Toradora! 07
とらドラ！Episode 07

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Ami is coming onto Ryuuji in his apartment when Taiga finds them. Ami decides to take advantage of the situation by flinging some verbal jabs at Taiga, but when Minori calls out to see if Taiga found Ryuuji and Ami, Taiga answers back that no one is there. That night, Ryuuji is making dinner and trying to convince Taiga that nothing was going on. Taiga appears to be sulking as she talks to Ryuuji’s ugly bird. That night, Ryuuji oversleeps and so no breakfast for himself of Taiga as he bangs on her window to wake her up. They are off and running to get to a convenience store to buy a lunch, Taiga attacking Ryuuji along the way, but they make it to school in time, leading to a Taiga-Ami clash. Taiga soon learns something bad — the school’s pool will be open soon for P.E.

Ryuuji and Minori drag Taiga to a department store to buy a new swimsuit, where Ami is already there trying one on and being flirty with Ryuuji. Ami soon finds herself alone though after Ryuuji goes to check on Taiga. Taiga pulls him into her booth, where Ryuuji understands the problem — all the adult swimsuits are actually too large for Taiga, especially across the chest. However, she buys one anyway after Ryuuji’s talks with her but that night, she’s still depressed as she waits for dinner. Noticing Ryuuji’s mother’s large chest and her claims that drinking soy milk gave her said chest, Taiga is now interested in eating soy products.

At Taiga’s apartment, Ryuuji does some cleaning when Taiga comes in to model the swimsuit she bought. It does reveal that Taiga is flat-chested. Taiga shows Ryuuji a picture taken of her the previous year from the former photography club, with disparaging remarks written on it by the club regarding her chest. That was when Taiga went off on them, causing the club to cease to exist. She doesn’t want to show Yuusaku her non-shapely form, so Ryuuji has a solution. Back at his apartment, Taiga plays a video game while Ryuuji sews some pads for her to use. It takes most of the night but the next morning when Taiga tries on the swimsuit with her pads, she’s very pleased with the results.

Swim class comes and Ami is showing off. When Taiga comes out with a zippered hoodie draped over her shoulders, Ami comes up to inspect and criticize Taiga, but is disappointed to see a normal looking chest size on Taiga. Minori isn’t fooled by the display though. Yuusaku comes up without his glasses, but recognizes Taiga and compliments her on her hair, which is done up in Chinese buns. Taiga is flushed by this, but later is very happy with Yuusaku’s words. When people start getting tossed into the pool, Minori and Yuusaku toss Ryuuji in while Ami tosses Taiga in. Taiga can’t swim, so Ryuuji goes to save her. However, he learns that one of her pads has come out, so he has to cover in order to get her pad back into her suit.

After school, Taiga is still sitting in class with her head down and Ami apologizes for tossing her in when Taiga couldn’t swim. Taiga won’t accept the apology, so Ami decides to barb her by inviting Ryuuji to her beach-side mansion, where naturally Yuusaku would be going as well. That provokes Taiga to threaten Ami with publication of the embarrassing photos Taiga took. Ami counters with a threat of a lawsuit for using her image without permission. This battle is stopped by Minori, who says that if they want to deepen their friendship, they can’t do it via fighting but through sports.

Thoughts/Review:

As I figured, Ami is not going to show her real self to others, only to Ryuuji, Taiga, Minori, and Yuusaku. So, the normal battles between Ami and Taiga continue, and those are funny. However, as a tsundere character, I feel that the character development for Taiga actually gives her an understandable reason for being this way. She is so self-conscious of her short stature and lack of development in the chest area, thus to compensate, she’s a “tiger.” It also provides a means by which Ami can land hits in their battles. So in many ways, this fleshing out of characters, both Ami and Taiga, have made the series more interesting than just the normal hijinks of two girls embroiled in a fight over whatever with one being tsundere and one being two-faced.

Another element of interest to me in Toradora! 07 is that while the stories are episodic in nature thus far, they do have carry-over elements. Episode 6 had Taiga finding Ami with Ryuuji and that’s picked up in this episode. The end of this episode has Minori confronting Ami and Taiga over their battles and suggesting they solve their problems with sports. That appears will be picked up next episode. So that’s something I like as well — story flow.

Is it just me, or has the Minori-Ryuuji element kind of been pushed aside? I thought about that when Taiga covered for having found Ami coming onto Ryuuji in his apartment. Ryuuji hasn’t been thinking of how he’s going to hook up with Minori, but has been working on getting Taiga with Yuusaku while dealing with Ami at the same time. I do hope that the Minori-Ryuuji element isn’t completely lost.

So, the story has become more interesting to me (and I may have to look for the light novels or the manga), the humor is pretty good, and I now have a like of the characters. Onward to catch up to the current releases!