Anime Review - Toradora!

Christmas is only in about a few hours. And I thought; what better Christmas anime review than Toradora? Why? Because some of this anime's most important moments take place in winter and Christmas. Enjoy.

Toradora! is a 25 episode anime, which was animated by J.C. Staff, and with the following genres: Romance, Comedy, Slice of life, Drama, School. It is without any doubt, one of the best in its category. Out of the shows I have seen, the only one that surpasses Toradora! is Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo. But, even in its second place, it is a great show. It is funny, touching, beautiful and, at times, tears-bringing anime that should please all romantic comedy fans.

Story

Ryuuji Takasu, our main protagonist, is a normal high school student that many are afraid of. Why? Because of his eyes, and at times, creepy face, he is thought to be aggressive or a delinquent, even by the teachers, while he is actually a very good person. Only two students accept him as he is: his best friend, the intelligent and diligent, yet a bit strange, Yuusaku Kitamura and the super-energetic, crazy, cheerful and smiling Minori Kushieda, for whom Ryuuji has a huge crush. One day, as he is walking in the hallway, he is bumped into by Taiga Aisaka, the female protagonist - who is known as "Palmtop Tiger" due to her small size and violent attitude - who knocks him out with a punch, for not stepping aside. He later discovers that Taiga is in love with Yuusaku, after Taiga inadvertently puts an empty love letter into the wrong bag. After the misunderstanding cleared, and Ryuuji confessing to Taiga that he loves Minori - who is Taiga's best friend - they decide to help each other to get closer to the one they love and ultimately confess to them. Taiga lives alone in a spacious apartment right next to Ryuuji's house. As Taiga's house is a complete mess and Ryuuji is a cleaning freak, he decides to help her with cleaning and food, like friends. However, as time passes, Ryuuji and Taiga start getting closer and having feelings for each other, ultimately completely falling in love.

This show is actually a big nest of love interests, which is a great part of the slice of life and drama aspect of it. Although the idea is simple, the way it is done is just perfect. The romance is not pushed, the characters act accordingly to their feelings, logic and heart, and it builds up a beautiful and touching atmosphere that moved more than one. The drama is pretty deep and displayed well, especially since the characters do not react illogically, and their emotions get to us in a touching way.

As for the comedy, it is amazing. There were many scenes I was laughing out loud, and that's a good thing. The majority of the comical relief comes from Minori, but Yuusaku and Ami get their share; while the two protagonists are more for the romance dramatic aspect, even if all five played their part in both comedy and drama very well. The comedy was very relaxing between the dramatic scenes, and at the same time, it was making us feel at ease, while keeping the biggest dramatic and emotional parts for the last episodes.

As always however, no anime is totally perfect. Toradora had very few mistakes, but I still have to tell them. The one that stood out the most for me is that exact same drama. Even if it was very good, I felt like it was too pushed at some points. I felt that some dramatic scenes were far-fetched, thus making them unreal, while normally they would have felt completely possible. I mean, there are moments where there are dramatic scenes one after another, again and again, which made me feel like the show was doing too much, and as a result ruined a bit of it, making it look fake and impossible to happen to anyone ever. The second thing is that I would have liked the anime to show a bit of the past of the characters, especially the one of Ryuuji; and, most importantly, that they would have made 1-2 episodes of the close future (about 3 years later) of how all the characters lived after graduation and what they did. That would have been very interesting and enjoyable. But that's really it. This anime is so great that I don't have much bad things to say about it.

