とらドラ！Episode 05
Toradora! 05

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Ryuuji makes omelets for himself and Taiga to eat, but when Taiga hits in frustration over something Ryuuji says, she spills her miso soup. The noise wakes up Ryuuji’s mother in the next room, who opens the door to find out what is going on, then cries when she sees they are eating omelets. After Ryuuji assures her he made one for her in the fridge, she closes the door again to go back to sleep. This becomes the excuse to go to Jonny’s for a meal, but Minori has the day off, disappointing Ryuuji. Yuusaku comes in with a girl whom Taiga recognizes as a model in a fashion magazine and the daughter of an actress. Naturally, Yuusaku sees them, comes over, and introduces his childhood friend, Ami.

Ami acts kind of ditzy and seems embarrassed when she sees the magazine that Taiga has been reading with Ami’s photo. After a time with Ryuuji getting flustered to have someone like Ami around, Yuusaku takes off for the toilet. Ryuuji is uncomfortable, so he too bails to go to the toilet. To his surprise, Yuusaku is waiting for him and wants Ryuuji watch and wait. At the table, Ami’s attitude changes from ditzy to haughty, pampered princess. She demands Taiga buy her a drink, but Taiga ignores her. Ami says she’ll steal Taiga’s boyfriend until Taiga says she and Ryuuji aren’t a couple. Ami makes comments about Taiga’s size, leading Taiga to slap her and give the excuse that it was a bug.

Having seen and witnessed all this, Ryuuji and Yuusaku return. Yuusaku takes the sobbing Ami out. That night, Taiga is angry and eats a lot. She’s afraid that maybe Yuusaku hates her now, but Ryuuji assures her that’s not the case. The next day, Ryuuji and Taiga are in for a surprise when Ami is revealed to be their new classmate. At gym class, Ami does her cute ditzy routine to win over people, which is witnessed by Ryuuji and Yuusaku again. Ryuuji confronts Yuusaku on why he didn’t say anything about Ami coming to school, so Yuusaku explains that he wanted people to know Ami’s true self.

During lunch, Ryuuji goes to get himself a beverage and is intercepted by Ami. She puts on her act for him, not realizing he knows her game. Returning to class, Ryuuji gets a note from an angry Taiga wondering why he came into class with Ami. He also gets a note from Minori, warning him about playing around on Taiga with the new girl. Ryuuji sends a note back to Minori asking her opinion of people who call themselves silly (which Ami often does). Minori stands up and as the whole class watches, she puts on a big production to indicate that’s a no-no. She’s seated by the time the teacher looks around but the whole class is simply looking at Minori in amazement.

After school, Taiga is waiting for Ryuuji alone in the classroom when Ami comes in. Ami targets Taiga with a vebal insult and Taiga is not phased and returns the favor. Ami presses her verbal sparring by citing how the teachers all think she’s cute and none of them like Taiga. Indeed, they are afraid Taiga will bully Ami. Taiga remarks on how she’s entertained by Ami’s two-faced personality, wondering when she’ll get busted. Of course Taiga could make that happen real quick, but that would be too easy. So Taiga promise to watch Ami like a stalker from here on out. Ami decides to continue the verbal assault, but when she gets no traction from making remarks on Ryuuji, she scores a bull’s eye when she talks of how Yuusaku hates Taiga for the slapping incident.

At home, Ryuuji has made dinner for three and Taiga hasn’t come over to eat. So he goes to get her and finds her crying and cowering in her blanket. Ryuuji learns what Ami said to Taiga, so he tells Taiga that Yuusaku already knows the truth of the incident and that he does not hate Taiga. Taiga isn’t done though, upset over her height and name when Ami’s name is from Sailor Moon. Taiga’s frustrated rant is interrupted by a wail from next door — his mother is upset because there’s no sauce for the tonkatsu (pork cutlets). So Ryuuji and Taiga go to the convenience store to buy sauce. Taiga sees the magazine with Ami in it and notices that there’s a note saying that Ami-chan is taking a break for academic reasons. Walking home, Ryuuji and Taiga talk about this when they see Ami dressed down with two bags of sweets walking home. Taiga has learned something interesting about Ami.

Thoughts/Review:

This anime has grown on me a great deal now that the characters are known to me. I still get flashes of Nagi or Shana from Taiga, but that doesn’t matter.

However, before I go on, I just have to comment on the Jonny’s restaurant which has come up several times now. It was clear to me that this Jonny’s was a parody of Denny’s since it has the Denny’s-type sign and feel. (Actually, it is a dual parody as there is a chain called Jonathan’s, which I have never hear of, which also exists in Japan and is a Denny’s competitor.) So on a whim, I decided to look up Denny’s in Japan and well the food looks pretty darn good. See for yourself. It is expensive though.

As to the episode itself, I will say that I enjoy this anime more and more with each new episode I watch. This episode actually had me laughing out loud. The slap incident wasn’t unexpected after the “chibi” remark from Ami, but Taiga’s “It was a mosquito. No wait, it was a fly” remark afterward while looking at her hand was unexpected by me and thus funny. Later, Minori’s answer to Ryuuji’s note was so out there, I couldn’t help but laugh. The organ music and sound effects added to the moment. In fact, I giggle now just thinking about it. So kudo’s to the writers there for a really good laugh. ^_^

The battle between Ami and Taiga could prove most entertaining, at least in the short run. I love it when Taiga treats Ami like she’s nothing special, which obviously Ami is not used to. Still, with Ami being in the OP and shown with Yuusaku, Ryuuji, Taiga, and Minori, I guess she’ll become friends with them all.

So yeah,Toradora! is moving up as a title I enjoy and I’m now starting to see what others see.