This was my first real exposure to this genre.
I enjoyed Toradora. I enjoyed it more than I was expecting.
I thought the character development/progression was great and the story was compelling enough.
Story: 8/10
I don't watch many romance anime so I'm not sure how much common tropes it falls into. But it did not seem like a typical romance full of cliches.
The story takes place in a school environment so expect aspects of class life, festivals, holidays, trips, etc.
The plot felt a little slow at first. It felt like there would be an episode or two arc for a character's development and then take an episode or two break. It wasn't too terrible but some episodes felt like a drag.
The show really picks up after a certain event in the middle of the series. At that point, I really couldn't put down the series.
Art: 7/10
The art wasn't ugly. It was decent. Nothing really unique about it.
Characters: 8/10
The characters are developed quite well in this series. Each character has at least an arc where they get to shine.
Some of the characters start off static. However by the end of the series each character feels unique.
Ryuji and Taiga both start off as interesting characters and they never stop developing. I really enjoyed the two sides of Taiga. She comes off as a hot-head at the beginning. When she's around her love interest in the show she shows off her extremely shy personality. At the end of the series, you get to see the real Taiga.
I didn't like Minori at first. She grew on me. Her relationship and interaction with Taiga was very touching. She ended up being one of my favorite characters in the show.
Kitamura was pretty boring. He was very static up until the arc where he dyes his hair. After that he was a little bit better. As a whole he was still not that interesting and my least favorite of the main cast.
I do wish Ami was a bit more developed. She had a character arc near the beginning of the series, but seemed to drop off after that arc. I wish there was more that they did with her character. I heard from a friend that in the manga she has another arc which develops her further, which is a shame that they couldn't include it in the show. She still comes off as developed though.
One thing I could not stand was the Ryuji's mom and the bird. They both in my mind are terrible characters. I don't think they served a useful purpose. Almost every time they were on screen was terrible. Ryuji's mom only has a tolerable presence in the last episode, and that is not enough to redeem her.
They just irked me, and they are in enough episodes for this to affect my score in this area.
Sound: 8/10
The first OP is awesome. The background music is fitting. The ending for the first half is really good. The second OP and ending are alright, not as good as the first half though.
I watched the english dub, and everyone's voicework were excellent. No real complaints on the sound aspect.
Enjoyment: 8.3
I enjoyed the story and the characters in the series. Being that I typically do not watch romance anime, I didn't know exactly what to expect. I knew who the main characters would end up with, as I expect most will gather as well. However, I did not anticipate how they would end up to that point. There were plenty of twists and turns along the way.
My only gripe was the pacing. Some episodes felt slow. Nothing felt like filler, but certain episodes just weren't as enticing as others.
Pros:
+ Compelling story that avoids cliches
+ Strong character development
+ Genuinely funny at points
+ Touching moments
Cons
- Certain characters underused
- A few bad side characters
- Slow at points
