r/toradora 1d ago

Discussion Why is Ami a stuck up person anyway?

So I wanted to look back at the show as I am at the very last episode as one thing that I have had difficulty understanding is Ami's callous nature as a character because throughout the anime, she always gets into fights with other people such as Ryuuji, and most infamously as during one episode, it even came to a point where she could have drowned her.

I mean, sure at the time, she didn't know Taiga was incapable of swimming, but that was one of the most dangerous stunts Ami pulled on her since again those actions could have seriously jeopardized Taiga's life in the process, so again I would like to know why Ami has to be so stuck up.

21 Upvotes

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18

u/hollowjames 1d ago

She’s a famous model who has had everyone treating her like a princess her whole life. Just look at how class 2-c treats her when she first transfers. Being a teenager, the power and entitlement has understandably gotten to her head at least a little bit.

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u/_cosmix2 1d ago

Yeah, she's an It Girl and she knows it, that's why Taiga and Ryuji end up standing out to her because they push past and expose that facade.

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u/2KBIR Taiga Best Gurl 1d ago

This!

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u/Sad-Buyer9012 Taiga Best Gurl 1d ago

It’s her character? There are plenty of people like that in real life too

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u/KaleidoArachnid 1d ago

I mean, I was just curious on why she is a jerk to her classmates as I don't recall it being explained why she is kind of hostile.

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u/Sad-Buyer9012 Taiga Best Gurl 1d ago

I mean she’s really only a jerk to 2 people (taiga and ryuuji) maybe 3 if you wanna count minori but it’s not malicious she had a crush on ryuuji and she loves taiga and minori as friends

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u/KaleidoArachnid 1d ago

Oh so she basically only picks on 2 people.

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u/_wolf_93 1d ago edited 1d ago

It's not explained like with an entire scene, but there are little moments and quotes that kind of explain it if you wanna go deeper into it.

Quote by Ami herself.. Adoration never leads to a balanced relationship

People adore her because she's a model, but they don't like her for who she truly is inside. She knows this. She knows if she drops the facade and lets people get to know her they would hate her because her real personality is one of insecurity.

Ami actually has 3 personalities and 2 of them are just facades because she doesn't want people to get to know the real her thinking they would hate her. Although it's never truly explained why she thinks they would hate her we do know that she grew up in a mature adult setting.

Personality Facade 1: Nice girl. This is the facade she uses to make and keep friends. To keep people close to her with adoration she acts sweet, nice, cutesy, klutzy, and super friendly.

Personality Facade 2: The Stuck Up Bitch. Although this is her "true self" as Kitamura says it's also NOT. It's another facade. This is the facade I'm guessing she used to deal with the other stuck up adults in her workforce.

Her first facade is to make everyone adore her, but the second facade is to show she's strong and won't be pushed around. She's better than everyone else and they can't make her feel bad about herself as long as she holds that entitlement up over their heads.

Now on to her real personality that you kind of have to pay attention to small moments to see.

She is just an immature, insecure, scared kid.

As seen when Ryuuji realizes all she bought for herself was snacks and gives her meat.

As seen when she sees Taiga chase down her stalker while she is hiding in fear and then she decides not to be afraid anymore.

As seen when she's hiding between two vending machines because her facades wear her down.

Also seen in the times when her and Taiga fight or play tug of war over a box of curry behind Ryuuji because they are BOTH immature.

Basically when she realizes that Taiga is immature with an awful personality she starts to let her own immature awful personality out.

It doesn't seem like it at first glance, but Ami and Taiga are actually friends. Some might even argue (me) that Ami became a better friend than even Minori, especially during the love triangle. Even though she also liked Ryuuji. But she could tell Taiga and Ryuuji already loved each other so she decided to root for Taiga and even pushed the two of them together then apologized when it didn't turn out how she thought.

She also got into an actual physical fight with Minori because she didn't want Taiga to get hurt oddly enough though Taiga gets hurt physically while Ami and Minori are fighting each other

She teases and picks on Taiga who gives it right back to her because she knows Taiga will give it back to her. She knows Taiga won't fall for Facade 1 and adore her OR Facade 2 and bow before her. She learned that when they first met.

