And I didn’t really care, as I was amused at seeing her feathers ruffled for once. But then I remembered that ghosts are an extended metaphor for love in Toradora! — alright, to be fair, I didn’t remember so much as Minorin reminded me seconds later, but still.
Honestly, I’ve come to think of Ami as unafraid of anything and everything, a rock in a sea of uncertainty. I figure she’ll be okay if she ends up alone in the end, which seems likely; she knows what to expect, and she seems to have that sort of endurance. But that’s just the thing — she seems to have that endurance. For all we know she goes home every day and frets and cries herself to sleep. But if Ami doesn’t maintain her game face, no one will. Does it really matter? I don’t know; I’ve always thought so, but then I’m generally the game face guy in my friend circles.
Interestingly, the ghost of the vending machines is, by Minorin’s report, “A heartbroken girl who took her own…” …Life? That worries me. Ami doesn’t really have anyone to vent to — I’d be interested in seeing her break down at some point before the end and vent to someone, anyone. It’d probably be Ryuuji, I suppose. In a sense, Ami is the heartbroken ghost who haunts the vending machines — but at least it’s been alright so far, as Minorin notes.
Regarding yesterday’s post, I suppose episode 22 handles Taiga x Ryuuji about as well as can be expected, meaning it keeps things fairly ambiguous and restrains itself from making Ryuuji admit to some latent undying love that hasn’t been evident until now. He mentions enjoying Taiga’s company, but, well, of course he does — that’s no surprise. He can feel that way and not want to date her. In fact, it wouldn’t be surprising for him to feel that way and have a genuine aversion to dating her; as Minorin (who is surprisingly astute in this episode) notes, it may be preferable to avoid the intangible if it puts the tangible at risk.
You know, normally I really dislike romantically ambiguous ends, but I think it may be the best route here.
[...] a more “complete” Ami. Possibly I changed, too. I finally began to get a sense of her depth. I realized at some point that her criticisms of her friends’ romantic foibles were my [...]