Toradora! is currently the best anime I've ever watched.
And this is coming from somebody who originally didn't even care for the genre.
The outcome of the story becomes obvious straight away (or at least fairly soon in the plot), but this is more about the 'how' than the 'what'.
And the 'how' is done almost perfectly.
The opening six episodes do everything to drag you in to the story and soon after, the 'feels' take over.
You will grow attached to the characters and constantly want to know what happens next.
But despite that, there are no over-dramatic cringe scenes present.
This show just manages to make the mundane brilliant. All the dramatic scenes have a build up and a pay-off. It is just a well flowing, excellently paced show.
Art and sound won't break any records, but they don't need to.
They do their job and do it well.
The character designs are consistent and make sense, the scenery is just beautiful - even when depicting everyday environments.
And the soundtrack just works.
The music is perfectly timed in every scene to give you the full effect.
And both OPs and EDs are catchy, even though I preferred the first set of them to the last.
Characters are very developed and likeable. All of the main cast are twists on a common character archetype.
This turns clichéd shells of characters into well developed, sympathetic and truly alive characters that drive the story forwards.
If you happen to dislike some of the main cast then your enjoyment might suffer, but the chances of that happening a minuscule due to the brilliant writing.
So I enjoyed this anime a lot, and I would recommend it to almost anime watcher - even one unfamiliar with the genre. It also serves as a great way for people who are new to anime to start watching.
