[Deathscyther]

Hmm, seems like a nice challenge

There's something in this world that no one has ever seen. It's something kind and very sweet. If people could see it, they would probably want it. That's why the world hit it; So that it wouldn't be so easy to find. But someday, someone will definitely find it. The one who is supposed to find it, will be the one to find it. That's just how it is.

I'll give a long summary first of the anime. This is kind of how I percieved the story:

Spoiler for story summary:

The italic sentences between the episodes are what I thought to be cores of the episodes.

Episode 1: The meeting
During the beginning of the show the riddle is said by Ryuuji and Taiga.

Ryuuji is feeling lonely because everyone (except Kitamura and his mother) is scared of his sharp eyes. Example: he would have been a rich man if he had used those eyes more effectively (people dropping their wallets while running away from him). He has been living with his mother forever, but he can't remember his father.

Taiga is feeling lonely because she's living alone, has problems with her family and feels like nobody understands her. Because of this she decided to become the "Palmtop Tiger" She wouldn't let anyone hurt her anymore. In order to survive in this world she had to become stronger. The only friend she has is Minorin, but because Minorin's always busy/working, Taiga's alone very often.

Both seem to have a crush on one of their classmates:
- Ryuuji likes Minorin, a cheerful girl who seems the perfect girl in his eyes. She is always happy, is very popular, is good with sports, and never lets herself get sad/down. He looks up to her. Ryuuji doesn’t dare to confess to her though.
- Taiga likes Kitamura, a cheerful boy who has some perfect feeling around him. Almost every girl seems to like him; he is smart and is part of the student council. She feels funny when he’s around her and she can’t say anything without stuttering. On top of that, he had already confessed to Taiga last year. Taiga might have rejected him instantly because of her ‘shield’, but regrets that up to now.

When Ryuuji and Taiga finally meet, Ryuuji learns that Taiga has some serious problems. She is emotionally unstable and he learns about her crush on Kitamura. In turn she finds out about his crush on Minorin. Taiga appears to be Minorin’s best friend, while Ryuuji is Kitamura’s best friend. Both decide that it would be smart to help each other with their love affairs. They find out that they’re living next to each other as well.

When he sees that she’s living alone and isn’t eating right, he decides to be there for her. He decides to cook for her, since he loves cooking anyways, and cleans her house, since he loves cleaning. Taiga doesn’t really know how to react to these actions, since she never had someone who did these things for her. She doesn’t let her ‘shield’ down though and doesn’t seem too thankful, but she doesn’t stop him either.

Ryuuji & Taiga: What is this weird feeling?

Episode 2: Teamwork
Ryuuji and Taiga work together to get their crushes to notice them. Their first attempt fails (basketball) and Taiga decides to make cookies for her crush. When she wants to give them to him, she falls down the stairs, but Ryuuji breaks her fall. Taiga for the first time shows real concern for Ryuuji.

When Taiga feels down after missing her chance, she tells Ryuuji how she always messes up and gets very down. She’s afraid that she’ll be alone forever. Ryuuji eats her cookies, lies about their taste and tries to cheer her up. Taiga gets confused and doesn’t know how to react once again. This feeling was just alien to her.

The class gets the wrong idea and thinks Ryuuji and Taiga are dating, even their crushes seem to believe so. When they go to a restaurant that night, Taiga tells him about her family problems and how nobody understands her. Ryuuji knows how she feels, because he too feels like nobody understands him (including his own mother). When she’s tries to literally ‘kick out’ the aggression, Ryuuji decides to help her.

Taiga finally sees how nice this guy is. She decides stop seeing Ryuuji so often and to confess to Kitamura in order to move forward, but also to remove the wrong idea from the class and to raise the chances for Ryuuji getting together with Minorin.

The confession completely fails though as she more or less confesses that she needs/wants Ryuuji to be by her side. Taiga herself gets confused about this as well. Kitamura notices this confusion and decides to be just friends with her (he also likes someone else at the moment).

Ryuuji overhears everything and decides to stand by her side. Since the dragon is the only creature able to stand next to the tiger, he decides to become a dragon in order to be by her side. Taiga doesn’t show it, but she is feeling really happy about this.

Ryuuji & Taiga: I don't have to pretend anymore. He/she accepts me for who I am.


