Available at Tegami Bachi's official website.

Available from the Star Driver official website.

Available from the OreImo official website.

Available from the Hyakka Ryouran official website. (Click the volume button to unmute.)

Available from the Arakawa Bridge x Bridge official website.

Available from the Otomoe Zakuro official website.

Available from the To Love-Ru official website.

Available from the KamiNomi official website.

Available from the Togainu official website.

Available from the SoreMachi official website.

Recap from last time:
Taiga and Ryuuji travel to Yasuko's parent's house after vowing that they will get married.

Key plot points:

• Yasuko quickly rushes to see Ryuuji, at her parent's house after having been contacted by Taiga that he was involved in a life-threatening accident. She hesitates to open the door, then upon opening she sees a healthy and unscathed Ryuuji waiting for her. It is later learned that Yasuko did not marry Ryuuji's father and, although everyone wanted her to get an abortion, she decided to keep him and run away from home. Ryuuji, on the other hand, tells his mother that running away won't solve anything and he promises he will grow into an adult wherever she can see him.
  
• In the evening, due to room limitations, Taiga and Ryuuji are to sleep together in the same room. As they both look up at the star-filled sky, which they can hardly see any back home, Ryuuji feels that they should not rush into marriage and instead gather everyone's blessings for their marriage. Although it will take time with gaining the blessings of Taiga's family, Ryuuji doesn't mind as long as everyone is happy.
  
• Taiga then uses a bedsheet as a wedding veil and asks Ryuuji to say his vows to her as practice for their wedding. As Ryuuji stumbles his words on what to say, Taiga reminds him of the words he told her when they first met of the legendary tale of how tigers and dragons always stand together. Soon, Taiga mentions how Ryuuji is breathing funny and that his lips are cracked as he comes closer to her. She continues on how being kissed would be painful, so Ryuuji gives her a quick peck on the lips. When she complains, she comments it was also warm, and since she's cold she wants another kiss. As she whispers after each kiss Ryuuji gives her that she wants more, Ryuuji continues to kiss her.
  
• The next morning, Taiga, Ryuuji and Yasuko head back home. As they begin to part ways into their own homes, Ryuuji tells Taiga that he's making pork cutlets for dinner, her favorite. As Taiga stands outside the entrance to her apartment, she expects that her mother is in her apartment. However, the place is empty, and she notices there are a few voicemail messages from her mother and skips through the playbacks. She, too, notices that her own mother's actions are childish and she writes a letter to Ryuuji and packs her things. In the letter, she notes that she is not running away anymore and will change. Before she leaves her apartment, she takes a picture of a lone star in the dark sky.
  
• The next day, Ryuuji recalls that Taiga never showed up for dinner and reads the note she left for him. In class, Yuri-sensei announces that Taiga has withdrawn from school, and has transferred to a new school near her mother's home. Through the outrage of students, Yuri-sensei lectures the class that in their lives, there will be various crossroads and they must choose a path. Not understanding what's going on, Minorin slaps Ryuuji and asks why he didn't persuade Taiga not to go. Ryuuji states that he wished that Taiga didn't go either and deciding things on her own. Since he knows Taiga believes in him, he feels he should do the same and accept her decisions.
  
• After school, Ryuuji goes into Taiga's apartment and rummages through a bag in her bedroom and finds her handbook with a picture of both her and Yuusaku before the bonfire during the schol festival, behind that photo was one with her with him. He soon receives a text message from Taiga telling him how he didn't tell her that he loved her. Realizing this and blaming it on being interrupted at the time, he, and everyone else in his class, receives a picture message from her of the lone star in the night sky.
  
• The next morning, Taiga's photo is the top of the day's discussion with everyone wondering what it is. Minorin explains that it's a photo of a single star in the sky and she thinks Taiga is telling everyone that she will do her best, even if they are far away from each other. Ami soon suggests that they send Taiga a reply with a photo of the class with Taiga's Christmass tree star decoration. As everyone searches high and low for the star, Ami tells Ryuuji how much she envies Taiga about how she could be herself; since she dislikes having to act like an adult, but when she met Taiga she discovered that if one person can understand you, everything will turn out alright. Eventually, it is Minorin who finds the star and everyone is framed up in the shot with Ryuuji holding the star.
  
