Toradora!

Name: Toradora!
Type: Television Show
Episodes: 25, 1 Short
Rating: TV-14
Runtime Per Episode: 24 min
Director: Nagai Tatsuyuki
Produced By GENCO and J.C. Staff
Year Produced: 2008

In modern-day Japan, there is a young man attending high school.  His name is Ryuuji, and he's got more than his fare share of problems.

The first is that his father was a gangster... or Yakuza, if there's a difference.  I kind of get the idea that Yakuza is an organization like the Mafia rather than a group of unorganized thugs... but I can't really say.

Thanks to his fathers... "profession", Ryuuji has been cursed with an unshakable genetic inheritance!

His eyes, man.

This kind of eye is a common delinquent trait... that and the coat over the shoulders, the scars, the cigarette, and the bokken.  And the hairdoo is usually key.

Because of this unfortunate trait, Ryuuji is doomed to spend the rest of his school life being viewed as a delinquent, even though he is actually a calm, nice man... who can cook!  That's like... 3 out of 4 (or whatever).

God dang it.

Living in a small(ish) house in the shadow of a huge, mysterious apartment complex, Ryuuji's clean-freak tendencies shine at home, but when he gets to school, he never really has the opportunity to prove that he's actually a decent person.  All that happens is he says something and...

Doesn't sound too bad, yeah?  Well it does to him, and I suppose if your moral character were being questioned to the point where everybody thought you were a total thug, then you'd lose patience too.

... But the way I see it, if they're not going to listen to you, keep the wallet!

Living with his working mother...

Absolutely!

... and an awesome one at that... not exactly text-book mother, but funny, Ryuuji is the man of the house since his father passed away.  As such, he's learned how to cook (as previously stated), not to mention clean, sew, and generally take care of the house.  Outside of the house, Ryuuji has a severe lack of friends... save one.

Kitamura

The only person who's had the courage to stay with him long enough to learn his "secret" (oh my God, he's nice!), Kitamura is also the only person that Ryuuji can comfortably talk to in school.  Good thing he's in Ryuuji's class.

Ryuuji has a secret beyond his actual nature secret.  He (like all teenage boys in anime), has a crush that he can't speak normally to.  You might think that anime guys are lucky as hell for all the play that they get, but personally, I think that anyone who can't even chat normally with the person they like is kind of pathetic.  Actually, they're probably worse than that.

... well I wouldn't go that far.

I can understand having a problem confessing, I've had some severe fails, but the best thing about it is that if you keep trying, someone'll say "yes"!  Sounds like a pie in the sky thing, well, that's just because you haven't practiced enough.  Love (although that's a pretty heavy word for asking someone out on a date) is a difficult thing to handle.

Anyway, it's the start of a new year at high school, and Ryuuji isn't looking forward to having to explain to a whole new class about his... not being a delinquent.  On the way down the hall, he meets his crush... well, not meets, but sees again.

Her name is Minori, and she's... energetic to say the least.  As my friend would describe it; "She's a freaking light particle!".  She's also in his class (of 2-C).  After having a brief encounter with her, during which the only thing he could manage to say was her name, Ryuuji turns away to catch his breath... and bumps into...

... Aisaka Taiga, apparently... who's not having a good day.  While listening to the whispers around him, Ryuuji manages to remember where he's heard the name Aisaka Taiga before.
P... Palm... Palm...tree?  No.  Palm... top... Palmtop... Tiger... Taiga... Palmtop Taiga!

Cute nickname.

After putting all of the pieces together, Ryuuji gets... punched for his troubles.  She must not like her nickname very much... either that or she doesn't like bumping into people.

Owned.

... she's in his class too... and she's friends with Minori!  Suddenly thing's aren't looking as grand as they first seemed.

When the day is over, Ryuuji is called into the teacher's lounge and asked to fill out the career-choice form thing.  I get the idea behind this, but I've never actually done one of these.  I kind of want to, but I prefer those tests that tell you what you're best suited to become.

Jesus, even the teacher's fear him.

When he gets back to the classroom, there are chairs and desks flying everywhere.

... Huh?

As Ryuuji looks around, he notices the broom cabinet... tottering, and then falling.  When it opens, a curled up Taiga rolls out, surprisingly managing to retain her original position.

Roll roll roll...

Choosing (wisely) to ignore her beyond the "Are you alright?" (a stupid reflex question, obviously not), Ryuuji goes and picks up his bag to leave.  There's a stuttering from the corner, and Taiga starts asking him what he's doing.

When Ryuuji tells her that he's just picking up the bag, Taiga has some kind of attack.

Okay, so maybe she's not having an attack per say, rather, she's going to attack someone.  Namely Ryuuji.

Guayahhhhh!!!

(I've got to have at least one per post)

After struggling over the bag, Taiga leaves the room, calling Ryuuji an idiot for protecting his personal property.

Later that night, Ryuuji remembers the career form that he has to fill out, and as he's searching through his bag, he finds a letter addressed to Kitamura from Taiga.  A love letter... that comes open when Ryuuji is being an idiot.

 Crap.

