This is all my opinion. If you like this show, great! But I did not like the second half. This is fully personal/subjective. I am fully prepared to get rekt for this review. Have at you, lovers of Toradora!
To start, the story. SPOILERS!
TL:DR; A boy named Ryuuji with slanty evil eyes meets a girl named Taiga who breaks into his house and attempts to murder him brutally with a wooden sword in order to keep her crush on his best friend a secret. Hilarity ENSUES!
Yeah. That's the spoiler-free version. Continuing, Ryuuji has a crush in TAIGA'S best friend. They attempt to help each other with the romantic pursuits of each other's best friends, but end up falling in love with each other. Shocker. it's not like the ending is LITERALLY THE TITLE, ELIMINATING ALL ELEMENT OF SURPRISE, but I digress. This was a romantic comedy, and was actually funny for about 15ish episodes. Then it turned into a soap opera. A very annoying one. The only reason I didn't drop this show after the stupid shit started happening was the surprising amount of bitch fights. Like when Taiga attempted to murder some chick with a sword for not being in love with her (ex?)crush. Good times.
Art: No complaint.
Sound: The first OP was like the first half of the show; fun, bouncy and very addictive. The second OP was kinda meh, but with a good beat. The OST was forgettable. The voice acting was great. Props to Taiga's voice actor for being able to be a sociopathic monster in a perfect way.
Character: I have been waiting to write THIS section. I'll start with Ryuuji. WHY THE FLYING FUCK DID YOU GIVE UP MINORI FOR TAIGA YOU DUMBASS??!?!??! He is literally an angel, but he is too DAMN STUPID FOR MY LIFE. How can such a nice person have such shit taste? You could have had a nice girl, like MINORI, but no. You choose HER. There's dense, and this fucker is a black hole. DEAR LORD save me from male harem-leaders.
Now Taiga. HOW ON EARTH DOES ANYONE LOVE HER? I may be biased against tsunderes naturally, but even that could NOT distract me from the fact that she is just a bad person. In the first episode, she fucks up her confession, and stalks Ryuuji to his house, breaks in and TRIES TO KILL HIM WITH A SWORD. HAVE I MENTIONED THIS. CALM YO CALAMITIES, CRAZY. And then for the rest of the show she verbally and physically abuses Ryuuji, and nearly EVERYONE around her. Her tsun level is freaking over 9000. Off the charts. I have yet to see her redeeming trait in the entire show. Lets count off; she's friends with Minori, and steals the boy she likes because FUCK HER apparently, she constantly abuses Ryuuji until he gets fucking Stockholm syndrome apparently, because I don't know how he fell for her unless he's a super masochist, she KNEES her dad in the nuts, refuses to talk to her mom because FUCK HER TOO, and is a general all around bitch. I honestly cannot see why people like her, because I CANNOT STAND HER. Her level of tsun can only be eclipsed by Louise from The Familiar of Zero, but not for lack of trying. Taiga is a character whom I cannot like. I hate her so much. She is essentially why I hated this show.
The other characters, were ok. I loved Kitamura (being voiced by the Bosch may have done that) and Minori was awesome. Ami was mildly interesting, too. That bird pissed me off tho.
Overall; I didn't hate this show. Actually, I really liked the firsthalf. It was like an 8. It kept me laughing, and I anticipated each new episode with joy. When it was clear that the show was no longer a comedy, I hated it. It was so freaking melodramatic I could not bear to watch. I finished the show out of completionism and a vague glimmer of hope that the show would redeem itself. (It didn't) The second part of the show was like a 2 for me. Average it out, and we got a score of 4. But I'll give it a six because watching Taiga get punched in her bitch face during that bitch fight deserves 2 points.
Ok, with that off my chest, come at me, fanboys/girls.
