Toradora! Novel Discussion

[Anh_Minh]

That plays a big part, yes. Another is that Saito does have some of it coming. Ryuuji, OTOH, is nothing but nice to her, and they're not pursuing each other romantically, making her possessiveness just wrong.

[Darknemo2000]

typhonsentra, but Taiga doesn't give her life for Ryuuji either nor give up on her personal happiness to make Ryuuji happy, like Louise do.

Besides sleeping on the floor happened only up to volume 3...And thats not so much considering how long the series are.

Louise is a very likable character in the novels once you see how she develops further from annoying noble brat.

[roan]

Did you just blatantly ignore volume 7 and 8?

[Darknemo2000]

What are you talking about? Volume 7 and 8 of Znt novels?

No of course not, thats what we get glimpses of what Louise's core is.

Volume 7 and 8 of Toradora?

Taiga acts were more selfless than ever in there but they still do not match Louise's for many reasons.

[roan]

Yes, I meant Toradora.

And of course they don't match. But they're still significant. And the real reason they don't match is because of the genre. Love comedy in the modern world vs. fantasy. This isn't exactly the kind of world where you have the opportunity to even risk your life or your happiness that often.

Also Louise gets the benefit of having 6 more volumes in her series and the same stuff that PastPrime mentioned.

[typhonsentra]

Gah, I'm still reading Zero guys!

[Deathscyther]

Taiga is even more bitchy than Louise most of the times indeed. If you don't like the type of person that's aggrassive, unsocial and selfish from the outside, but kind and sweet once you're able to become close to her...then Taiga just won't become your favourite character, since her outer layer is very strong and it's nearly impossible to completely break through

She isn't called the palmtog tiger for nothing. In order to 'survive', she's built a barrier around herself which 'protects' her. Only Minorin and now Ryuuji have really been able to break through this barrier.

Ryuuji is the only one who seems to really understand her though, although he can't understand one very important detail (the growing feelings she has for him). But even if she's opening up to him, it doesn't mean that she'll completely change as a character. She'll continue to stay an aggresive tsundere, which has her sweet moments every now and then.

Ryuuji accepts this and continues to be with her. He chooses to be with her, even though he can walk away when he wants to. So you could say that Ryuuji is a really nice guy to be able to put up with her, but you could also say that there's a real bond between the two. Although they don't show it often, they really care for each other. Both can't leave the other one alone and both want to be around each other, although they'd never admit this out loud.

Throughout the novels, they slowly come to understand their feelings and of course it'll make her act less bitchy towards him in the long run. But that's the fun part of reading this novel. The character development and drama are nicely done imo and I love how the main characters are lost for most of the time as to what their feelings mean and how they slowly come to realise them.

Spoiler for novel 9 and future novels:

I can't wait to see how both will act, now that they know about each other's feelings. Will they be able to admit their feelings to each other and try to start something or will they run away from their feelings?

[xris]

Please remember that this is meant to be the Toradora novel discussion thread and while there appears to be a number of comparisons to Zero no Tsukaima there is no reason to spoil the events from a different series.

From our Spoiler Policy

In a thread about one show, information about a different show would be considered a spoiler (e.g. revealing Kanon's plot in a Clannad thread is a spoiler).

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[SageGaiGar]

Thank you, it always seems to creep up in here.

[Anh_Minh]

I'm up to v4c3.

While at first, I couldn't understand how Kitamura could say he liked Ami's real personality, it's definitely grown on me. Sure, she's rude, selfish, and spoiled, but she isn't bad. I'd rather put up with her than Taiga.

[KeitaroNagato]

I heard about the Toradora Spin-off! novel. Does it still centralized with Taiga and Ryuuji? Wikipedia, does not give any details.

[stormy001_M1A2]

The spin off basically deals with side characters, I think. The younger students of same school.

[Deathscyther]

Novel 4 is very entertaining. I can't wait for some nice scenes to be animated in the next few episodes.

I like the scenes between Ryuuji and Taiga, while Minorin, Kitamaru and Ami all have their moments as well.

I like the weird chemistry the group as a whole has as well

Edit
Just saw episode 9 of the anime...

Spoiler for episode 9 of the anime spoilers:

they animated all the way to where it has been translated up to now.

Overall they did a good job, although they seem to rush through some scenes. They skipped out on some good moments, like the badminton match...and they kinda made the Ryuuji x Taiga couch scene a bit less intimate.

Sometimes the novel is just more more enjoyable than the anime/manga, because the details and subtle moments are conveyed better in the novels.

[Kaisos Erranon]

Originally Posted by roan

You'd have to know the general flow of volume 7 through 8 first.

Volume 7

Spoiler:

At Christmas Eve, Minori rejects Ryuuji's proposal after seeing Taiga bawling/crying/wailing after making Ryuuji go to Minori (Ryuuji doesn't know how Taiga acted and Taiga doesn't know Minori saw her).