Well, not that it's open, I should... no, actually, in the interest of surviving, I shouldn't read it.
As he's trying to reseal it, Ryuuji discovers that it's actually... empty.
I've done bad, but this is an epic fail (as my friend would say).

Ryuuji goes to bed.  After sleeping for several hours, Ryuuji's is woken by the sound of something in the house being opened.  Since his mother's not supposed to be home yet, Ryuuji goes out to see what's going on.

As he ventures into the living room, he sees that the window is open.  As he's wondering how it got so, he figures out.  Something... small comes out of a room behind him and attacks with a bokken.

After evading being bludgeoned to death for a while, Ryuuji manages to turn on the light.

AISAKA!!

She's found Ryuuji and has come to cleanse the shame of the... thing that she put in his bag.  And she needs him to die to do that, especially since he already knows what it was.

 He he...

Now that someone knows what was in the bag, there is only one choice... well, two I suppose.

There's logic for you.

 Taiga finally stops attacking after Ryuuji yells at her the fact that the envelope was actually empty... and then she passes out for lack of food.

During Taiga's dinner at Ryuuji's place, she yells at him that confessing is embarrassing.  After she's finished yelling at him for being an idiot... she insults him for being a lower-class citizen.  When he tries to yell at her for insulting him, Ryuuji is caught off guard by her expression and decides to show her his box of shame.

It's a box filled with a bunch of stuff that he intended to give/do with his beloved.

 Um... no...?

But since he's never had the courage to tell her how he feels... none of it has, or probably ever will happen.
Ryuuji suddenly realizes that his mother's going to be home soon, so he frantically tells Taiga that he'll keep her secret, but Taiga doesn't exactly trust him.

Backed into a corner, Ryuuji tells her that he'll help her.

Ryuuji agrees... and then she says this.

I dunno about dog...

But Ryuuji agrees anyway and finally gets her to go home.

The next morning, Ryuuji gets a phone call.

Taiga demands that Ryuuji come over to where she is, and when he asks where Taiga, he is led out onto the veranda, and discovers that she's living in the huge apartment complex that's standing next to his house.
Ryuuji asks for some more time to finish the food.

When Ryuuji arrives at the complex, he discovers that there's only two floors.  He goes and finds Aisaka's door and presses the buzzer.

And here I was wondering who "Ai Saka" was!  Ha ha!

... I'm such an idiot.

Ryuuji discovers that the door is open, and when he lets himself in, he discovers a horrific smell.  Upon further investigation, he finds the source of the smell.

A scene so horrific or pornographic that it was mosaic-ed out.  That's bad.

Filled with the spirit of a true Filth-Fighter, Ryuuji is spurred into anger.

Ryuuji tears all around the house looking for Taiga, and when he finds her, she's sleeping again.
As Ryuuji looks around the house, he sees that it looks like nobody else is living there, which is true.
And so Ryuuji begins to clean.

After about 15 minutes, Taiga wakes up again, and when she goes to the kitchen, she finds the house is... actually clean.  When she figures out it's Ryuuji (her dog) who did it, she yells at him.
Now, I don't know if "Forced Cleaning" is a crime, but maybe it is in Japan.  Doesn't sound that bad to me.

And so they being their exciting school life together.  Taiga has agreed to help Ryuuji get a date with Minori if he'll help her get a date with Kitamura.


Let me just start off by saying that when I was going into this project, I had decided that I'd review things in kind or a random order.
I knew that there would be a Miyazaki Marathon somewhere in there, and I knew that I wanted to do a couple of other things, those namely being Mugen no Juunin, Ookami to Koushinryou, and Gankutsuou (out of the ones that I've already done).
There was also this, and the upcoming four reviews, but I had arranged them in a kind of order that I like them in (except for the third one, which I just figured I needed a break from movies).

I have to admit that I have seen this anime before, and I have just realized that it is among my favorite five (if were talking series here).  The other ones that I can tell you now because it won't spoil the surprise are Ookami to Koushinryou (as you have probably already figured out if you read my review), KissxSis, Zero no Tsukaima, and both To Aru Majutsu no Index and To Aru no Choudenjibou (for which this blog is named, and I just realized that I have not made plans to review it... shamed).

I haven't decided to review these in the near future.  KissxSis because this is partly a school engagement, Zero no Tsukaima because I just discovered it, and To Aru Majutsu no Index and To Aru no Choudenjibou... I don't know why.  There are also two others that I am reviewing in the future, but if I tell you now, it'll ruin the surprise.

That being said, I might be kind of biased here, but at least it's a positive bias.  I know I hate negative biases.

In case you couldn't see it coming, I think this anime is awesome.
It's funny and I lose it for tsundere, height-sensitive girls, especially ones played by Kugimiya Rie.  Taiga is one of my all-time favorite characters.

Close to being a typical school life anime, this was saved by the preferences and just the fact that the story (to me) was different than those typical high school love stories, and that made it cool.  Actually, this anime has received the tag of "Love Rectangle" from several people.  I didn't even know that was a thing.  Damn.

