Episode Three: Your Song
After acquiring a new job, Ryuji finds himself locked in a warehouse with Minori while Taiga traverses town on a bike she doesn't know how to ride.Taiga and Ryuji’s relationship is in constant awkward flux as well. She goes from showing him kindness and sincerity one minute and then the next is yelling at him about being nitpicky. Not that he IS being that nitpicky, at least in that scene, since getting tissues caught in the laundry and having to clean them out doesn’t sound like fun and separating darks from lights keeps the clothes from getting, you know, ruined (It’s true—I once destroyed a favorite shirt because I put it in with a pair of dark wash jeans). I suppose for someone like Taiga, whose definition of “doing the laundry” includes throwing the clothes everywhere and letting them collect dirt and mold, his behavior is excessive. Next to her, washing your hands could seem out-of-the-ordinary.
We get more of Minori in this episode, and she’s not quite the type of character the show paints her to be at first glance. I assumed that she was going to be played as the cutesy dim-wit to juxtapose Taiga’s aggressive and intense personality, but there’s more to her than her apparent air-headedness. She’s still kind of a goober, since I don’t know how many teenagers use their school’s anthem to calm themselves down or sing the same intimidation song fifty times in a row when playing softball, but she’s also charming and more than willing to work.
Speaking of which, there’s something going on behind the scenes with her constant job-snatching. This girl is in high school and is working somewhere between three and five jobs, claiming it’s for the hell of it, and to me that's ridiculous and unlikely. High schoolers aren’t interested in working more than one job, let alone potentially five, “because there’s a curb to grind.” There are only so many hours in the day. Taiga makes it a point to tell Ryuji to back off and stay out of Minori’s life; that she’s the only person who knows what's underneath her cutesy, outgoing exterior. She plays it off as Ryuji making his crush obvious, but I’m not buying it. Anyone would be curious why another person works so many jobs, and Ryuji’s suggestions felt more like he was thinking out loud rather than gushing. Taiga is putting up a wall there, for both her and Minori.
Which…makes Taiga’s behavior in this episode fascinating. She doesn’t seem to have many friends aside from Minori, and her anger comes out in full swing when she realizes that Ryuji is back at the store alone with her. I think Taiga’s anger is two-fold here: She’s angry because her best friend is by herself with a guy who has a serious crush on her (and girls can be hyper-protective when it comes to situations like that), but I also feel like Taiga is concerned about losing her best friend to a kid she’s been semi-affectionately been referring to as her dog for the past three episodes. If Taiga’s only concern was the happiness of her friend, she might be less inclined to come barreling through the store and tear through it in fury looking for them. It’s pretty obvious that Taiga is drowning in insecurities and she manifests that through her violent rampages. I wonder if she’s afraid that Minori may end up returning Ryuji’s feelings, because if that happens, she’ll lose a little bit of her best friend to someone else.
Oh, and that scene where Ryuji makes it to the top of the warehouse window and she’s glaring at him and saying “Found you…” is hilarious.
As a side note, there was a moment in episode two where I thought it was possible that Taiga’s actual interests were in Ryuji and not Yusaku; she was using her supposed crush on his best friend as a means to get close to Ryuji. I tossed the idea around in my head for a minute and came back to it during this episode. I don’t think this is the case, as Taiga acts nervous and awkward around Yusaku when no one else is present during that scene where she crashes the bike, and her internal thoughts make it clear that her interests do lie in him and not Ryuji. That will obviously change as the show plays out.
Yukasu’s character doesn’t get much better in this episode. Right now he’s the weakest person in the cast, and I attribute at least some of that to the fact that he has precious little screen time. His behavior in this episode is so…so…bizarre. Taiga crashes her bike, starts grumbling to herself, he appears right the hell out of nowhere, and then stands there staring off into the distance while dispensing some absurd statement about how bikes “open up your world.” I’m sorry, but this kid is a dweeb. What teenager says that about bicycles? I wouldn’t even say that about a car. He also admits that: “For most of last year, I was sort of keeping an eye on you,” which isn’t creepy in and of itself when you’re in high school and do funky things like that, but the way he says it and then walks away as if he just stated something innocuous like, “It’s warm today” makes it weird.