• The following is occurs while the credits roll: A year has passed since then, and although Taiga is not with him, Ryuuji wonders about how he, the dragon, will always stand next to her, the tiger no matter how much time passes or distance separates them. It is, ultimately, graduation for Ryuuji, Minorin, Ami and Yuusaku. Everyone is ready to move on with their lives, with Yuusaku being mentioned to study abroad in America. Ryuuji notices someone resembling Taiga by the window of their old classroom and quickly rushes up there. He discovers that the classroom is empty, but he's wise enough to check the lone locker in the corner of the classroom and, as expected, Taiga is inside. It ends with Ryuuji finally confessing his love for her which causes Taiga to become embarrassed enough to headbutt him on his chin.
  

Episode thoughts:
All's well that ends well, as Ami would have put it, had she said it that way in this episode. The ending of Toradora! was quite good with a good amount of closure, I must say. The kissing scene between Taiga and Ryuuji wasn't overly dramatic as some other shows, which is a good thing; unlike some other shows like Clannad or Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu (Haruka Nogizaka's Secret) where there isn't a chance where the two couples kiss. The show's ending was a bit open-ended, since there was no wedding it certainly opens it up for some sort of an OVA or special episode if J.C. Staff decides to animate it. That probably won't happen for some time, since J.C. Staff must be direly busy with Hayate no Gotoku!! and Kugimiya Rie (voices Taiga) is busy voicing Nagi in Hayate and Al in Full Metal Alchemist for pretty much a whole year as well as a few other roles in other anime series. Anyways, getting back on track, I felt that the closure for Ami was glossed over a bit since she always had problems but immediately resolved them by just going on with things as they are. The time jump after Taiga leaves to the graduation ceremony felt a bit off as it took me a few moments to wonder what just happened. By the way, Taiga looks rather good in her black school uniform.

Recap from last time:
It was Valentine's Day and chocolates were distributed to everyone from Taiga. Everything crumbles from then on when Ryuuji's cover up story is revealed by Minorin, the only other person he forgot to tell to protect Taiga. When Taiga runs out of the room, Minorin asks Ryuuji what he will do. He hesitates at first, but then...

Key plot points:

• ...Ryuuji says he will chase after Taiga with Minorin. They split up and take a different route to see if they can cut off Taiga. They both reach their classroom only to find it empty then suddenly realize that Taiga may be at the front entrance, who, at the time, is putting on her shoes. As they make their way there, Minorin shouts as she runs down the hallway that she has always liked Ryuuji but thought it would have been better if Taiga had him. When they finally reach there, Taiga is no where to be seen.
  
• In the infirmary, Minorin is stopping her bloody nose (she tripped when running) and both she and Ryuuji have a conversation about her future. She aspires to attend a sports university to later go into the national softball league. Although both she and her brother both played baseball, Minorin had to quit because she was a girl, and later played softball. The conversation then goes to Ryuuji's hairclip and how Minorin already knew it was the present Ryuuji wanted to give her on Christmas Eve, and she apologizes for having to wear it in front of him when Taiga gave it to her as a gift. With this, Minorin encourages Ryuuji to run toward the thing he can see, and finishes it off with a final goodbye cheer.
  
• Taiga is heading toward work at the cake shop and is surprised that Ryuuji's already there for work. She asks him not to laugh, but she needs to tell him something after their work shift is over. After work, they are confronted by both of their mothers; Taiga's biological mother wants to bring her back home and Yasuko is upset that Ryuuji is working even though he promised her that he wouldn't. Ryuuji shouts back at Yasuko not to push her failures of not graduating from high school on to him. When Ryuuji realizes what he's done, Taiga grabs his hand and runs away with him.
  