Like I said before, Kugimiya Rie (Taiga) is one of my favorite Japanese voice actresses, and she's been in a lot of other stuff.  She was the main character in the Zero no Tsukaima series, as well as the Shakugan no Shana series.  She also got the Kouta part in Midori no Hibi, which I reviewed a while back (it's not hard to find, just look for the boobs).

I loved how Taiga and Ryuuji's relationship developed, and how their friendship affected Minori and Kitamura, not to mention the others in the class.

The drawing style was a bit more anime than the manga, but I still liked it because I read the manga, got interested, then got cut off because they haven't finished translating it yet.  This is actually one of the few animes that I have actively looked for to find out what happens.

They didn't make an English version (thank God), but they did make a Tagalog version, so thank the Lord for that.
... Where is Tagalog?  I don't know, but it's apparently a country of some sort.  Either way, stick with the Japanese version.

The music was awesome.  At least the opening song was, and that's good enough for me.  Pre-Parade is a lot of fun to listen to, and even if you don't watch the anime, you should check out the song.  Kugimiya Rie leads because she can sing, and has apparently done so for several other opening songs for the animes she's worked on.

The most important thing that I can say for this anime is to be sure to watch at least the last episode to the end.  If you don't, you'll have an aneurysm.

Toradora! Minitheatre

Coming up Next!

K-ON!!

Alert!

If you don't like spoilers, or still want to watch the show now, you'd better stop reading!

I'll give you the general lay-out of things because this is generally a long anime with a plot that can be simplified so you won't have to spend hours reading it.

As time goes on, Taiga and Ryuuji become closer, sharing secrets and... dinner.  Ryuuji and Tiaga are often mistaken for a romantic couple because of their proximity in and out of school, not to mention their suspiciously similar boxed lunches.  All this is not helped by the fact that both Minori and Kitamura are spreading rumors that they are a couple (especially Minori).

Turns out that back in... freshman year or whatever, Kitamura asked Taiga out on a date, but she panicked and refused him, as she is want to do.  Shortly after that, she developed feelings for Kitamura herself, but never had the courage to admit something like that to him.

A new character makes an appearance; Kawashima Ami, Kitamura's childhood friend, and a model otherwise known as Ami-chan (but I'll be calling her Ami because it's easier and not a poser as Ami-chan).

Contrary to her "screen" personality, Ami is actually very selfish and self-centered, but does not admit it (unlike Taiga).  She uses her looks to get what she wants, and acts clumsy and nice, though she's got an inner personality that's... selfish, self-centered, and a bit cruel.

Well thank you.

For this reason, and because of her relationship with Kitamura, Taiga... hates her.

Actually, she has problems with most of the girls that know her true identity.

Kitamura has known about Ami's personality forever, and has always wanted to do something where she won't have to lie anymore, and for that reason, he eventually enlists the help of Ryuuji and Taiga.

Ami quit being a model for unknown reasons for a while, but then Taiga and Ryuuji discovered that she was being, and is still being stalked by some creepy... stalker (stating previously stated information is getting annoying).

When they first figured out about this, Ami asked if she could stay with Ryuuji for a while, but Taiga managed to turn it around so Ami was staying in her complex.  While Ami was there, Taiga forced her to imitate something like 150 professional performers, which she recorded and began to use as blackmail material.

During a trash-pickup, Ami and Ryuuji were put on a team, and during their route, they met with the stalker again, and the stalker met with Taiga, calling her a yokai.  Taiga flipped out and attacked him with a trash bag.  Ami is impressed at Taiga's lack of fear, and takes some of Ryuuji's advice to heart

Following Taiga's stunning example on how to deal with whackos, Ami confronts her stalker and beats the shit out of his camera.  And that was the end of that.

Ryuuji takes her back to his place and during their conversation, Ami starts to make a move on Ryuuji, but is interrupted by Taiga.  Judging by Taiga's reaction, Ami learns that no matter what she says, Taiga has feelings for Ryuuji, and that she's a little more than dependent on him.  Information that she'll use later.

But things don't stop there, after that, their school has a pool opening, and Taiga (eventually) tells Ryuuji her two problems.

1. She can't swim.
2. She's... flat chested (smack)

Ashamed of showing her pedo body in front of Kitamura at the pool, Taiga becomes very stressed and Ryuuji takes pity on her and makes her a couple of super bra cups (which she loves)!

During the pool opening, Taiga gets chucked into the pool by Ami...

And enjoy the Ami-rear view.

... and (since she can't swim), she splashes around until Ryuuji can reach her, but she refuses to leave the pool because one of the cups has fallen out.
With other concerned classmates and the teacher (and big, bronze man with a weight-lifting hobby and Spedo), Ryuuji is forced to shove the cup back in.  Taiga is not pleased.

Somehow, things turn around and Ami and Taiga end up having a contest.

If Taiga wins, she posts the pictures that she took of Ami during her "preferences".
If Ami wins, she takes Ryuuji to her mansion for the entire summer, leaving Taiga alone.
The entire class begins betting on the event, but are quickly found out by Ryuuji and Taiga... when someone accidentally passes the note specifically reading...

(Only in Japanese)

... to Ryuuji.  Ryuuji bets on Taiga.