Don’t get me wrong—Minori is weird, too. She bedazzles people’s phones and sings out of rhythm while working several jobs “for fun.” But at least that gives her a personality. Yusaku comes off as though they could replace him with a cardboard box and there wouldn’t be much of a difference.
On a more technical side, this show uses some neat visual repetition. The opening shots of these first three episodes have all included nature of some sort, with a still image punctuated by a small amount of movement (i.e. the bird flittering on the power line and the leaf falling off the tree). They’re great shots and I have a feeling there’s going to be some significance to them later on. Then we have another scene with Taiga and Ryuji walking home in the dark and passing by a street lamp. I don’t know if it’s meant to be the street lamp from before, but the image it presents is the same. And of course we have that disgusting parrot which, at this point, is so obviously meant to be symbolic of something that I almost have to roll my eyes. I’ll sit back and wait for it to say something, since that’s inevitable.
Taiga’s outfits are great, too. The one she wears to the diner is of particular note for a couple of reasons: It plays up her doll-like quality (a feature of her appearance that Ryuji has commented on), says a lot about her personality, and the color scheme might be of importance. Taiga may be aggressive and quick to violence, but the things she wears are far more representative of someone who is cute and innocent. This dress is frilly and girly and her shoes look like something a little girl would wear. I guess you can take it as either a front that she puts up to lure people into a false sense of security, or that sweetness and innocence is her real personality buried underneath a wall of aggression meant to protect her.
The color scheme of her outfit, which is a white dress with red shoes, is trickier since different cultures vary in their interpretations of color. In the West, white is symbolic of purity and innocence while red is more romantic and evocative. According to this website, in Japan red is representative of life, anger, and danger, while white is for death and mourning. Hilarious juxtaposition aside, both interpretations can work in the context of this character. The purity of white and romance of red in the West fits with her doll-like appearance and potential softer character underneath her urge to punch people as well as the general romantic direction of the show. The danger of red and death of white in Japan could almost be played for laughs, since I doubt Taiga has killed anyone or that Ryuji’s life is in actual jeopardy.
Then again, Taiga's actions are often hard to predict and she did try to kill him in the first episode, so who knows.
Episode Four: That Look You Had
Taiga demands that Ryuji take pictures of Yusaku for her, but when none of them end up giving her what she wants, her frustration leads to a surprising revelation."Sudoh-Bucks?" Really?
You know, I've come to the conclusion that everyone in this show is at least partly insane. Ryuji seems to be the only person who has a head on his shoulders, and even that's marred by his obsession with cleaning. I don't know if students in Japan are required to take turns cleaning the bathrooms, but if they're not...Ryuji, son, the mold won't kill you or anyone else. Go home. He plays the straight man role in general, and his reactions to Taiga's behavior in this episode are particularly humorous. He's got a lot of expression in his face and body, which is fun to watch.
At least I feel like the show is starting to get its footing. I'm adjusting to these characters and they are each certainly entertaining, if their eccentricities make them anything besides abnormal. Yusaku has gone from cardboard cut-out to brain-dead idiot, and I'm still not sure what Taiga sees in him. Ryuji makes a comment that he doesn't know what all the girls see in him since, according to a couple of them in his class, being the class vice president makes him a buzzkill. Yusaku isn't even that attractive, as anime characters go, and his personality thus far is about as interesting as oatmeal. The one moment of individuality and intrigue I will give him is his confession of love to Taiga--as horrible and dumb and awkward as it is. He seems like the kind of person who only has a vague idea of what's going on around him, so at least that made sense and it gave him something resembling a character. What I did find strange and couldn't rectify in my mind was his behavior towards the student body president. He doesn't appear to have any romantic feelings for her, but he jumps to her defense and tries to keep Taiga quiet as though he values the words that the girl is saying. Maybe he just didn't want things to escalate to a fist-fight (which, knowing Taiga, was entirely likely)? I don't know. That whole scene came off as awkward and bizarre and the fight itself felt forced.
