ToraDora! #23 — Shoes Shoes Shoes!

March 11th, 2009

 

There were a lot of shoes this episode.

Impressions:

The end of this episode was so surreal. I think Horie Yui was channeling the combined irritation of every person who has ever expressed any kind of annoyance at all this pussyfooting around crap. And then they shifted into the low art/high(er) animation style for extra dramatic rolling around the classroom and yelling. My main issue with it is that it seriously just came out of absolutely nowhere. Minori learned that Ryuuji and Taiga hadn’t cleared things up about the whole skiing incident, and after a moment or two of looking stunned, went completely ballistic at both of them while Kitamura and Ami guarded the doors with smiles on their faces. It just felt a little too mannufactured to me… like it could have easily happened at any of five or six times through the season, but they just picked this one because the show’s about over. If they had spent a little more time building up to it instead of Taiga and Ryuuji’s relatively meaningless part time adventures, or had it come off of more than one little comment (okay, and the gushing adulation that followed), I would have been a lot happier with how it was handled.

Most of the rest was just more of Ryuuji’s oedipus complex and pointing out that Taiga’s like his mom, only less likely to be used as a flotation device in the event of a water landing. Yasuko gets sick, so he and Taiga go find a part time job. There was some pretty hardcore handholding along the way, but that was mostly to prevent Ryuuji from wandering into the street without looking because the 24 hour flu is ALL MY FAULT OH GOD WHAT WAS I THINKING I WAS AN ARROGANT FOOL. Honestly, it’s amazing that Ryuuji’s survived this long if he throws himself into traffic every time Yasuko gets a fever.

Preview:

Still pulling for the Kitamura ending.

Posted in ToraDora | 37 Comments »

37 Shouts From the Peanut Gallery

  • DESTINED says:
    March 11, 2009 at 5:11 pm

    2 more episodes left! not what i was expecting really after seeing ep.22 but it was alright i guess. Taiga looked cute in this episode though

  • Eirias says:
    March 11, 2009 at 7:05 pm

    What exactly is the Kitamura ending? I hate Kitamura.

  • Chen says:
    March 11, 2009 at 7:06 pm

    Nice shoe.

  • Sterling01 says:
    March 11, 2009 at 7:46 pm

    @Eirias: Ryuuji and Kitamura fisting each other

  • Kraker2k says:
    March 11, 2009 at 7:56 pm

    @Eirias: Kitamura and Ryuji walking along the beach only in their boxer shorts in the sunset.

    Its in the visual novel. Tru story.

  • dfgdfgdf says:
    March 11, 2009 at 8:30 pm

    only 24 eps.

  • Aroduc says:
    March 11, 2009 at 8:50 pm

    ‘My girl?’

    That’s adorable.

  • Eirias says:
    March 11, 2009 at 8:52 pm

    @Sterling: Well, that’s alright then. Who wouldn’t be up for that ending.

  • Kanako says:
    March 11, 2009 at 8:57 pm

    umm i hope they have a season 2 for this series
    then maybe Ami might have a chance :)

  • Irie says:
    March 11, 2009 at 9:40 pm

    It’s been a good show but it’s time for the reveal. For some crazy reason I would have liked Amy for the final match. I know that was never possible but her character grew on me. Minori went from lovable airhead (in nice way) to really annoying. Her emo mode really seemed out of character and totally ruined what could have been a perfect fit for Ryuuji.

    Anyway, the anime was true to it’s manga origin. It would be nice to get an original ending one day.

  • Haesslich says:
    March 11, 2009 at 9:59 pm

    Taiga’s like his MOM? Oh, for heaven’s sake… first his father complex, now he has a Mother complex to boot. And then Minorin exploded… they weren’t kidding when they said this series would end with a bucket full of the Drama.

    Although I will say that Taiga with twin ponytails is horribly cute. That, and Minorin going emopsycho means she could possibly star on a future incarnation of Umineko or Higurashi…

  • Kaisos says:
    March 11, 2009 at 10:34 pm

    @Irie: It was originally an anime and not every series has to be original. You want original? Go watch something not based off of something else.

    Fucking Ami shippers bitching about a great ending.

    @Haess: The novels are better about this, as they shift between drama and comedy a lot better.

    Also, in the books, Ryuuji comments quite often that he has a mother complex. He doesn’t even appear to really be ashamed about it either.

    Man Toradora needs a remake already…

  • Kaisos says:
    March 11, 2009 at 10:40 pm

    Crap, I meant “originally a light novel”. I are dumb hurr hurr.

  • TJ says:
    March 11, 2009 at 10:59 pm

    Ponytail Taiga could have sold all the chocolates by herself, but unfortunately Ryuji “the Gangster Eyes” Takasu was around.

    Would have been a better episode if they spent the entirety of it building up to end instead of wandering around with narrative.

  • Yue says:
    March 11, 2009 at 11:25 pm

    Mmmmm… Given that the series’ plot is quite compressed, I guess no one would “object” if JCStaff reserve the ending in a Theater Film release.

  • Kaisos says:
    March 11, 2009 at 11:50 pm

    My ass.

    The ending of the light novels is ridiculously anime-esque (yet very fitting), so of course they’ll use it in the series proper.

    Still needs a remake if only for the short stories and actually giving us the damned internal monologues.

  • Aroduc says:
    March 12, 2009 at 12:10 am

    I think delaying the ending for an indefinite amount of time is the exact opposite of what everybody wants.