Episode 3-6: Friendship
Ryuuji and Taiga become closer every day. Taiga starts coming over to the Takasu-residence almost every day and is intrigued by the family feeling. It’s a feeling she has been longing for all her life. Still working together, they slowly get closer to Minorin and Kitamura. The class seems to be accepting them more and more as well.

During this time Kawashima Ami comes into play. After the group helps Ami with her stalker problems, she decides to stay around, while she was supposed to start modeling again. She seemed intrigued by Taiga and Ryuuji's relationship.

Ryyuji & Taiga: It's really nice to have friends


Episode 7: Trust
The pool is opened during summer time and when Taiga has to get a swimsuit, she shows Ryuuji how much she trusts him. She shows herself in her swimsuit and tells/shows him how she’s not happy with her small bust. Ryuuji decides to help her and makes her breast pads.

When Taiga is thrown into the water by Ami, Ryuuji finds out that she can’t swim and saves her. Taiga lost one of her breast pads in the fall though. Ryuuji, trying to save Taiga’s pride, puts the pad back in, even if it means touching her bare breast. Taiga would normally kill him, but she understands that he did it for her sake.

Taiga: I trust you completely


Episode 8: Jealousy
Taiga is pissed at Ami for nearly killing her and for making Ryuuji touch her breast. When they’re about to fight, Minorin decides to make it a swimming contest. Ami has noticed the bond between Ryuuji and Taiga and tries to make things more interesting. She declares that if Taiga loses, she will take Ryuuji to her villa during summer break.

Ryuuji then decides to help Taiga practice, because Taiga wants to win the match no matter what. When he keeps insisting that she’s doing it for Kitamura though, Taiga gets angry and walks away. This confuses Ryuuji a lot.

Taiga shows up in the end after all. She decides to swim, even though she still sucks at it. While she gets cramp and is losing the match, Ryuuji stops her. Taiga then tells him that she’s doing this for his sake. This shocks Ryuuji and he lets her go.

When Ryuuji gets hit on the head by someone else falling in the water and loses consciousness in the water though, Taiga drops the match in order to save him. After getting him out the water, she starts crying and gets angry at anyone for not saving him. She even declares that Ryuuji is hers in her anger.

Taiga: He's mine!


Episode 9-10: Ghosts
Because Taiga lost, everyone went to Ami’s villa (Taiga wouldn’t let Ryuuji go alone). Ryuuji and Taiga both had the same dream about being a married dog couple. Because that’s not the road they want to go on, they decide to at least help one of the couples for the moment, to increase the chances. Ryuuji wins a match, so Taiga has to help him for now.

When Ryuuji asks Minorin if she has a boyfriend, she tells Ryuuji how she wants to see ghosts, but hasn’t seen one just yet. This seems to indicate that she doesn’t have a special person yet.

During this time, Taiga notices that she can be really comfortable with Ryuuji in a room, when nobody else is around. She’s even rubbing her feet against his back without really realizing it.

Taiga thinks out loud how maybe the ‘dog dream’ isn’t so bad.

Ryuuji & Taiga: I want to be around you.


Episode 11-14: Family
Ryuuji and Taiga are acting like a real family at times. She’s coming over every day and Yasuko even comments how they are a 3-person family. This makes Taiga feel happy inside, since she never had this kind of family herself.

It’s time for the school festival during this time. Every class can do something, Ryuuji’s class decides to do a wrestling showdown, and there’s a beauty contest as well.

During this time Taiga’s father decides to get in touch with his daughter again. When Ryuuji finds out how much Taiga hates her father, he tries to talk some sense into her. She doesn’t listen at first, but when she sees how much it is bothering Ryuuji, she tries to give it a go.

Minorin gets pissed at Ryuuji when she finds out and tells him that this had happened once before. But Taiga’s father let her down that time and broke Taiga’s heart. Ryuuji believes that a father wouldn’t do this kind of thing and fights with Minorin. This makes Taiga sad.

When Taiga’s father indeed dumps her during the beauty contest, Ryuuji can see how heartbroken Taiga is. Ryuuji feels like an idiot. He only pushed Taiga so much because he didn’t have a father himself while he wanted to. He wanted her to realize his dream for him. He wanted her to have a happy life with a father, the kind of life he never had. But he realized now that was foolish to think that. Taiga’s father was a terrible person and now he had made Taiga sad. It was heart wrenching for him.