Yusaku's relationship with Ryuji isn't well-established, either, as he spends more time meandering about town and spouting stupid things about bicycles than with his supposed best friend. Ryuji, on the other hand, acts like they've been good friends for years and when Taiga explains that he confessed his love to her the previous year doesn't come across as surprised--just embarrassed for him.Yusaku doesn't appear to reciprocate that kind of relationship. A big part of this, I think, is the fact that Ryuji is a much stronger character than Yusaku, but I was hoping that four episodes in I wouldn't question what's supposed to be a major relationship in one of the protagonists' lives.
Ugh. There's something about Yusaku's character that confuses me and feels less-than-human, and I'm hoping that my issues dissolve as the show progresses.
On the other end of the spectrum, we have Ryuji and Taiga's relationship, which is solid. They've spent enough time together to begin building bits of trust in each other, as evidenced by the fact that Taiga naturally fell into an explanation of her feelings for Yusaku without much prompting. She reacts to it in a realistic way, too (aside from...well, her flying kick into the wall): freaking out once everything is out in the open, shocked that she let herself be that vulnerable. The banter between them is great as well, though I do wish Ryuji would stop letting her kick and punch him so often.
As for the student body president...I'm not sure "dope" is a strong enough word. This show so far has played the ditsy card once already with Minori. While it still kept her a little out there, it did give her enough personality to make up for it. This girl, Ami, comes across as even denser than everyone else--which is an achievement--and there isn't anything about her that's engaging. She's flat and boring and air-headed, and it astounds me that she managed to gain such a position of power and that anyone actually listens to her.
Then again, looking her at her face and the way the camera rolls over her body, maybe it's not so shocking after all.
She's also the one character in the English dub that is horribly miscast. Whoever is playing her didn't so much as attempt to sound like a teenager. It's not that her voice is unpleasant, it's just far too low and mature to come out of the mouth of a high school student. That's going to be a pain in the neck moving forward, regardless of how well the actress plays the part. And given that she's part of the cast in both the promotional images and the opening/ending, her presence will be important enough to warrant some grumbling about the voice. If I have to listen to it for the remainder of the show, it should sound appropriate.
Veering off into the artsy side, I'd like to commend this show on its lighting. Both of these episodes had scenes that took place in late afternoon/early evening and in either case the lighting reflected that in some stunning ways. The first is when Ryuji and Minori are stuck inside the warehouse in episode three, where the light is both dim and dark, but instead of taking the easy way out and keeping everything shrouded in shadows, the dark is layered with a little bit of orange and yellow from the outside window. The second is in this episode, the moment when Taiga tells Ryuji about Yusaku's confession. That whole shot in general is great (see above picture), and the intense explosion of orange and yellow that smothers it is really beautiful.
And that bird spoke! Saw that one coming. I still don't know what the hell is wrong with it, but the fact that it was able to speak for the first time means that the tone of the show is shifting. Taiga became vulnerable, Ryuji is starting to get a better understanding of how she operates, and now that we have the symbol of the bird speaking something is going to happen. I'm ready.
General Thoughts
To clarify, all of my complaining doesn't mean that I'm not enjoying myself. The first few episodes have been hit or miss, but overall the material is strong enough to keep me watching. Taiga and Ryuji's characters are the show's largest saving grace. I'm still holding out some hope that the others will follow suit and grow into both interesting and complex people rather than the strange, pseudo-characterized ones they are now.I'm also thinking that there is going to be more to this story than high school romance, since the way everything has been set up so far doesn't exactly make for twenty-six episodes worth of plot on that concept alone. There's more to this show than it appears. We've already been dropped a few hints, between Taiga's curious family background, her relationship to Minori, and Ryuji's insecurities. They've got some other material to work with. I'm curious as to what's up next for our two leads and where this story is headed.
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