Subculture Anime Blog

Taiga wants you to touch her.

Summary:

At school in the morning, Taiga is thanked by a pair of two very grateful students. She and Ryuji both find this strange, as she is then further targeted by several people at the classroom. It is finally explained that rumors have been spreading recently about students who have become quite fortunate after having physical contact with Taiga at the festival, which Ryuji can only wonder about because of Taiga’s own situation at that time. There have also been rumors about Taiga’s dating Yusaku despite always being with Ryuji, which Taiga has difficulty hiding her happiness about. Yusaku tells Taiga not to worry about these rumors over lunch, but she soon starts to choke on some of her food. Despite Ryuji’s attempt to help her, she has him buy a drink that she prefers over what is available.

Ryuji meets Ami shortly after she gets off the phone with someone when he reaches the vending machines, but when he denies his interest in her conversation, she gets back at him buy ordering a different drink than intended for Taiga. Taiga meets Ryuji after having become tired of waiting, and after fending off another person after her luck, Taiga has Ryuji accompany her to purchase photos from the festival. Taiga obviously chooses the photo of herself with Yusaku at the dance, and after an encounter with Minori, Ryuji lets it slip that he wishes to buy the one with himself and her crossing the race’s finishing point. Minori cannot help but think about this while overhearing people talking about buying pictures of those they like in the classroom, and when Ami brings up her own experience with photography as a model, Minori describes her as an adult.

In the student council room, Sumire’s sister Sakura notices the boy from earlier being chased by Taiga. After she leaves the room, Sumire brings up that she has something to tell Yusaku. Several other people continue to describe Ami as an adult when she meets with them, including Yuri and the other girls in class. However, this doesn’t bring any satisfaction to her. Ami decides to meet Ryuji at the supermarket, then helping him decide what kind of meat to purchase. Ryuji takes the chance to ask how Taiga would gain happiness if the rumors about her were true, but Ami states that she is already happy enough. As the two leave the market, Ryuji offers some of the meat he bought to Ami. Brining up her health and that she has probably been eating a lot of junk food lately, he calls her a child before parting with her. Of course, Ami becomes touched by these words.

Taiga meets Yusaku by the riverside, seeing that he seems to be worried about something. When Yusaku actually plays off of Taiga’s rumor for a moment, Taiga offers to let him touch her as much as he wants. Taiga wonders if something had happened between him and Sumire, but Yusaku puts it off as nothing. When Taiga returns home, she finds that Ryuji has prepared quite a bit of food for the night. Ryuji lets it slip that he does not want to lose to Taiga’s father and the restaurants he had taken her to, but Taiga reminds him that this doesn’t really matter. When Yasuko hears about Taiga’s legend over dinner, she quickly embraces her. Describing that she is quite happy afterwards, she states that she is happy being able to eat good food with her family. Taiga is touched to be described as part of the Takasu’s family, before getting into the usual trouble with Ryuji. At her own home, it is revealed that Ami has been talking to her mother over the phone. As she has been gaining more friends recently, she decides that she wishes to stay where she is for now.

Preview: Attack of the Inko, and Yusaku emo adventures.

Impression:

Man, what a perverted episode! How does Taiga gain happiness? She has to touch herself!!! Ami even checks out Ryuji’s meat! Er, but yea, I just had to get all those jokes out of the way. I’m pretty sure everyone watching this episode will think the same things anyway. A lot of this episode was just really silly, but the last few minutes were truly quality. Ami’s happiness from simply being called “a child” after being stereotyped as an adult for so long was a great play on her character, and Yasuko’s talk of family at the end made me appreciate the writing for this show as much as I did in episode 13. The way this series ties such great themes to something as silly as the “Happy Palm-topTiger Legend” impresses me as much as the simple stories in many of the slice of life series that are at the top of my favorites list. It can be said that nothing really happened this week, but at the same time, there was so much to appreciate. Noticing all the small things is what happiness is really about, right?

Notes:

• Taiga picks Ami’s nose, then wipes the boogers on her skirt!? That’s like ultimate defeat.
• Taiga is buddha.
• Minori can’t hide her feelings for long.
• Man, she is insane.
• Yuri-chan sensei is so hip.
• You can touch me however you want!
• But not there! D:
• Loved the visual composition in this episode.

EDIT: Ani-nouto posted the comic I was looking for while making my notes, which I have inserted as originally intended above!