In order to atone for this, he starts clapping for her even though she’s not looking quite beautiful because of her sad face. Minorin helps Ryuuji and soon Taiga gets her act together and shows that she’s a real tiger. Eventually she wins the contest, but Ryuuji knows that Taiga’s just hiding behind her tiger personality and is feeling down still.

He decides to win the race that is held right after. The winner would win a dance with Taiga. No matter what, he would make her happy once again. This was his entire fault after all. With help of Minorin he wins the race and the two become friends once again. This is more than enough to make Taiga happy again, because she knows that she has people who really care about her. Ryuuji vows that he’ll never make Taiga sad again.

Ryuuji: I'll never make her sad again.


Episode 15-16: Realization
Kitamura is acting crazy and Taiga doesn’t know what to do. She wants to help him but doesn’t know how. When she’s about to break down, Ryuuji is there for her to help her. They watch at the stars together.

Taiga finds out that Kitamura likes the student council president Sumire. When Sumire doesn’t react after Kitamura confesses, Taiga gets into a fight with the president, because it had made Kitamura sad. When she learns that Sumire didn’t react because she didn’t want Kitamura to change his life because of her (she was going to America) Taiga stops attacking. Kitamura hears her words as well and seems content with Sumire’s answer.

After seeing the fight, Minorin sees a photo of Taiga and Kitamura. She always thought that Taiga liked Ryuuji romantically, but isn’t sure anymore now and feels like a fool.

Ami realizes (after seeing the second photo in her agenda) that Taiga DOES have feelings for Ryuuji. Ami makes a comment to Minorin, because she knows Minorin has feelings for Ryuuji as well.

Taiga comes to the realization that she wasn’t sad because Kitamura had someone else he liked, but because Kitamura was sad.

Taiga: So it wasn't love?


Episode 17-18: Christmas
Taiga tells Ryuuji that she believes in ‘Santa’. She saw him before, maybe in a dream, but she believes that if she acts like a good girl that someone will always be watching over her. She decides to help Ryuuji more with getting together with Minorin.

Kitamura announces the student council will organize a Christmas party on Christmas Eve to boost romantic feelings between students. When they ask Minorin though, she says that she won’t come. She had been feeling confused since Ami made the comment about feeling quilty.

When everyone is trying to pair up Taiga with Kitamura, Ryuuji begins to feel uncomfortable. He doesn’t know why though. He tells himself that he doesn’t like the fact that everyone is barging into Taiga’s love life. During this time Ami tells Ryuuji that he should stop acting like a father figure to Taiga. Ryuuji doesn’t understand what she means though.

The whole class works together to make an artificial Christmas three and Taiga brings the glass star that she put on her own three the time ‘Santa’ visited her. Everything was going great in their eyes.

Minorin couldn’t stay around Ryuuji anymore, because she was feeling confused about Taiga’s feelings and Ami's comment, but when she accidentally breaks Taiga's glass star after spacing out, everything seemed to shatter. Ryuuji helps her to put the star together again and tells her that broken things can be fixed. She had to make a decision and her decision was to ask Taiga herself about her feelings later on.

On the day of the party Taiga assures Ryuuji that Minorin will come to the party and tells him that he must confess to her, because she believes that Mirorin does indeed like Ryuuji back. She even gives Ryuuji a suit. When Ryuuji sees Taiga in her dress, he can’t believe how pretty she is.

During the party, Taiga and Ami sing a song to make everyone happy and when Ryuuji asks Ami later where Taiga is and he finds out that she had gone home, he flips. He remembers how Taiga said that she wants everyone to be happy, but Ryuuji retorts that she’s forgetting herself. Taiga told him to stay at the party because Minorin would surely come, but he left to go to Taiga anyways.

Ryuuji: I won't leave her by herself!


Episode 19: Hidden feelings
Taiga is all alone at home, with Ryuuji’s scarf around her neck. She knows that there’s no santa in the world. She was just being weak. She’ll be all alone forever. She thinks that while taking in Ryuuji’s scent from the scarf.

