Let’s face it. We’re getting a Taiga/Ryuuji ending whether you like it or not, and if you haven’t figured that out yet, god help you. And by all means, those of you who are unhappy about this because you favor Ami or Minorin, go on complaining. You’re completely justified. I still hate on Clannad for picking my least favorite girl, so that’s not really the issue. It’s the other complaints about a Taiga ending that have got me wtf’n all over the place. There are some stupid people on the internet, but the people whining about a Taiga ending are really outdoing themselves.
“They’re going with Taiga to pander to otaku fetishists and lolicons!”
“Why do they have to pick her! It’s so cliche!”
Exsqueeze me? Baking powder? What the shit are you talking about? I’ve even heard the argument that the writers are corrupting their friendship by making them fall in love with each other. Are you people blind? Did you not see the signs from the very beginning? I don’t see how this can possibly feel forced or cliche to anyone, because it seems quite real to me. These two were practically made for each other, and their dynamic has evolved and grown far beyond the simple banter of your typical male lead/tsundere relationship.
And I’m not saying it was the only option. Ami was, as I see it, never a contender. It doesn’t matter if you like her or not, why you would want her to end up with a lead who has blown her off, failed to understand her, and shown relatively no romantic interest in her? Minorin on the other hand would’ve been a good pick, but she made her decision to back off at the first sign of Taiga’s affection. I think it was a dumb choice to make, but if she wants to sacrifice the relationship for her friend’s happiness, than so be it. So with the way they’ve set this up, how exactly does this pairing reflect negatively on the series? Are there any legitimate complaints about the way things have turned out between the characters? If so, I’d like to hear them. Really. The series isn’t perfect, and it would be nice to hear some negative feedback on the current situation from people who aren’t just talking out of their asses.
And before anyone makes the claim, I obviously support Taiga/Ryuuji only because I’m a terrible lolicon who sees nothing between the two characters and merely wishes to more easily supplant Ryuuji in my sick fantasies.
Oh god. I’m ranting about a romcom. ;_;
I always saw this coming anyway…Taiga IS the main character here but…
For some reason, this reminds me of what happened with True Tears when Noe is the main girl but never ended up with Shinichirō and many complained too….
I am not complaining at all with the Taiga / Ryuuji pairing but hope to see Minorin do a little bit more to see what happens.
I knew this would happen from the start, but favoring Minorin, seeing it unfold is entirely a different thing. I’m not trashing the Ryuuji-Taiga pairing though, because it’s perfectly plausible and was executed well for me.
Yes, Minorin could have worked.
@toonleap – I complained myself about Noe getting the shaft at first, but I came to accept the way things turned out. I almost went through the same process with Minorin here, but she was her own downfall, whereas Noe simply lost out to Shinichiro’s stronger feelings for Hiromi.
I would’ve appreciated more one-on-one time between Minorin and Ryuuji, but I’m still happy with the way things have turned out.
I wasn’t satisfied the way things played out with true tears, but taking a step back and realizing that Hiromi was Shinichirou’s first object of adoration rationalized the ending.
I’ve already dropped ToraDora because the real heart of the story were the first 14 or so episodes of the show, Taiga being the fragile girl and all. Everything beyond that point seemed needless. However, I think there’s nothing particularly interesting about male and female leads hooking up. They live under the same roof, they spend most of their time together, they are each other’s intellectual whores. It’s too natural and too boring. I favored Ami, just because she was so out of Ryuuji’s league.
The male lead and female lead ending up together in a romantic comedy? Blasphemy! This isn’t a harem, or VN adaptation, there are no real ‘ends’ or ‘routes’, if people thought it would be anything other then TaigaxRyuuji, they’re an idiot.
Now, I understand favouritsm and not liking the development, sure, but it’s a bit fucking stupid when they start complaining about how apparently ‘sudden’ or ‘forced’ TxR is and how much awesomely cooler their own end would have been, when it would have been even stupider.
So yes, I agree.
@Miha – Understandable. The series certainly hit a rough spot right around the middle.
The fact that Ryuuji and Taiga’s relationship is so natural is what I like about it. It feels far more real than most lead hookups I’ve seen, and while that can come off as boring to some people, I find it refreshing to see something that just plain works come to fruition.
