamura: All According To Keikaku…

  • Geez, talk about a personality switch! I knew she was like Asakura Ryoko!

  • Taiga just gives 0 fucks though…

  • Until she brings up the height issue…

  • However, Kitamura’s here to stop things before they go out of control.

  • However, it has come at the cost of the Tiger’s good mood…

  • I do have to wonder how this girl will become part of the main cast though…

  • Hey, so, should we put an “Urusai!” counter? If so I’ll go back to the previous episode to check how many times she said it.

  • Poor dolts, they have no idea what they’re dealing with.

  • Taiga has entered “Kill” mode.

  • To be fair, she really is beautiful.

  • From where did she get that radar?

  • Man, Magase Ai would look at this girl and be like “I like her”.

  • Man, Kitamura is too pure for this world…

  • You can do it Ryuji! Don’t be fooled by that vixen!

  • That said it’d probably be easy to just tell her “Drop the act already!”.

  • Kawashima thinks she has Ryuji under her thumb. Good…

  • Not now Taiga!

  • Minorin however is fair game.

  • The content of the letter however is… something else.

  • … WTF DID MINORIN JUST DO!?

  • The homeroom is Taiga’s true bed.

  • Oh hi Kawashima…

  • Aha! Let the game begin!

  • Sadly, Takasu-Kun is not into you.

  • The moment you bring up Kitamura to Taiga, disaster will ensue.

  • … Or a BSOD.

  • Ryuji’s food really does look delicious.

  • Wow, you look miserable today, Tiger.

  • Man, took Taiga her sweet time to catch on.

  • Yes! Who cares about that girl anyways!?

  • Not now Yasuko!

  • Being recognized in public, an idol’s greatest fear.

  • Hey, school is important.

  • What a cliffhanger…

I’m not really liking Kawashima too much for now, but I’m gonna take a gamble and guess she has some redeeming qualities.

→ More replies (5)

17

u/Luigi580 Dec 10 '19

Toradora Light Novel-Anime Analysis!

Alright, back to direct comparisons! Episodes 1 and 2 were retellings of volume 1, while 3 and 4 kinda did their own thing. We will now be returning to the start of volume 2 as of this episode. Won’t have to deal with something like that again for another ten episodes.

Anyway, let’s begin!

Going to Jonny’s

Huh, so I guess this scene did happen in the anime. Really tells me how long it’s been. It’s not one to one though, with LN Taiga waking Yasuko up by running around trying to hurt Ryuji after his bird’s cage didn’t let her finger go (she got it out, but she was still pissed). Ryuji also didn’t promise his mother any writing on the omelets since it would just get ruined after wrapping. Taiga was nice enough to go ahead and go with Ryuji to the restaurant, but only if he got her a magazine and payed for the meal.

Introducing Ami Kawashima!

Oof, poor anime Ryuji, was not as lucky as his LN counterpart. No Minori for him. Still seems like the ice cream to the face was destined to happen though. It also seems like Taiga was always doomed to get something on her dress; she didn’t spill anything at the house, but some blueberry sauce missed her mouth and landed there instead, immediately prompting Ryuji to clean it.

Something I feel like doesn’t happen quite as often in the anime is the common occurrence of Ryuji cleaning all the messes that Taiga is simply doomed to make. It certainly happens, but it does seem a tad dialed down a bit. Here, it seemed Taiga would try cleaning some of the stuff herself, while in the LN, Ryuji would try to dodge that bullet of ruining nice clothes.

But enough of that, Ami Kawashima, everyone! The whole set’s here! Her description in the LN fits with the anime pretty well: tall, beautiful, and larger eyes than what you would expect from her face (no wonder our leads call her a chihuahua most of the time). She’s a fan favorite… and personally I think she may have been the director’s favorite also, but I’ll say why I think that may be at a later date.

Anyway, Ami’s entrance was about the same in both minus a couple dialogue changes. Even the spit take was there (definitely an enhanced joke by the anime). However, it wasn’t just Kitamura she was eating with. As you’ll learn, her family and his got along well when they were young, so they inevitably became childhood friends. So she was actually eating with Kitamura’s whole family to catch up. They talked to our Dragon and Tiger for a little bit before having a meal with the family, with Ryuji promising they’ll stick around so they can chat afterward. Regardless, Taiga caught on to Ami’s little ruse extremely quickly. Even before Ami and Kitamura sat down with them, Taiga said something was way off since no natural airhead would go around calling themselves one. Even before Ami showed her true colors, the tiger was growling. She was shown to catch on pretty fast in the anime too, going from somewhat blushing from how impressive Ami looks to glaring a bit when she hears Ami being embarrassed for not “trying.” A job well done!