And so Taiga begins to practice for the challenge.  Ryuuji helps her out, despite her lack of skill (can't even put her head underwater).  During the course of the training, Ryuuji discovers that Taiga can go about a million miles an hour with a kickboard.
When Taiga shows an above average interest in winning, Ryuuji asks her what she's so worked up about.  He thinks that it's about impressing Kitamura and beating Ami, but when things take a turn and the conversation becomes about him leaving, he thinks it's because she's worried what'll happen to her while he's gone.

Taiga looses it after that and tells him to fuck off (in so many words).  I may be dense at times, but this guy is something else (or maybe he's just numb), even after that, he has problems figuring out why she's angry, but supports her anyway.

The day of the competition, things are looking good when Taiga shows up armed for war with every kind of floaty you can think of, only to throw them at Ami when the whistle sounds.

When Ami is knocked into the water, Taiga jumps onto her, and then...

YEAH!!!!

Taiga takes advantage and dashes ahead, but when she reaches the other side of the pool, she pulls her calf (like you do when you try and stand on tip-toe to fast or hard).  When Ryuuji tries to tell her to stop, she refuses, and Ryuuji sends her off again.

As Taiga and Ami swim, there is a commotion behind Ryuuji and a couple of students fall off, onto Ryuuji, knocking him out.

He is presumably saved by Taiga who has an emotional break after she hauls him out of the water.

Ryuuji's fine, and they all go out to a coffee shop, at which Taiga forces her way into Ami's mansion trip, and when asked about her outburst, she claims that it's because Ryuuji's her dog, and she's his master.

And so they set out to Ami's mansion by the sea.

While there, Taiga tells Ryuuji that Minori is terrified by scary things, and so the two set out to try and frighten her, but in the process, they are played big time by Kitamura and Minori, who's interested in the things that terrify her.

On a side note, when Ryuuji tries to ask Minori if she has a boyfriend, he kind of... fails epically.

When they get back, the first thing that they are doing after the break is the always nessecary Cultural Festival (introduced by my favorite support character; Haruta).

Okay, and is it just me, or is there always a Cultural Festival in school life animes?

For the festival, Haruta has a plan to get all of the girls in cute costumes like a cosplay cafe, but since he's an idiot, the plan ends up bombing horribly.  They end up deciding to do some kind of Pro-Wrestling play thing, with Ami as the hero, and Taiga and Ryuuji as the villains.
On a side note, there is apparently a kind of Mrs. High School kind of event, which Ami is nominated for, but since she's emceeing it, has to decline... but she's got a backup plan!  Taiga!

And it's obviously during such a happy event... that Taiga's good-for-nothing father decides to come back into her life.  The reason Taiga hates him is because after he got divorced with Taiga's mother, he remarried and ultimately became tired of Taiga, sending her out to that huge complex to live by herself.  Yeah, I'm not too thrilled about him either.
Ryuuji, believing that a family should stay together no matter what (due to his previous and present lifestyle), tries to convince Taiga to go back to her father.  He eventually breaks down in the middle of trying to talk to Taiga and lets a Freudian slip go, and Taiga goes back to her father for Ryuuji.

Taiga starts spending a lot of time with her father, and it gets to the point where he promises to come to the Cultural Festival and watch her performance, and Taiga asks (semi-nicely) Ami to switch parts during a preference of the play so she can be the hero while her father's watching.  Ami agrees.

When Minori asks Ryuuji why Taiga's so happy, he tells her that it's because of her father's appearance back in her life.  When Minori hears this, she goes quiet, then says she going to talk to Taiga about not seeing her father any more.

When Ryuuji stops her, tying to get her to tell him why, Minori can't (or doesn't), and when Taiga notices this, she comes over to try and stop them (since they're supposed to be gettin' it on right now, not fighting), but her well-meaning (but very poor) attempts fail, and Ryuuji leaves out of aggravation.

That night, Ryuuji and Taiga's father have a little chat while the man is unloading everything out of Taiga's apartment.  Apparently Taiga's moving in with him, but Ryuuji can't confirm it with Taiga for extenuating reasons.

When Ryuuji and Minori actually talk again, Minori tells Ryuuji that Taiga's dad isn't coming.  Since Ryuuji kind of trusts Taiga's father, he believes that he is, but can't convince Minori, who says that Taiga's getting all worked up to be disappointed.

During the Cultural Festival, it gradually becomes clear that Taiga's father isn't coming, and he even sends Ryuuji a text message during the beauty pageant to tell Taiga that he's sorry.

During her appearance at the pageant, Taiga (who's fully aware of the fact that she's been stood up)... trips and falls on stage.  After this, she royally flips out... and after some awkward clapping becomes the toast of the school, winning the contest.

Afterwards before the wrap party, there is a contest for who'll be the one to put the crown on the queen's head (in this case Taiga), not to mention have a dance with her at the party.

During this, both Ryuuji and Minori go full force, burning the competition.  In the final stretches of the race, they come neck and neck, and Minori finally reveals that Taiga's father has done this kind of thing before.
Minori sacrifices herself to allow Ryuuji to cross the finish line, but Ryuuji goes back and picks her up, and they finish together.

