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I'm going to be honest right now: Ever since I started getting involved in the anime community, I've constantly made fun of romance anime. There are just a lot of preconceptions out there, and I (maybe regretfully) had a lot of bias based upon the views of others. So when I heard about Toradora! from a friend (FinalFlashX on this site, if you're curious), I was somewhat hesitant to view it. I thought it had great potential based on his review, but I also thought it could be something that just wasn't my cup of tea.

I'm here to tell you that, after viewing Toradora!, ... I instantly placed it as one of my favorite anime of any genre.

One of the things that really perturbs me is when someone states an anime like Toradora! is bad simply because they dislike romance, as I used to do. It's unfair to discredit it as a whole just because the genre isn't to your liking. So, before you click "not helpful" on my review just because you think romantic storytelling is "stupid", please give this a read and reconsider your opinion.

STORY:

Toradora! is a well-crafted plot that, aside from a few minor issues, makes a lot of sense. It's important to keep in mind the age of the characters here: high school kids. Thus, a lot of erroneous decisions with poor logic will be made, and it reflects on the realism of the story because it's not unintentional, either; most poor decisions are reciprocated with backlash of some kind that spurs character development, so it's not by any laziness on the author's part.

The pacing of the narrative is a double-edged sword. For one, it's a perfect length for character development and gives plenty attention to the development of actual relationships between characters rather than forcing anything. And I'm not talking about romantic relationships only; development between friendships is given a lot of thought and attention as well. On the other hand, though, the story suffers from a delay of the inevitable. From the beginning it's not hard to tell the gist of the end result, and the whole story continues to make it somewhat obvious. However, in my opinion that's not really a large issue; just because you know what happens doesn't mean you know HOW it happens, and the journey is the most fun and entertaining part.

Sometimes I hear people saying that Takemiya should have expanded upon the world a little bit, but it wasn't really necessary seeing that it was set in a world that's exactly the same as ours. She gave insight into the important things, such as Taiga's family and the school, and that's all that I could ask for as a viewer.

One of my main issues with the plot was that the narrative wasn't very conceptually creative. There weren't an abundance of cliches by any means, and while there were some surprises, overall it maintained a fairly generic structure. If not for the fantastic characterization, it would have been rather bland in my opinion. However, that only knocks it down a notch or two because it was overall an entertaining storyline regardless.

Thematically, Toradora! isn't very deep or profound. Some of the main concepts explored are the obvious in a romance, but the ones that were more interesting to me were the ones relating to beating the preconceptions people set for you in order to achieve something great, e.g. love. This will be explored more in the character section.

CHARACTERS:

I'll just say it now: the characters in Toradora! are absolutely phenomenal.

Takemiya does a fantastic job by creating misconceptions that are removed with depth to each character. Every character of the main cast begins as an archetype/cliche, but quickly she creates explainable layers to all of them, making them well-rounded and complex. It serves the theme of being able to get past surface-feature qualities very well. Creating conflict between the outer appearances and inner characterizations of the characters makes them very interesting and likable as well.

Throughout the story, meaningful development is given to all of the main cast. This story is character-driven, and it is reflected beautifully in the writer's progression of the tale. Taiga, Ryuuji, Ami, and Minori are all very, very well-written and complex characters, and that alone is worth the price of admission. (In your case, probably free, but... shut up! It's a phrase!)

Hell, even the minor characters are entertaining and fun to watch. They aren't the most detailed characters in the world, but they serve their purpose well. Not every character has to be dynamic and complex; if they make the story better, then that's all there is to it, and the minor characters keep a lighthearted mood and aid in the development of characterization and plot.

The character relationships are also very well-written. They are paced well and develop slowly and meaningfully while maintaining some idealism with realistic outcomes. They lead to great characterization and development and are perfect examples of relationships in the anime medium in my opinion.

ANIMATION:

Overall, the animation is very solid. The characters look fantastic, and the backgrounds are well-drawn. The definition is also very clean, although that's more of a benefit of the time this was made rather than anything special on the animators' parts.

