🏳️‍🌈 Ami x Minori 🏳️‍🌈

digging into my teenage psyche and unearthing another sharp tongued girl I love who got into fights and forced everyone to get over themselves and resolve the love drama and in my mind ended up kissing the genki redhead sapphic. Is it your fault, Ami Kawashima????

toradora minori and taiga saluting solemnly. minori has tears streaming down her face

minori deserved better

Minori, with her new bat, and Ami, with her armful of bouquets, chat cheerily after graduation.

A smile, and a happy ending.

The girls' softball team gathers around Minori and showers her with bouquets, a bat with a ribbon around it, and their undying adoration.

A bunch of guys gather around Ami to give her bouquets.

A moment to say farewell to their harems...

A little teamwork...

A little teasing, a little blushing...

A comforting hand on the shoulder...

...and then maybe a cute little snowball fight!

...then get Taiga's blessing and some emotional support time...

Minori sends Ryuuji off with a fist-bump to his lips. Sounds weirder in words than it looks in the scene.

Minori presses her fist to her own lips, tearing up, as she watches Ryuuji chase after Taiga.

Ami gives Ryuuji a dead serious look as she demands he admit out loud and directly his love for Taiga.

Ami settles into a satisfied smile once Ryuuji has fulfilled her demand.

First, let's get some closure...

Looks like it's not in the manga either. You may be onto something.

Ami watches as Minori storms up to Ryuuji and calls him a liar.

Ami gives a sly smile after seeing Minori finally unload her true feelings.

Ami has left the door, feeling that she and Kitamura had succeeded in their mission to hold Taiga captive while Minori said her piece. Minori, on the other hand, feels that they let her go too early, and chastises Ami for it.

Other than that, I don't have much for today, so here's some miscellaneous photography.

It's official: Taiga says Ami x Minori.

Now I'm imagining a spin-off of Taiga trying to set the two of them up. Same mission as Toradora, except now it's Ami instead of Ryuuji, and she is surprised by her quick success, since she, hilariously, doesn't actually need to do much to make it happen.

Also, it seems like this scene is the model for their appearance at the beginning of the OP. They're even wearing their coats.

In spite of the actual content of the interaction, I think Minori being there instead of Ryuuji makes for an interesting symbolic shift. In what other ways is Minori replacing Ryuuji in Ami's life? As she gives up on pursuing him, it seems like Minori might be the next to grab her attention.

Instead of the usual Ryuuji, to whom Ami has gotten comfortable venting her problems and seeking support, this time it's Minori who visits her vending machine slot. Since right now she needs the former, and Minori's still being cryptic, this conversation goes nowhere.

Minori and Ami are handling the fallout of their fight very differently. Ami needs space for a while before she can then come back on her own terms, while Minori wants an active and diplomatic reconciliation.

And finally, while kinda off-topic, as a nerd about the music, I can't help but point out that this is the first time we get the extra solo "好きだよ" at the end of Orange. It only appears in this episode and the last two, and seems to mark when Taiga and Ryuuji admit out loud that they love each other.

Sadly, the subsequent sledding accident hits her right in her sore feelings.

I know it's counterintuitive, but believe me, this is crucial to the ship.

Ami may seem like the aggressor, but here we see she feels bad about her part in the whole thing. She admits she's being just as dishonest about her own feelings and that she may even have made things worse than they would have been without her.

...especially once Ami links it back to the comment about feeling guilty. She tries to counter-bluff, but Ami doesn't buy that.

Sorry, Minori, but Ami has been paying pretty close attention to you for a while. She can read you like a book.

I love this scene so much. So so much. Everyone in one place, lots of new info being exposed to whoever is out of the loop.

Minori lies about knowing who Taiga likes. Ami sees right through it, and Minori isn't prepared for that...

After hearing about Minori's rejection, Haruta (not shown) tries to cheer up Ryuuji (also not shown) by saying, "If I were a girl, I'd definitely go out with you, Taka-chan!" Kitamura is also there.

Unrelated, and I'm not really into yaoi, but I'm *very* into gender-benders, and I love this line from Haruta

Ami chimes in on the Noto/Maya argument, frustrated that Kitamura won't acknowledge that it's directly about him: "Yusaku, are you clueless by nature, or are you doing it on purpose?"

As with the Ryuuji/Taiga situation, Ami gets more to the heart of the matter, but stops short of being explicit about it.

Anyway, then Minori tries to mediate, but she's not as good at that as she thought she was. Getting Ami and Taiga to make peace may have been the most she could handle.

Noto and Maya pose embarrassedly for a picture together in the post-graduation scene.

lol this is kinda adorable

Noto and Maya glare at each other amidst their shipping fight. Maya likes Kitamura and wants Taiga with Ryuuji, while Noto likes Maya and wants Taiga with Kitamura.

After Haruta pushes Noto towards Maya in the post-graduation scene in the last episode, the two blush and look away from each other.

Ami and Minori glare at each other amidst their fight on the ski hill.

Minori, holding a bat with a ribbon tied around it, and Ami, holding several bouquets, smile at each other in the post-graduation scene in the last episode. Kitamura is also there.

This escalating tension between Noto and Maya is an interesting parallel to the Ami and Minori fight. We've already heard in passing that he likes her, but it'll be confirmed explicitly on Valentine's Day, and the finale implies that she's at least a little interested too.

Episode 21 is easily my favorite episode of the whole show. I love it so much that I figured out how to clip videos for this.

Here's a reminder that they're still on good terms at the start of the trip.

In her seat on the bus, Minori closes her eyes and puckers her lips.

And lastly, here's Minori dreaming about Ami on the bus.

(...or scatting as a cop-out in the word game they're playing to pass the time, but whatever)

Minori laughs joyfully during the group work session at Taiga's apartment. She is wearing a bright blue hoodie.

Also, love Minori's bright blue hoodie. That's a color scheme I can get behind.