Toradora! - Episode 8 Discussion / Poll
 

Welcome to the discussion thread for Toradora!, Episode 8.

Thread Guidelines

• Raw requests and offers are not permitted anywhere on this forum.
• Spoilers about future events must not be posted in this thread.
  If you need to reference something that would spoil a future event, reply directly with a private message.
• Discuss your expectations of the episode if it has not aired yet.
• Be polite to your fellow forum members.
• Please try to keep the discussion on topic.

Spoiler Policy

• Any spoiler that reveals future events, even under a spoiler tag, will be deleted.
  Spoiler tags should still be used where appropriate.
• Adding a Spoiler tag:
  

  Just highlight your spoiler and click the button found on the "Quick Reply" and "Reply to Thread" forms. Make sure that you include a title for the spoiler!

• Please use the Report button if you see any spoilers:
  

  Click the button found to the left of the post, just under the poster's avatar. Using the Report button is anonymous and helps the Moderators to locate and deal with problems quickly.

• Posting prohibited spoilers may result in a ban.
  Note: Reporting a post does not mean the poster will be banned instantly.
  The Moderators will use bans if warnings are repeatedly ignored.

Wait, it airs today? I thought this was a Thursday (In Japan) show.

It airs wednesday at 17:20 (european time) - thursday 1:20 in Japan - as always.
I just opened the thread a bit earlier than usual. If this works, I'll open them at the same time on the next weeks, otherwise, I'll delay.

Oh cool, thank you.

BTW, the part of Volume 3 that corresponds to tomorrow's episode has been completed and is on B-T for those curious.

Ack, I should have looked in the thread before running off to search for the episode =_=

lol i did the same thing :P few hours till i can watch :D

From the preview, Taiga learns how to swim? :heh:

I am looking forward to what Ami will be doing. She is reason why I watching this series.

i lost track of time, what the heck!


ep.8
- only seen half of the episode, darn.. why was Taiga mad at Ryuuji?
- lol at Taiga taking Ami's top off, that was WIN :naughty:
- liking this anime even more, it's probably because Taiga is not who she used to when it comes to Ryuuji cpmpared to before. She cared for Ryuuji when he drowned and actually cried. Really, good episode with Taiga and Ryuuji development.

i see, so that's why. thanks.

That sure moved faster than I thought, though I more or less expected the duel to be wrapped up by the end of the episode.

I always wondered what Minori sleeping with a pair of fake eyes drawn on her eyelids would look like, and boy did I crack up when I saw her with those.

They should have allowed Taiga to use her wooden blade to strip Ami-tan of her bikini, instead of just her bare hands. She'll look more menacing that way, as befitting of her name.

And Taiga finally acknowledges for feelings, sort of. It wasn't too bad an adaptation, considering how JC Staff chooses to significantly downplay the angst and jealousy between Taiga and Ryuji caused by the cliffhanger on episode 6 with Ami flirting with Ryuji.

A new insertion includes Minori showing how envious she is of Taiga, having Ryuji take care of her. That scene was supposed to be in volume 4 but got moved forward.

You really do have to respect the type of friendship the two have, especially after this episode. I'd go as far as to say the two do love each other, just not in the relationship way.

I certainly hope they don't skip the sumo match with the giant dog. Ever since I read that part I've wanted to see it animated.

Good episode =)

Although they skipped quite a lot, it was still a good watch. The most important scenes were animated and it's good to see some taiga x ryuuji development. They've downplayed the angst factor though.

gave it a 8/10:)

Consistent writing wins. The series maintain nice flow so far.

And the omission of the wooden sword makes sense, no one carries it to the pool. Just my 2 cents.

Wow, pretty deep episode. I don't know what to think of right now, but at the moment, I think Ryuuji's mum summed it up the best when she was clinging onto Ryuuji's leg.

I think I need to watch this episode a few times to consolidate my thoughts. ;)

I'm a sucker for Random Curiosity screen caps.... this time they've got me seriously anticipating this episode (as well as looking forward to reading the rest of the novels later).

Was a random interesting episode, I liked it. Oh, POOR AMI!

For me the whole screaming comes bit random, considering that she didn't care about Ryuuji all that much in episode 6 and episode 7 (not jealous or angry, no angst etc.). I still like it since we finally have some TaigaxRyuuji development even if it looks bit random and off. I give it a 7.

I wouldn't say not jealous. The looks she was giving Ami was, imo, hate for being next to Ryuuji. This seemed evident in ep 6 as well, when Ami clung to Ryuuji early in the ep.