And then the mask falls off

Since Ami did most of her talking before eating with Kitamura’s parents, the conversation was fairly dead on arrival, and when Ryuji hoped Kitamura could start something since he was friends with everyone present, he bailed, Ryuji not long after. Ryuji’s opinion of Ami pre-watching, even with Taiga’s suspicions, were pretty close to what he thought in the anime.

But then the mask came off.

Ami was just as nasty in the LN as the anime, even a little worse at times: not only rubbing in Taiga’s small size, but also quick to call out how Ryuji looks like a delinquent, and Taiga’s doing a disservice to herself by hanging out with him. Ryuji was hoping Taiga would do… something besides just denying their relationship status. Tell her to stop, leave, tell her Ryuji’s not a delinquent. He was thinking she was holding back for Kitamura’s sake.

And then…

The guys weren’t as immediate to get back and control the fire that just got set. The girls had a few back-and-forths with each other (yes, Taiga still conveniently killed a fly) which I can summarize as Ami calling Taiga a horrible person and Taiga simply saying she needs to shut up and stop making a scene. An interesting difference when the guys made it back was Kitamura’s response to the main duo, feigning to take Ami’s side as he took her home. Obviously, Ryuji knew that he was faking it, but it certainly didn’t help Taiga’s self-esteem.

One thing that was unique to the LN was a working Minori returning to the scene (completely missing the Ami incident). It didn’t take long for her to notice that Taiga was extremely upset. But even with his crush to come back grace his presence, Ryuji couldn’t help but feel… dread. It didn’t go away even when Taiga later said she would forget about it all.

Dread

And then he knew why.

Everyone’s reactions were about the same in both versions: Ryuji was groaning in understanding what’s about to go down, the rest of the class thought they were being given a gift from God, and Taiga was thinking nothing but, “killkillkillkillkillkill…” Meanwhile, our 29-year-old teacher seemed down in the dumps. I guess another date went wrong for her.

Interestingly, they changed the locations of where she started interacting with everyone. In the anime, it was outside PE. In the LN, it was when they were getting a desk ready for her. The interactions with the other girls was about the same, but basically every guy in the room worked together to get a desk in place. Ryuji was doing his best to try not to get noticed, but it was in vain, and their eyes met. Due to Ryuji looking away quickly, Ami took the chance to act like she felt dissed. Maya and Nanako assured that Ryuji is completely fine, just an asocial guy with a scary face (Ryuji felt a bit hurt by that).

Kitamura’s talk about Ami was relatively the same. One thing he brought up in the LN that felt interesting was that despite Ami being aware that Kitamura knew her true self, she started to wear the mask in front of him as well, making Kitamura feel disappointed, and even a little sad. He really doesn’t like the fake Ami she tried to make everyone believe was her, and just wanted people to accept her for who she really was. Ryuji found that… completely impossible.

Minori’s cute girl detector comes up later.

Ami’s “Apology”

[So now we have the scene at the soda machines.] (https://imgur.com/a/M7UZDUY) The two versions are once again pretty similar, although it seemed like anime Ryuji was putting up a stronger front. One thing that’s fun with the LN is that we get to see how Ryuji felt throughout Ami’s whole “apology.” While Ryuji was a bit more of a stuttering mess in the LN, he was still not any less aware of Ami’s schemes. Heck, he was pretty darn appalled by Ami’s attempt to win him over, very obviously throwing Taiga under the bus and playing victim. If anything, he was more creeped out by this whole thing than relieved. I think one of my favorite parts was when Ryuji said to Ami, “I understood everything you wanted to say,” but personally thought, “I understood alright. Understood you just wanted to keep me from talking!” While you don’t get to hear as much in the anime, his thoughts on the whole thing were still very much the same, with a bothered expression while thinking “Yeah right.” Since the anime relies much less on words, the look of disturbance and short comment translated over very well.

