The story, to be honest, is nothing really special. It's definitely not bad, but it works. You can tell from the beginning that the characters will end up together, and there are some other elements that are pretty predictable, but generally, it's not particularly cliché at all. I found the art definitely above average. Probably not one of my all-time favourites in that department, but it's still very pretty, and the art style is fairly nice.
The characters are what got me. None of them are excessively original or anything, but even the most archetypal characters (let's face it, Taiga is the definition of tsundere, pretty much exactly and all the time) get good amounts of character development that's generally relevant and interesting, and manages to not be particularly predictable while not ever being out of character entirely.
Long story short; Toradora isn't revolutionary, but I don't generally like romantic comedy-ish anime, and I still like it a lot. If it is your kind of anime, you'll probably love it. If not, well... if you're seriously considering to watch it, you probably should. Provided you give it a chance, you probably won't dislike it.