I’m wondering how blinded I am by my own preferences. People are going to want a happy ending for the girl they like the most out of a desire to see her wishes fulfilled, and Taiga is by far my favorite, but with Ami’s feelings never reciprocated and Minorin’s endless hesitations, I can’t help but think that Taiga really is the best choice for him.
For me, the Santa scene in episode 19 was so touching that I can’t imagine it happening any other way.
@RogO – I like you.
I’m very behind on Toradora, and therefor skipped some sentences of your post, but I am in full agreement – it was fucking obvious that taigaxryuuji was the whole fucking pont of the show from the beginning
I favored Ami, just because she was so out of Ryuuji’s league.<— lol what? Ami’s out of nobody’s league (okay, maybe Haruta’s league, but he’s a joke anyway). She’s just a little girl who had to grow up too fast. Any chance she had with Ryuuji was killed by her childish attempts to annoy Taiga when they first met. Any expression of interest after that would just be more “Ami being Ami” and not taken seriously.
I always liked Minorin, and think she has good chemistry with Ryuuji when they’re together. Ryuuji and Taiga give off a husband and wife vibe sometimes, but Ryuuji and Minorin give off a father and mother feeling when they’re dealing with Taiga together.
I still only rate a Taiga ending as 90% likely. But that’s just because I’m in denial and Toradora seems to like to be contrary.
I shipped Minorin.
However, I also shipped Ranka in Macross Frontier, and Minmei from the original Macross.
I’ve been on a failboat cruise all my life so I don’t see the point of complaining anymore, or at all.
I shipped nobody in Macross Frontier by the time the series was half over because I didn’t like any of the characters anymore. With a few minor exceptions.
I do remember preferring Minmei when I watched DYRL.
It’s not that I dislike TxR but I would have been happier with an original ending where Taiga and Ryuuji just remained BFF and Ryuuji hooked up with another girl. That would have been a breath of fresh air in a stale genre. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be.
I still think it’s a bit of fresh air as it is. The basic formula seems to be that there’s two characters with underlying feelings for each other whose relationship is rather awkward for most of the series as a result of these feelings. Before confessing and winding up together, they have brief stints with other characters that usually don’t end well, and then the two characters finally get over themselves and admit their feelings. Happy ending, etc.
In Toradora, the two main characters have no feelings for each other at all for the first third of the series. In fact, other than a desire to protect Taiga, Ryuuji has been too obsessed with Minorin to even consider that he might like her at all romantically. Over the next few episodes, I doubt he’s going to just suddenly up and realize he’s in love and confess or some bullshit like that. He’s probably going to sit around confused for awhile. That’s where the awkward part will come in, but putting it off until episode 22 is certainly not what I’m used to.
Taiga/Ryuuji’s companionship has been incredibly well-developed since the beginning of the series. They’ve been there for each other to an extent that I’ve rarely seen between any anime male and female in recent memory, and the series has been more about the importance of their friendship than any of the separate romances. I’m guessing we wont see it develop into anything more until the last minutes of the series, and I’m hoping it wont be a “stale” happily ever after ending, but more of a “hey, let’s see where this goes” deal.
Is anime romance really a stale genre? I mean, I’ve yet to find another REC, but True Tears was quite good, White Album is decent, and Toradora is great. KEY is still shitting it up, I guess.
>>Exsqueeze me? Baking powder? What the shit are you talking about? I’ve even heard the argument that the writers are corrupting their friendship by making them fall in love with each other. Are you people blind? Did you not see the signs from the very beginning? I don’t see how this can possibly feel forced or cliche to anyone, because it seems quite real to me. These two were practically made for each other, and their dynamic has evolved and grown far beyond the simple banter of your typical male lead/tsundere relationship.
dis
Ahh….Isn’t Ship to Ship Combat wonderful?
But yeah, it is pretty obvious from the start, but then again, there are still Zuko X Katara fans that are in denial even after Avatar ended, despite the fact that the creators themselves said that Zuko X Katara wasn’t going to happen EVER. So Minorin fans doing this is of no surprise to me….