• They both are standing on a bridge discussing about the problems in their lives. Taiga with her father's business failing and her biological mother having a new husband and pregnant; Ryuuji about Yasuko and how her life would have been better off if he wasn't born. Taiga refuses to believe this, since the reason for her being alive is because of Ryuuji, and she accidentally pushes Ryuuji over the railing. He's alive and well, but cold, and tells Taiga that he'll be 18 years old in 2 months. On the very day of his birthday, he will runaway from home; away from Yasuko away from everyone. With this, Ryuuji asks Taiga to marry him, but Taiga stops him mid-sentence before he said "I love you" and crashes on him saying it's not fair, she didn't say what she wanted to say after work. She promised Minorin that she would do things on her own and both of them agree that they'll say "I love you" at the same time. Both stop mid-sentence when Ryuuji's cellphone rings, wondering who it is, he picks up and a concerned Yuusaku wants both of them to meet at Ami's house.
  
• Ami gives Taiga a change of clothes and asks her to take a shower so she won't catch a cold. Alone with Ryuuji, she asks whether he loves Taiga and forces him to say he loves her seriously. When he does, she's satisfied and tells him he looked dumb saying it. The entire gang show up later and Yuusaku asks both of them what they plan to do now. They tell them in a serious tone that they plan to run away and get married in two months.
  
• Being the supportive friends they are, Minorin gives them all her life savings, Ami gives them the key to her villa they went on summer vacation, and Yuusaku gives them something as well.
  
• When they both return to their respective homes, Ryuuji finds out that Yasuko ran away from home leaving a note asking that he go to his grandparent’s house and show them his grandfather's watch and they'll understand. The following morning, Taiga and Ryuuji are not present at school. When Haruta notices this and asks if they both caught a cold, Yuusaku says to himself that they didn't catch a cold, more like a "fever". Instead, Taiga and Ryuuji are on a train to his grandfather's house where they will stay for the time being. When they reach there, he presents the watch and introduces himself and his wife, Taiga.
  

Episode thoughts:
So, it has finally happened, Taiga and Ryuuji are together - except only a few people know. So, everything up to this point has been mostly resolved now; Taiga and Ryuuji confirm their feelings for each other, Minorin finally shows her true feelings and Ami was redeemed as well. We finally see Taiga's biological mother, and the opening sequence came it late. Everything before the bridge confession scene, that's roughly 7 minutes, occurred before the opening sequence.

I felt that the confession scene was a bit cheesy, but that's because I later read that the anime adaptation of the light novel's scene was altered a bit. There was no kiss between both of them on the bridge, but regardless this adaptation was still pretty good. J.C. Staff's most likely going to put that in the final episode (again, this reminds me so much of the true tears anime drama). In addition, I felt that TaigaxRyuuji's relationship was set on turbo-speed with NOS-injected (minus the analogies, it felt too rushed) when they both agreed they would get married and run away together to start new lives as adults. Well, there were circumstances to that rushed decision. After all, Taiga's biological mother wanted to take her away.


The final episode, Toradora! Everything's coming to a close. Well, it has been a fun drama ride.

Recap from last time:
Taiga returns from the ski resort mishap and is reassured by Ryuuji that he heard that she said absolutely nothing while she was unconscious. What Taiga doesn't know, is that Ryuuji falsified this information so she can be at ease.

Key plot points:

• Taiga teases Maya and Nanoko during lunch to reveal what's behind her bandage. Yuri-sensei then comes in and causes a racket about Valentine's Day coming up and forbids the boys from doing indecent during class. Haruta does the unexpected and surprises those near him and lectures about how it's pointless to receive chocolates at school, since school is a place to learn. After the racket, Yuri-sensei requests that Taiga and Ryuuji come to the interview room when school is over.
  
• In the interview room, Yuri-sensei explains that both of them haven't completed their career assessment forms. Ryuuji explains his reasoning because his mother pushes herself too hard, even though she wants him to go to college. Thus, Ryuuji decides that he will not be going to college. Taiga, on the other hand, says she comes from a rich family and doesn't need to advance in her studies. Yuri-sensei requests that they think about their decisions for a while before making their final decision on paper.
  
