Toradora! Ep. 16 - 19

[SimsHsia]

Episode 18: Beneath the Fir Tree

Christmas tree GET!

Yup, two episodes down, two to go and I'm back on schedule. Here goes:

Key plot points:

• Taiga fumbles a box and its contents fall to the floor, with Ryuuji in tow with another box, bump into Yuri-sensei who's concerned about Haruta's grades.
  
• The Christmas party preparations are well under way, despite final exams coming up. When Ryuuji and Ami are alone in the gym storage room, Ami tells Ryuuji to stop playing the game a House and pretending to be the father of Taiga, while everyone else is in on the plan to couple up Taiga with Yuusaku.
  
• Lately, Minorin hasn't talked to either Taiga or Ryuuji in quite some time. Taiga finds her behavior to be odd and wonders what's up, she even takes the initiative to get Ryuuji and Minorin together and suddenly remembering she has to take care of some business at the post office. However, the plan back fires when Maya asks Ryuuji about going somewhere and Ryuuji ends up saying he has to go to the post office with Taiga.
  
• At Taiga's apartment, Ryuuji finds out why Taiga needs to go to the post office. Taiga has a large pile of presents she wants to send to her family, notably her father (Aisaka Rikurou) and step-mother (Aisaka Yuu). Ryuuji finds that Taiga even has a package for Santa Claus, but it turns out it's really being sent to an orphanage as a sign of Taiga's good will that there are people out there that do care.
  
• Yuri-sensei, still single...and lonely, loudly orates that she will buy herself a Christmas present and somehow manages to envision the future of her own life and Japan's economy only to resolve to begin looking for an apartment to live in.
  
• The Christmas tree arrives and the party preparation committee assembles the tree. Taiga lends her most favorite decoration: a crystal star to be adorned on top of the tree. As the committee admire the sight of the tree, an object breaks a window which causes the tree to tip over and Taiga's decoration crashes to the ground and shatters to pieces. Minorin and the rest of the softball team quickly come in to check if anyone got hurt.
  
• Minorin admitting she's at fault desperately tries to piece the star back together, even though Taiga said it was alright. Although Minorin refuses any help, Ryuuji helps her stating that he's only doing what he has to do for Taiga's sake. Eventually, the star is repaired and the tree re-erected and everything's ready for the party.
  
• After a formal apology by the girl's softball team, Ryuuji runs after Minorin and asks her to go to the Christmas party with him. Minorin will not go, but Ryuuji shouts that he will wait for her no matter what.
  

Episode thoughts:
Poor Yuri-sensei, buying presents for herself, envisioning the future, what else is next? We certainly do see a sadder side to Minorin in this episode, especially since she's been avoiding Taiga and, most of all, Ryuuji. Anyways, here's to a successful party and a back-to-normal Minorin by the end of the next episode.