| I'd like to shine some light into the depths of Minori Kushieda's character (because it's seriously emotionally hardcore). The more I analyzed her character, the more the pieces of it sorta clicked into place. Her story doesn't exactly start to take shape until the Beach House arc. I'm talking about what I refer to as the "stupid ghost metaphor" because it was really confusing. I didn't understand it at all the first time I watched it. The second time, I felt like I understood what the metaphor meant, but didn't grasp the undertones. It wasn't until I read through the Novels (which I can read over as many times as I deem necessary) that I finally felt like I had a grasp on what the actual discussion about ghosts actually implied. Takasu put his feelings out there for Kushieda without actually telling it to her directly. This is masterfully done, as it sets off a delayed reaction for Minori to piece together herself. This let's the truth be told, without actually telling it outright. It also lets Ryuuji get his true feelings out to Minori without requiring an answer from her. Of course, learning this Minori's world starts spinning. She questions whether she likes Ryuuji back. You'll notice during the Culture Festival arc Minori is uncharacteristically detached. She's grappling with her emotions. When she learns Taiga's father is back in the picture, she seizes the opportunity to deny whatever feelings she might have had fruition and/or justification by blaming Ryuuji without all the facts. Sure, her intuitions happen to be directly on point, but it still doesn't (wholly) justify the fury she let loose. At the end of the arc, her emotional journey is strikingly similar to Ryuuji's. She realizes that through all of it she had forgotten to take Taiga's feeling into account. Now Taiga was all alone, once again deserted by her father. So, along with Ryuuji, she sets out to make things right and help her friend however she can. This ends up being indirectly (so she thought) by assisting Ryuuji in winning the Lucky Man Race. Following the Festival, Minori confirms that Takasu has feelings towards her as they select there memorabilia photographs from the Festival. She also reaches the conclusion the Yes, she does love Ryuuji, too. I believe this happens in E15 when Ryuuji and Minori are out looking for Kitamura together, and Minori suddenly breaks down into tears. She doesn't know what to do with this revelation. Then we have the "Guilt all gone" thing. All things considered, Minori’s brain might as well have exploded there. Ami has rekindled Minori's belief that Taiga loves Ryuuji (and possibly vice versa). So she decides to keep her feelings on the down-low. This marks Minori’s descent into depression. In case you don’t believe Minori now has feelings for Ryuuji, we get a pretty clear demonstration at the beginning of E17. Minori gets super flustered when she realizes she accidentally spat poison at Ryuuji and begs for his forgiveness. But Minori became distracted, fumbling during softball. So, Minori goes back to a part of her character she very clearly had since the start: her unwavering determination. She is determined not to be distracted by the prospect of love (a notion she voiced not only during the stupid ghost metaphor, but also during her confession in E24). She works HARDER, getting another part-time job and dedicating herself to more softball practice. She refuses to go to the Christmas Eve Party. She refuses to fall in love. But then she knocks a fly ball into the gym, causing the tree to fall and breaking Taiga’s ornament. It breaks her. Minori’s reckless desire to push harder has hurt her friends. Despite trying to push him away, Ryuuji insists on being there for her. Minori is forced to confront something: would she be able to throw away the happiness she was trying to achieve for a different kind of happiness? She almost cracked. On her way to the self-forbidden party, she hears Taiga’s cry. I can’t stress how powerful this scene was. Taiga was hurt because she loved Ryuuji. Minori instantly knew what she had to do. She couldn’t stand by idly when she was the only other person capable of doing something. She would never crack again. Not even insufferable Ami could weaken her. No matter what Taiga and Takasu would try. It didn’t matter if she actually did love Takasu. Her friend was hurting. And that’s all she cared about. She didn’t need to see ghosts anymore… At the end of it all, though, Kushieda was willing not only to give up the happiness of her heart, but also the happiness she had chosen. Her entire life’s savings. Along with it, quite possibly her dream of becoming a softball star. All for the sake of her friends’ happiness. In the end, she valued the happiness of Taiga and Takasu over everything she’d ever worked for. Over everything she’d ever loved. Because she loved them more. …Because she had seen her ghost. And that’s all she needed. |
| If I'm a girl, I'll glady say You're going too deep with a sarcastic tone. But seriously tho, I'm glad somebody took more time to get to know Kushieda Minori as she's my favorite female character in this entire show. The reason why I liked her the most is the same as what the writer of this thread said, her personality is so much more complex than other characters. |
  "ꜱᴛʀᴇɴɢᴛʜ ᴏꜰ ʜᴇᴀʀᴛ, ᴡʜᴇɴ ᴜɴɪᴛᴇᴅ, ɪᴛ'ꜱ ʙᴀʀʀᴇᴅ ʙʏ ɴᴏ ᴅᴏᴏʀ..." -Aigis |
| I was (and still am) a straightforward guy casually watching a romcom years ago. I didn't pick it up the first time because I wasn't paying attention and couldn't be bothered to re-watch the scene. |
| @LuckyTenth I recently rewatched it as well and noticed everything about Minorin, like you did. You summarised it quite well, but what's even worse for me, is, that at the end, when everything is basically laid bare, Taiga never really went back to support Minorin, after she broke down at Amis place. Generally, Minorin is left alone with it, or at least in Amis care. She did everything for Taiga and partially for Ryuuji. She sacrificed her own feelings and potential happiness for the long shot, that Taiga and Ryuuji become a thing. It wasn't even clear until the very end, that Ryuuji would fall for Taiga, because he only realized it late into the series. Overall, the rewatch simply hurt so much, since it became clear, how much Minorin suffered through the whole thing. Definitely the best character for me in the series and I am glad, I rewatched it and came to a completely different conclusion than compared to the first time watching it. |
More topics from this board
Poll: » Toradora! Episode 9 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page )removed-user - Nov 26, 2008 |
284 |
by Matheus050
»»
May 8, 11:27 AM |
|
Poll: » Best Toradora girl? (Repost)JustSomeone15 - Apr 27 |
26 |
by VOLTHOR6
»»
May 3, 4:04 PM |
|
» Toradora's Blu-ray has an issueJustSomeone15 - Apr 29 |
2 |
by Binkini
»»
Apr 30, 4:46 AM |
|
Poll: » Toradora! Episode 3 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 )Davison - Oct 15, 2008 |
238 |
by SanessyAdversary
»»
Apr 25, 6:56 AM |
|
Poll: » Toradora! Episode 25 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page )Sonja - Mar 25, 2009 |
1109 |
by Laylabc
»»
Apr 24, 10:15 PM |