Characters

The characters in this show are amazing, well thought, with great personalities which made me eager to see them again and again. The chemistry of bonding and relationships was executed effectively, without any awkward feelings left behind. We have:

• Taiga Aisaka. Female protagonist and one of the best and most popular tsunderes. She is brutal, stubborn and negative at first, while being cute and beautiful, with an under-developed body. She is very bad at interacting with people, except with her best friend Minori. She is in love with Yuusaku, but doesn’t have the courage to confess to him. However, slowly after meeting Ryuuji, they quickly develop a friendship that will eventually turn into love, which is guessed from the very beginning.
• Ryuuji Takasu. The main guy of this show. He is a kind and self-sufficient 17 year-old boy, who has a bit too much of an obsession with cleaning, and whose eyes make him look like a delinquent, creating misunderstandings. He is best friends with Yuusaku and has a huge crush on Minori, but doesn’t have the courage to confess. He starts taking care of Taiga, because she is incompetent of doing it herself, and Ryuuji can’t stand it. He quickly starts having a strong bond with her, slowly approaching true love.
• Minori Kushieda. A cheerful, crazy, energetic and athletic girl who is Taiga’s best friend. She often does or says weird things, which make Taiga and Ryuuji usually wonder what she is even talking about. She often takes part-time jobs more like a hobby than for a living. Despite being air-headed at times, she is someone who cannot be fooled easily and is able to see through people’s real goals.
• Yuusaku Kitamura. The best friend of Ryuuji, he is a smart and, most of the time, serious boy who is in the top students of the school and is vice-president of the student council. However, he has, like Minori, an unusual personality, as he will sometimes follow her craziness or even do weird things on his own.
• Ami Kawashima. She is a beautiful, “kind” and “generous” girl who has worked as a model and is Yuusaku’s childhood friend. In reality, she is a spoiled and arrogant bitch, who sometimes toys with people for her enjoyment. There is a kind of reason for the 2 first, but it doesn’t change the fact she’s a bitch. She has developed unstable relationships with Taiga, Ryuuji and Minori, as they often argue and clash. She also develops some feelings for Ryuuji, later on.

There are, of course, other characters that have an important supporting role, like Ryuuji’s mother, the student council president, and the four friends. They all are enjoyable - even Ami – and they were created very well, with realistic personalities, facing real-life problems and how they react to them. We feel compassion for them, as we understand their decisions and what they go through. The atmosphere itself that they create is strong and attracts you to the show. The bonding between all characters is done in an amazing way, and we feel the intensity of it from the main characters.

Music

The music in Toradora was very good. Without being an audio masterpiece, the soundtracks were either giving me energy or making my feelings come out, most notably “Lost my Pieces”. They were fitting the show’s moments very well as they were emphasized. The ending songs were nothing special. The openings, however, were really nice, especially the first one: “Pre-Parade”, which was sung by the voice actresses of Taiga, Minori and Ami. The voice acting was executed well, too. Rie Kugimiya does once again a perfect job in the voice-acting of Taiga. Well-known Junji Majima, Yui Horie and Eri Kitamura voice Ryuji, Minori and Ami respectively, while Yuusaku is voiced by the less-known Hirofumi Nojima. Every one of the voices were matching the characters greatly, making them even better and attractive.

Animation

The animation of Toradora was done by J.C. Staff, famous for their previous works on Slayers, Shakugan no Shana and Zero no Tsukaima. Considering that, you already know that it is going to be good. It is not as amazing as ZnT or SnS, but it is a romantic comedy, which doesn’t need that much of an epic animation, so there’s no problem. It was nevertheless, done well, as it was smooth. The colors, without being super duper amazing, were matching the atmosphere of the scenes, being colorful when there is joy and comedy, and being darker when there is sorrow and drama. The characters were designed well and we see they put a great effort in the face expressions.

Final Verdict

Story: 8.9

Characters: 9.4

Sound: 8.2
Animation: 8.1

Enjoyment: 9.5

Total: 8.82

To sum up, Toradora is an amazing slice of life, romantic, drama, comedy anime, close to being a masterpiece, if it wasn’t for its over-pushed drama and medium animation. Toradora is my 5th favourite anime of all time, right now, and I would recommend it to anyone who doesn’t dislike romantic comedies. And for those who happen to be in that category, you should give it a try, since it is more unique than the others.

A very nice, enjoyable and entertaining show that makes our feelings come out a lot.

This ends my third anime review. I hope you enjoyed it. Feel free to comment, if you want to express your opinions. Thank you for reading.

And also, Merry Christmas everyone! :)

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