  • Kaisos says:
    March 12, 2009 at 12:13 am

    It’d be like Haruhi all over again. But worse.

  • Haesslich says:
    March 12, 2009 at 1:24 am

    A remake with the internal dialogue that the series started out with, and a bit less filler, would probably go over better than Clannad After Story has. Especially with the psycho-Taiga we had in Episode 3 or so…

  • Kaisos says:
    March 12, 2009 at 1:39 am

    They’d need to make it 52 episodes to really fit in everything, as well as the short stories which are all really awesome, even if they could be construed as filler. (At least then we’d get an explanation as to WHY Haruta has a girlfriend.)

    It’d be better than more Hayate, at the least.

    And heck, if Kanon was remade after like 5 years, why not Toradora?

  • Haesslich says:
    March 12, 2009 at 1:43 am

    Kaisos: Because Kanon always had a weird fanbase which focused around the ero and the harem as much as the story, such as it is. And I suspect they could probably do it with 26… albeit at the expense of some of the ‘filler’. And they’re still both better than more Clannad… or Gundam.

  • Kaisos says:
    March 12, 2009 at 1:51 am

    They’re basically covering entire light novels in two-three episodes each when they would probably require at least four or five.

    They’ve cut out so much it’s not even funny.

    And yeah, it would be more better than more Clannad or Gundam.

    At least Clannad is almost over…

  • Hippolemy says:
    March 12, 2009 at 7:22 am

    I still like the Ryuuji x Taiga ending more. Ami is just like a “walking vase” with weird thoughts and crazy advice. I think not focusing on Ami is a wise choice. One more thing, Kitamura is totally useless and sucks, the should’ve cut him out long ago (make him go aboard with that President for instance???). Taiga is cute, which relieved me alot.

  • GodBeastX says:
    March 12, 2009 at 11:31 am

    Am I the only person who likes Taiga + Ryuji?

  • Hellfire says:
    March 12, 2009 at 1:05 pm

    How’s that?
    Taiga X Ryuji
    Nanako X Haruta
    Kihara X Noto
    Kitamura X Kanuo

    and ehm…
    what about…
    Ami X Minorin ?
    xD

  • Man0warr says:
    March 12, 2009 at 2:37 pm

    I thought they adapted the light novels as well as they could, books don’t really translate too well sometimes, especially if there’s alot of internal dialogue.

    Then you end up with how Index is – tons of exposition.

    As long as they story is the same I can forgive them leaving some minor stuff out, because I can read the novels with they get translated eventually for that.

  • Kaisos says:
    March 12, 2009 at 3:26 pm

    Toradora doesn’t need exposition because it’s not a sci-fi show.

    For a series with a lot of internal monologues that still works, well, Haruhi is a good example.

  • Haesslich says:
    March 12, 2009 at 9:43 pm

    Kaisos: The only issue is that whether we need 5 pages worth of explanation in dialogue – there’s quite a bit of internal monologue, but do we really need 4-5 episodes for EVERY novel? If not, then things would work with 26 episodes, especially if they leave out Haruta’s antics with getting a girlfriend or the spinoff.

  • Yue says:
    March 12, 2009 at 9:57 pm

    Mmmmm, sorry about the statement. I withdraw the “Theater Film” idea, okay. >_<

  • Kaisos says:
    March 12, 2009 at 10:50 pm

    Haess, I definitely suggest reading the novels that have currently been translated.

    It’s not just the internal monologues that were cut, there’s a LOT more stuff. For example, the epic, epic ending to Vol. 7 that the anime toned down entirely too much.

    Stupid lack of important recurring symbolism in the anime adaptation…

  • wren says:
    March 13, 2009 at 9:49 am

    though it’s another cliche ending, anyway i enjoy a lot in this anime..

  • croburg617 says:
    March 13, 2009 at 10:07 am

    Sterling01-that’s wrong on so many levels, go Ryuuji and Taiga!!

  • sage says:
    March 13, 2009 at 12:36 pm

    That, and Minorin going emopsycho means she could possibly star on a future incarnation of Umineko or Higurashi…

    COUGHCOUGHCOUGHHanyuuCOUGHCOUGHCOUGHMariaCOUGHCOUGHCOUGH

  • Kaisos says:
    March 13, 2009 at 2:18 pm

    Yui Horie DOES get around a lot, doesn’t she?

  • Haesslich says:
    March 13, 2009 at 11:02 pm

    Kaisos: I’ll check them out, since the last time I looked I could only find the first two volumes translated, and the first two chapters of Volume 3. Still, in a world where budgets exist, I suspect 26 is the maximum that they’d be able to get as far as the number of episodes, and again… do we really need the spin-off to tell the main story well? Probably not – but it’d make a good OVA, just to have a non-Ryuuji and Taiga viewpoint.

    sage: COUGHCOUGHCOUGHHanyuuCOUGHCOUGHCOUGHMariaCOUGHCOUGHCOUGH

    I meant Minori the character – not Yui Horie the seiyuu. Yui Horie is, as Kaisos said, almost everywhere. Besides, she’d be like a more genki version of Rena…

  • n. says:
    March 15, 2009 at 3:49 pm

    “USOTSUKI!” that moment was “oh”

  • Nagisa says:
    March 16, 2009 at 4:27 pm

    Well I really love to see Tagia and Ryūji find love each soon and it will be over. 3 more episode and is finish.