Volume 8

Spoiler:

Taiga still tries to help Ryuuji get together with Minori at the school trip at a skiing resort, but Ami and Minori get into a big argument about Minori dumping Ryuuji and Taiga gets into the middle of it to pick up a hairpin that Ryuuji had been planning to give to Minori (at Christmas, but he got dumped before he could give it to her) but falls off a cliff because the snow around it was unstable.

Ryuuji rescues her and she admits her feelings for Ryuuji (but she thinks she's talking to Yuusaku). Ryuuji's in shock about what Taiga's been through the whole time and realizes this is also the reason why Minori dumped him and one of the reasons why Minori and Ami were fighting. He tells Yuusaku to just say he was the one that rescued Taiga. Taiga's mother picks up Taiga, and Minori, after realizing what Taiga went to go pick up and what she had been wearing the whole time (because she thought it was a present from Taiga), feels miserable.

Volume 9

Spoiler:

February, approaching Valentine's Day.

Basically Ryuuji and Taiga finally wake up and realize how they feel about each other, but then have to run away because of a lot of shit happening.

Hard to really say it simply, so here's a more detailed, but ugly summary.

Spoiler:

Ryuuji is put under a lot of stress because of what happened with Taiga (who still hasn't come back to school), how he feels about her, and what he intends to do after high school and his mom's opinion on the matter.

With Taiga, he's worried that she hasn't come back and isn't answering because she's embarassed about what she said. That doesn't turn out the case because when she comes back she claims she was just skipping school and having quality time with her mother, but he's relieved and starts linking her confession to her actions. He tells her that Yuusaku said she didn't say anything.

So for most of the book, the premise is that, Taiga thinks that it was Yuusaku she was talking to, and doesn't know it was Ryuuji. Ryuuji knows about how Taiga feels now, but tries to pretend it never happened.

As far as guidance counciling, he's been tardy on submitting a paper to his teacher on what his plans are (since you need something to at least determine how classes are split up next year) and gets stuck in a conversation with his teacher about that.

On the way, he runs into Minori and talks to her about him feeling like he's being left behind because of everything that happened recently and about there being something that he has to forget, but can't forget. Ryuuji admits he's envious of her for being able to be so forward-thinking and she replies that it's by deciding, since if you can't decide what direction you want to go, you can't move at all. Ryuuji asks her if she knows where she's going, and Minori instantly says yep. They walk together for a while and pass by Ami, who ignores the two of them.

Back at home, Ryuuji gets into an argument with Yasuko about what to do, and she tells him to just study. Ryuuji points out that they don't have the money, so Yasuko decides to take up a lot of jobs and also tells him not to do any work.

Next day, Ryuuji and Taiga are called in together at the same time by Yuri about what they want to do, since they haven't submitted anything yet. Yuri leaves for a while, to leave the two of them to fill out their paper, but both Ryuuji (other than to not burden Yasuko) and Taiga come up with the conclusion they don't have any dreams and goals. Taiga finally figures out something and says that her dream would be to just have a normal romance, under a normal family, and just being together would be good enough. She's saying this while making a really sick looking face. Ryuuji asks if she gets along with her mother, she claims she does and then leaves without filling out anything.

Ryuuji's about to go inform Yuri that Taiga left, and runs into Ami who's arguing with another teacher with Yuri trying to moderate the situation. Ryuuji does what he came to do and announces he's going to go home, Ami does the same, and they both escape. Along the way Ami drops her bag, Ryuuji picks it up, and is about to give it to her, but she gives him attitude, which makes him unconsciously throw the bag far, far, away. The bag reaches a group of students that are going home that belong to the Futsal club. One student bounces it off his chest and passes it to another student who shoots it way up, where it bounds off the bicycle parking lot room, and lands in a playground off of school grounds.

Over there, the two of them talk a bit, even when Ami had cut off ties with Ryuuji in volume 8 (for being obtuse to what he was doing to Taiga), and she basically tells him that she might transfer. She had actually planned to transfer after the stalker business was over, but she liked the relations she had with everyone here, since this is the first school where she actually had friends. Then she saw Taiga suffering a bit (back at the end of volume 4) and wanted to help her out to keep everything stable. Which makes Ryuuji feel like being a dousche again being the only one who hadn't noticed anything about Taiga.

Ami kept screwing up (from her point of view), becoming more and more miserable without anybody realizing how she felt, and started to feel like nobody noticed her. This led to Minori dumping Ryuuji, her relationship with Minori being beyond repair, and Taiga almost dying (again, just from her point of view - she didn't really play that big a role). Ryuuji tells her not to run away and that's it ok to make mistakes, but Ami asks him if he of all people has the right to say that since he's been ignoring her. They part ways and Ryuuji receives a phone call from Taiga about Yasuko collapsing.

