If Toradora! is in the Fate/stay Night setting, then Taiga is Saber, agreeing somewhat to your casting her as the ‘magic’ girl. However in F/sN Saber has another role, which I won’t spoil here – and I don’t really know how to shoehorn this.

I too, don’t really want to see an everybody hooks up ending – but I want either of two things:

1) one of them hooks up, clearly and in no uncertain terms; or
2) they all part as bitter enemies

A lot of melancholic potential for each I think, and is something I can appreciate.

Now that you mention it, I actually do think there’s a sense of difference between the indoors and outdoors. I’m not sure, but the biggest moments in the anime that I remember happen outdoors, like Kitamura’s confession, Taiga’s confession, Ami’s realization she doesn’t have to accept the stalker as a part of her life, the race in ep 13, and the batting cages. You might be able to make a case for the “locked in the shed” scene being “outdoors,” as it’s a shed, and not really a building — it’s away from the typical comforts of an indoors world. Meanwhile, indoors the characters just brood over their problems, or pal around when they aren’t feeling bad about them. The outdoors seems to be the place where things happen in Toradora, which I hadn’t realized before.

My interest in Toradora doesn’t come from the “metaphorical quest.” That’s just one way I have to try to explain the interest I already have in it. *I* made the metaphor, rather than the show, and I’m just hoping something useful arises from the comparison. :) It did, for me at least, so there you go.

Also, I don’t think Lancelot was physically ugly in Malory’s version. I could also very well be mixing Steinbeck’s and White’s, if White’s version has the ugly Lancelot. I read both Steinbeck’s and White’s versions really close together, many years ago, so they may have blurred.

Though Lovely Complex is very neat and convenient I prefer it for it’s characters.

This is probably not how a myth critic is meant to think, but I find Toradora too everyday in its scale, like a lot of modern romances (in the modern sense of ‘romance’), which is one reason why it doesn’t grip me like a medieval romance (in the medieval sense of ‘romance’). I’m not clever enough to be interested in an entirely metaphorical quest, and the story also lacks that division between Indoors and Outdoors which I find very stimulating.

@ schneider: I think (I haven’t read either author) Steinbeck and White were both cribbing from Malory (I would assume Caxton’s Malory, not the Winchester MS), and, if I recall correctly, Malory’s Fisher King is split between several figures and is less important compared to the character in Chrétien and the writers who continued/adapted his work.

IMO Ryuuji is very different from ugly Lancelot. His looks are fearsome, but they are just that–inherited genes–and nothing else. He’s incredibly good and kind to the core and this characteristic of him makes itself known in the first episode alone: he takes care of the house (which is superhuman for a teenage male in anime), takes care of his mom (I initially thought Ya-chan was a sister too from how Ryuuji treated her, like an annoying sibling you can’t just leave behind), and even unwarrantedly takes care of Taiga. I think he developed his OCD trait in order to become the good guy all the time so that nobody would mistake him for a delinquent, but things just don’t work that way. So in that case, he does good things for a reason, because he’s fundamentally good.

The way I see it, Taiga wants happiness. It’s not just Kitamura, but he’s a part of it. She’s actually doing great, even if she falls flat on her face at times. Minorin seeks love, and it’s still an open question. But she’s breaking down, that genki armor of hers, and somehow I feel profoundly moved as the crack becomes larger and larger. Why the facade in the first place? For Ami, I think she longs for understanding, and Ryuuji is the perfect man for the job. He’s incorruptible, and Ami’s sure that he’ll deliver what she wants without strings attached. He doesn’t judge her, he tolerates her, and that’s a big thing for someone who sees her true self as repulsive. Ryuuji also seems to believe that Ami’s true self can be good, which is why he sticks around. I see a deep friendship amidst the playful, teasing banter.

I’m with you on Toradora not needing a “everyone hooks up” end. The infatuation isn’t as important as the journey, which by itself is a portrait of human self-improvement. These people want something, and they strive to get better with the help of others. It’s beautiful growth. The moon is there, but I’m all for the finger pointing to it instead~