Ladies and Gentleman, the Rom-Com you've all been waiting for. The love story other anime only WISH they could tell. I give you, Toradora.
Now look, I know none of you are dumb. So I know that when you read the little summary of the series you know what it's about and have an obvious idea of what will happen. You've got the kindhearted but unfortunately "evil faced" Ryugi, who all he wants is for people to not view him as a delinquent. And then you have the feisty, adorable, brutal little Taiga. These two happen to cross paths by LITERALLY crossing paths, ending in Ryugi getting knocked on his butt by Taiga's fist. Now it just so happens the two are both in love the the best friend of the other, so they make the agreement to help each other get with the ones they love. And of course as you can guess the more time they spend together the closer they grow and their relationship develops... etc.
Ok here's where I do that thing everyone does and separates my review into sections and stuff...
Art
I'm not an artist so I can't give you some pro critique, I thought it looked great and it never came off as "bad" to me. In fact I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Sound
Also not my area of expertise. I gotta say I love the OPs and EDs to this series. I catch myself humming them sometimes. So that's a good thing in my book. As for the rest of the music it blended right in and never took away focus from the show so...I guess that means it did its job right?
Story
Excellent. This show's pacing and plot were great. I absolutely loved everything about it, The journey the writer takes these 5 characters on in 25 episodes is beautiful. Now when I say journey I don't mean an actual adventure (obviously). I'm referring to an emotional journey. The growth of these characters in their friendship with each other. The depth behind each of their choices, their feelings... it's unrivaled.
Also I'd like to throw in that being that this is a romantic comedy. While it is in fact focused more on the romance it is NOT without good humor. This IS a funny show. Ryugi and Taiga play off each other perfectly, providing great wit and funny antics between them.
Character Development
my god...I mean... wow.
Each of the five main characters to this show are unique, beautiful, and perfect. The writer begins with making them out as 5 of the main cookie cutter character types: the "average guy", the feisty tsundere, the "weirdo" girl, the student council member, and the shallow b****. I can't explain in depth each and every character so I'm gonna give one of my favorite examples in this show.
Ami (the Shallow B****)
When we are first introduced to Ami she is a whiny, selfish...you know what, disguising herself as a sweet ultra ditzy girl so that everyone will like her. Now of course she only shows her true evil colors to the main characters, thus revealing her "fakeness". Totally easily hate-able character right? However she comes to grow so much throughout the course of the story that she eventually becomes one of the most genuinely honest and real characters in the show, to the point she actually forces other characters to be more honest with themselves.
It was really awesome to see such a change in the main characters as the show progressed.
Oh and sorry if i'm "spoiling" anything... I really don't think I am though.
This show is wonderful in every way. The writer of Toradora took the lives and deepest emotions of 5 teens and just laid them out for us all to see. It's as if he was saying "Do you understand how they are really feeling right now?... Well I'm gonna make damn sure you do." And boy did he, ever so spectacularly.
Do you like good romance? do you like SO FREAKING WELL developed characters? Do you like feeling emotionally attached to an anime? Then Toradora is the anime for you.
