Subculture Anime Blog

Taiga is mad at her papa.

Summary:

On the first day of the new semester, Koji approaches Ryuji and the others with his high hopes for the upcoming cultural festival. When Yuri passes by, she is rather apathetic about her summer break being very much less exciting than the others’. During a student council meeting, Sumire and the other members express their will to produce a great cultural festival despite their less than excellent circumstances. During gym class, Ryuji still has the conversation he had with Minorin on his mind. The typical confrontation between Ami and Taiga snaps him out of it, however, only leaving him to overhear the boys’ usual opinions about the girls in class.

In the locker rooms afterwards, Koji finally announces his plan to become the upcoming festival’s representative. In doing so, he would have a maid cafe approved as one of the events. DIfferent types of cafes are then suggested, such as one that involves china dresses instead, but this causes Ryuji to worry about Taiga again. As the boys are unable to agree on what kind of cafe would be the best, Yasuko suggests a cosplay cafe to satisfy everyone’s expectations. Taiga meanwhile finds that her gym pants have ripped, taking them to Ryuji to fix when she meets him in the halls. Ryuji tries to continue his previous conversation with Minorin when she eventually shows up, but he cannot seem to get to her as she discusses her duties as a diet warrior.

At home later, Ryuji notices that Taiga refuses to answer her phone no matter how many times it rings. When he asks about it, Taiga finally implies that the person calling is her father. She expresses her distaste of him, believing that she was abandoned to live in a mansion by herself, then refusing to hear Ryuji’s opinion about her situation. At school the next day, Koji finally initiates his plan to have a cosplay cafe event during the festival. Because of the girls’ being against this, Yuri’s involvement, and Koji’s own blunder though, this doesn’t go exactly as planned. Further more, Taiga is troubled by the position Ami has forced onto her.

Upon using a machine at the convenience store later, Taiga finally learns that her father has stopped putting money into her account because of her not answering her phone. Making the matter more awkward for him than before, Ryuji is sent to meet him in Taiga’s place. Taiga’s father treats Ryuji to a meal, and despite clearing the misunderstanding that Ryuji may be her boyfriend, he tells him why Taiga had come to dislike him. As he had started living with a new partner, Taiga was forced to leave the house. However, he now wishes to leave this person in hopes of returning to living with Taiga as her parent. Ryuji tries to tell Taiga about this upon reaching home, but she refuses to hear any of it.

At school the next day, Koji presents the script to the strange play that Yuri has forced the class to do. Despite the strangeness of the event, Ami actually expresses her like of it. The rest of the class then sees that it could actually be quite fun, and even Taiga is unknowingly pulled into participating. Minorin notices that Ami has changed quite a bit recently, which Ryuji agrees to, right before a major announcement by Yusaku. Upon reaching home, Taiga sees that her father has been waiting for her throughout the day. Despite this, Taiga paralyzes him temporarily before quickly going to Ryuji’s door. Ryuji forces Taiga to listen to him, however, finally relaying the circumstances her father had for her. When he expresses that he would not be able to see his father even if he wanted to though, then realizing that this may not have been completely for Taiga’s sake, Taiga finally agrees to see her father because of Ryuji’s beliefs. Watching as Taiga returns to her father, Ryuji can only wonder if what he has done was right.

Preview: Yuri K.O.??

Impression:

Sounds like a punk rock song to me. The first half of this episode was quite fun and silly, but it seemed like the transition to the second half came off as really forced. I would credit that to the usual troubles of converting the text source into episodic sequences though. Although maybe not as exaggerated, Taiga’s situation with her father reflects a lot of true situations that several people have growing up (though Clannad probably plays on the theme a lot more.). Ryuji’s forcing Taiga against the wall to listen to him was nice, especially when he brought up his own situation with his own father, and Taiga’s finally agreeing with him easily shows the development between the two. It was also notable that Minorin seemingly ignored Ryuji’s attempt to talk to her on purpose, hinting that she knows that Ryuji is truly more suited for Taiga who needs him. Since the next episode’s preview only contained a humorous shot of Yuri, I suspect it will be split somewhat like this episode. Maybe we’ll have a mid season climax?

Notes:

• Yuri-CHAN sensei
• Ami is the only one wearing shorts in gym class.
• Go back to Kanon 2002, Koji.
• Gym pants in the FACE.
• Minorin wishes she had a long beard to pull on.
• Minorin = Takako?
• Yuri will take everyone down with her! What an evil face…
• The face Taiga’s father puts on in disappointment is….hilarious.
• Father to son bonding?