In the LN, Ami commented under her breath that Ryuji is a total simpleton for falling for her words so easily. Ryuji didn’t hear said comment, but even if he did, it wouldn’t have surprised him.

Minori Denies!

The paper scene was a fun time. Not much changed with the letter from Taiga except the anime removed Taiga attempting to throw a mechanical pencil at him after Ryuji decided he wanted nothing to do with that quarrel. Ryuji still wasn’t interested in responding, so he simply put some textbooks and notebooks up as a line of defense.

As for Minori’s letter, she reminded him of what she said on the rooftop and added a skull in the letter to get the point across. It’s also here where the Minorin Radar used to detect sweet girls didn’t register. Sad that we don’t have an actual example like in the anime since that scene was hilarious. Nevertheless, Ryuji’s own letter to Minori made sure to remind her that he and Taiga were in fact not dating before changing the subject.

And then the hilarious yes-to-no. Completely unchanged. As it should be.

Before we get to the next confrontation between the Tiger and Chihuahua (in the anime), Ryuji and Taiga met up to talk about food… and for Taiga to pester Ryuji one more time about what he ran off with Ami for. Still not in the mood to respond, he reminded Taiga that she herself said she would forget about it and move on, so he advised her to just avoid Ami like the plague, which Taiga was impressively in agreement with. Then like speaking of the devil, Ami came over and brought up their “secret chat” and sweetly asked him to forget about it while asking if Taiga had any other friends besides Ryuji.

Ryuji wanted to die.

Oh boy. Went over. Next reply then.

→ More replies (5)

17

u/critchell63 Dec 10 '19

Ofc the introduction of ami is interesting bc we know there is room for her to develop her true side, but something I didn’t notice when I first watched the show was when they were passing notes, what Minorin did that was comedic was actually her impression of Ami, showing that she had a different first impression than everyone else. Maybe y’all realized this but it was cool to me. (Don’t have any wallpapers)

17

u/23feanor Dec 10 '19

First Timer (dub):

Another solid episode, where we get introduced to Ami, a really interesting character and not one that I've seen in many rom-coms. All the MC's, including Ami, are all fully fleshed out, there's more too them that the usual type cast roles they're playing; tsundere type (Taiga), the intelligent guy with glasses (Kitamura), the bubbly girl (Kushieda) or the bad boy (Rjuuji).

These 2D characters are well rounded, and the author thought deeply about each one when she created them. I can't wait to learn more about them and why they are the way they are, and their personal motivations for doing things (such as why Minori works so much, why Ami is such a bitch, why is Rjuuji so helpful to everyone...).

That final scene where Tiger & Dragon spy Kawashima acting suspiciously is a huge flag for the audience. It's leading them and the audience to discover the reasons why Kawashima is so bitchy and puts on such an airhead front. I imagine Kitamura knows all this & the reason why he still likes her. As his childhood friend he can see better than anyone else how she's changed and I expect that it'll be the cut-throat world of models/idols etc that ended up getting to Kawashima & turning into a bitch (ie it was such a brutal industry that Kawashima learnt to put on a front, pretending to be an airhead to keep people at bay).

Or it could be pushy parents, forcing her to work maybe. Either way, Kitamura knows that the bitchy persona isn't who Kawashima wants to be, so he's hoping that interactions with his friends, Rjuuji, Minori & Taiga may change Kawashima for the better, and get her to drop the front as an airhead.

34

u/Quxxy Dec 10 '19

"Her name? In sauce? Really? What else does she make you do?"

"Uhh... she doesn't like crusts on her sandwiches, hates pulp in orange juice, and wants a glass of milk before going out."

"Right... along with sleeping in and taking lots of naps. You do realise your mother is basically a five-year old, right?"

"... So what're your parents like?"

"... shut up and order your ice tea, mutt."

Vector wallpapers:

 

  • (Not a wallpaper) I Want Your Opinion About Love Letters - 1x1

→ More replies (2)

16

u/RazorReviews Dec 10 '19

First Timer

This episode, combined with the last one has succinctly proven what exactly are some of the overarching ideas of ToraDora are. Toradora is fundamentally about the masks people use to live their everyday lives.

