Plot:
Despite being a nice guy, Ryuuji Takasu's eyes make him look like an intimidating delinquent. Class rearrangements on his second high school year put him together with his best friend, Yusaku Kitamura, and his hidden crush, Minori Kushieda. Along with these two comes Kushieda's best friend, Taiga Aisaka. Her appearance contrasts with her violent personality. Secretly in love with Kitamura, Taiga agrees to help Ryuji with his love interest as long as he helps her get closer to hers.
I've been wanting to watch Toradora for a long time, probably since 2014. It's easily the most popular romance anime out there, and while romance isn't exactly my genre of preference, I do give the benefit of the doubt to any and every anime out there. It dropped on Netflix recently, and I didn't have anything else to watch, so I just started it. What makes Toradora so good is not the story, which is plain, or the characters, who can be cliched, it's the execution of the story, and the break-neck speed it goes with respect to its pacing, at least compared to other Rom-Coms. Throughout the series, it's pretty apparent that while the pacing itself is fast, the romance between each character slowly develops so we are not just hit out of the blue about a character developing feelings about someone, it becomes obvious who has a thing for whom as more and more episodes pass, which is one of the series' great strengths.
One thing that still holds up with respect to this anime is the animation. It's animated really, really well, and can be compared to the better animated entries in recent times. Not a lot of sakuga, I mean this isn't a Bones show, nor is it needed cuz it's a Rom-Com after all, but there's a ton of movement with the characters. You'll never notice any still frames, the characters are always in motion. The background art can be a bit plain and dull, but I didn't really care about that, because of the great character animation. The sound is nice, but not exactly memorable. But I love the first OP and ED. They were sung by the voice actors of the characters themselves, and it's really really memorable. Can't say the same about the second OP and ED because I didn't get a chance to listen to them as much. The series can also be pretty funny, with a lot of slapstick comedy. Thing about slapstick is that it's very visual and physical so there needs to be sufficiently good animation for it to work and Toradora has consistently great animation.
Strongest aspect of the series is the character development. No main character in the beginning of the series remains the same at the end. This is apparent obviously for Taiga, since she happens to be a Tsundere, and they are pretty easy to develop, but also in the fifth main character of the series, Ami Kawashimi. And also the interactions between people doesn't seem forced and awkward, which is something I find to be common in a lot of light novel adaptations(like Sword Art Online and Violet Evergarden) and they talk like actual people.
The series is not without its faults though. Obviously the main thing being Taiga being a Tsundere, she constantly beats up everyone, especially Ryuuji, and it also doesn't help that he's a nice guy. Taiga is probably the make or break point of the series, if you like her you can watch it, otherwise you'll hate it. And towards the second half it sort of becomes a bit of a soap opera with everyone not talking to one another and being depressed. And there's too much of a love circle going on so a bit of a communication could have resolved things. They also could have taken Minori's character in a different way, it's almost as if she's constantly throwing away her happiness to make Taiga happy. And the ending is a big problem, it's not a cliffhanger ending, it's an actual ending that resolves everything. It's just that the steps the characters take didn't make much sense to me, and the resolution was also a bit rushed, in contrast with the slower pace at which every thing else happens.
Overall, this is a pretty good gateway into the romance genre, given that it's the most popular rom-com anime, with great animation, good characters and pretty good pacing, but the characters and the story can be a bit cliched so it's all about whether you like them initially or not.
Despite being a nice guy, Ryuuji Takasu's eyes make him look like an intimidating delinquent. Class rearrangements on his second high school year put him together with his best friend, Yusaku Kitamura, and his hidden crush, Minori Kushieda. Along with these two comes Kushieda's best friend, Taiga Aisaka. Her appearance contrasts with her violent personality. Secretly in love with Kitamura, Taiga agrees to help Ryuji with his love interest as long as he helps her get closer to hers.
I've been wanting to watch Toradora for a long time, probably since 2014. It's easily the most popular romance anime out there, and while romance isn't exactly my genre of preference, I do give the benefit of the doubt to any and every anime out there. It dropped on Netflix recently, and I didn't have anything else to watch, so I just started it. What makes Toradora so good is not the story, which is plain, or the characters, who can be cliched, it's the execution of the story, and the break-neck speed it goes with respect to its pacing, at least compared to other Rom-Coms. Throughout the series, it's pretty apparent that while the pacing itself is fast, the romance between each character slowly develops so we are not just hit out of the blue about a character developing feelings about someone, it becomes obvious who has a thing for whom as more and more episodes pass, which is one of the series' great strengths.
One thing that still holds up with respect to this anime is the animation. It's animated really, really well, and can be compared to the better animated entries in recent times. Not a lot of sakuga, I mean this isn't a Bones show, nor is it needed cuz it's a Rom-Com after all, but there's a ton of movement with the characters. You'll never notice any still frames, the characters are always in motion. The background art can be a bit plain and dull, but I didn't really care about that, because of the great character animation. The sound is nice, but not exactly memorable. But I love the first OP and ED. They were sung by the voice actors of the characters themselves, and it's really really memorable. Can't say the same about the second OP and ED because I didn't get a chance to listen to them as much. The series can also be pretty funny, with a lot of slapstick comedy. Thing about slapstick is that it's very visual and physical so there needs to be sufficiently good animation for it to work and Toradora has consistently great animation.
Strongest aspect of the series is the character development. No main character in the beginning of the series remains the same at the end. This is apparent obviously for Taiga, since she happens to be a Tsundere, and they are pretty easy to develop, but also in the fifth main character of the series, Ami Kawashimi. And also the interactions between people doesn't seem forced and awkward, which is something I find to be common in a lot of light novel adaptations(like Sword Art Online and Violet Evergarden) and they talk like actual people.
The series is not without its faults though. Obviously the main thing being Taiga being a Tsundere, she constantly beats up everyone, especially Ryuuji, and it also doesn't help that he's a nice guy. Taiga is probably the make or break point of the series, if you like her you can watch it, otherwise you'll hate it. And towards the second half it sort of becomes a bit of a soap opera with everyone not talking to one another and being depressed. And there's too much of a love circle going on so a bit of a communication could have resolved things. They also could have taken Minori's character in a different way, it's almost as if she's constantly throwing away her happiness to make Taiga happy. And the ending is a big problem, it's not a cliffhanger ending, it's an actual ending that resolves everything. It's just that the steps the characters take didn't make much sense to me, and the resolution was also a bit rushed, in contrast with the slower pace at which every thing else happens.
Overall, this is a pretty good gateway into the romance genre, given that it's the most popular rom-com anime, with great animation, good characters and pretty good pacing, but the characters and the story can be a bit cliched so it's all about whether you like them initially or not.
