Toradora! - Character Discussion - Kitamura Yuusaku

[Mushi]

Originally Posted by Tiran86

Which also makes him the most boring of the main characters. I'd like him to get a bit more characterization sometime in the near future. At this point I barely care that he's in the anime or novels.

In a way, I think he's being used (by the writers, not other characters) as sort of a "glue" to help hold the others together. That's not an exciting role, but an important one.... maybe.

[Tiran86]

I don't know about that. Kitamura was the catalyst for Taiga and Ryuuji becoming friends, and introduced Ami to the two but I don't think he plays much of a role except as Taiga's love interest. He's supposed to be best friends with Ryuuji but I haven't really seen much of that.

Imho, he's the weakest part of the cast, which otherwise is my favorite ensemble cast in school based anime, except for Azumanga Daioh.

[frubam]

Originally Posted by Mushi

All this bad mouthing of Kitamura. Things are being attributed to him that are in no way revealed so far in the anime.

He's made friends with Ryuuji and is the only one who seems to care about the fact that he's a decent guy underneath the scary face. He even makes effort to help others see that.

I suppose, if you call that fetish of his "caring".

He's observant and insightful. He shows that by pointing out how much different Taiga is when she's with Ryuuji. And he has the self-restraint not to be overcome by emotion when she confesses to him, instead calmly assures her that he'll commit to a friendship with her.

But that was merely for his own self-gain. I think I said this elsewhere, but he COULD have gone out with Taiga, but then, he knew that she wouldn't act natural around him. Seeing this, he wants to become friends with her in hopes she will eventually act natural around him. It's the only way he could truly 'take' her from Ryuuji. I suppose calculating all that on the fly as Taiga was confessing is also quite observant indeed .

He's popular with girls, but doesn't gloat over it or take advantage of it. If anything, he's indifferent about it, politely brushing off their attention.

He doesn't care about other girls because they're not in accordance with his fetish. It's exactly why a) he likes Taiga, b) likes and supports the SC pres, and c) wants Ami to act as her spoiled, natural self. Sure, it SEEMS like he's doing it for them, but the reality is that he merely wishes to indulge himself around the women he likes, acting in the manner he loves.

He supports the president from the sidelines, and trys to keep her from making a fool of herself, without looking for any credit for himself.

He doesn't take any credit because he wants her to be respected as the pres of the student council. She's an object of his fetish, and it gets him off when such a person exerts authority like that to others. I don't know how compotent/incompotent Sumire(i'm tired of using SC prez >.>) is, but if people knew Kitamura was, in assumption, the more compotent of the two, she would lose respect, which would slowly draw her away from the ultimate vision of his fetish.

Say WHAT!? Talk about reading things into the scene. There's nothing at all, in the context of the scene as it's portrayed in the anime, to imply that he knew Taiga and Ryuuji were even there. It was a coincidence. Ami transferred there, she knew Kitamura was there, being childhood friends she looked him up, they agreed to meet somewhere. The only thing I see Kitamura taking advantage of was using the situation to let Ryuuji and Taiga see how she really was. And he did so out of concern for their well being because he knows that deception is a bad thing.

Okay, I'll agree that was a bit far-fetched.

Kitamura KNOWS Ami... childhood friends, remember? He can't do anything about her personality, and he knows it. He's not going to undermine her by exposing her to the whole school because he knows that would be rude and hurtfull. Instead, out of concern for her well-being and lack of potential to move beyond her duplicitous self, he knows (because he's a smart, observant, caring guy) that the best thing for her, is to be challenged by relationships that will force her into revealing her true nature and actually come to grips with it. So he goes to the only girl he can think of, someone he feels he can trust, who already knows what she's really like, and rather humbly asks her to help his childhood friend.

He doesn't want to expose it to the whole school HIMSELF. He doesn't care if Ryuuji or Taiga does it. Doesn't that strike you as odd? It's because for him, it's a win/not lose situation. He likes Ami's true nature, but he calculates that if it were to backfire, Ami would not talk to him anymore for what he'd done. However, if he has Ryuuji and Taiga to do it, and they succeed, Ami will show the personality he likes and if they fail, Ami would hate them and Ami would still be 'friends' with Kitamura, which he would attempt at some other method to derive her true personality, cunning or not.