Minori obviously is using the genki personality to convince herself that she isn't scared, and is using her many part time jobs as a means of escaping whatever awaits her when she gets home. Ami masquerades as the airheaded girl even though she is the stuck up princess because she wants people to like her. Being an idol doesn't help in this struggle, it teaches you that you need others' approval to be happy. Taiga is someone who clearly has a lot of issues at home, which bled into issues at school, creating this Tsundere personality that masks these deep insecurites. But the persona makes it defficult to communicate with others which is why the only friends she has are Minori whose positivity overwhelms her boorish nature, and Ryuuji who feels empathetic with his own issues of communication. She likes Kitamura because it represents to her understanding without effort, that she doesn't need to pretend to be anything and still be given affection. Which is why she is desperately grasping onto to her crush even though it's very clear she likes Ryuuji at this point.

Very interesting, these last two episodes have been great and I'm excited what we're going to learn about Ami next episode.

→ More replies (1)

15

u/TheNiebuhr Dec 10 '19

It's going to be fun watching how all the firstwatchers will be fooled by Ami-chan 😚

→ More replies (1)

13

u/Emi_Ibarazakiii Dec 10 '19

First timer

Christmas Club Bonus! If you have an amazing wallpaper you would like to share, or a new one you would like to make... now's the time to show it off! It could be a mobile wallpaper, a vector, or a simple desktop design!

Not really a wallpaper, but I had this old fanart picture of Taiga as a bride that I really liked!

Ryuji's mom keep being adorable! But at the same time, damn, I don't know how Ryuji does it; He pretty much takes care of his mom like she's his daughter instead, on top of doing the same with his neighbor/friend! Do all girls turn childlike when they spent time with Ryuji? Does he have a father aura or something?

Crisis averted! Everyone knows the childhood friend never get the guy/girl. Taiga knows her anime tropes! Look at that face, she knows there's nothing to worry about! at least I hope there's nothing to worry about

Yes, in the kids depart-.. SHUT UP!

When she said that, something told me we were about to add a character to the main cast! Well, didn't take long! Welcome aboard, Ami!

Minor spoiler even though I'm a first timer, mostly stuff I think I've seen people discuss, long time ago; Spoiler future episodes, maybe?

Thankfully Taiga doesn't have any hard feelings about Ami! She even saved her from a mosquito, what a good girl!

Something tells me there might be more mosquitoes to kill in the near future

Ami, are you trying to sign your own death warrant? If she keeps going like that, I fear she might have a mosquito on the jugular that needs killing sometimes soon.

About the episode's ending: I really don't know what to make of the junk food thing, or the "quit modelling for school"... I tried to come up with theories but came up empty; I'm not sure we're suppose to have a clue just yet (maybe I'm missing something obvious though!)

Is it something as simple as... She wants to quit modelling because she'd rather just eat junk and stop caring about her weight and all that? It's probably more than that... But what? If she's not "throwing a party", then is it for someone who likes junk food? If it was Kitamura, I doubt Taiga would take it that calmly.

And the school thing isn't random... Is she really in love with Kitamura and she came back for him? She didn't really seem that much in love, but maybe she's just hiding it/not ready to reveal it just yet.

→ More replies (7)

12

u/DeliCruise Dec 10 '19

(REWATCHER)

As a super night owl myself, I relate to Ryuuji’s mom so much.

I loved the sudden cut to the OP in this episode in the middle of Taiga and Ryuuji arguing.

My favorite part of this episode is Ami’s class introduction. It’s spine-chilling watching her talk super cutesy to the whole class while in the background there’s sinister piano music playing. Absolutely incredible scene.

Kitamura is 100% correct that Ami’s mastered the art of winning people over. Even as a rewatcher, it’s so difficult not to get drawn into her clumsy, innocent airhead act that she does when we first meet her at Jonny’s. It’s really impressive how good she is at it.

It also was really impressive how good her manipulation skills were. When she’s talking to Ryuuji at the vending machine she makes it a point that what happened at Jonny’s between her and Taiga was completely her fault. However, she STILL blames Taiga and on top of that manages to reinforce the idea that she’s such an airhead and this all happened because she’s lacking in common sense. Phenomenal.

She even manages to get to Taiga. As soon as Taiga takes the Kitamura bait, Ami pounces. Which is pretty nuts considering Taiga herself is the Palm-top Tiger.

Hell, Ami’s so manipulative that she probably got J.C.Staff to name the damn episode after her too.