At the party, Minori finally tells Ryuuji that the reason that she didn't tell him about Taiga's father's past before this entire mess came to pass was that because Taiga shared things about her family with Ryuuji, which she hasn't done with Minori.

And as far as I know, neither Ryuuji or Minori had a slow dance with Taiga... but Kitamura did!  That's a point for Taiga... I think, though I'm not really sure about her last comment (although since I know the ending, I can kind of guess, but I choose not to).

A smaller character in the series has her moment in the spotlight.  The Student Council President (who's made a few appearances) is a senior, and is now leaving the school.  Kitamura has been acting weird lately, and during the discussion of the election of the new Student Council President, Kitamura flipped out.

The next day, Kitamura came into school with... weirdo blonde hair.  Yikes.  After he was "arrested", the teachers were all asking why he was freaking out like that, nobody could answer, and Kitamura eventually left the school, later showing up at Ryuuji's house.

While there, he told Taiga and Ryuuji the reason behind dying his hair.  He's wanting to distance himself from the Student Council, and if he has hair like... that, nobody will expect anything of him.

After a few more dramatics, the class of 2-C comes up with a plan to get Ktiamura back to normal.  They'll have Taiga run for Student Council President as the quintessential nemesis bad guy, and force Kitamura to run to save the school.  And so they make their opening campaign, things are looking good... or bad, I suppose.

Ryuuji gets a phone call about the current Student Council President.  She's going abroad in a week, and Ryuuji's pretty sure that she's got something to do with Kitamura, so he goes to find and beat Kitamura.

Ryuuji surprisingly finds Kitamura outside.  He's been hit by his father for his lack of moral standing, and that apparently made him think straighter.

He tells Ryuuji that he has feelings for the president (obviously), and then tells how that led down the road to this state.

The next morning, Kitamura comes to school with normal hair and takes over the vote... too bad he didn't turn in his forms to be able to run for election.  After talking about how he came to join the council, Kitamura confesses that he's afraid to take the next step, to which the Student Council President (who knows how long she's been listening), responds with an inspirational beat down and a smack on the back of the head.  Kitamura turns in his form, Taiga drops out of the race and he is the only other candidate.

At the election speeches, Kitamura shows the definition of Confession Courage and screams this into the microphone.

It's better in the anime.

... wow, man.  He is then rejected, or more like, he's not accepted.  When Ryuuji tries to figure out why the SCP didn't answer him clearly... she doesn't give him a real answer either.  It's like her special skill.
Taiga, who's been having problems with this whole thing for numerous reasons, one of which being the fact that she cannot help or support Kitamura during this time, tells Ryuuji to go and be with Kitamura.  She decides to go off and attack the SCP.

After an epic fight, the SCP says that she also likes Kitamura, but the reason that she didn't say so is because he'll end up following her instead of living his own life.  This is... just kind of deciding for him (sarcasm), but there you go.  In the end, Kitamura was listening to all of it, and they parted on good terms, and Kitamura won the election.

Then came Christmas.  Taiga decided to be good for that month to try and get Santa to come to her house, and the class decided to put on an epic Christmas party.  When Ryuuji finds a bunch of gifts addressed to not only some random children, but also her parents, Taiga tells Ryuuji that the reason she's doing all of this is because she truly believes in the Christmas spirit.  The gifts for the children are actually gifts for orphans that she used to help take care of.

They got a massive tree that you make out of metal, and then Taiga brought in a crystal star to top it off.

After everything was finished and set up, a softball comes flying through the window and knocks the whole thing over, and the star breaks.  Minori, who's been severely spacing out and avoiding Ryuuji for the past couple of days, comes in apologizing for what she did, and when she notices the star, she has somewhat of an emotional crack.

Minori gets down and starts to reassemble the star, rejecting help of all kinds, saying that she'll do it herself.  Ryuuji ignores this and helps her anyway, claiming that he's doing it for himself.

As Minori is leaving after the star is finished, Ryuuji chases after her and tells her that he'll be waiting at the party, but Minori tells him that she will not be coming.

On the night of the party, Taiga got Ryuuji a suit and Ryuuji got some kind of hair clip thingy, and they decided that at the party, he'd confess to Minori (if she shows up).

The party is a hit and everybody's having fun...

Maybe just a little too much fun.

After a performance that Ami and Taiga gave, Ryuuji sees Ami again, and asks her where Taiga is, and he's told that she left already to go to Minori's house.  Ryuuji leaves the party, realizing that Taiga's just trying to make everyone else happy.

After convincing Minori to go to the party, Taiga goes back home and sits alone in her living room, where she falls asleep holding onto Ryuuji's scarf.
She is awakened by the sound of thumping from her bedroom and goes to investigate.

I'd say "Dressed to Kill", but it's just a little too corny here... oops.

She arrives at the source of the banging; the window.  After steeling herself, Taiga throws back the curtain!

...

AUGHHHH!!  It's a creepy bear!

Taiga asks the totally creepy... bear hanging off of her window sill if he's Santa, and desperate to get inside and possibly rape her, the bear nods.