When Ryuuji does show up in a santa-suit, cheers her up and tells her that he doesn’t want to leave her alone, she becomes happy. She puts up a front and sends him to the party again, because Minorin should be on her way. Ryuuji hesitates, but goes after much struggling.

After she’s alone again and realizes that Ryuuji and Minorin would get together, she begins crying because she understands that she won’t be able to be together with Ryuuji anymore, that she won’t be the one by his side anymore. She doesn’t want to lose him. She runs out screaming his name desperately, not wanting to lose him.

Minorin sees this, because she was planning to confirm Taiga’s feelings before going to the party. After seeing this though, she had enough confirmation. She decides to dump Ryuuji before he could even confess, because she knows that Taiga needs him more than she does.

Taiga: I want to be the one by his side!


Episodes 20-21: Confession
Taiga acts like nothing had happened that night and she doesn’t understand why Minorin wouldn’t accept Ryuuji. She hides her feelings and tries to get Ryuuji and Minorin together. She prays to Kitamura (the god of broken love) to help her get rid of her feelings for Ryuuji. She gives Minorin the hairpin that Ryuuji wanted to give to Minorin during Christmas.

The class goes on a ski-trip and tension arises. Ami hates the way Minorin is handling things and starts fighting with her.

When Ryuuji talks to Minorin later during the trip, she puts the hairpin in her hair and tells her it’s a gift from Taiga. He tries to tell her how he feels, but she won't let him talk. No matter what Ryuuji tries, he just can’t get through to Minorin and gives up. He can’t be together with someone he doesn’t even understand.

The next day Minorin and Ami have a fight again and when Ami punches Minorin the hairpin flies off a steep hill. Taiga tries to find it, because she knows what the hairpin means to Ryuuji, but falls without anyone seeing.

A blizzard starts and Minorin and Ryuuji go out to find Taiga no matter what, Kitamura goes with them. When Ryuuji sees the hairpin through the snow, he realizes that Taiga fell trying to get it and that she had always been by his side, but that he hadn’t noticed. He vowed to never let her go anymore. When Minorin wants to go down as well, he stops her. This is his job.

After finding her, he picks her up and carries her piggy-back. Taiga opens her eyes a little bit and thinks that it is Ryuuji who is carrying her at first, but after touching his ski glasses, she thinks its Kitamura. She tells him that Ryuuji would always save her in this kind of situation and that she can’t stop loving Ryuuji, even though she wants Ryuuji and Minorin together.

Ryuuji: She loves me!?


Episode: 22-23: Confusion
Taiga’s mother picks her up and Taiga doesn’t go to school for a while. Ryuuji and the rest go back to school after the trip. He can’t stop thinking about Taiga’s confession, but he’ll make sure that nobody finds out, since he doesn’t think Taiga would want that. He tells Kitamura to act as the one who saved her.

Taiga comes to his house one night and tells Ryuuji that she has been living with her mother and that she’s enjoying herself. Ryuuji cries after knowing that she’s alright and comments on how being with Taiga is the best. Taiga indeed thinks that it was Kitamura who saved her, but she decides to ask Ryuuji anyways, since she’s not sure. Ryuuji lies to her and says Kitamura saved her and that she said nothing.

It’s time to choose what everyone will do after school during this time as well, but Ryuuji isn’t sure and thinks about working, since his family is poor. Taiga says that all she wants is to find love normally and start a family.

Yasuko wants Ryuuji to study and go to university and not work, so she starts taking part-time jobs to get some extra money for university. She tells Ryuuji not to work.

When she collapses one day because she worked too much, Ryuuji feels guilty and freaks out. Taiga helps him get out of it by telling him that everything will be alright while holding his hand. They decide to do the job for her.

Ryuuji & Taiga:I can't let you know, but I'll be there for you...always.


Episode 24: Realization
When Taiga wants to give everyone chocolate as thanks for saving her, Minorin finds out about Ryuuji’s lie and tells Taiga the truth. Taiga doesn’t want to believe it and tries to run away, but Minorin makes Taiga realize the situation and tells her to grasp her own happiness. Taiga realizes that she messed up big time and runs away.

Ryuuji decides to go after her, after finally realizing his feelings. During this time he finds out that Minorin likes him as well. She says that she knew that she let Taiga have him because Taiga needed Ryuuji more…at least that what’s she thought at first…but now she believes that Taiga really has won Ryuuji’s heart all by herself and that she should grasp her happiness.