Ryuuji goes back home and finds Taiga watching over Yasuko. He's about to go buy food for dinner and tells Taiga to go home, but gets a panic attack, storms off, and walks around like a zombie, with Taiga chasing after him because she's worried about him and there's a good chance he'd get hit by a car. He eventually calms down and thinks this is all his fault, so he goes takes responsibility by lying to the person that hired her for partime work that she won't be coming anymore. The man asks Ryuuji to the job (which is selling chocolates) to fill in Yasuko's place for just two days. It turns out the store owner actually thought Taiga would be doing it, so Taiga decides to tag along, while saying the one who will be working is Ryuuji, not her. The store owner can only pay for one person, so he's fine with that.

Next day, the two of them work together, and bumble a bit, as some friends from school stopped by (Haruta (and his girlfriend) and Noto). Since they weren't selling enough, Taiga calls Ami to get her to buy stuff, which draws a crowd of people that also buys chocolates.

With the first day of that being over, Taiga goes back with Ryuuji and asks him about advice on giving chocolate to the usual gang as thanks for rescuing her (plus Ami since Taiga did force her to help). She was going to just give the chocolate from the store, but Ryuuji suggests making it on her own with the chocolate she bought. The two of them talk about the job actually being fun, and Ryuuji then apologizes for acting the way he did yesterday and thanking her for helping him out that day since he didn't think he could do it by himself. Taiga asks if Ryuuji would be happy if she made him chocolate. When Ryuuji blurts out an answer that he'd have to be an animal to not be happy, Taiga says she'll try. Ryuuji realizes how he feels about Taiga and doesn't want to see Taiga suffer or disappear out of his life like she had intended to do in volume 8.

The next day (which is Valentine's Day), Taiga assembles the gang to distribute cookies that she spent all night making, as thanks for rescuing her. Over there, Minori picks up on on stuff that Taiga was saying about her rescue (about Yuusaku rescuing her and saying something incredibly embarassing that she could never repeat) and what she knows about what happened (Ryuuji rescuing Taiga and Ryuuji telling Minori before about something he heard but wants to forget), then lets the cat out of the bag, and Minori forces Taiga and Ryuuji to deal with the situation.

Taiga manages to run away and Minori asks Ryuuji if he's going to chase her; he says he won't let Taiga get away from him no matter what. Minori gives him a "Giant Farewell", takes his hand and puts it to her lips, then they both run after Taiga. Minori finally admits out loud about how she feels for Ryuuji but demands that Taiga do the same and to snatch her happiness with her own hands. Taiga gets away but not before hearing her. Minori slips, so Ryuuji takes her to the school infirmary (since she's bleeding) where she tells him that she wants to become a pro soft-ball player, but since everybody laughed at her, she's doing all those part time jobs so she could go to a college with a good soft-ball team, on her own wallet. Ryuuji says he believes she could do it, and Minori says that she'll be able to keep pursuing her dream as long Ryuuji believes in her. Minori says she has to chase after Ami to patch up things between them and tells Ryuuji to go to Taiga. Thus ends the Minori route.

Taiga and Ryuuji both meet at work surprisingly. Taiga tells Ryuuji they have to talk after work is over, but once work does end, the two are confronted by their mothers. Taiga's mother intends to take custody of Taiga and Yasuko is having a fit about Ryuuji lying and working instead of studying. Ryuuji then has a breakdown about Yasuko making him try to fulfill her dreams in her place, that she would have been happy without him and that she regrets giving birth to him.

Yasuko's shocked, Taiga's mother is also caught offguard, Taiga places her hand on Ryuuji's while he's screaming/crying, Ryuuji takes it, and both of them run off.

The author doesn't mention anything about the next volume being the final one, so I think there's still a couple more volumes of material left.

My god, this was a real pain in the ass to type out.

Hey, sorry for being rude, but can someone else who's read the Japanese novels confirm/deny this?

The novel illustrations don't QUITE match up, and I've seen epically fake spoilers before, so...

[Vexx]

Parts sound plausible... parts sound very out-of-character.

Last I heard, volume 9 wasn't even out yet.... so meh.

[Kaisos Erranon]

Vol. 9's out, B-T has images up and everything.

Again, some parts match up with the images, some seem slightly off.

I see nothing wrong with the characterizations, though.

[Darknemo2000]

Vexx, you heard it wrong. The volume 9 is out a while ago. B-T has images on their site as Kaisos said.

[Kaisos Erranon]

So yeah, could someone confirm/deny those synopses?

I'm fairly interested, because if they are true, that's the most epic character development I've seen out of Japan in years.

[houkoholic]

Looks about right, I've skimmed through the rest of the volumes but haven't got to them yet (currently reading volume 6).

[TwinRivers]

Does anyone know where i can read the later chapters in english? I know they have up to volume 4 in bakatsuki, but the rest isnt out yet. IS there a site out there that has em all in english? Or do we have to wait for it to be translated.