** SPOILERS IN THIS POST!! **
I know this thread is super old but I have many feels after binging this show so I'm just gonna spill them here. Let me preface this saying that I really like all three girls in the series (although I dislike how the anime developed Ami and Minorin's characters at the end), and I think Ryuuji is just the sweetest and could go well with anyone.
I really wanted Ryuuji to recognize Ami's feelings throughout most of the show, and I would have loved an AmixRyuuji arc. They're such an interesting pair, and I think they would have a great dynamic. Unfortunately, Ami's character development went south and it seemed like she was just being used to move the plot forward later on. Really sad because she is my favorite character in the show. I was really displeased with how her character development started sucking and how she started acting verbally manipulative and abusive toward Minorin and Ryuuji. It seemed completely out of character to me, especially because they immediately gave her monologues to justify herself later lol. It still didn't make sense after the monologues. Being an ass doesn't make you mature, Ami. Still, she's my favorite character. At least the Ami in the beginning-middle of the series was. Idk what the heck the author did with her later. Basically, I can't see AmixRyuuji working with the end personality of her character because the author just didn't seem to ever take her seriously or give her solid character development. Had the plot gone differently, definitely, though.
It's kind of the same with Minorin. She is the character I identify the most with, and her struggles and hardworking nature are really weirdly inspiring to watch. Watching her on the screen made me want to work harder and be a better person. Weird. But really, the same idea with her. Minorin's character started to revolve only around Taiga and Ryuuji (and do so from a distance... and really depressingly), which took away any personal depth from her character. The UFO thing just never really made sense to me, and she kinda just started to represent "that one genki girl who is sad now." Also I kind of agree with Ami about the sun and moon thing. As cute as MinorinxRyuuji would be, they don't quite overlap. Minorin won't be honest with Ryuuji, and he struggles to be honest with her. Without Taiga in the middle, the two barely exist. If the series had developed her character better, then I might have been more into the idea of this pairing. This is just in the context of the plot, though. Had these two been the protagonists, I would've definitely been into it. That would've been freaking adorable.
Out of all the pairings, my favorite is definitely Taiga x Ryuuji. At the beginning of the series, Taiga annoyed the crap outta me with her spoiled-ass attitude and how violent and unappreciative she acted toward Ryuuji. Especially because Ryuuji is just freaking adorable and deserves the best. The weird thing is, I still liked her and Ryuuji together best, even though I didn't like Taiga best. I don't see where people are coming from saying that Ryuuji and Taiga don't seem compatible. They may have a strange dynamic and may not seem like the ideal couple, but I think that's the point. The strangeness of it all adds a sense of reality - that those two met by chance and just ended up clicking (if it had been Minorin or Ami... they would have been so busy with their own lives it wouldn't have been as intimate -Taiga and Ryuuji's lives began to completely overlap with each other). I think the fact that they both bring out sides of each other that no one else has seen is beautifully written. And I think the fact I hated Taiga at the beginning but eventually grew to love her... it's weird. Like I was seeing it through Ryuuji's eyes the whole time - first annoyance and dislike, and then affection. They're both lonely and misunderstood with many family troubles that they never open up about. We see a lot of their interactions on the screen, but it's made very clear that even off-screen they spend most of their free time together and actively seek each other out when they are apart. They understand more about their relationship than the viewer does. Taiga is cute on the outside and difficult to love on the inside, she's complex and violent and scary. Ryuuji is the opposite - he's adorable on the inside but scary on the outside. It's easy to dislike Taiga, but I found it very difficult to dislike Taiga x Ryuuji. Honesty, I think the last couple episodes with all the weird ass drama and sudden personality flips of Minorin and Ami really messed with the flow. I actually skipped the skiing arc and whatever other weird drama shit arc and the TaigaxRyuuji relationship development felt really smooth. I felt like by the middle of the show they were already in love lol so it just made sense. Like they didn't need a confession scene or anything. They already seemed like they were dating and really into each other by the middle. It just felt like they had a really deep bond, beyond just friendship. I cried watching it the first way through and skipping those weird arcs. Then I rewatched with what I skipped and it sucked lmao.
Okay cool THATS ALL thanks for letting me rant here wahahahahahahaha I am gone
Y'all ship what you want idc these are my two cents
Imma watch this again and always skip the weird ass ski arc. Poor Ami's character got wrecked there. |