• After Yuri-sensei leaves, Taiga makes a paper airplane of her career assessment. She explains to Ryuuji that it's impossible for her to think about her future, but there are things she does want: to fall in love normally, to live in a normal family, become friends with other people normally, to be normal.
  
• Ryuuji makes his way into the teacher's room and sees Ami discussing something with a teacher. When Ami abruptly ends the conversation upon seeing him, refuses to do what the teacher requested and walks out. The teacher she was discussion with orders Ryuuji to chase her down. The reason for her refusal: she didn't want to model the school uniform for the school's information pamphlet. Later, Ryuuji learns that Ami originally wanted to leave the school after the first semester, but because she wanted to be around with Ryuuji, Taiga, Minorin, and Yuusaku she stayed longer.
  
• Ryuuji receives a phone call from Taiga regarding his mother, Yasuko, fainting on the balcony and rushes home to make sure she rests well. Ryuuji walks out of her room and tells Taiga that he's going out to buy food, without taking his jacket, bag or cellphone. Taiga eventually reaches up to him with these items, but notices that Ryuuji is acting strange. When he believes it was his fault his mother fainted and how if he would be stronger and better, his mother would put more faith and trust into him. Taiga assures him that everything will be alright. With this, they both are talking to the owner of the cake shop - the second job Ryuuji's mother has - and explains that she won't be able to work the day before and the day of Valentine's Day. Both of them, however, volunteer work as substitutes on those days.
  
• The following day, business doesn't bid well for the cake shop as Ryuuji struggles to put on a friendly face and broadcasting a welcoming message to those who past by. Haruta swings by and wants to buy a cake, but there's a girl who's with him. When both of them order a cake, Haruta explains to Ryuuji that the girl next to him is his girlfriend. Noto comes in and asks Ryuuji and Taiga if they saw Ami or Maya come by, not that he cares about it, but he was just wonder if perhaps Maya gave chocolate to Yuusaku. Taiga, using her logic, concludes that Noto likes Maya. Noto accepts his feelings, but only because he's interested in Maya. When Taiga explains that it’s normal to have feelings for a girl and begins explaining flower reproduction, Noto quickly flees shouting that there's something wrong with Taiga.
  
• When Ryuuji sees the serious cake shop owner after Noto's encounter, he thinks they should stop harassing other people. Taiga decides to bring out her lethal weapon: Ami. Ami's appeal to the public causes many potential customers to buy chocolate cake to reach the day's number of target sales.
  
• On Valentine's Day, Taiga gives out chocolates to Ami, Minorin, Ryuuji, and Yuusaku in one of the school's computer labs. When Yuusaku receives his chocolate from Taiga, she explains that she put the most effort into his chocolate because he did rescue her. Ryuuji suddenly realizes that he forgot to tell Minorin about the falsified story. As Taiga retells her story and what she thought she might have blurted out something she wasn't supposed to say, but Minorin wants to know what she thought she said. Taiga refuses to say since it might hurt someone who shouldn't hear it. Minorin walks up to Ryuuji and calls him a liar and reveals to Taiga that Ryuuji was actually the one who saved her. The drama unfolds as the exits are blocked by Ami and Yuusaku, Minorin holds Taiga up against the wall and tells her that she believes in Taiga. Taiga wants simply wants her to be happy, Minorin stops her mid-sentence stating that her happiness can only be obtained by herself. With this, Yuusaku and Ami decide that this was all they could do, and let Taiga flee the room. Minorin tells Ryuuji that she will chase after Taiga, but asks what he will do. Ryuuji hesitates in his answer as he contemplates what he'll do...
  

