It's hard for me to be objective about Sakurasou because I'm as target audience as it gets. It's like they asked me what kind of romance comedy anime I'd prefer to watch, and then made it to my specs,... almost. Pretty much every complaint I had had some sort of excuse to be found about it. All I can say is don't expect too much from the ending, it's the journey that matters here, not the destination, though that said, I did love the ending myself. Also note that this is adaptation of an unfinished novel series, while Toradora is an adaptation of a finished work. So naturally, one shouldn't expect an actual resolute ending in Sakurasou.
How do we know when romantic comedy is doing it right? When you're crying and laughing at the same time. Same as with Toradora, the animation, sound and visuals are very dynamic and in perfect harmony. Animation quality is just beautiful to look at, and character design is absolutely amazing, both visually and personality-wise, it has pretty much all the qualities that made Toradora great. Soundtrack and OPs/EDs are awesome. Voice acting is god tier.
How much you'll love this anime, depends on where you draw you disbelief line. It depends on your taste, and it will decide if you'll be annoyed by half of the stuff that happens or if you'll enjoy every second of it. Moe is god tier as well, I don't even know why. It took me 2-4 episodes to figure this anime out and really start enjoying it fully, so I'd say that the 3ep rule applies. I'm finding it incredibly difficult to compare this with Clannad and Haganai, as in which deserves a higher grade. Because Haganai is great in a totally different way, and it's been too long since I've seen Clannad for me to say anything for sure. Finally an anime that deserves as many episodes as it has, and doesn't waste a single one (again, kinda like Toradora in that regard).
After discussing this anime a lot with bobduh, I'd like to add that writing itself is not very good in Sakurasou, unlike in Toradora. But then again, neither is it in Clannad and yet it very much succeeds in it's goals of making the audience experience a huge range of emotions very effectively, and is famous for it. I argued that writing isn't everything there is to an anime, and that even with imperfect writing this is still a great anime overall. Still, it really depends on the following questions: are you romantic type, one that wants to be emotionally manipulated by the show, to be brought to tears. Are you willing to forgive its writing/narrative flaws to embrace and enjoy it in an intended way? If so, then it's an anime for you. Or in other words, if you liked Toradora and Clannad, chances are you'll love this. If you're very critical, and care mostly just for story, chances are you'll both love and hate this.