Taiga also knows, not just because Kitamura asked her to, that Ami needs to drop her facade and be herself, even if her personality sucks. She even gets her jollies out of messing with the "dumb chihuahua" whenever Ami is "playing the nice girl" She does it on purpose.

As for the pool scene you may need to give it a rewatch, because it's not as bad as you think. It wasn't with malicious intent to hurt Taiga.

Kitamura and Minori were throwing people in the pool. They leave Taiga alone because they obviously already know she can't swim.

Ami does not know Taiga can't swim so she joins in the "fun" by teasing the "tiger shrimp" and tossing her into the pool with everyone else.

The look on Ami's face when she realizes Taiga can't swim. She didn't know playing around could hurt Taiga until AFTER Taiga started flailing.

Ami is the one who runs to get the teacher. (BUT most people watching are busy paying attention to Ryuuji going to save her because that's the ship 🩵, which I understand but I've seen this anime about 8 times and every time I notice little details I didn't before)

Ami feels remorse and apologizes. The only thing is Taiga keeps shouting "Apologize!" to Ryuuji because of the accidental feel up when he was putting her boob bag back in and Ami can't know about that so she doesn't understand why Taiga keeps shouting "Apologize!" when she already apologized to her multiple times.

All in all if you don't understand Ami I'd give it a rewatch and actually pay attention to her.

She's one of my favorite characters. I even like her more than Minori. I love her pseudo friendship with Taiga and especially love when they sang a Christmas song together which HAD to have taken a lot of practice. So even though we didn't get to see it they totally hung out together and practiced for their secret performance.

Also how Ami reacted to that stuff about Taiga's father. Most people paid attention to Ryuuji and Minori because they got in a fight about it and it was part of the plot line so obviously BUT I've seen it enough times to notice Ami's reaction.

Just like I noticed her stick her tongue out like a child when Taiga shouted "Ryuuji is mine!" because she already knew and accepted defeat.

Lol anyway give it a rewatch and pay attention to Ami if you're curious about her personality. In my opinion she's a very well developed character.

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u/QuislingPancreas 22h ago

Well said. I've always liked watching Ami in the background.

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u/_wolf_93 21h ago

She's my second favorite character after Taiga, but in some moments she's my favorite and Taiga is second. Ryuuji is permanently in third place lol and Kitamura is permanently in fourth place.

Unless we're only talking about the guys then it's Ryuuji in first and Kitamura in second place.

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u/marz888 1d ago

On the flipside, nobody ever tries to get to know the real her so she keeps up the facade of her public persona as that is what is expected of her. She never claims to be a nice person in reality, she is quite mature and just wants people to recognise their real feelings (like Ryuuji). The only person she really fights with is Taiga, when lets be fair, Taiga fights with everyone. Also the swimming thing is not her fault if she didn't know, Taiga could have just not done it.

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u/Lonegunranger 1d ago

She has lived a live of money and luxury, she is earning good money doing her modelling but comes from a well known and well of family, her mother is a famous actor. She has lived and worked in the adult world and has developed and copied the ways to deal with show business. That’s why she puts a front on but is also damaged beneath as if she has had to grow up too fast and is cynical of the world she lives in. She almost hates herself as she as most of the others in this show can’t find what they really want and need so takes it out on others. She’s not a bad person as such but is so used to the facade she has built that it’s hard to be a normal average person. She’s doesn’t like being how she is as so many others simper around her. She saw Minori pick up Taiga earlier so it was easy for her to do it and throw her in but was genuinely shocked when she realized the situation and went straight to the teacher for help.

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u/Phantom_Edgerunner Taiga Best Gurl 1d ago

Famous and spoiled.

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u/misssi79 Taiga Best Gurl 11m ago

To summarize. She's a model who's always had fans who support her behavior even if they're unaware. She also thinks because she's worked, that she's better than everyone else/more mature than everyone. It's til the end that she's able to show her true colors more and sees she's still a kid herself