Episode thoughts:
The peak of the love drama from episode 21 has been reached. The first 19 minutes were the standard nice and calm plot of events leading up to Valentine's Day. I sure didn't expect a lot of drama to unfold in the last 3 minutes of the show, well all the better for a cliffhanger to occur to make those watching anxiously wait until next week to find out what Ryuuji does. Pretty much this episode solidly concludes that this series will end with a Ryuuji x Taiga relationship. Sorry, Ryuuji x Ami or Ryuuji x Minorin hopefuls, gg. The last time I saw a rom-com with this much drama was true tears between Noe x Shinichirou and Hiromi x Shinichirou fans. By the way, Minorin looks rather frightening during the last few minutes. Anyways, what WILL Ryuuji do?


Episode 24, kokuhaku or Confession. Can't tell much from the preview, but it looks like Yasuko gets angry for the first time. It could either be something about love or admitting something about one's self. Until next week!

Recap from last time:
Ryuuji failing to find out Minorin's true feelings about him finds out that Taiga actually can't stop having feelings for him.

Key plot points:

• Ryuuji has a bad dream during class and suddenly wakes up screaming Taiga's name; Yuri-sensei reminds the class that their career assessment papers are due soon. When the class ends, Ryuuji is on the roof top and we learn that Taiga's real mother came to take Taiga from the resort and is resting at her parents house, thus the reason why she isn't present at school. Yuusaku comes by and Ryuuji asks him a favor to pretend he rescued Taiga and that she said absolutely nothing during the time of rescue.
  
• After school, Haruta and Noto catch up with Ryuuji asking that he come to go grab a bite to eat. After a bit of a wait in front of the restaurant with Haruta and Noto discussing about their futures, they head inside only to be surprised by Minorin who happens to work at this restaurant for two hours (along with her numerous other jobs).
  
• The boy's and girl's softball teams have merged together with Minorin nominated as the new captain of the entire team. Ami and Minorin skip class with Minorin discussing about seeing ghosts, only to be cut short with Ami walking away from her. Minorin shouts from behind that she will do anything to get what she wants, she won't hesitate anymore.
  
• After school, Ryuuji returns to his house only to find out that Yasuko (you know, his mom) left a note stating she's got a second job, because Yasuko wants Ryuuji to go to college even though they are financially poor.
  
• When Ryuuji hears knocking at the front door, thinking it's his mom, he discovers that it's Taiga. Taiga explains that her injury was not that serious and the reason why she wasn't at school was because she simply wanted to skip it to go shopping with her mom. Taiga's reason for her visit was that she lost her keys to her apartment and would gain entry into the apartment through Ryuuji's bedroom window into her bedroom window. Before Taiga clumsily drops into her bedroom, she remembers she had a dream about Yuusaku rescuing her and her saying something stupid to him. She wonders if everything she said was a dream, to which case Ryuuji assures it was since he "heard" she was unconscious the whole time and never said anything.
  

Episode thoughts:
Taiga's return; Taiga punching, slapping and calling Ryuuji names; and Minorin's poking of eyes were the highlights of this episode. You get to see 5 year old Ryuuji in this episode too for a few seconds.

I felt that nothing much happened in this episode other than Taiga returning back home and Minorin, going back to her ghost analogy (from episode 9), determined to move forward with her life as well as learning she has yet another part time job (seriously, how many does she have now?). Thus the rather, err, random faces in the summary image above.
I believe the reason why Minorin is taking up so many jobs and responsibilities (as the soft ball team's captain) is to keep her busy and stop thinking about Ryuuji. Perhaps things will be moving forward a bit in the next episode, speaking of which...


Episode 23, susumu beki michi or The Road that We Must Advance On. It's Valentine's Day! It looks like Haruta found his valentine, but what about the others? Still, poor Yuri-sensei always alone and raving about chocolate.

Recap from last time:
Despite the trip being modified from a six day five night stay in Okinawa to a three day three night stay at a ski resort, Ryuuji promises himself to confirm Minorin's feelings.

Key plot points:

• The class are in their gear ready to ski, with Yuri-sensei in the lead to encourage them off. Everyone is able to ski with varying skill, Ryuuji, on the other hand, is receiving training from Yuusaku. While Ryuuji begins to get the hang of it, he messes up and falls over. In the middle of complaining that it's not fun to fall over, Taiga, on a sled, collides with Ryuuji.
  