I honestly don't think Kitamura is taking advantage of Taiga's blind willingness to do whatever he asks. If anything, he seems to be just as indifferent to that as he does anything else.

Granted, he may have some underlying motives that are yet to be seen, but so far, I think he's the most stable, "normal" person out of the whole bunch.

I'll agree other than him being 'normal'. He has his quirk, stated above, as well.

And I'm going by the anime alone. I haven't read the manga and I won't be any time soon. So, with regard to my opinions, anime discussion only, please... for anyone who cares.

I know nothing about the content of the novel, and the manga stops at the first 6 mins of ep 4. All of my reasoning is solely based on the anime in its entirely.

[Mushi]

Originally Posted by frubam

I don't know how compotent/incompotent Sumire(i'm tired of using SC prez >.>) is, but if people knew Kitamura was, in assumption, the more compotent of the two, she would lose respect, which would slowly draw her away from the ultimate vision of his fetish.

I think it's probably pretty obvious to the whole school that Kitamura is the common sense behind the school counsel. Everybody goes along with it because that's the customary thing to do.... aside from Taiga, of course. I don't see any indication in his behavior that he gets some kind of thrill out of taking sides with a girl in a position of authority. He could just be driven by a sense of duty, as much as anything.

He doesn't want to expose it to the whole school HIMSELF. He doesn't care if Ryuuji or Taiga does it. Doesn't that strike you as odd?

No, it doesn't. As I said before, he knows Ami better than anybody and he's probably tired of seeing her act that way. He's not asking them to "expose" her, he's simply asking Taiga to be her friend. He tells her that as long as Ami wears her mask she'll never be able to make true friends, and he knows that Taiga has a better chance than anyone else to see through her bullshit. He feels a sense of responsibility to her as a long time friend, and his "duty" compels him to help her. Which is why he literally begs Taiga to be her friend.

He likes Ami's true nature...

Again, I don't see any indication of that in his behavior. If anything, I think he feels pity for her. On the other hand, she may just be his type, he may harbor "childhood friend" feelings for her. Now that she's back in his life, he may want to see her come around and become a decent human being so he can have a relationship with her. That's a wild speculation, but something that came to mind.

I don't buy the fetish thing, but your argument for him to have some kind of ulterior motive is thought provoking and makes me think that I need to watch this Kitamura guy a little more closely.

[frubam]

Originally Posted by Mushi

I don't buy the fetish thing...

Perhaps the term 'fetish' is too extreme a word, maybe "has an affinity for" would be a better way to put it. Clearly there are two pieces of clear evidence of this; his emotional confession of Taiga, in which he said he liked her outspoken personality; and his adoration of Sumire, which really doesn't make any sense(Ami is probable too, but as you said, there's nothing to back it up. I just threw it out there anyway >.>). You say it could be a sense of duty, and it's quite possible it could be. It's just that I dislike him as a char, so I am pessimistic about him before I'm optimistic.

Well, at the very least, I'll say the one probable thing that links Taiga, Ryuuji, Minorin, Ami, and Sumire would be that in some apparent way, they are... outcasts? weirdoes? well, they initially seem different from the normality of people.

[The Sandman]

Am I the only one who feels that Kitamura has a thing for difficult women? I mean, he's childhood friends with Ami, he confessed to Taiga, and he seems to be the one who manages the Student Council President's...idiosyncrasies.

[Mushi]

Originally Posted by The Sandman

Am I the only one who feels that Kitamura has a thing for difficult women?

I think that's what frubam is trying to build a case on, only looking at it a little differently. And it could be.

I guess the one thing I see in him as a questionable quality is his indifference to so many things. He's almost too easy going and nonchalant about things. As best as I can recall, him asking Taiga to be friends with Ami is the first time you see him get emotional about anything.

As far as his confession to Taiga, that was a year ago. At that age, a lot changes over the course of a year. I think Kitamura has changed since then and is much more confident and self-assured, now. When he tells Ryuuji about that confession he seems to treat it as a light-hearted, silly thing from the past. I don't put a whole lot of weight on that.

[stormy001_M1A2]

I think he is very stable dude with occasional glimpses of ego centrism. But he is stable which an oddity if you consider the rest of the main characters in the lineup.

