Taiga is Emma 2.0
First I would like to say that it is an usual approach I took to do this reaction paper and instead of watching the straight up versions of Emma or that relate to the novel in a direct way I took another way around it and investigated some new stuff that is coming out that is scary similar to that of Emma’s novel. I guess this matchmaking and stuff that happens around it has always been part in some way of how modern society works. Anime is often seen as something that is shallow and just meant for kids and that it cannot be deep enough to portray mature and concrete actions. Anyways, I could go on for hours talking about it and would not serve that much the purpose of the paper and honestly I think Anime is just another medium to express an idea and to portray a deep story; just like a movie or a novel tries to do. With that say let’s get on with what this reaction paper is about; I will be focusing on Jane Austen’s Emma and Toradora! . Just like Emma, Taiga is the main character in Toradora! And she faces many of the many challenges that Emma encounters during the novel. They also have similar life styles and their quest for perfection always gets them in trouble.
Taiga Aisaka is the matchmaker in Toradora! And she is always in her constant quest to match Ryu Takasu with Minori. Ryu Takasu is her best friend and confidant that is always for her no matter what and her partner in her many pranks. When Ryu tells Taiga that he likes Minori she goes all out to make the match work and along the way she makes many unsuccessful attempts to get them together, but she fails every time. Taiga tells Ryu that she likes the class president, Yusaka Kitamura, and they make the promise that they will help each other out but they fail once again. Just as Emma, went to many failures of trying to make matches for her friends.
The way Taiga and Emma connect to each other is interesting, since they both fail at the matchmaking business and even if their hearts are in the right place they still fail to bring together two completely different people together I would say. We can see how Emma pushes too hard for Harriet and Mr. Elton. Mr. Elton likes Emma and she is incompletely ignorant of this, and when she goes too far she is hit in the face when he confesses to her. It is similar to Taiga and Ryu, when Ryu during Christmas Eve tells Taiga that he loves her, but she just ignores him because she thinks she has stolen him away from Minori.
Taiga and Emma’s solitudes are a bit similar and use that time to reflect on what has gone wrong with their matchmaking “projects.” “The first error, and the worst, lay at her door. It was foolish, it was wrong, to take so active a part in bringing any two people together. It was adventuring too far, assuming too much, making light of what ought to be serious—a trick of what ought to be simple. She was quite concerned and ashamed, and resolved to do such things no more.” Narrator narrates what Emma is feeling after her failure to bring Mr. Elton and Harriet together. Taiga also went through many obstacles to bring Ryu and Minori together, and attempted to let them be alone as long as possible. But it didn’t work out and Ryu just ended up confessing to her his love.
After winter break a new girl arrives to Ryu’s class; Ami Kawashima. She is like Jane in Emma, and she also beautiful and skilled. Taiga gets jealous of Ami as she slowly but steadily builds a friendship with Ryu, she says she just tries to keep her away from Ryu to protect Minori’s feelings. But Ami slowly falls in love with Ryu since he is attentive to everything she needs and is always there for her. Meanwhile Ryu continues trying to get Yusaka Kitamara and Taiga together because that she really likes him. Anyways, to make it short a lot more other girls come into the picture and fall in love with Ryu for his qualities of always being friendly and honest. As time passes Taiga and Ryu begin to drift apart and Taiga is left alone for a while.
“Emma’s eyes were instantly withdrawn; and she sat silently meditating, in a fixed attitude… Why was the evil so dreadfully increased by Harriet’s having some hope of a return? It darted through her with the speed of an arrow that Mr. Knightley must marry no one but herself!” (Chapter 47, Emma) This happens after Harriet’s confession that she might like Mr. Knightley and Emma is shocked to that she might lose him for good if she lets Harriet pursuit what she wants. Taiga is also worried when Minori tells her that she has begun to like Ryu and realizes that she has loved Ryu all this time and the thought of losing him just crushes almost her heart. Minori becomes like a rival to Taiga, just like Emma began to see Harriet as a rival and they both tried to keep their man protected from any other girl trying to take them away. It was an emotional moment when Taiga told Ryu that she loved him and he just reacted in sort of shock but at the same time happy. When Emma told Mr. Knightley reacted almost the same way.
Both Taiga and Emma get engaged to their man soon after their confession of love. They both had to wait for their parents or at least for Taiga’s parent just like Mr. Woodhouse did not want to let go off their daughter. Taiga decided to run away with Ryu I guess this is most of the similarities end with Emma, but I am sure if Emma lived during this times she would have done sort of the same thing. But back then it was seen as a bad thing to do for a lady of her class. Needless to say, Taiga was also sort of shamed because in the Japanese culture they are a little bit more conservative than in the western world and she was the talk of the class for a while, but later they accepted.
In conclusion both Emma and Taiga tried to play matchmakers but failed and ended up in their own trap by falling in love with their best friends and partners in their matchmaking crimes. From the world of literature to that of Anime it is always a good plot to have a matchmaker that tries to arrange for others a suitable partner and fail in the process because after all a relationship is the work of just two individuals and not by third parties.