• Apparently, Ryuuji isn't the only one in his class who can't ski. Taiga decided to take a sled instead, thinking what's the point of going around in the snow with planks on her feet. Despite their skill, both question each other on why they aren't receiving training on how to ski/sled from the ones they like. When they hear Maya talking to Yuusaku about joining him, Ryuuji asks Taiga about why she isn't going into murderous rage about it. Eventually, Taiga tells him about events occurring about her shrine visit and bumping into Yuusaku to later go to a cafe to drink tea.
  
• Meanwhile, a chain argument begins between Noto and Maya regarding Maya's tricks to be in company with Yuusaku. Minorin tries to bring peace into the argument but Yuusaku followed by Ami and Kashii Nanako (friend of Maya) join in. The argument stops once Maya begins to cry.
  
• At dinner, Ryuuji reminisces to himself about how he can't believe the first day ended the way it did with the argument and how he couldn't confirm Minorin's feelings. At this rate, he thinks to himself, he'll never be able to confirm her feelings. Ryuuji then excuses himself, lying to go to the restroom, and is sitting in a lounge thinking about how Yuusaku didn't mention to him about visiting the shrine with Taiga.
  
• Minorin walks into the lounge and sits across from Ryuuji. She's been waiting for a private moment like this, Ryuuji as well, and explains that she wants to stop the fighting between Noto and Maya. She thinks Noto has a misunderstanding that Taiga likes Yuusaku, and wants to stop Maya from interfering. Just then, Minorin takes out a hair clip, the same one Ryuuji bought, and puts into her hair. When asked, she explains it was a gift from Taiga and she'll treasure it forever.
  
• Time jump: Ryuuji's in his assigned room and is thinking to himself that no matter how hard he tries, he will never be able to get Minorin to accept his feelings. Just like the night before Christmas, he didn't get a chance to confess and after the winter holiday, Minorin pretended like nothing happened between them. Meanwhile, Yuusaku, Haruta and Noto come in asking if Ryuuji's asleep. In a joint plan to check if he's really asleep, Haruta and Noto begin to shout about why Yuusaku is stripping and near Ryuuji's futon. When Yuusaku explains he has this mysterious gas about to come out and "releases", Ryuuji jumps up only to find that Yuusaku was blowing into his arm to make the sound.
  
• Ryuuji explains to the guys about how he has always loved Minorin, but that he was rejected by her before he could even say anything. When asked about the reason of why he was rejected, Ryuuji doesn't know why he was rejected. With this, Yuusaku quickly formulates a plan that they will barge into the girl's room and find out. The plan is simple: do exactly as foretold in the classic Japanese revenge story Chushingura ― in other words, Ryuuji (playing role as Asano Takumi-no-kami Naganori) is to stealthily infiltrate and capture Minorin (playing role as Kira). They find that the girls are not present and that the room is very messy. Yuusaku attempts to calm Ryuuji down when his eyes begin to sparkle when seeing the mess.
  
• While guys are picking up various items, Ryuuji is sorting someone's sock pile. When Yuusaku didn't know Ryuuji had that sort of fetish, Ryuuji denies any of the sort citing he dislikes an odd number of socks and is attempting to pair them up. Just then, they hear someone about to enter the room and they quickly hide in the closet. Taiga comes in with a drink and accidentally spills some of it on a tatami mat and quickly cleans it up with a towel she has on her head. When she hears a noise from the closet, she opens the door only to be distracted by the rest of the girls about to come in. Ryuuji sees a golden opportunity and pulls Taiga into the closet then begs to Taiga not to make a sound.
  
• The folks in the closet hear everything happening in the room regarding about how Ami lets slip to the girls regarding how Minorin rejected Ryuuji on Christmas Eve. An argument slowly churns between Minorin and Ami until it's end when Maya wants the argument to end. When the girls begin to worry about why Taiga hasn't yet returned to the room, they all go out looking for her. The group in the closet burst out, Yuusaku thinks it was a bad idea to hear the girl's conversation and Taiga asks them to just forget about whatever happened that evening.
  