I will say that there are several scenes that look very... meh. Particularly the scene in which there is a fist-fight. The movements look very choppy and all the high-definition is replaced with very average looking animation. This could be due to a budget change or something, but the episode following this looks back to normal, so I'm not quite sure.

While the character design is usually good, not much thought was put into some of the minor characters. For example, there is a somewhat important character who looks almost exactly the same as one of the main characters, and a very minor character who looks nearly identical to a different main character. While the mains look very unique and well-fashioned, the minor characters don't have that benefit.

SOUND:

The soundtrack in Toradora! is absolutely fantastic. For all types of moods there are great tracks that are used in very fitting spots and that aid in the emotional aspect of the show. I was a big fan of the first opening for whatever reason, and the second opening was okay, while I thought the endings were just average, but the soundtrack absolutely makes up for that.

The voice acting in both the sub and the dub is phenomenal. I slightly prefer the dub but I will say that you can't go wrong either way. Taiga and Ami really stood out to me in the dub, and I also liked Ryuuji's voice actor a lot, which is a bit of a controversial opinion, so prepare for maybe some dissent in what you think versus what I do.

OVERALL:

Toradora! is a truly great anime. If you like the romance genre, then you will love this anime. If you don't, I think you will see that it is written well enough where you will appreciate it, but maybe not think it's for you. If you haven't given romance a try, this is a great first step. I recommend it to everyone.

Let's be honest: There's a lot of shitty anime out there. Whether it's bland harems, obnoxious ecchi, or vapid dramas, many people have seen what physically and artistically represents the fact that sometimes even inane dimwits can slip through the cracks of entertainment. Thus, it makes sense that when a so-called "smart" anime hits the streets, people would naturally be enticed by the allure of a mature, thoughtful work. A lot of times these fail to impress as the author spends so much time thinking of ways to outsmart the audience that he loses track of the writing and sends it spiraling into stupidity and, ... quite simply, idiosyncratic nonsense.

Despite its flaws, Death Note avoids that catastrophic cycle and is, in its own right, a very good anime.

STORY:

Well, where to begin.

First off, as I said above, many anime in this genre tend to flaunt superior intelligence in the face of their audience, and Death Note is no exception. It is incredibly creative and the gambits created by the characters are truly mesmerizing at times. The problem is that because they are so over-the-top and absurdly scheming, many of them feel somewhat preposterous and a few plot points then become stretches of the imagination. While this isn't an overwhelming problem, as much of the plot is well thought out and planned for, the lack of meticulous care to the plot-line shows up at times and detracts from the story... but just a little bit.

More negative is the lack of logic in the characters. Other than a few (the obvious two, mainly), the majority of the characters are just plain stupid. This becomes overwhelmingly evident when, at times, the villain of the story could have been caught but isn't out of sheer luck.

However, the lack of logic isn't too overbearing, and the plot is mostly clean of any holes, so while it is a problem, it did not cause much of a backbite from my perspective.

On another note, one of the main pluses of Death Note is the suspense and twists/turns that the narrative presents. While the plot twists aren't extremely unexpected or anything of the like, the series does throw some curveballs and the battle between Light and L is such an engrossing cat and mouse chase that it is rather enticing to watch. To this day Death Note is the anime I have watched the fastest because I just couldn't stop reveling in the overall intensity and eccentricities of the story.

While not as heavy as something like Monster, Death Note has its fair share of thematic elements. Some of them are executed well (flaws of justice, legality of capital punishment, not so different heroes/villains) whereas some have some issues (power corrupts). It's unfortunate that the main theme is flawed, but because of the inconsistency and certain issues regarding it, the story comes off as more of a character study of a sociopath than anything else, which is completely fine but veritably inadvertent on the author's part.

CHARACTERS:

The most interesting point of discussion with Death Note, in my humble opinion, relates to the characters.

Let's start with Light Yagami. In order to avoid spoilers, I won't go into detail, but essentially my thoughts are as such: Light Yagami is a very good character, a very likable/detestable character depending on your perspective, and he is written extremely well in the story. However, his character development has an inherent flaw in that it is much too quickly paced. Now, this is unfortunate because it isn't indicative of bad characterization as it is seen that Light has some flaws before a certain event, but the characterization used directly contradicts some of the moral purports that the author wished to establish. In other words, the "power corrupts" theme is nullified by Light's characterization. To truly make Death Note top-notch, I personally believe that Ohba would have had to have made his development more gradual, but alas that did not happen.

