Toradora 1-2 (rewatch)
This show still gets me, though I think I see the (moment-to-moment) flaws a bit easier now, and some of the more teenage stuff no longer strikes me as heavily as it did when I first saw it. I still think (apart from the overall ending of the series) Toradora has some really sick-ass characterisation, though a lot of it hangs around Ami who tends to push situations in a way that neither Ryuuji or Taiga do. But that's for the future. Anyway...
The first two episodes are really the establishment episodes of the whole anime, but I wanted to take a quick look at them as a single story to see how they compared to a (fan-translated) version of the light novels (and the official english manga releases since I have them on hand). The anime takes a few more liberties, squashing together a few scenes and extending others, but overall the general gist of the storyline is basically the same.
One thing that struck me is just how many times Ryuuji gets pulled into Taiga's world and how many chances he has to just bow out of the whole thing and the amount of times he instead chooses to involve himself. The first major one is probably when after Taiga's midnight rampage he goes over and cleans her kitchen and helps her out in the morning. Whereas all previous situations had basically been forced on him, that's the first one he actively goes to fix - he chooses to put himself into the situation, and accepts the changing of his world.
With this in mind, the basic arc of the story becomes a lot clearer (at least in my mind) even if the relative length of each act gets shorter - basically, each act 'ends' with Ryuuji making a conscious decision to step further into involvement with Taiga (I suppose it would be more accurate to say it ends with Ryuuji being faced with the question of whether or not to involve himeslf further, but it always does). The whole first episode is basically act one, and then the show crams three acts into the second episode; however, it all works for this story because it's a pretty short story, all things considered, with relatively low stakes (as two episodes or one-and-a-half volumes you know it's not going to solve the whole thing; as a light novel I think there's an equivalent implicit understanding).
I still think the most powerful scene is the third decision Ryuuji makes, which is the scene where they kick the shit out of the lampost. It's always struck me that the show basically decided to do a confession scene in the second episode, except the confession isn't that the main characters love one another - it's perhaps even more intimate than that. Instead they share their hopes, their fears, and their anger. They form a bond there, a recognised one, about their shared frustrations and pledge to back one another up.
It's also very nearly the crest of the tension wave, but it approaches it indirectly, since though the audience understands the ultimate aim of the show is to get Ryuuji and Taiga together, neither Ryuuji nor Taiga understand that yet. So when Taiga 'lets go' of Ryuuji there's a distinct feeling of dissatisfaction for the rest of the episode, right up until they 'get back together again' - that is, this time as equals, more or less. The way they get their is kind of lame (Kitamura not understanding, or I think on reflection deliberately misunderstanding Taiga's confession) but it leads to a situation that on its surface sounds the same as where we started, but is subtly different.
Anyway, I don't know if I'll keep rewatching but I think if I do I'll keep a notepad handy to jot down some thoughts. That was a fun exercise.