Ryuuji couldn’t catch taiga this time, but finds her at the part-time job. Taiga wants to tell him something after work, and tells Ryuuji to hold her if she tries to run away.

When they finally want to talk, both their mothers interrupt them. Taiga’s mother wants to take Taiga with her, but Taiga doesn’t want to. She thinks that she won’t fit in her mother’s new family. Ryuuji realizes that Taiga lied about being happy with her mother, just so that he wouldn't worry.

Yasuko in turn flips out about Ryuuji working, while he promised not to and Ryuuji gets angry at her for doing everything herself. She should realize that they’re a family, that family always helps each other and that he’s a grown man by now. She should stop forcing her dreams on him. He feels like it would have been better if he had never been born. It would have been better for his mother.

In the end both Ryuuji and Taiga run away, hand in hand.

Ryuuji & Taiga: These feelings....they're overflowing. I have to tell you how I feel!


Episode 25: Love
Ryuuji and Taiga find out about each other’s feelings and decide to run away from their families, until they can marry. They almost confess, but are interrupted by their friends who were searching for them.

Ryuuji and Taiga tell them their plan to run away, and even though Minorin, Kitamura and Ami don’t agree, after hearing Taiga say that she wants to be with Ryuuji no matter what, they still help because that’s what friends do. Minorin gives them money, and Ami gives them the key to her villa. Ami makes Ryuuji tell her that he loves Taiga seriously, and he does.

When Ryuuji finds out that Yasuko had left while leaving an address of his grandparents and the watch of his grandfather, and after Taiga says that she doesn’t want to make Yasuko sad by becoming a family this way, he realized that running away isn’t the answer.

Instead of running away they went to visit his grandparents and made Yasuko come as well. Yasuko said that she wanted to protect Ryuuji after his father left her for another woman, but that everything broke. Ryuuji made up with his mother, telling her that she raised him well.

Because he told his grandparents that they were getting married, Ryuuji and Taiga were put in the same room. Both are nervous about it. Taiga wants to look at the stars together with Ryuuji and tells him that she’s worried that things won’t work out. Ryuuji tells her that they’ll get together in the good way, by earning his grandparents’ and her parents’ trust/approval. Taiga tells him that it might take a long time, but Ryuuji in turn tells her that he’s willing to wait, since they’ll always be together anyways.

Taiga says that she’s okay with not marrying yet, because of the vow Ryuuji made a long time ago: “Since ancient times, the dragon has been the only beast to equal the tiger”. They kiss for the first time that night.

The next day Taiga decides to go to her parents, while taking a picture of a single star in the dark sky, because Ryuuji shouldn’t be the only one to make things right. She will earn Ryuuji’s love and love him back, while maintaining her pride. She only leaves Ryuuji a note and leaves.

The next day the class finds out that Taiga has transferred, because she’ll live with her mother from now on. Everyone freaks out and starts emailing Taiga.

Ryuuji leaves the room, followed by Minorin who slaps him. She blames him for not stopping Taiga. Ryuuji then tells her that he didn’t want her to go, that he’d bring her back if he could, but that Taiga believes in him, so that he’ll just have to accept it for now.

When he visits her apartment, he notices her agenda and sees a picture of her and Kitamura, taken during the school festival. He isn’t too happy with it, but after that he sees a second picture behind that one, one of Ryuuji and herself, he realizes that Taiga had feelings for him even during that time and that he had never noticed. Taiga mails him that he never told her that he loves her as well as a picture of a star. He says that both of them are stupid.

Everyone of his class received the picture of the single star in the sky and only Minorin was able to understand what the picture meant: “Even if the sky is pitch-black, with nothing to see, there will be stars shining somewhere out there. If I keep shining brighter and brighter, I’ll definitely look better to people. The sky will connect us all, as long as we all shine, no matter how far apart we are, we will definitely be able to see each other doing our best.”

So in order to show that everyone will be alright, they sent back a picture with Ryuuji and everyone on it, while holding Taiga’s ‘star’.

“I am a dragon, you are a tiger. Since ancient times the dragon has been the only beast to equal the tiger. Even if you’re not by my side now, I will leap through space and time and always be by your side. These feelings will never change.”

