The story is great - the two reasons I can think of to complain is perhaps the beginning, where the railroad into the awkward relationship seemed a bit too weird, and the resolution, which seemed to be slightly too abrupt and then open-ended. Otherwise, never really breaks the suspension of disbelief at any time - one of the most natural animes I have seen in quite a long time. The producers managed to weave everything in quite smoothly and develop things at just the pace so that it drags on enough to make you want more rather than hitting you in the face with 1501816 things. Quite deserving score of 9.
Art is very good. Cute things are cute, ecchi things are ecchi, pleasing and again, smooth to the eye and fits the anime well. But from now on I'll try to reserve 10s for masterpieces that I pause for 30 seconds to gape at, so this gets a very, very high 9.
Sound pretty much the same as above. OP 1 VERY nicely done, OP 2 not bad at all. ED 1 was great, not as good as OP 1, but better than ED 2. Again, high score of 9.
Slight, gentle humor was there, but you don't need the humor so much in the anime to enjoy it. Emotional enjoyment was over the top and depth was very very good for a mundane (that is, no "beam of friendship" or "power of heart" fantasy ending kind of thing) school anime. Toradora really knows how to get subtle messages and tensions across, as well as to showcase the abruptness and muddled nature of people. Half the talk/exposition of, say, Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu (both seasons), ten times the impact. Definitely a 10 for enjoyment.
The characters of Toradora by themselves would redeem the anime if nothing else was satisfactory - ridiculous cast of characters and depth, up to the point where I didn't know who I wanted to ship as couples and how until a month after I saw it. It's one of the few harems that are not only ridiculously good but also wielded EXCELLENTLY by the story. The protagonist acts pretty well - he's not so much STUPID (unlike many other characters) as much as he is in denial of a lot of things (or sometimes he denies himself...) The other characters are also very heartwarming, especially when their mini-mini-stories get unfolded. Finally, the harem itself is ridiculous - there's a reason why Toradora couple shippings are very even relative to other animes (e.g. Rosario+Vampire is mainly taken over by Inner Moka and Mizore fans). Taiga is self-explanatory as a Tsundere Wonder, but Minorin, as the genki-but-not-so-shallow-selfless-girl, and Ami, as the deep, plot-moving girl that so many people (including myself) want to ship with the main character, don't give any ground in the story. In fact, Toradora ep. 14 is an episode that by itself, boots the anime into a whole new level just by developing the relationships as they would work out in real life. This is how nicely the characters are set up. As much as we'll rage on not getting our pairing because of the stupid canon, nobody can deny the quality of any of the characters. Gets an easy 10.
It was very moving - hardships without undergoing something ridiculous like a car accident, love tensions you would have a hard time cutting with a knife WITHOUT an entire episode of something stupid like the main character being witnessed holding hands, and a warmth that comes not from some fake cheery high-five ambiguous harem good ending, but because of the nature of how the characters are and how they're brought together. Definitely a 10 in my book, and it should definitely be watched at least once through.
