Toradora!
Story:
The story here is such a funny and pretty damn cute set up. We have our main character named, Ryuuji Takasu. He's an average 17 year young man who has a very scary looking face, all thanks to his father. He is a pretty normal guy who at first seems very bland and he even admits this himself. Until one day when accidentally ends up getting a love letter from a girl. This girls name is, Tiga Aisaka. She is a short tsundere girl with a major temper and consistently beats the living shit out of Ryuuji. She makes the mistake of giving Ryuuji her love letter which was actually for his friend, Yusaku Kitamura. Then, he tries to cheer her up showing her a bunch of crap he wrote to the girl that he likes who just happens to be Tiga's friend, Minori Kushieda. So in this very weird turn of events the two decide to help each other out. They try to hook each other up with the person that they're interested in. This is a very funny set up and that is one very strong point in the show, the show is very funny. It knows how to have fun with itself. It sets up so many situations in which hilarity can happen and you'll bet that they take full advantage of it. But that's not the only reason why this show is so damn good. It has to major points that are just so fleshed out so well that it was awesome. The romance and the drama. The romance is handled with so much care and treated in such a mature and very adult way that I was just enthralled by it. Every romantic and slightly romantic scene are not just put in to give the fans some sense of "aww isn't that cute?". No all of these scenes play into the overall story and end up shaping and molding each and everyone of the main and side character. The romance knows what it's trying to achieve and just it needs to do to achieve those goals. But the main focus and the main draw of this show is the drama. It is just chalk full of drama from every corner of the screen! It deals with what it means to be in love, how to deal with a dysfunctional family, how to be true to yourself as a person, what the future has in stored for us and if we can really know what the future will be like, and finally my favorite subject tackled in the show. What it means to grow up. This shows is in all conceivable way a coming of age story between all of our main characters. They all have their own personal problems and even more so we see just how they grow from those problems because everyone in this show is pretty much a child. It is such a well written and well executed anime that I was just so satisfied afterwards. Story is a definite win in this case.
Animation:
Now this show knows how to do animation! The animation quality in this show is very good. Character designs look very nice and all the characters had very different and distinct looks from one another. You should also not underestimate this show quality in animation when it needs to amp up the quality. When ever a truly dramatic scene happens the show art style almost changes completely with not only the character's looks and expressions. But they goes as far as to animate their hair moving wildly due to their frantic moving or every twitch and little movement of their body to even straight up body language alone. This show just knows how to use it's animation to the fullest of qualities and it is so beautiful to see as it really is a treat for the eyes.
Music:
Damn this show has a good soundtrack. Now while there isn't a lot of tunes in the show I will say that it was at least very smart in how and when it would use it's songs. Unlike Fruits Basket in which it would just play the same sad song over and over and then save it's other sad song for the end, Toradora doesn't do this. It uses it's song it small bursts from time to time. The show also uses no sounds to really get the weight of the moment then would end it with a piece of a much lager song. But it doesn't play the whole song so that it isn't overplayed. Also all of the songs just did a great job at helping the scenes that they where accompanying. It really grabbed the viewers attention when it needed to. Music here was such an amazing addition to the show and it really pushed it up a notch in it's overall quality.
Characters:
These characters are just great. In some shows you'll have a good amount of likable characters and sadly have some unlikable ones as well. But in Toradora they do the best job in expressing all of these character's personalities and telling you why they are the way are in a very good fashion. None of these characters are shallow, boring, or even one note, there is a reason to everything that they do and it's handled oh so well. You also have a lot of time to grow along with these characters so you never feel like you missed anything. You never feel like there was some big change of heart that happened off screen. You follow all of the characters from start to finish and you feel like they come off as real people that you'd meet in high school. Like I said before when this show starts off all of the characters are kids and by the end it feels like they have grown into adults that can take on this new world ahead of them. You also have the romance between the two main characters, Ryuuji and Tiga. This romance is also given a lot of time to grow as well. You see as they start off as partners the into friends and then eventually into lovers. It is such a beautiful moment when they finally do become a couple because the moment is earned. The whole show just builds and builds up to this moment that when it finally happens you just feel a huge wave of emotions over because you just went on a journey with these characters that now you're happy that it has a great payoff. Characters are handled really well here and I think I've said enough about that.
Nitpicks:
I really only have one little nitpick here and as I said it's really little. The character Ryuuji kinda comes off as an idiot a lot of the time in the show. Now this is all part of his character development but at times I will say that he just seemed like a dumb ass. He kinda never got hints like at all. I mean seriously if you were a girl and you held a big ass sign over your head that said "Do me right here and now you fool!" he'll probably just look at you and say what with the sign or something like that. I was kinda funny to see him completely miss the point but that pretty much it when it comes to my nitpicks.
Overall:
So the question now is: should you watch this show? The answer is a big fat fucking yes. Toradora is a great anime that should not be ignored especially if you are a romance fan. The romance is just amazing and the message of growing up is is done so damn well that it would be a shame is you miss out on this wonderful anime. So check it out like right now!
Arcane Reviews gives Toradora a 9.5 out of 10.
You can watch "Toradora!" on:
Cruchyroll (Sub Only) Note: You do need a Premium Membership to watch past episode 6.
Hulu (Sub Only)
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