Anime has a serious habit of avoiding straight forward romance like the plague, and when they do decide to make an effort to create something that is completely centered around two characters and their romantic relationship together something always goes wrong. I like to think it's some mysterious phenomenon that occurs when a studio tries to bravely veer away from the harem genre.
If you, a savvy anime fan, have been in the community for any extended period of time or have an affinity for romance, then you have probably heard people praising Toradora as one of their favorite shows or the best romance anime. And while the show isn't the garbage some claim, I do believe that people's opinions are biased towards it given the existence of a straight forward romance anime is extremely rare.
For the most part, as expected, there really isn't a true plot to the show. (only small couple episode arcs to develop characters) The plot given isn't really a plot so much as a display of the character's ever changing relationship. This is where the majority of Toradora's strengths and weaknesses derive. Each and every character is created with a visible love put into them. You can tell that the team behind his spent the majority of its time in this department, making sure that each character gets their fair share of backstory and development so each character feels like a real person... for the most part. The only character that stays stagnant is the male lead. He never really changes and unfortunately comes out by the end of the show looking like any other harem/romance "milk-toast, Yuji-every lead" (digibro, the Asterisk War Sucks part 1). Regardless of most of the characters feeling like they could exist in a 3d world, there are still plenty of moments in Toradora where their reactions to situations and interactions with each other can feel unnatural and as if they only take place to create conflict. (which they do)
Some of the moments can make you cringe at how sappy they can get and only become more intrusive as the show carries on. It sometimes feels like it just has absolutely no subtlety. (The ending to the show comes off as particularly awkward and rushed.)
Toradora sports the same rainbow colored characters designs and general visual aesthetic that we have come to expect from any lightnovel adaptation, and the soundtrack is pretty average too aside from the first opening.
Overall, I don't think that you should get your hopes up too high for this one. As a romance story in general it isn't really anything special, but I can still recommend this to anyone who has been searching for a straight forward romance in their medium of choice.
Anecdote: Please do not message me with blind hate, though I am interested in and open minded to, any sound arguments that you may have.
Have a nice day,
CaptainOrdinary