And so Ryuuji continues his life, knowing that they are connected by the huge sky and their love for each other. Someday they’ll meet again and then they can be truly together.

Ryuuji & Taiga: I'll always love you!


Epilogue: Toradora
More than a year has passed. Ryuuji’s class has graduated and everyone says how they’ll miss the seniors. The legend of the Palmtop Tiger has spread throughout the whole school. It is even known that she is Ryuuji’s girlfriend.

Ryuuji notices something in the window of his old classroom and starts running. Ami sees him run past her and smiles, knowing that the plan has failed. Minorin and Kitamura don’t seem to know about Taiga.

Ryuuji: “There’s something in this world that nobody has seen before.”

Taiga: “It is gentle and sweet.”

Ryuuji: “Maybe if it could be seen, everyone would fight over it.”

Taiga: “That’s why no one has ever seen it.”

Ryuuji: “The world hid it so that no one could get their hands on it easily.”

Taiga: “However, someday, someone will find it.”

Ryuuji: “The person who deserves it the most will definitely find it.”

Ryuuji finally finds Taiga after so long and doesn’t waste any time. This time he’d let her know for sure. “Listen…Suki da!”

Taiga, being her usual self, head buts Ryuuji while murmuring that he shouldn’t say such things or at least wait until a better time.

Ryuuji and Taiga: “That’s how it’s created.”

Ryuuji & Taiga: You're my happiness.

"There's something in this world that no one has ever seen."
"It's something kind and very sweet."

I think friendship and love are indeed possibilities, but I think there's a even bigger meaning to it. What about happiness?

Friendship could be something what would make someone truly happy, while other people wouldn't really care about something so trivial. Same with love. Some people live to find their significant other and to start a family.

So I'd say the meaning of these two sentences will differ from person to person.

In Toradora! both Ryuuji and Taiga felt like nobody understood them and that nobody wanted them.
- Taiga was abandoned by her family and was living alone. She created the 'Palmtop Tiger' in order to save herself from being hurt ever again;
- Ryuuji didn't have a father and a childish mother. The people who didn't know him were scared of him. He thinks he brought his mother only misery and sadness by being born.

When Ryuuji and Taiga finally met each other, they realized that they were the same. They did understand each other. It wasn't much, but it was enough to continue on the road of life.

In time and after many problems along the way, they made friends, fell in love with each other and found out that they were happy with just being together.


"If people could see it, they would probably want it."
"That's why the world hid it"
"So that it wouldn't be so easy to find."

There is no such thing as true happiness. Happiness depends on the individual. You have to make/grasp your own happiness.

You can't see the happiness of another person so easily, because if differes from person to person. Often people even have trouble finding out what would make themselves truly happy. Only life experience and just trying your best will help you with this quest.

If there was something which could be seen and what would make everybody happy, then people would indeed fight over it, because everyone wants to be happy, right?

In Toradora! everyone was just searching for happiness as well:
-Ryuuji and Taiga just didn't want to be alone anymore and wanted to be understood;
-Minorin wanted to achieve her goals and to see her friends happy;
-Ami wanted people to see and accept the real her, even if it wasn't love.

But it wasn't always easy. An example: Even though Taiga tried to help Minorin by giving up Ryuuji, her own happiness, she didn't realise that this wouldn't make Minorin happy. Minorin has her own goals and has to grasp her own happiness.


“However, someday, someone will find it.”
“The person who deserves it the most will definitely find it.”
"That's just how it is."

Happiness won't fall out of the sky if you just wish for it. You'll have to work for your happiness. Everyone has his/her own problems in life and sad things will happen no matter what. If you just stand by and watch, nothing will change. But if you work hard enough, you'll find the happiness you deserve. What is the happiness you deserve? Only you yourself can determine how happy you are.

In Toradora!:
-Ryuuji and Taiga worked hard to get people to understand them and to be there for each other, in the end they managed to make up with their families as well;
-Minorin was working hard to achieve her goals in life;
-Kitamura was working hard to be with his love and for his friends;
-Ami worked hard to make others notice and accept her real self after meeting Ryuuji and co;
-Yasuko was working hard for her son's happiness, which in turn would make her happy;

So yeah, my answer is happiness.