Small Edit: Thanks for the correction Regina: “That is actually Edmond and Fanny Prince from Mansfield Park, not Emma and Mr. Knightley 
”
Here is a the closest pic I could find of them kissing: http://michaelmay.us/08blog/0503_emma.jpg
Related posts:
Taiga is Emma 2.0
Taiga is Emma 2.0
First I would like to say that it is an usual approach I took to do this reaction paper and instead of watching the straight up versions of Emma or that relate to the novel in a direct way I took another way around it and investigated some new stuff that is coming out that is scary similar to that of Emma’s novel. I guess this matchmaking and stuff that happens around it has always been part in some way of how modern society works. Anime is often seen as something that is shallow and just meant for kids and that it cannot be deep enough to portray mature and concrete actions. Anyways, I could go on for hours talking about it and would not serve that much the purpose of the paper and honestly I think Anime is just another medium to express an idea and to portray a deep story; just like a movie or a novel tries to do. With that say let’s get on with what this reaction paper is about; I will be focusing on Jane Austen’s Emma and Toradora! . Just like Emma, Taiga is the main character in Toradora! And she faces many of the many challenges that Emma encounters during the novel. They also have similar life styles and their quest for perfection always gets them in trouble.
Taiga Aisaka is the matchmaker in Toradora! And she is always in her constant quest to match Ryu Takasu with Minori. Ryu Takasu is her best friend and confidant that is always for her no matter what and her partner in her many pranks. When Ryu tells Taiga that he likes Minori she goes all out to make the match work and along the way she makes many unsuccessful attempts to get them together, but she fails every time. Taiga tells Ryu that she likes the class president, Yusaka Kitamura, and they make the promise that they will help each other out but they fail once again. Just as Emma, went to many failures of trying to make matches for her friends.
The way Taiga and Emma connect to each other is interesting, since they both fail at the matchmaking business and even if their hearts are in the right place they still fail to bring together two completely different people together I would say. We can see how Emma pushes too hard for Harriet and Mr. Elton. Mr. Elton likes Emma and she is incompletely ignorant of this, and when she goes too far she is hit in the face when he confesses to her. It is similar to Taiga and Ryu, when Ryu during Christmas Eve tells Taiga that he loves her, but she just ignores him because she thinks she has stolen him away from Minori.
Taiga and Emma’s solitudes are a bit similar and use that time to reflect on what has gone wrong with their matchmaking “projects.” “The first error, and the worst, lay at her door. It was foolish, it was wrong, to take so active a part in bringing any two people together. It was adventuring too far, assuming too much, making light of what ought to be serious—a trick of what ought to be simple. She was quite concerned and ashamed, and resolved to do such things no more.” Narrator narrates what Emma is feeling after her failure to bring Mr. Elton and Harriet together. Taiga also went through many obstacles to bring Ryu and Minori together, and attempted to let them be alone as long as possible. But it didn’t work out and Ryu just ended up confessing to her his love.
After winter break a new girl arrives to Ryu’s class; Ami Kawashima. She is like Jane in Emma, and she also beautiful and skilled. Taiga gets jealous of Ami as she slowly but steadily builds a friendship with Ryu, she says she just tries to keep her away from Ryu to protect Minori’s feelings. But Ami slowly falls in love with Ryu since he is attentive to everything she needs and is always there for her. Meanwhile Ryu continues trying to get Yusaka Kitamara and Taiga together because that she really likes him. Anyways, to make it short a lot more other girls come into the picture and fall in love with Ryu for his qualities of always being friendly and honest. As time passes Taiga and Ryu begin to drift apart and Taiga is left alone for a while.
“Emma’s eyes were instantly withdrawn; and she sat silently meditating, in a fixed attitude… Why was the evil so dreadfully increased by Harriet’s having some hope of a return? It darted through her with the speed of an arrow that Mr. Knightley must marry no one but herself!” (Chapter 47, Emma) This happens after Harriet’s confession that she might like Mr. Knightley and Emma is shocked to that she might lose him for good if she lets Harriet pursuit what she wants. Taiga is also worried when Minori tells her that she has begun to like Ryu and realizes that she has loved Ryu all this time and the thought of losing him just crushes almost her heart. Minori becomes like a rival to Taiga, just like Emma began to see Harriet as a rival and they both tried to keep their man protected from any other girl trying to take them away. It was an emotional moment when Taiga told Ryu that she loved him and he just reacted in sort of shock but at the same time happy. When Emma told Mr. Knightley reacted almost the same way.
Both Taiga and Emma get engaged to their man soon after their confession of love. They both had to wait for their parents or at least for Taiga’s parent just like Mr. Woodhouse did not want to let go off their daughter. Taiga decided to run away with Ryu I guess this is most of the similarities end with Emma, but I am sure if Emma lived during this times she would have done sort of the same thing. But back then it was seen as a bad thing to do for a lady of her class. Needless to say, Taiga was also sort of shamed because in the Japanese culture they are a little bit more conservative than in the western world and she was the talk of the class for a while, but later they accepted.
In conclusion both Emma and Taiga tried to play matchmakers but failed and ended up in their own trap by falling in love with their best friends and partners in their matchmaking crimes. From the world of literature to that of Anime it is always a good plot to have a matchmaker that tries to arrange for others a suitable partner and fail in the process because after all a relationship is the work of just two individuals and not by third parties.
Small Edit: Thanks for the correction Regina: “That is actually Edmond and Fanny Prince from Mansfield Park, not Emma and Mr. Knightley
”
Here is a the closest pic I could find of them kissing: http://michaelmay.us/08blog/0503_emma.jpg
Related posts: