My biggest problem with most romances I have seen is when two characters love each other on the very first episode... for seemingly no reason at all. You get no explanation of why they love each other nor do you see the feelings develop. The romance is basically just thrown in your face and the girl almost looks like she's fawning over some guy she thinks is hot or vice verse with a guy fawning over a hot girl.
Toradora, however, does not do this.
The series starts off rather light-hearted and enjoyable; in fact, there are even some jokes thrown in that I actually did laugh at. The two main characters - Ryuuji and Aisaka - both have a love interest and Ryuuji is friends with Aisaka's, while Aisaka is friends with his. Because of this, they decide to team up to win the affection of the ones they love. So overall it sounds like your typical romantic comedy, but as the series progresses you actually see the main romance in the series progress and you can actually understand why the two characters fall in love.
Later on in the series there was some pointless drama and there were a few other things I didn't like about the series, which prevents me from rating this series a 10. However, this series has a great story, great animation, and a lot of other things which make this story enjoyable, which makes me feel this series a 9/10.