Still though, I would like to clarify that, again, I really like Light Yagami and I believe he is written extremely well in the context, but there are some things I personally would have done differently with him.

And... well, that's pretty much it. While there are some other good characters (L, Ryuk, Matsuda) none of them stand out in my opinion as truly brilliant achievements. This is yet another reason why I treat Death Note as more of a character study than anything else, because the development undergone by other characters is next to none for the most part, and while they do have some semblance of depth, their inner workings aren't profound enough to validate themselves as anything special.

ANIMATION:

Death Note is truly a feat in itself when it comes to the quality of the animation. Despite being made some time ago, it still holds up marvelously well, even with the anime that is being made now. The color scheme is very... gray, but it works because of the tone of the series. It just feels ominous and torrid, which is quite fitting. The characters look fantastic, especially in moments of fear or emotion, and their movements are fluid and don't look fake.

SOUND:

Ah, here we go. My favorite OST of all time goes to Death Note. If you want to make something seem epic, go for the choir noises, and it paid off marvelously here. There are a plethora of tracks that are illusive and fantastic for every sort of melancholy, vehemence, excitement, etc. The first opening and ending are also great songs in my opinion, but the second opening is... bad. Somehow a lot of people like it though, so don't take my word for it.

As far as the voice acting goes, I've seen both the dub and the sub, and I personally prefer the dub but neither are bad choices. Brad Swaile does a phenomenal job with Light Yagami and L's voice actor (who escapes me at the moment) does as well, along with Brian Drummond as Ryuk. Besides those three in particular, everyone from Soichiro to Matsuda to Rem are played quite well, although the voice actress playing Misa Amane can be a little... jarring at times. You'll see what I mean.

OVERALL:

Death Note has flaws, as I have stated. However, these flaws are part of what is a high-quality anime to be sure. I recommend it.

We all know "those" anime fans, right? The ones who are so consumed with maintaining an aura of posh cognizance that they refuse to actually enjoy anime that are entertaining? The ones that get off by watching Evangelion reruns? Well, Monster has long been a critic's sweetheart of an anime, one that, to me at least, had a vibe strangely homologous to those anime that are supposedly chock-full of symbolism and that are constantly overrated by the "intellectuals" of the community.

And I am here to say that Monster, unlike many critical reverences, actually deserves all of its intense hype.

Monster is a morbid tale rooted in ... a reality that is all too grim and frighteningly realistic. The terrors seen in this world do not revolve around supervillains or magic. What begins as a series about a bright, upstart neurosurgeon with a seemingly impeccable life quickly resolves into a chilling narrative regarding the origin of evil, the value of human life, human experimentation, the morality of revenge, the possibility of redemption, the existence of true evil, and whether or not death is deserving for anyone. Yeah, a lot of heavy stuff, so I don't recommend Monster if you're planning to watch it halfheartedly.

But now, let's begin the actual review.

STORY:

The first thing of note is how complex the story of Monster really is. There is a multitude of layers to the narrative, and no layer is straightforward, but actually rather twisted and veering into many directions based on the motives and actions of the character roster. This is partially why the story has 74 episodes; typically only unnecessarily long Shonen anime are that lengthy, but here we are. Do not fear, though: the intricacy of the fiction is vastly entertaining and well-written.

Urasawa is a master of playing with the emotions of the audience to create immense sadness, unabashed terror, joyous happiness, and everything in between. And so, being a dark anime, one of the most enticing aspects of the anime is the almost Hitchcock-esque level of suspense created by the writing staff. Despite the nasty habit of switching to the outside of a building right as a gunshot is fired only to come back and find that nothing important happened, Urasawa carefully crafts a creeping fear that sneaks up on the audience. Something that aids in this tremendously is the fact that there is just enough substance to back up these moments of suspense, but many times it is a red herring of sorts. It constantly keeps you guessing and entertained to see what happens next.