Once inside, Taiga asks the... bear if it's Santa, to which the bear answers yes.  Delighted, Taiga hauls Santa into the living room and shows him her "tree" (a tree candle cover).  When Santa approves of the display, Taiga jumps on him and they dance for a while until Santa falls over.

Taiga removes the bear mask from Ryuuji and thanks him for what he did.  Taiga manages to shunt Ryuuji out of the door, telling him to go and meet Minori, seeing as getting Minori to come to the party was Taiga's real present, and Ryuuji finally agrees.

Forward, charge!!

After Ryuuji leaves, Taiga realizes that she forgot to give him back his scarf, and when she realizes that she's giving up not only her closest friend, but also her love, she runs after Ryuuji to stop him, but she's too late, Ryuuji's long gone.  Taiga cries on the street as Minori, who's gone to the apartment rather than the party, watches.

Ryuuji waits for Minori at the party until she finally shows up.  Before Ryuuji can say much, Minori rejects his feelings in a strange and confusing way, even if you've been paying very close attention to the plot line.  A bunch of rubbish about UFO's and ghosts... it's a link to the summer vacation at Ami's villa.

After the rejection, Taiga decides to distance herself from Ryuuji to prevent further misunderstandings between Ryuuji and Minori.  Back at school, the class is preparing for a trip to a ski resort, and Minori is acting like nothing happened.

At the resort, the group goes around having... an awful time skiing.  A couple of the other classmates start having fights about their own romantic problems.  Taiga's given Minori the hairpin that Ryuuji was going to give to her for a Christmas present, but Taiga didn't tell Minori anything more than the fact that it was a precious thing, and for that reason, Minori cherished it.

One of the nights, Ryuuji goes to bed early after having a depressing conversation with Minori.  Kitamura and the others come into the room and fake him out of his fake sleep, getting him to talk about why he's so depressed, namely the fact that Ryuuji doesn't know why he was rejected, since he gets the impression that Minori likes him.

When they figure out what's going on, the others decide to go and ask the girls.  So they barge into their room and... actually don't get into an ecchi situation.  Wow.  Instead, they go around, setting up for one.  Looking through the girl's bags and stuff, and Ryuuji starts to clean.

They are obviously "interrupted" by a noise from the front door, but manage to hide before Taiga gets inside.  Once she's inside of the room, Taiga hears a noise and is about to open the cabinet in which the guys are hiding, but when she's distracted by the door opening again, Ryuuji opens the door and yanks her inside, begging her to not say anything.

The rest of the girls have come back inside, and are starting to talk about "feelings" (ooh, what a scary word).  It's somewhere around here where Ami goes into bitch mode and brings up Minori's rejection of Ryuuji.  When Ami threatens to go and tell Ryuuji that Minori doesn't have any feelings for him, Minori gets more pissed, shouting at her that she can do what she wants.

After that, the other girls convince Ami to "apologize" to Minori, and Minori decides to forget everything.  They set off to go and find Taiga, and the guys come out of the cabinet.

No Haruta, you are not.

The next day, Ryuuji spots Ami making a snow... mound, and goes over to talk to her.  Ami apologizes for something that she said to Minori that might have contributed to Minori rejecting.  Ami tells Ryuuji that she doesn't like Minori because she never looks her in the eye, and so she can't tell what's going on in her mind.

Suddenly, a sled with Minori and Taiga on it comes barreling down the hill, smashing into Ami.  Ami gets really pissed and starts shouting at Minori, claiming that it wasn't an accident as Minori claims, but rather some kind of Freudian instinct (subconscious).  Ami and Minori start fighting again, and it soon escalates to physical violence.

As Taiga and Ryuuji try to control them, Ami breaks free and punches Minori in the chest, knocking out the hairpin that Ryuuji was going to give her.  Taiga watches as the hairpin goes flying into the woods beyond the safe zone.

When the teacher gets there, Taiga is off in a corner alone, looking down the ravine that the hairpin flew into, as the rest of the group starts to head back, Taiga goes beyond the barricade.

Back at the hotel, they realize that Taiga's missing, and as night falls and a hideous blizzard kicks up, Minori has decided to go out.  When she says so, Ryuuji and shortly after Kitamura decide to follow her.

When they find the trail down into the ravine, Minori tries to go down, but Ryuuji stops her and goes himself.
On his way down, Ryuuji finds the hairpin, figuring out that it was what Taiga was going after.  When he finds Taiga, she's smacked her head off a tree or something, and is hazy at the best.
As Ryuuji trudges up the hill with Taiga on his back, she fazes into consciousness and starts to mumble something.
Taiga's under the impression that Ryuuji's Kitamura, and under this illusion, she tells "Kitamura" that she can't stop loving Ryuuji.

Taiga is taken away from the resort by her real mother, and Ryuuji can't get in touch with her long after the incident.  As time goes by, Minori and Ami have a chat or two, but nothing really gets solved, since Ami's pretty sure that Minori's just spouting hot air.
When Kitamura comes to ask Ryuuji why he's so out of it, Ryuuji asks Kitamura to pretend that it was him that saved Taiga.  Kitamura agrees.

