However, after a rocky beginning I actually began to enjoy watching Taiga and Ryuuji. Ryuuji is more functional than most adults, doing all the cooking and cleaning for his mom who comes home late from her job as a cocktail waitress and sleeps most of the day. Ryuuji finds another dependent in Taiga, whom he feeds and launders for on a daily basis. He discovers her living amongst dirty dishes and garbage after entering her unlocked apartment to wake her up and make her breakfast. What’s important here is Ryuuji isn’t just a caretaker to Taiga, he represents something she’s never had, a person who genuinely cares about her and accepts her for who she is. He's a surrogate parent, which will be incredibly significant as we learn more of her backstory. He doesn’t complain that Taiga’s a mess, he just helps her pick it up and she slowly improves. This relationship does have some kind of benefit for Ryuuji as well, though it's far from ideal for him.
He seems to derive enjoyment from taking care of the dysfunctional Taiga, and given his relationship with his mother, who's equally bad at taking care of herself, it's very understandable that he's okay with it, he's used to it after all. But not only is their relationship is entirely one-sided, Ryuuji deals with being verbally and physically abused by Taiga constantly, aggression can definitely be attractive in a girl, but there's a difference between being aggressive and abusive. As part of their agreement, Taiga calls him a dog and commands him to do whatever she wishes... and he agrees. I guess he just really, REALLY wants Kushieda, and somehow plotting schemes with the diminutive and violent Taiga seems a better idea to him than simply talking to somebody he's already friends with. It's not like Kushieda's distant with him either, she bubbly, confident, and provides Ryuuji multiple opportunities to get closer to her, hell, they get locked in a storage room together for hours. At this point the overbearing use of cliches started to make me believe Toradora! was a satire, but given the amount of melodrama I'm pretty sure that it's takes its romance seriously. However, it’s important to remember that it’s Kushieda he’s interested in, so it’s not like the show is trying to force TaigaxRyuuji down your throat, they’re simply spending time together, so Ryuuji maintaining Kushieda as a love interest helps the story feel somewhat believable, despite Taiga’s abuse.
As the plot continues to carve its destructive path, Ami is introduced, and with her, more opportunities for "contract" agreements that force characters to be in the same place together despite their apparent misgivings. I'm not sure if Ryuuji is aware that he isn't legally bound by the results of immature high school contests. In any case, the writers continue to create contrived situations that force character interactions that would not otherwise happen.
I liked both Ryuuji and Taiga, despite the unbelievable circumstances that make up their character development. I stated before Ryuuji enjoys cooking and cleaning and is very good at both of them, this detail is the precipitating factor for most of their interactions. Taiga is pretty helpless when it comes to household tasks and Ryuuji provides those services to her. Despite the horribly unrealistic circumstances I felt that Taiga and Ryuuji actually acted in reasonable ways for the most part. Taiga beats Ryuuji frequently but it's clear that she actually does like spending time with him. They're both laughably bad at pursuing their romantic interest but that's pretty typical of high schoolers so it's hardly surprising.
Kushieda is obnoxiously positive. She shares many traits with Ryuuji including domestic competence and is very hard working. I'm sure you've all encountered that person in high school who magically balanced multiple jobs, sports, and school, all while staying unusually cheery. Most of the time she was on screen I just found her really annoying, she's just WAY too positive, there is such a thing. I don't think she was necessarily a bad character, just not the type of character I liked and I wasn't remotely invested in her. I didn't care if Ryuuji made in success in pursuing her because 1. Taiga the obvious romantic interest so you know that nothing's going to happen anyway, and 2. because Ryuuji was such an idiot when it came to trying to win her over that I wanted him to fail. She also becomes the source of more forced drama later on, making it even harder to take seriously and threatening to ruin ending.
Kitamura is the man. At first you get the impression that he's the stereotypical "obvlivious anime male highschool student" but he has his own agenda, and it plays out in spectacular fashion. You have not seen a love confession until you’ve seen Kitamura. To be fair, his arc’s only purpose is to help make TaigaxRyuuji a thing, it also results in a fantastic sword fight, but he’s still pretty funny to watch.
Kawashima is introduced later and is absolutely fantastic. She’s far more mature than the rest of the cast due to growing up as a model in the “adult” world, but is stunted in some ways by her air of superiority. Her development was the best part of the show and creates some of the only believable drama between characters. Her conversations with Ryuuji are similarly realistic, they are rarely on the same page but it’s clear to the audience what she’s trying to tell him, which makes their interactions much easier to understand, why Kawashima finds Ryuuji interesting etc.
The biggest mark against the show is that it’s totally drowned in melodrama. Taiga overreacts in ways the get old fast, and the forced pathos ruins the genuinely emotional moments in the show. I need to emphasize this, there were truly some great emotional moments. The Christmas episode with the bear costume (you’ll know it when you see it) [i]almost[/i] caused me to shed a tear, a feat that only Grave of the Fireflies is capable of, but because of the melodrama surrounding most of the show, these scenes lose their effect. Of course, there’s also the incredibly contrived situations (See accidentally overheard conversations/confessions) that bring these scenes about, which doesn’t help.
The production quality was fairly good, I liked the character designs and the animation quality was impressive at times and never bad. Nothing else about its artwork or animation stood out but that’s not terrible in a romcom. The OST was kind of forgettable but does add a lot to the emotion in certain scenes and I wasn’t a fan of the OP/EDs.
Toradora! certainly isn’t bad. Despite its issues it delivers an heartfelt romance with well-defined characters, but the frustration with its asinine story telling was enough to outweigh most of the positive aspects. If you like melodrama, you’ll probably like Toradora!.
One final note, the ending is talked about incessantly, and it is very good. Many complain that it was rushed and didn't explain things well enough, but if you pay attention to the character’s values and motivations, you shouldn’t need the writers to spoon feed you Taiga’s reasons for why she did what she did. Just make sure you watch the last episode all the way through, past the credits and everything.
