Lady Teresa Christina: I believe that it is very hard in real life to balance having a crush and running a smooth social life. Which brings up another question: Does the volume achieve a good balance of the protagonists’ crushes on other students and their burgeoning feelings toward one another? But Ryuuji’s lack of understanding, including his growing feelings toward Taiga, make for maybe a more significant obstacle than the opposing love interests. Minori and Kitamura don’t feel like anything more than small obstacles, and that’s problematic. I think that’s absolutely necessary because volume one presses the impending Taiga/Ryuuji pairing very hard. Ryuuji is a teenage boy and also relentlessly kind, which means that he interprets situations in a way that might be a little off. I also think he’s slightly unreliable as a narrator. He engages us like the typical light novel lead, but he’s also different, and that’s engaging, too. He’s definitely not just a generic self-insert light novel protagonist. This makes him an easy character to get behind as the narrator. Stardr29: One thing I do appreciate is that Ryuuji has very well-defined aspects to his personalities, both in terms of quirks and personal issues. He was a narrator who was simple enough to be a reliable story teller, but he had enough quirks to make the whole story interesting.
But at the same time he is pretty clever. He sees the world through his fear of his smile. His worldview is rather small, being his age and place in high school. Lady Teresa Christina: I think Ryuuji did the best he could. TWWK: Well, and what about our other lead? The story is from Ryuuji’s point of view-what did you think of him as the narrator? Is he a realiable narrator? I preach authenticity in everything I do and if I am with someone who is using emotions to be obnoxious or act tough when they really are not, I might run after that person and try to counsel them back to “reality” or a home base of emotional stability. It bothers me when people hide behind their emotions or deny them in some way. Since I am a psychology major, I can see right through people like that.
Lady Teresa Christina: I could not even be in the same room as a tsundere. Stardf29: Heh, sometimes I feel like if my future romantic partner isn’t a tsundere, she’ll become one after a few years of marriage… What do you think-could you be friends or romantic partners with a tsundere? TWWK: You’re really hitting on that idea of the tsundere, characters the initially are difficult or, as in Taiga’s case, angry and violent, but show that inner kindness as they open up. She demonstrated the idea that emotions are private and only the truly worthy get to see them. I have a few friends who can probably relate to this. She has a very soft spot, and she’s willing to defend it no matter what.
Early on we discover that she isn’t as “strong” as she makes herself out to be. Lady Teresa Christina: I really liked her character. She remains ferocious as a tiger, but also more approachable. But I like her characterization in volume one of the light novel-we get to know the “-dere” in the words she speaks, the kindness she shows Ryuuji, and the tears she sheds than in the anime. TWWK: Taiga is a beloved character, but she’s one that, for all the love I have for Toradora (it was my favorite anime for years), I’ve really always been meh about. The descriptions of her attacking Ryuji Takasu in the middle of the night was very alarming! But I thought their character dynamics were charming all the same and I enjoyed reading them interact together. I would say that Taiga always seemed to me to be the stereotypical anime tough girl, from what I knew of the anime, and I was right! Especially in the first chapters, she seemed to be massively tough on the outside, but hiding such a dear heart on the inside. Lady Teresa Christina: I have not seen the anime, but I have heard a lot about it. By the end of volume one, I was certain Taiga and Ryuuji were meant to be-I didn’t feel that way when watching the series. TWWK: I definitely thought it was an interesting choice the animators made in how quickly they breezed through the material, as if they felt there was TOO much intimacy between Ryuuji and Taiga early on. I don’t think it hurt the anime too much in the greater scope of things, given that the important parts were covered, but it was really nice to go more in-depth in the light novel, as I felt it made it clearer how close Ryuuji and Taiga have grown even this early in the story. After reading the volume I rewatched the corresponding episodes of the anime… which was only the first 2 episodes. Stardf29: What stood out to me most was how the light novel expanded on so many scenes.
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