Following up from the previous episode, Minori chooses a swimming competition between Taiga and Ami and the two rivals place their wagers. If Taiga wins she will share her incriminating video of Ami with everyone in the class. If Ami wins then she gets to take Ryuji to her summer villa.

A gossip note circulates around the class and Ryuji places his bet on Taiga’s victory. He later helps the pool shy Taiga with a swimming training regimen. Ami expresses to Ryuji that she genuinely wants to spend the summer break with him at her villa. Later Minori expresses her trust in Ryuji by leaving Taiga in his care.

The next day while continuing their training, Ryuji and Taiga have a fight. Ryuji mistakenly thinks that Ami’s ploy is to indirectly take Yusaku by association with Ryuji during the break, but Taiga’s real reason for competing is in fact to fight for Ryuji. Thanks to some advice from his mother, Ryuji realizes his folly and apologizes to Taiga the day afterwards.

Taiga shows up to the pool ready to wallop Ami. Taiga gets a huge head start when she jumps Ami, removes her bikini top and paddles away on a boogie board. At the halfway point Taiga gets a cramp and Ryuji jumps in to rescue her. Taiga’s determination doesn’t allow her to accept defeat though and she pushes onwards to the finish. Meanwhile some guys are fooling around and fall on top of Ryuji, knocking him out, and Taiga swims back to save him while Ami finishes the race. Taiga is very upset that no one bothered to save Ryuji and proclaims her true feelings for Ryuji by stating that he belongs to her.

Afterwards at Sudohbucks, Taiga saves face by saying that Ryuji belongs to her in the sense of the relationship between dog and master and also drops the bomb that she will be going to the villa too along with Yusaku and Minori. Ami laments to Ryuji that they won’t be alone but still suggests that there will still be plenty of opportunities for just the two of them.

And the Anime Emmy goes to… Clannad!

It’s either a swimming competition or starfish carving. Take your pick.

Taiga sporting the new ‘paper airplane in your hair’ look.

I’m not sleeping in class. Honest!

Ryuji’s not a bad swimming teacher, but I’d rather be taught by Light Yagami.

One of these days Ryuji… Bang, zoom, straight to the moon!

Ami likes tight places. Kinky.

Take good care of Taiga okay? I barely have enough mental capacity for myself.

*frown*

*shock*

*cry*

*listen*

No crazy expression from Inko-chan this week.

Everyone knows the way back to a girl’s heart is through her stomach. Or expensive jewelry.

AMI IS SO FUDGIN’ HOT.

So Taiga forfeits by default, right? Right?

Not so fast, Ami!

Holy crap. That can’t be good.

Mission complete!

Uhhhh… *nosebleed*

Time to make like a tree and get outta here.

Taiga should have properly stretched before swimming. Don’t let leg cramps happen to you!

Ryuji took some loli grabbing classes too.

Hanase!

It’s raining men.

Oh shi-

Taiga: Ryuji, what happened?

Taiga: Ryuji?! RYUUUUUUJIIIIIIIII!

Hanging out at Star– I mean Sudohbucks.

Taiga: One of these days…
Ryuji: I know, I know. Bang, zoom, straight to the moon.

Taiga: Exactly. >=)

Ami has some smooth moves.

Next week, the villa!

Impressions:
Ahaha, maybe I went too crazy with the screencaps. This was a good episode and gets the ball rolling for the love polygon to build some momentum. I originally thought Ami only feigned interest in Ryuji to make Taiga jealous, but it looks like she does sincerely like him after their bonding back in episode 6. Ami gets to kill two birds with one stone by taking Ryuji away from Taiga; Get the guy and get the last laugh against her rival. Ami certainly isn’t shy about like Ryuji either because she shamelessly flirts with him at every opportunity. Oh Ami, you’re such a fake bitch… But that’s what makes you great. There are too many nice girls in love comedies, so I like seeing the manipulative Ami do her thing.

Minori is getting closer to Ryuji in a more subtle way and although she doesn’t have as many interactions with him, their relationship is progressing in a more intangible way, though a part of her seems to acknowledge that Ryuji seems more suited to Taiga.

Let’s wrap this up with Taiga. Equal amounts of tsun and dere from the palmtop tiger this week. Taiga herself seems to realize more and more that there’s something between Ryuji and herself, courtesy of Ami as the catalyst. Of course being the tsundere she is, she has to deny it as much as possible until the climax of the show. I’m fine with that as long as we get more of those delightful URUSAI moments.

So all in all Toradora is finally picking up steam after languishing with some early filler and exposition. The love polygon is starting to materialize and Taiga and Ami will no doubt continue their rivalry with Minori hilarity sprinkled throughout. Next week, to the villa!

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 20th, 2008 at 1:06 pm and is filed under Anime, Toradora!.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.