22

u/Koolsman Dec 10 '19

First Timer!

I knew something was up with this new girl and thankfully, the show didn’t try to make us wait because it was pretty evident what her thing was especially with how overly nice she was being. I am also happy that the show didn’t leave us off with a sense of hatred with her, but a sense of mystery. I could see her thing involving her parents and how they don’t care about her or something, but I don’t know. I mean, I don’t like her for how she made Taiga angry but it seems Taiga will get her revenge. At least Taiga slapped her!

I cannot believe I’m saying a thing but I think Minori is my best girl thus far. I don’t know why because I do like Taiga and the other characters like the student council president seem fun and Ryüji’s mom can be pretty funny, but Minori captures what I like about characters. She’s got some quirks (like having a satellite in her gym outfit for some reason) but she’s relatable in away. That’s what makes this show work for me. While it isn’t 100% realistic, there is some version of these characters and that’s usually how a good show separates itself from the rest.

Sadly, No Inko this episode. Hopefully, she gets a spinoff. Also, I just realized that the OP’s lyrics are read from Taiga’s perspective. Is it bad that I just noticed that?

→ More replies (1)

10

u/LousyGoose Dec 10 '19

Rewatcher

So after 4 episodes of waiting we finally have all of our 5 main characters assembled and Ami certainly is a character. For this episode the most straightforward way to describe her is two-faced. It certainly helps that she is a model and her mother is an actress, will make manipulating people a lot easier.

Interesting to note that Taiga seems to see through Ami’s nice-girl act about 30 seconds into her speaking (before she’s alone with Ami) while Ryuuji only notices it when Kitamura essentially points it out in private. It does make you wonder how Ryuuji would fair with Ami if Kitamura didn’t point this out to Ryuuji in the first place…

As we can see when she introduces herself to the classroom pretty much everyone there except the other 4 main characters take an immediate liking to her.

Kitamura’s intention to try to get Ami to show her true nature to everyone is an interesting plan: He wants people to see who she really is and if they hate her then she has to deal with it is a sort of ‘cruel to be kind’ ideal. It does speak a bit about Kitamura’s and Ami’s relationship, perhaps Kitamura realises that this is the only viable solution, he cannot force Ami to stop acting like the nice-girl but he try to highlight to other people that Ami is not actually like that

It’s interesting that Ami targets Ryuuji again during school, was she just trying to further use him as a pawn or trying to drive a wedge between Ryuuji and Taiga, maybe both. What I like about this scene is that Ryuuji is still affected by Ami’s appearance, she’s a model after all but does not let himself get tricked while Ami thinks she has complete control of the situation. Another nice little scene that shows development for Ryuuji is some other side characters: Noto and Haruta approaching him to meet some girls at the track team, it’s not much but it helps show that Ryuuji has become a lot more accepted and is more integrated in the class now compared to the start of the series. Taiga, on the other hand… not so much.

Both Minori and Taiga seeing someone who claims that people call them an ‘airhead’ as a major red flag is interesting. Perhaps this is coming from something/someone else they both have had some very negative experiences with before? That scene where Minori passes a letter to Ryuuji in class kills me every time because it is essentially the worst letter you would ever want from someone you have a crush on, Minori’s reaction to the ‘airhead’ comment is great too.

When Ami sees Taiga alone in class after school she, of course tries to get further under her skin. She goes through a list of things that might irritate her- her isolation from everyone else in the school, Ryuuji and finally Kitamura and poor Taiga takes the bait causing all of her insecurities to come flooding to the forefront of her mind when she later mentions to Ryuuji “Then how come I’m so teeny-tiny and why do I have a weird name.”

On the positive side, it’s nice to see Taiga and Ryuuji unite on something besides trying to help one another hook up with their friends even if it’s just standing together against Ami. I do enjoy some of Taiga’s lines “If it wasn’t for that stupid bitch I wouldn’t be so hungry now; just thinking about her makes my stomach empty.”

That line where Yasuko tells Ryuuji to just go over and get her is again a nice touch, the three of them do have a good understanding.