I gave it a 10, which i gave it an extra point for turning the generic "girl-A fights girl-B in some random contest for guy" plot into something memorable with excellent char development btw Ryuuji and Taiga. I honestly would have never suspected that she would honestly admit her feelings, let alone in front of everyone. I will admit though, it was quite random as hell, wayyyyyy out of left field >.>. Right now, she has the perfect balance in her angry and cute sides(least toward Ryuuji), it's incredibly enjoyable to watch her like that :).

Ryuuji's gotten awfully defensive when it comes to Taiga. Their relationship def gives off the vibe of lovers(esp when ep 6 ED/ep 7 beg is brought up).

The music that was playing when they started the swim race sounded like something out of Haruhi.

Only one Minorin antic :(. On first glance, I thought she put a line under her eyes, like a football player, and not making eyes on her eyelids :heh:. Does that work in real life? I am curious.

I think I'm about ready to give this show the nickname "Swimsuit Expose Extreme". Really need to catch up on this one. :D

Well to think they read my complaints in the last episode, they finally made a progress of Ryuuji X Taiga relationship. I can say it's perfect but the late development made it lose two points. Gave it an "8".

anyone else getting sick of taigas attitude towards ryuuji? cuz im finding her to be more annoying every episode.

wow, a bit more emotional honesty from Taiga, she can now (somewhat) express what she feels without exploding. however, the author of this development, Ryuuji, is rather dense and not very honest himself leading to further turmoil. Ami isn't sure what she feels either.

It appears that only the the kingpin Kitamura is 100% aware of and amused by the developments swirling around him.

I would call that look annoying rather than jealous. You know, like annoying are two cooing pigeons early in the morning, disturbing your peace.

The whole deal looked like shrugged off very easily (which looked even more weird since they made the dramatic episode pause, but the whole situation ended in a few minutes without any impact).

In novels it was a big deal and we could see a lot of Taiga being jealous and caring for Ryuuji bit more than just a pet. It also had angst in it.

So the whole screaming scene at swimming pool though still looked off didn't look THAT random as it does in anime simply because you already know she have those strong feelings for him from the conflict with Ami.

In anime since the conflict with Ami was nothing big and shrugged off easily without any impact (which at that moment only strengthened the feeling that taiga do not care about Ryuuji that way) but now we get a random, specially in anime, confession coming totally out of the blue.

So they either had to play the whole Ami deal bit stronger to express Taiga's feelings better or if they follow the whole shrugging off Ami's deal and Taiga not being jealous, then soften this whole scene without making her yell out such strong words out of sudden.

For me it seems like the lack in directors work, as if he changes one scene in original anime way, but when the second scene still closely connected to the first comes, instead of changing it accordingly he suddenly chooses it following the novels closely, thus creating a disconnection.

Well it is not something big really, plus since it is JC Staff, you have to lower your standards a little, still I would wish bit more consistent directing.

Unless they add every last detail, then i don't think so. :p

I really liked Minorin's "i'll leave it to you" scene, along with Yasuko's scene. She's one awesome Mother.

Man there is absolutely nothing wrong with how they handled this, you really are just an a manga purist with this show who refuses to accept the anime for doing things its own way.

This show continues to be amazing, and I continue to love being amazed by it.

The feelings seem to come out of nowhere, especially with the way the anime been doing it. But still a great episode. The lack of a proper buildup hurts it a little though.

Manga purist? You are able to recognize that novels and manga are two different things right?

And how does my comment makes me a novel purist? Did you actually read it even?

I was saying that either case they should have followed the original interpretation of Ami Taiga issue (in other words - not really being an issue) thus decreasing the emotionality of the scene in poll to suit the mood better (Taiga isn't that emotional about Ryuuji aka ep6/7) or if they wanted to follow the original emotional impact they should have increased a tone in previous Taiga Ami issue to make this particular scene less random.

So how does that make me a purist? I am just commenting that they should just keep the consistency and not just saying to follow novels blindly (in this particular case, I was criticizing the scene made following the novels. If I was a purist as you claim shouldn't I be happy about it?).

I think its just you whining about whining and seeing purists anywhere where a little bit of criticism is made.

I don't get the whole argument, here... It's not a real confession, anyway. Sure, they could have used more of a build-up, but the anime is trying to feel a bit lighter, isn't it? So, I guess it could work. Anyway, I'm still loving the ride. :D

You can be light without inconsistency in directing, but again as I said it is not a really big issue, just that the director for some reason decided to ignore how he presented the Ami issue an bing a rather close novel follow-up there where without additional build-up it did not match with the current anime flow.