[Isekaijin]

Originally Posted by The Sandman

Am I the only one who feels that Kitamura has a thing for difficult women? I mean, he's childhood friends with Ami, he confessed to Taiga, and he seems to be the one who manages the Student Council President's...idiosyncrasies.

Now that you mention it, it's true. He seem to like girls with very strong character. Take Taiga as an example. She is the exact opposite of how she looks (Well, at least for the ones who didn't knew her tsundere-esque seiyuu) And the student council president... Sumire Kano was her name right? is no angel as well.

But then, this guy is easily disposable. Never in my 8 years watching anime have I seen such a "main character" Hardly noticeable at all. He is only Ryuuji's best friend, and a guy who is popular with girls, but nothing else. He is like that guy from Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei... what was his name again? You know, the invisible guy.

Aahhh forget it.

[Clarste]

Originally Posted by Isekaijin

Now that you mention it, it's true. He seem to like girls with very strong character. Take Taiga as an example. She is the exact opposite of how she looks (Well, at least for the ones who didn't knew her tsundere-esque seiyuu) And the student council president... Sumire Kano was her name right? is no angel as well.

But then, this guy is easily disposable. Never in my 8 years watching anime have I seen such a "main character" Hardly noticeable at all. He is only Ryuuji's best friend, and a guy who is popular with girls, but nothing else. He is like that guy from Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei... what was his name again? You know, the invisible guy.

Aahhh forget it.

If you think about it, Kitamura's basically the main character of a generic harem show. Only with more personality.

[Vexx]

Actually, he's having his own anime harem series in the same timespace .... we're just getting to see all the dysfunctional people who are in his background and only have small roles in that series' camera view.

[Darknemo2000]

The only really good thing about Kitamura is that he is not the main character of the series... How horrible it would've been (and how generic it would have made Toradora yo be) if he was one.

[Isekaijin]

Originally Posted by Darknemo2000

The only really good thing about Kitamura is that he is not the main character of the series... How horrible it would've been (and how generic it would have made Toradora yo be) if he was one.

So true. Honestly if that guy were the main character. I would have ditched Toradora inmediately.

[frubam]

Originally Posted by Isekaijin

He is only Ryuuji's best friend.....

LOL are you kidding? A best friend that don't even truly associate with Ryuuji that much? Minorin and Taiga are best friends. Haruta and Ninori are more of a friend to Ryuuji than Kitamura is.

He's just some 'caring' guy who wanted to help Takasu out with people being scared of him. Kitamura was probably only interested in the fact that people perceived Ryuuji as being a scary guy, since you know he loves the scary type. Male or female, he doesn't discriminate.

[Cat Megex]

Originally Posted by frubam

Kitamura was probably only interested in the fact that people perceived Ryuuji as being a scary guy, since you know he loves the scary type. Male or female, he doesn't discriminate.

Wait, so you think Kitamura is bi, then?

[frubam]

Originally Posted by Cat Megex

Wait, so you think Kitamura is bi, then?

, as much as I'd like to think so, no, I don't. I'd like to say his indifference toward women would make him gay, but since it'd different with Taiga, Ami, and Sumire, I can't . Maybe if a gay deliquent were to confess to him...

[higurashi_fan]

i think 2 things D:
KitamuraXSumire(why? kitamura admires too to sumire,also sumire is very ''cool'' in the school,that all obey with joy and admiration..)

or kitamura alone= normaly gay

[frubam]

Originally Posted by Darknemo2000

Kitamura still looks like a stalker goof even after episode 4, and yes he doesn't seem to have any underlying feelings for Taaga anymore. You are just looking too deep. frubam, you are chasing a black cat in a black room, that isn't even there.

I don't know how I missed this, but anyways, if the room is black, how can you tell whether the black cat is there or not? You won't know unless you try to look for it. If you believe it's there, you gotta search, esp since there's no light to shed in this situation.

[Deathscyther]

Kitamaru is the nice guy of the series. He's indeed a bit like the usual harem lead.

He's probably put in the show to make Taiga realise her real feelings for Ryuuji, while being part of their little group. He causes some funny scenes sometimes, but he's the least important person of the main characters.

[typhonsentra]

Even less so than Ami? I like her character too but at least with Kiramura he was the original reason Ryuuji and Taiga teamed up. With Ami she doesn't really have much of a connection with anyone.