Toranoko!

As her days of pregnancy come to an end, Taiga finds herself feeling an incredible bliss as she awaits the day she gets to hold her daughters.

With her emotions all over the place, Taiga finds herself overreacting rather easily.

Being in her condition won't stop Taiga from teasing Ami a little. Unfortunately for her, that goes both ways.

The fear of that fateful day coming earlier than they expected is always looming over them.

Being pampered by her husband during such a difficult time in her life sparks immense feelings of affection towards him.

Taiga's laziness is only amplified with her pregnancy, especially since she has to carry her heavy body around.

Taiga's hormones tend to get in the way of intimacy, but the couple always makes it work.

Hearing Yasuko's stories about her own pregnancy only worsens Taiga's morning sickness...

Taiga can't help but get pumped up when she sees Minori while she's carrying her daughters.

In the state she's in, her anger always goes uncontained.

Taiga's cravings get pretty wild when she's got three hungry triplets in her belly.

Taiga gets a little emotional over her trouble napping

"I promise, I'll never let you go."

A look at the future of the Takasu family after the events of Toradora! and the precursor to the spinoff sequel, Toranoko!

Just found out you could make more than one blog, so my journal entries are going here instead!

Book: A Tale For The Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

Pages: 175

This is another general entry. I picked this book up at Kinokuniya because I just wanted to read something, anything. After all, I can't be a writer if I don't read, can I? I just picked up the book that seemed the most interesting to me. To be honest, I never had an interest in reading until now. The last time I really read a book was back in secondary school for my literature class, that being Fahrenheit 451. Seeing the state of the world today, I can't help but see how relevant the themes of the book are today. I haven't appreciated reading books enough, that's why I picked up A Tale For A Time Being.

I read pages 1-75 earlier in the year, took a break for a month or two, and only picked it back up last week. I'm on page 175 now. I've been reading it in increments of 25 pages per day. This might be the longest book I've read so far, with a total of 400+ pages.

I will say, the main point where I started becoming invested in the story was when Ruth found that article about Haruki and actually got a hint towards finding the Yasutani's. One of the most interesting parts of the story is seeing Ruth and Nao's paths converging.

I'll also say this: I love Nao. Her writing really feels like that of a suicidal teenage girl's. Her parts of the book are always the parts that interest me the most (sorry Ruth). She's really entertaining, despite the bleakness of her situation. I also love the dynamic she has with Jiko.

The way the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake was incorporated into the story was interesting too. I found a lot of perspectives that I never really considered all that much, and it made the incident more devastating than I'd once thought.

Book: Toradora!

Pages: 100

I started reading Toradora! Volume 5 recently (last week). This might be one of the most important volumes of the series so far. I really regret putting this off for so long. I think my attitude towards reading this series is because I already basically know what happens after watching the anime, but there's some cut stuff from the books that dig deeper into the characters too (or maybe I just wasn't as observant of this kind of stuff when I first watched it?). Anyway, I reached page 100 of the volume today. I'll bring up a few things I found notable, maybe some I could consider when I'm writing my own stories.

Now, I'm not sure if this is a result of the localisation, or if this is really just how it reads in Japanese, but the way the humourous moments are written somewhat piqued my interest. I'm mainly referring to the part where Haruta is pitching what they'll do for the cultural festival. They did a bunch of funny things like when they carried Minori "to the morgue" for suggesting a haunted house, or when Yuri tried to stop their plans. The moments felt very cartoony, like they could be translated well into an anime. I liked the lightheartedness of it all. I think it made for some nice padding between the more serious moments. It also showed Ryuuji's bond to the other boys in his class (and for a later moment, showed Taiga growing closer to the rest of 2-C as well). From where I currently stand as an amateur writer, I feel like I'm always wracking my brain on moments of character conflict that I forget that simple moments like these would be good to have too (as long as they aren't meaningless or just there for the sake of it).

Moving onto the bigger character moments, I will address one thing. Toranoko! Keepers Chapter 1 focused heavily on Taiga's father. While I was writing it, part of me regretted writing it before finishing this volume. I'm regretting that even more now, but I never liked what I wrote anyway (it was the first piece of writing I'd ever "finished", after all). Do give Toranoko! Keepers a read, by the way. I could use some feedback on my works.

I think I already had a general understanding of what was happening here when I was watching the anime, but reading made it much clearer (i.e. Taiga seeing Ryuuji and Minori grow closer making her more distant, Ryuuji projecting his own feelings of abandonment on Taiga, his inner conflict about no longer having Taiga around, that kind of stuff). One thing I definitely don't remember is that flashback Ryuuji had about him being in preschool. It gave more insight into his own inner feelings about his life in the Takasu household. There's definitely some questions about his own self worth (something about him being "okay to be alive" or something because of the whole Yasuko falling out with her family because of his birth thing). Part of me wishes this was in the anime, but I probably wouldn't have been able to appreciate it as much if I wasn't reading it.

Book: Toradora!

Pages: ???

This is a general entry to cover everything I've already read.

I feel like overall I'm getting more out of this than I did watching the anime (then again I've only watched it once). All the emotions feel much clearer just having them written in words, and I get to appreciate the storytelling at my own pace.

Volume 1 was really solid, and imagining how a first-time reader would approach this, I can see why Toradora! was such a strong story. The first introduction to Taiga as a character was really well done, and the set up for the rest of the story was well-established. There was a clear goal set in place for the reader to follow and have them wanting more. Of the entries I've read so far, I thought this volume was the strongest.

Volume 2-4 were good, but it's been too long for me to give proper thoughts on them. There were moments where I was trying to draw comparisons to the anime but I ended up misremembering some scenes and that made me realise it has been over a year since I'd watched Toradora! (maybe I should give it a rewatch). I do remember Volume 3 being a pain to read though, and I don't mean the volume was bad. The tension between Taiga and Ryuuji was just really overwhelming.