P.S- sorry but this review is kinda long so...
Story: 10/10
The story revolves primarioy around Taiga and Ryuji. Ryuji loves Taiga's best friend and Taiga love Ryuji's best friend. And so they decide to help each other in their quest to attain the love of those who they each love. Simple right? Nope. Taiga can be described using most, if not all of the following words; psychotic, dangerous, insane, selfish, demanding, and brutal, despite her extremely small stature (she's only 5 foot 5 inches tall!!). On the other hand Ryuji is a kind, gentle, and caring boy whose eyes resemble those of someone who wants to hurt you and who has a compulsive desire for everything to be orderly and hygienic. If the joining of two such personalities in the same quest of love isn't enough for you to be interested, then keep reading. Otherwise, go watch the first episode and I swear you will not be disappointed.
The first episode of Toradora is one of my favourite, if not my favourite, first episodes of any anime I've watched. It does an extremely good job of introducing your two main characters and it does so in a pretty hilarious fashion. But what I like most about this anime is that the quality of episode never really declines at all after the first one. The quality stays at a consistently high level throughout the entire anime. Eventually you meet all the other characters such as Taiga's love Yuusaku, Ryuji's love Minori, the fake face bitch Ami, and the assortment of other interesting and funny supporting characters.
What I love so much about this story is that nothing exciting really ever happens in the lives of these students compared to other anime I have watched. Toradora uses seemingly simple everyday tasks and happenings to develop each character and their respective relationships with the other characters extremely well. However, having said that, each of the main characters aside from Ryuji have their own mini story arcs, whereby each character gets a little bit more screen time than they usually do. Unlike other anime I have seen like Kanon or Clannad, each arc doesn't place a complete focus on a single character but instead includes all the other characters. On top of that each arc contributes heavily to the overall story and it makes for a much more memorable watching experience.
Now there are only two real small problems that I have with this anime and honestly, they are are really small problems so they night not affect your watching experience.
First of all, I may just sound like I'm cocky but after I had finished the first episode, I knew what the outcome of the anime would be. However having said that, I would like to quote one of the Earth Kingdom nomad performers from Avatar: The Last Airbender; "going to a destination is not about the destination but rather about the going". I've been waiting to apply this quote to an anime for a long time and I finally got my chance. I knew what the outcome was going to be but it in no way lowered the quality of my watching expereince. Despite knowing what was going to happen, I still loved every moment and every scene this anime had to offer me. And even when the anime had reached its brilliant conclusion, one of which I had already known, I could not prepare myself for the emotions I felt in the final episode. However, having said that, I have to say that the anime did an earn extremely good job of convincing me that the outcome I had predicted was not going to be the case and at times during the anime, my confidence in the outcome I had predicted waned quite a bit, almost to the point where I completely scrapped my idea of what was going to happen.
Secondly, *this is about the ending and despite the fact there are no spoilers I understand some people may not want to know anything about the ending so please skip this paragraph if you are on of these people* the final five or so minutes of the anime completely ripped my heart out and went on to mend it extremely quickly. After finishing Toradora, I just felt like too much was packed into the final few minutes. Despite, brilliant and emotion-evoking dialogue, I feel as though the final five minutes would've been better should there have been extra episode. Five minutes to rip out my heart and mend it just didn't seem like enough to satisfy me.
Characters - 9/10
I've already touched on the characters in the story category so I will be a bit more brief here. Every single character in this anime was unique and likeable, at least in my opinion. I've already described Taiga to you and honestly, she is the selling point for the show in the first few episodes. If you don't like girls with personalities like Taiga's, then you may not like this anime or the first few episodes may be a bit rough for you. However, as previously mentioned, I said that the character development and the development of their relationships is done extremely well in Toradora. This is particularly evident with Taiga. As the story begins to uncover the softer side of her personality and reveal more about her past, you start to see a Taiga that you may be more accustomed to.
My single flaw with the characters in this anime is Ami. I may have previously said that each character is developed extremely well and Ami is no exception. However, her screen time decreases quite a bit as the anime progresses and this disappoints me quite a bit. As a result her character development becomes stunted and she is reduced to the role of "observer" and occasionally she gets a few lines here and there; however many of these lines often go unheard by other characters and the final scene in which she says anything meaningful and worth contributing to the story is cut short and ultimately had no impact on me.
Art: 10/10
The art in Toradora is nothing too special... when it doesn't want to be. However, when the anime wants to display a beautiful sunset, a wintry night, or a Christmas tree that is the life of the party, this anime can be extremely beautiful.
Sound: 10/10
Don't even get started on the OSTs in Toradora. They are brilliant. The openings and closings are catchy and I honestly really like them. Toradora'so closings are some of the few closing that I ever bothered to watch more than once because I just really liked them. There is also the Christmas song performed by Taiga and Ami which I loved despite only having listened to it once.
As for background music, it does an absolutely splendid job of amplifying the moods and emotions associated with their respective scenes. I have to give special mention to the OST or OSTs which started before a comedic moment. As soon as they we started I would always have a big grin on my face, ready to start laughing when the moment came and I feel as though this had a huge impact on the fact that I actually found Toradora absolutely hilarious. Similarly, the OSTs during sad moments also amplified the feels that I felt, particularly one which I cannot really pinpoint, otherwise I would need to spoil one of the anime's greater moments. It nearly made me cry listening to it outside of the anime.
The voice acting in the dub version (which is what I watch so deal with it) was brilliant. Taiga was nailed perfectly in my opinion, especially given the fact that her character must be an absolute handful to voice act. I also want to mention Ami's voice actor who was able to switch between bitch Ami and nice Ami extremely smoothly, and Minori's voice actor who gave so much life to a character who's ideals and beliefs are bigger than life itself. There isn't much I can really say about the other voice actors. They did fine jobs in their respective roles and none of the characters ever felt bland or out of place due to their voice acting.
Enjoyment: 11/10 (rounded down to 10/10)
I've never been much of a romance or comedy type of guy, opting instead for action and adventure. But Toradora captured my imagination and my heart only a few episodes into the series, landing it a place on my top 5 favourite anime of all time, possibly even my favourite. It was a viewing experience of the highest quality and I storngly, strongly, strongly recommend this anime to just about anyone, whether they are a fan of romance and comedy or not.
I hope I helped you make a decision in whether you want to watch Toradora or not. Feedback is much appreciated!
Edits: The name of the Christmas song is Holy Night and the sad song is Lost My Pieces should you want to check them out before starting the anime.
