Reviews

Jun 30, 2022
Spoiler
It is baffling to me how popular Toradora was during the late 00s/early 10s while being this highly rated. This show is up there in popularity with the KyoAni shows at the time, and right now it is 18th on MAL. Whoever did the marketing for this show deserves a raise.

The premise and the main arc of the two protagonists is one which has happened many times in romance stories, so there isn't anything unpredictable there. However, the path this show takes to get there is frustratingly confusing. Initially it seems like a fairly upbeat comedy and that Taiga's aggressive behaviour is more "cartoon logic" than real. However, after a few episodes it becomes clear that Taiga is literally beating up people (and attempts to murder someone later on) with no real consequences for her actions. The upbeat nature of the show also disappears and is replaced with an incredibly slow, drawn out drama. Interactions between these characters becomes increasingly centered around something dramatic rather than just building on their relationships and seeing them interact.

Since the show decides to follow the drama, this leads to many stupid situations in the second half of the show. It gets to the point where I start questioning why these people even hang out with each other since they don't seem to have any fun doing it. This continues all the way to the ending where the show completely ditches reality and we see our protagonists making the strangest decisions when the simplest ones would have sufficed. This is made worse by the fact that we really don't learn much about these characters before they make these decisions. The supporting cast also make confusing decisions such as deciding they like someone when we've barely seen them interact. By the end of the show I'm not even sure if any of these people should be friends, and they're all talking about how they like/liked each other and how sad it made them. All I know is that if this was real life, Ryuji would have moved on to one of the many girls who apparently seem to like him during the show's ending. Also, any of these relationships would have a high chance of failure.

There are plenty of better romance shows out there, especially now with the explosion of anime recently. Don't bother with this one.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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