• The next morning, Ryuuji bumps into Ami who's packing up snow on the ground and apologizes. She explains about how she had an argument with Minorin and that she may be the reason why Minorin rejected Ryuuji. Suddenly, Taiga and Minorin on a sled are collide with Ami. Ami is pissed off and argues that Minorin purposely collided with her, even though she apologized about not being able to stop. Soon, they begin punching each other with Taiga and Ryuuji as bystanders until they step in to restrain both of them. Yuusaku looses his restraint on Ami who punches Minorin in the stomach which causes her hair clip to unclip and soar below a hill; Taiga witnesses this and runs down toward it. Yuri-sensei arrives and questions what's wrong with them, but Ryuuji realizes that Taiga's not present.
  
• In the evening in the lounge, worried classmates wondering about the whereabouts and condition of Taiga, even though the ski resort staff are out looking for her. Minorin, in her winter outfit, says she's going out to look for Taiga only to be shortly joined by Ryuuji and Yuusaku. Outside, Ryuuji notices something glimmering in the distance and notes it to Minorin. When Minorin begins to walk off, Ryuuji stops her and will go down the hill instead.
  
• Ryuuji finds Minorin's hair clip on a tree branch and not too far away is a snow-covered Taiga who's still alive. Apparently, she slipped and fell down the hill to result in a cut/scratch on her forehead. When Ryuuji hoists her on his back and begins his ascent up the hill, Taiga thinks she has been rescued by Yuusaku and accidentally tells Ryuuji that the love charm he cast shortly after the shrine visit didn't work and that she can't stop her feelings for Ryuuji.
  

Episode thoughts:
Well, can't say that this was as much a shocker for us as it is for Ryuuji's sake, since we've known probably from the beginning or episode 19, whichever comes first, that Taiga has feelings for Ryuuji. Yup, it looks like we're going down the cliched path of the two main characters getting together. Before I get into that, I'd like to talk about the love drama in this episode. Everything building up since then and now is finally piecing together: Minorin may have feelings for Ryuuji but is unable to voice them; Ami feels hate against Minorin because of this and hates Ryuuji because of his indecisiveness; Ryuuji likes Minorin; Taiga used to like Yuusaku and now likes Ryuuji. A very conflicting predicament we have here that can only get even more ugly if it isn't resolved soon enough.

Minorin sure wasn't herself in this episode, she was more angry then she was gloomy during the school festival episodes. Ami, her usual self, talks about herself in the third person (a character trait since her first introduction, by the way) and suggests to Minorin in their room that she should just resolve this whole conflict by telling Ryuuji that Minorin hates him. I thought that Minorin was pushing her feelings down even deeper when she replies to Ami to do whatever she likes. The confrontation between the two was just as intense but not as epic as the Sumire vs. Taiga fight. On a lighter note, Haruta is his usual self of not understanding what was going on. Haruta, you're an interesting...character, to say the least (and you sound like a certain character from Chaos;HEAd, but, hey, I'm not complaining!).

OK, now going to, what you could say, Taiga's confession to Ryuuji who she thought was really Yuusaku but was really Ryuuji rescuing her. Um. Yeah. What else can I say? This is quite the screw up/quandary. I found that the ED music, Orange, was fitting during Taiga's confession ― I mean it does have the phrases "it makes me cry" and "[but/therefore] I love you" in it. I disliked the credits rolling at the point, but oh well. However, I'm sure that Ryuuji will undergo a long thought process about what to do then eventually confirm his feelings to...someone, but the odds are they'll be Taiga (alright, I cheated, it'll happen in ep. 24 judging by the episode title ). Ah, with that:


Episode 22, kimi no iru keshiki or The Scene with You. Ryuuji wonders why Taiga is choosing him, Minorin calls him a player, but denies this fact.

End Note: Yeah, there's a good reason why the pictures had to be smaller. To fit everything. Yup, a good reason why.