Of course, the story isn't without its flaws. Despite its rather well-formed plot and lack of plot holes, there are a LOT of plot coincidences, and while they don't drive the story, they do compensate as lazy writing in order to connect all of the different clues and story points because there are just so damn many of them. Characters also sometimes display some... questionable logic (you're on the run, so it might be best to change your appearance/name), but overall the issues do not come close to overriding the brilliance in the narration.

The pacing of Monster is best described as a gradual (VERY gradual) blaze that eventually engulfs the audience as the story comes to a close. By no means is the slowness a negative, however; it allows the suspense to properly build while granting time for character and plot development at a high rate. As a disclaimer of sorts, if you have a short attention span, then this might be an adverse thing for you.

To close out the plot analysis, I want to talk about the very thing that I claimed pretentious cavaliers of anime fans loved the most: good old symbolism and themes! Well, as stated earlier in the review, Monster has a plethora of thematic statements (essentially the reasoning behind the story in the first place for those who are unfamiliar), and the majority of them are executed very well. I wasn't quite fond of one of them for nearly the entire story, but at the end I had an epiphany and I'd be happy to discuss further details by some other means, but a review is not the time or place for such a discussion as I have to keep this spoiler-free.

CHARACTERS:

In my humble opinion, Monster's most exceptional trait lies in the quality of its characters.

Because of the ample catalogue of characters, it would be quite simple to imagine that Urasawa, much like Tite Kubo of Bleach, would simply forget about some of them and thus make their importance to the overarching tale meaningless. However, that does not happen. Every character has a distinct role, and these roles both aid in the development/characterization of other characters as well as the deepness of the plot, and the end result is marvelous.

Johan Liebert is candidly my favorite character in any form of entertainment ever. EVER. I could go on for hours analyzing his characterization but, again, this is not the time or place. Kenzo Tenma, Heinrich Lunge, Nina Fortner, Wolfgang Grimmer, and the rest of the cast are distinctly behind him in my opinion (even putting my fanboy bias aside), but they are all written quite well and their interactions as a whole are impressive in their own right.

The minor characters are also something to be revered as they all have audible traits and flaws, many of which bring light to the fact that this world is very real and these characters could exist in our own world. Almost every character's inner motivations/demons/ideals and connectedness with others are something of admiration to be sure.

But the fact remains that great characters can only be great if the author knows how to treat them. Luckily for you all, Urasawa (for the most part) is phenomenal at giving his characters roles that fit their personalities and that fully take advantage of the characterizations he created. ESPECIALLY for the main villain, but elaborating further might create unnecessary spoilers.

The only thing that I don't particularly care for is that one of the characters is a Gary Stu. Now, there are reasons in the narrative behind this, but it is a bit off-putting.

ANIMATION:

Despite the fact that this anime is over ten years old, the quality of the animation is surprisingly high. The characters in particular are all uniquely designed and look wonderful; they fit their nationalities, age, and more and they all have distinct differences. Urasawa put much care into his designs. The way they react to situations, whether it be in happiness, sadness, fear, shock, etc all are reflected in gorgeous artwork.

The backgrounds deserve praise as well because they look absolutely magnificent. It is clear that this world has been designed with meticulous care and it really pays off in the end product.

SOUND:

The opening is a bit boring after a while (and it never changes), but it fits the tone of the story very well, and the ending (especially the full version) is quite eerie and is actually incredibly symbolic, which I thought was a nice touch. The soundtrack is somewhat small, but the vast majority of the songs are well-made and add to the "feel" and quality of the story. It is a very powerful score, particularly in tense moments and scenes of raw emotion.

The dub (which I watched) is one of the best that I have ever had the pleasure of seeing. In particular Heinrich Lunge, Johan Liebert, Kenzo Tenma, and Eva Heinemann are all played beautifully, and the dialogue is very well-acted.

OVERALL:

Monster is truly an oddity in anime, one that consistently lives up to the haughty expectations set by the critical populace. While it isn't perfect, I would not argue with anyone claiming that it is truly the magnum opus of Japanese animation.

Monster is my favorite anime of all time, and I recommend it to anyone.