Ryuuji's been having trouble deciding what he's going to do after high school.  Yaachan wants him to go to college, but Ryuuji's aware of their financial status and knows that she can't support him, and as such he wants to get a job out of high school.
Yaachan got another job behind Ryuuji's back, and Ryuuji decided that he'd have to do what he could to meet her expectations.

One night, Ryuuji finds the hairpin and puts it in his box of romantic failures, but as he is retiring it after it's many years of service, there is a knock at the door.  When he flings it open, he finds Taiga.

Both of them feeling awkward for their own reasons, Taiga manages to get past it and go to Ryuuji's window.  She's forgotten her key and needs to use Ryuuji's window to get into her house.
When Taiga finds the box with the hairpin on it, Taiga asks Ryuuji if he's figured out about Minori yet, and Ryuuji gets pissed because Taiga's worrying about him.

When they manage to get the window to Taiga's apartment open, Taiga asks Ryuuji about her injury.  Ryuuji tells her that it was Kitamura who saved her, and that she didn't say anything while she was unconscious.

The next day, Taiga's back to normal, but neither she nor Ryuuji have turned in their post-secondary forms.  They are sequestered to a room to finish them, but Taiga turns her form into a paper airplane and sends it out the window.
Taiga confides in Ryuuji that the thing that she wants more than anything is to fall in love normally.  Ryuuji takes unconscious offense to this, and kind of pisses Taiga of too, and she leaves the room and Ryuuji finishes the form, stating that he wants to get a job after high school.

Ryuuji is told to chase down Ami, who's stormed out of the staff room after having an argument with one of the staff.  Ryuuji catches up with her and asks her what's going on.  Ami tells him that they want her to model the new uniform, and when Ryuuji asks her what's wrong with that, Ami says that she's not going to be there for much longer.  Ryuuji convinces Ami that if she would leave, it would make many people sad, and Ami... gets pissed the way she usually does.

Ryuuji gets a call from Taiga about Yaachan, apparently, she's fainted from anemia after working so hard.  Ryuuji sets her up in her bed and goes to get her some food, ignoring everything that Taiga says, so she chases after him with his coat and wallet.

Ryuuji tells Taiga to go home, but when Taiga refuses, Ryuuji breaks down into self-loathing, but Taiga (who's also having trouble dealing with Yaachan's condition) calms Ryuuji down.
Ryuuji sets off again, saying that he has somewhere he needs to go and Taiga follows him to the cake shop that Yaachan was working at.  When Taiga sees Ryuuji losing it again, she volunteers to take over Yaachan's shifts, and Ryuuji also volunteers.

I don't need you to tell me that.

After selling a bunch of chocolate with the unwanted help of Ami, Taiga buys what is remaining of the stock and they leave, Taiga deciding to make chocolates for Ami, Minori, Ryuuji, and Kitamura for saving her.

The next day, Taiga brings in her chocolate and gives it to each of them in turn, and when she gets to Kitamura, she thanks him specially for carrying her up the hill.  Kitamura looks at Ryuuji for conformation and Ryuuji suddenly realizes that he forgot to tell Minori about it too.

Minori stares at Ryuuji for a while, then asks Taiga what she is so embarrassed about, what she said while Kitamura was carrying her up the hill.  Minori finally loses it for real, and grabs Taiga, yelling at her about trying to run away from her feelings.  Taiga finally screams that Minori's hurting her, and when she pulls away, Taiga tries to escape from the classroom, but Kitamura and Ami block the exits.  Kitamura asks Ryuuji if he thinks it's okay for Taiga to run away.

Minori pins Taiga to the wall again, and starts in again, asking her what she means to her.  When Taiga tells Minori that she just wants her to be happy, Minori tells Taiga that she can make her happiness with her own hands, and not have it given to her.  That's her thing.  Taiga breaks away again and Ami steps back, letting Taiga out.

Minori asks Ryuuji what he's going to do, and after a couple of seconds, Ryuuji decides to follow her along with Minori.

They chase after Taiga, Minori admitting that she's always liked Ryuuji, but had decided to step down for Taiga's sake.  She admits then that she was wrong to do that, that she was underestimating Taiga, and telling Taiga that her happiness relies only on her.  Minori and Ryuuji reach the main entrance, but Taiga's already gone.

Minori fell down somewhere along the way, so Ryuuji takes her to the infirmary, and Minori admits her personal dream of becoming a softball champion and when she's at the top, declaring that the happiness that she's attained is her own doing.  With that, Minori sends Ryuuji off to find Taiga and get his own happiness, and Ryuuji does.

Taiga heads back to the cake stand after a while, finding Ryuuji there.  She tells him that there is something that she wants to say to him, and that if she should try to run, that Ryuuji should stop her.

As they are leaving work, they pause for a second in awkward silence, but as Taiga is about to say something, Yaachan, who's angry with Ryuuji for saying that he wants to get a job after high school.