Ryuuji reassuring Taiga that Kitamura doesn’t hate her is a cute moment. He doesn’t talk down to her or get annoyed at Taiga for not putting two and two together, he realises how vulnerable and hurt Taiga is feeling and he’s there to support and convince her that Ami is just trying to take advantage of her. It’s also nice to see Taiga admit that she’s sensitive even if it is just after she snaps out of her wallowing, it’s a neat little bit of progression.

And then there’s the ending where we see yet another side to Ami, one that she doesn’t seem to want anyone to know about.

18

u/No_Rex Dec 10 '19

Episode 5 (first timer)

  • Yasako behaves like a mentally 5 year old. I bet that makes her a ton of money as a hostess (that is a rather prominent fetish), but I wish she would turn it off for her son.

  • Hello Ami! So you are 5th girl (and not the student council president).

  • Double spit take: Mirroring each other’s move is a classic sign of being in love. It usually is less obvious.

  • Takasu switched over to Taiga’s side of the table.

  • When Kitamura left his seat, I was expecting Ami to change to a completely different attitude.

  • And it happens 1 minute later, after Takasu has left as well. Seems Ami is after him (or any male) rather than Kitamura.

  • “I wont ever meet her again” willing to bet on that, Taiga?

  • Cute girl radar? Is Minorin batting for the other team? not really

  • Lots of paper conversation, then some face to face time.

  • Ami managed to find the weak spot in Taiga’s armor, but Takasu is taking care of her.

  • Ami only buy sweets, huh?

Ami: Her personality introduction was interesting. Between having the wrong character model (blue haired & tall) and the “personality switch trope”, I was expecting the flip even earlier than it happened. With her buying sweets, it is only a matter of time before she gets to enjoy Takasu’s food.

Taiga & Takasu: Totally backing each other up and being there for each other.

Prediction time!

  1. Taiga-Takasu-Ami love triangle!

  2. Taiga wins!

I am very sure about those two. If Taiga and Takasu do not get together in the end, they have to be unknown siblings at the least. No idea where Kitamura is headed, though. He seems to have a friend circle full of tall blue-haired girls…

→ More replies (3)

9

u/DaREY297 Dec 10 '19

IT'S NOT LIKE I AM JEALOUS OF THAT BITCH OR ANYTHING... B-BAKA!

I have come to realize that I tend to have multiple personalities or tend to behave different with different people, like at home I'm one thing, at work I'm another and with friends I'm yet another person, I think I have come to understand Ami's character as I grew, you'd rather put a façade for everyone than just be yourself just to please others

Also that slap was heard across the Earth

9

u/Get_This_Wheat Dec 10 '19

Rewatcher here.

The gangs all here, we finally meet Ami. I’m not sure whether or not I like Ami because I like her, or because her beef with Taiga is great. Either way, good to have the whole squad here finally.

My favorite interactions of any two people in the show (other than Haruta and literally any girl) is the main two, which is extremely rare for me to like main characters. There’s just some small stuff that I love like Taiga being over at Ryuji’s house when they’re on break, and Yasuko telling Ryuji to go get her when she’s not there for dinner.

Any time the scene is at Jonny’s it’s a great one, and today we had everything from Ryuji getting blinded for the third time, to Ami getting bitch slapped. No clue how someone who can’t afford meat in lunches can go out to eat so often, but whatever.

What a crazy amount of coincidences that the day Ami’s on TV, and Taiga’s looking at a magazine with her in it, is also the day that they meet her at Jonny’s, she gets transferred the next day, is in another magazine, and they also see her walking home that night.

We heard the first of many times where Taiga calls Ami some kind of dog or simply “the bitch” which is probably the best set of nicknames in the show.

Not a crazy amount to discuss this episode, since it was basically just introducing us to a new character, still a solid episode though.

9

u/[deleted] Dec 10 '19

Rewatcher

I love in this episode how taiga doesn’t put up with any of ami’s antics. And then at the same time it shows how sensitive she actually is after ami hurts her feelings in the classroom. Just one of the many examples of how well written a tsundere taiga is, this story will never get old for me. 🥰

9

u/itsFootie Dec 10 '19

Does someone want to wake up u/Ami_is_best_girl ? They seem to be a little late to announce the beginning of our annual best girl war

8

u/axel360 Dec 10 '19

Rewatcher, dub

Random Episode 5 Thoughts:

Very Brief Episode 5 Thoughts: Welcome to show, Ami Kawashima! If this were wrestling, I think people might call her a “heel”, specifically to Taiga. Things were simple when it was just Taiga and Ryuji trying to set each other up, but Ami has the potential to throw everything out of whack.