But, then again, maybe that was exactly what they were aiming for? Having her reaction come completely out of the blue, and open to speculation?

Does anybody think that Ryuuji's mother is the most interesting character? :naughty:

You have me with you.

1/ Seriously, using buoy to race make the competition becomes pointless, but well it's expectable so i don't mind. Throw objects at other people so hard that they fell down to the pool is a dangerous joke. But strip another classmate's top out then throw it away is really crossing the line.
Try that with real high school student in real life and she will burst in tears and you gonna scar her mentality for life. Ami is just too nice seriously.

2/ She comes along with the trip on her own decision is what i expect. But called the guys (who help her in every way, in every situation) "a dog" right before his and your friends in a such non-joking manner; then see that guy accept it, is a seriously pathetic sight.

First Ep in the whole anime season that i have to use mouse to skip parts because can't stand the sight. First time vote 6 in AS also (normally would not vote if find something so pathetic)


If such absurd things ever happens again, they should make it so it obviously for comedic purpose. Otherwise it's just so hard to stand such scenes.

PS: at least this EP have nice Ami and nice Ryuuji moments, up to 16mins mark.

BetoJR, rarely it does happen but rarely. Usually it is needed to create some better flow. Or else you could say that all of the loops and mistakes were planned by the studios. And that the animes earn little or that manga get canceled also happen because the original creators planned it. Which is too much.

I think it was just a mistake. Maybe forced, but again forced by their own ridiculous pacing (single volume in 2 episodes while normally it takes at least 3-4 if followed closely enough).

I do feel that the moment was random(and LOVED it), but not because I think Taiga has no feelings for him. It's evident that her behavior towards Ryuuji has slowly changed. I'm not saying it's 'love', but there IS at least a mutual close friendship that exists. I don't see how the interference of Ami would be THAT big of a deal if Taiga didn't care about him as someone important, but since he IS important to her, that's why she acted like she did. I also think that the moment she got mad at Ryuuji for not understanding why she's competing against Ami was a clear indication of how she felt about him. Specifically to say, I don't think the confession itself was random, but how they implemented it. Even in novel form, I would think that having this big competition where the class is enjoying the 'show' then all of a sudden Ryuuji gets knocked out and Taiga confessing would be random, regardless of how much it was 'built up'.

And on a side note, whats a tyrol?

1) Like intentionally trying to come on to Ryuuji with the extra intention of making Taiga angry, perhaps trying to take him away from Taiga, attacking Taiga with mental abuse, and/or throwing a girl who can't swim into a deep pool is any better. Taiga doesn't always have the best personality(personally, I don't mind her at any time), but neither does Ami.

2)Read past the obvious words. Everyone at that table knows Taiga's personality, so it's nothing to get up-in-arms about. If this was the beginning of the series, it'd be one thing. That's like saying in Fruits Basket, everytime Kyo gets mad and calls Tohru stupid, he's insulting her. It's obvious that that's his way of showing he cares about her(in which overtime, if Shigure didn't explain it, Tohru already knew it). Same situation.

Well, in Ami's defense, she didn't know that Taiga couldn't swim, when she threw her at the pool. Gotta give her that, at least...

And Darknemo2000, yeah, it's rare. But this anime seems to be trying very hard to condense the novels and present the happenings in a much faster and compact way, so... just maybe, it was intentional. Just like postponing the whole Kitamura confession, from when it actually appeared in the novels and such.

Actually the whole Ami issue seemed not be a big deal concerning Ryuuji but rather Taiga not liking Ami in the anime.

In novels sure you get the vibes that her disliking Ami is juts one of the reason while another one is liking Ryuuji.

In anime yet there is no such feeling. The whole issue is very short and not really important.

I do agree that she has feelings for him, even in anime it is obvious... However what should be discussed is not the feelings existence, but their strength.

Basically her yelling them out was too much. Specially because just an episode ago in a scene where in scene where her possessiveness was also questioned, she juts basically shrugged it off.

If she was feeling them at such strength as it is showed at the pool then her reaction would have been stronger and would not have been so fast forgotten.

Lets just say that JC Staff works so far do not give much trust that they are very planning guys. They make bit too MUCH of such planned loops (ZnT, ShanaII, etc.) to really think they have planned it. Yes teams are different but its stiill the same studio.

So yes, for me much more possible looks a mistake (or forced-mistake) created due to their pacing rather than careful planning.