As if that wasn't enough, Taiga's mother comes in as well, thanking Ryuuji for taking care of Taiga, but stating that she'll be living with her from now on.  Taiga breaks away from her mother, shouting that she won't be living with her, "that man", an "that brat".  Ryuuji, massively confused is then shouted at by Yaachan for violating the promise that they made, a promise that Ryuuji won't work and focus on his studies.
Ryuuji tells Yaachan to stop, stop expecting him to do what she couldn't do.  When he actually calls her a "failure at life", Yaachan starts to cry (I would to, and a child shouldn't have the right to call a parent as awesome as Yaachan a failure at anything), and Ryuuji is shocked out of his anger.  Taiga takes his hand and they run away, leaving Yaachan and Taiga's mother... and the money.

On a bridge, Taiga tells Ryuuji that her mother's gotten remarried and is expecting another child.  Since the father is tall, the child is going to be tall too, and Taiga will be outclassed and forgotten in no time at all.

Ryuuji begins to muse on the idea that if he weren't around, then Yaachan could have done anything that she liked, and when Taiga hears this, she misconstrues it as some kind of suicide threat.  She grabs Ryuuji and tells him not to look down on life.

Taiga "confesses" to Ryuuji that she just wants to be near him whoever he chooses to spend his life with, and that's why when he starts talking about not existing, it scares her.  So she pushes him off the bridge.  On accident, I think... NOT!!

Ryuuji tells Taiga that he'll be eighteen in two months, and until that time, he'll be running away from Yaachan and anyone else who tries to get in his way, and when he is of age, he wants Taiga to...

Only him, not me.  If only it were me...

Taiga refuses to let him say that he loves her first because if he does, then that means that Taiga's breaking her promise with Minori to show her what she's got.

In the middle of their romantic declaration of love, Ryuuji gets a phone call from Kitamura asking him why Yaachan and Taiga's mother are looking for them.  Before he can even have a chance to explain, Kitamura orders him and Taiga to go to Ami's house.

Waiting for them there are Kitamura, Minori, and Ami.  Ryuuji and Taiga awkwardly tell them their plan to run away and get married, and even though none of them think it's a great idea, all three of their friends decide to support it.  Minori loans them some money, Ami gives them the keys to her summer villa, and Kitamura gives them... something else.  I can't read actual Japanese (I can kind of translate into romanji right now, yes, pathetic), so it could be money in envelopes, lottery tickets, execution orders, or train tickets.  I'm personally betting on the last one.

After Taiga and Ryuuji leave Ami's house, Minori breaks down alone with Ami because she's lost both of them in one go.

Ryuuji and Taiga head back home to pick up clothes and stuff, everything that they'll need for two months away from home.  When Ryuuji gets inside the house, he finds his grandfather's watch and a note telling him to go to his grandparent's house.  Yaachan ran away.  She's awesome, but that's pretty pathetic.

Ryuuji takes Taiga to his grandparent's house, and they all meet for the first time.  It gets even worse I suppose when Ryuuji introduces Taiga as his wife.  Nothing actually happens, but I'm pretty sure if I had someone come up to me, introduce themselves as my grandson, and then introduce what appears to be their 8th grade wife, I'd probably have a pretty hard time of it.

Ryuuji and the others set up a trap for Yaachan, luring her back to her parent's house under false pretext, and once there, Yaachan is reunited with her parents, though her dad's got a few choice words for her.

"No cookies!"

Yaachan really is just a child in a... really nice body.

That night, Ryuuji and Taiga have a wedding rehearsal, during which they share their first kiss.

The next morning, they set off for home again.  Ryuuji will finish high school and they will receive their parent's blessing for their wedding.  Taiga goes back home to unpack, but doesn't come over for dinner the next night.  When Ryuuji goes over to find her, Taiga's left a note for Ryuuji, and left herself.

When the rest of the class figures out about this, they furiously begin texting Taiga, trying to ask her why she's gone to live with her mother.  As Ryuuji leaves, Minori and the others follow him.  Minori catches up with Ryuuji first, smacking him and asking him why he allowed her to go, but when Ryuuji tells her that if he could, he would have, Minori calms down.

When Ryuuji goes over to Taiga's place again, he finds a bag with her passports and stuff in it, then her notebook with the picture of her and Kitamura at the Cultural Festival wrap party, and then under it, the picture of her with Ryuuji during the Cultural Festival.

Taiga sends back a text message to everyone who contacted her, a picture of a single star that she took from her balcony before she left.  Minori explains that this picture means that she'll be trying her best, and the rest of the class catches on.

After giving Minori a little trouble, Ami manages to get the class up and active with the goal of sending Taiga a reply, and so they set out to find the star that was on top of the Christmas tree during their party.

They finally find it to take the picture of everybody.

I want to know a Kitamura.  I think we'd get along well.

Ryuuji promises that he'll work hard and wait for Taiga to come back, which she does during the graduation ceremony.

 Ryuuji finally tells Taiga that he loves her, and is rewarded by getting head butted for saying something embarrassing.

The End.

Note: Make sure that you don't get psyched out by the ending credits on Episode 25, keep watching, unless you like the open ended thing (which I hate, as stated many times before).

There's also a special "episode" called Toradora! SOS, which is just like a 5 minute short with a chibi cast talking about spaghetti.  It was pretty fun, but doesn't have anything to do with the plot.