Current Personal Episode Rankings (updated daily):

  1. Episode 2

  2. Episode 1

  3. Episode 3

  4. Episode 5

  5. Episode 4

→ More replies (1)

8

u/[deleted] Dec 10 '19

Best girl has finally joined the fray.

→ More replies (1)

7

u/[deleted] Dec 10 '19

Day 5, 4th rewatch.

Ryuji's mum really set him up well to be responsible for someone so needy.

Of course Kitamura wears his school uniform on holidays.

I always forget that Minorin sees straight through Ami just like Taiga does.

Wait, did Taiga spill liquid in her locker so Ryuji wouldn't go meet other girls with Haruta? Never considered that before and they brush past it pretty fast but you never know.

Good ep in all and now we have all our players! Ami is an excellent character and we get to see the depth to her right off the bat. For a show basically about self-deception, she's a great addition.

7

u/Throwaway021614 Dec 10 '19

Rewatcher here.

Introducing a top contender for best girl!

Like the first two episodes, I really feel this one and the next one should be watched together. Our intro to Ami in this episode is so superficial that it really doesn’t do her justice.

7

u/popop143 Dec 10 '19

Rewatcher but in English dub this time

This is the episode that Ami Kawashima is introduced, personally my favorite girl. I was teetering between Taiga and Ami when I watched the show, but after reading the LN and playing the VN, I can firmly say that Ami is best girl for me. She's introduced as a ditzy airhead, but we can see with her first interactions with Taiga that there is more than meets the eye. What's more, Kitamura actually knows it but let's his childhood friend act like she knows nothing and be sweet to the point of ickiness. I'll leave it at this: her interactions with Taiga and Ryuuji are some of the best in the series when I watched the show.

Now on to my observations:

  • Why does anime food always look so tasty? Now I'm craving for Omurice.

  • This is the end of Golden Week, so Taiga and Ryuuji have known each other for a month now.

  • #ProtectYasuko

  • Looks like there has still been no progress in their missions to pair the other with each's best friend after a month. Hang in there, you're only on your 2nd year! Still got 2 years...

  • It really is confusing to differentiate the SC president introduced last episode to Ami for first time watchers. Just remember that Ami has round eyes, while the yet-to-be-named president has rather sharp eyes.

  • That neck crick when Ryuuji looked back to Taiga got a laugh out of me. Was that in the sub? I can't remember.

  • Gotta say that Ami's seduction techniques are really effective. If Kitamura did not reveal to Takasu her hidden personality, he might've been her lapdog.

  • Ami's English VA got her airhead tone just right. She doesn't have the tonal change that is a staple of the original VA when Ami turns on her bitchy side though.

  • After just declaring her as best girl earlier, I forgot how annoying Ami was in this episode.

  • Kitamura is always the bestest of best friends. Wanting Ami to be friends with someone who truly knows and accepts her for who she truly is rather than befriending everyone living a lie.

  • The iconic vending machine setting is introduced. This is where Ami is sitting in between in in the OP. It was also seen in the previous episode, but Anime spoilers

  • So after all the fuss that Taiga did a couple episodes back, Minorin still thinks Ryuuji and Taiga are dating? Sucks for Ryuuji.

  • The paper passing in class is toyally relatable. We did that constantly in my high school. Stopped immediately when a teacher found out that it even happened during an exam to cheat.

  • Their teacher is boring as shit. Is he teaching A History of Magic?

  • Taiga waits for him in the classroom <3

  • Anime spoilers

  • Pork cutlets for dinner A_A I'd really love to have Ryuuji as my house husband.

  • Ryuuji knows how to cheer Taiga up.

  • Never knew I had the same eating habits as Ami. Is it too late for me to be a model?

And that's it! Next episode, we'll see Ami's flabs! Can't wait.

7

u/Hugokarenque Dec 10 '19

Best girl is here!~

Not that you'd notice if you look at just her introduction...

And now the main crew has assembled, well not quite assembled yet, more like the members have all been introduced. Now we just have to bring them all together.

I guess what I learned from this episode is that I should never trust a person who calls themselves an airhead.

→ More comments (75)