I had plans for watching toradora anime from… probably 5 years ago And I’m glad that I didn’t watch it at that time, because I should confess that my taste sucked at that time, so I probably wouldn’t have understand this show Usually in most stories handling a love triangle is very hard, not only it can hurt the character development if used poorly but it also can become frustrating and annoying because the author might try to make things a little …. “too spicy” (god knows how many of us hate those garbage harem tropes that are poorly used in many anime and get in the way of everything by the excuse of “love triangle” and “conflicting relationships”) and in this way completely destroy the balance between the love triangle, the plot and character development, and I think Toradora has successfully avoided these problems, and arguably even perfectly avoided the love triangle problems (at least near perfectly imo) Although technically in toradora we have some kind of a “love cube” (not sure it’s even a thing or not) but it’s nicely executed anyway
- This review has two parts, the first part doesn’t contain spoilers and the complementary parts that are tagged in spoilers are there for the people who have finished the show and want to know the things in an analytical detailed fashion about the criticisms and praises in the review
- I’m not a native English speaker so if my is bad I can just apologize for it
# [Story]
The story revolves around takasu ryuuji a high school student who has some kind of “Yakusa type” face with scary eyes (inherited this kind of face from his daddy) which makes people mistakenly believe that he is some kind of delinquent and bully (even though he is a nice and kind guy), and currently there are only Kushieda minori and kitamura yusaku who are not afraid of him, and our protagonist takasu has a crush on this energetic highly spirited kushieda which is the friend of a tiny short girl named Aisaka taiga who has a crush on kitamura (the friend of takasu) And for some kind of….“Event” Spoiler, click to view(takasu mistakenly receives the love letter that was supposed to be in kitamura’s bag, and taiga attacks his home at night to “silence him” so that no one else gets to know about her crush on kitamura) , takasu and taiga meet each other and find out about each other’s feelings for the other person’s friend; therefore they plan to help each other for confessing to their lovers and start dating them, and from this point onwards many things happen
>Crying is a nosebleed of the heart
# [Characters]
Like most of school/romance/slice of life anime the real selling point of the show is its characters and the main cast are really great, The show has great personality variety from minori’s energetic behavior,Spoiler, click to view to ami’s arrogance and selfishness, to takasu’s supportive nature and to taiga’s shyness and aggressiveness, I mean everyone has great personality what’s the problem?
# Oh, I forgot kitamura existed…… Kitamura yusaku isn’t a bad character but I think he’s a lost potential, unlike other characters in the main cast whose character arcs instantly starts from their first appearance kitamura’s arc is somekind of a separate and self contained arc that takes a portion of the story and then ends before the show’s conclusion and this mainly raises two problems, first is that it’s not in tone with the flow of the show, the other four characters get screentime to shine in the process of the story, from minori’s part time jobs to ami’s “adult” behavior in school, but kitamura until the start of his arc is just the vice president in school who taiga has a crush on him and he’s a bit of a pervert comic relief, he has his moments because just like I said he isn’t a bad character but he is badly overshadowed by other character’s presence because they have more screen time to shine and their character arcs starts from their first appearance and ends with the show itself. Spoiler, click to viewYusaku’s dim presence in the show before his own arc about the president is mostly devoid of foreshadows for his later growth, in ami’s case we have her talk about takasu and taiga’s relationship far before it even gets obvious to themselves foreshadowing the events that are to come(after her appearance we instantly get the stalker part), for minori we have her trembling scene in the shed and her part time jobs which instantly click when you find out that she was working so hard because of…. Well many reasons (from not wanting to be depended on others to achieving her goals which needs money) And for taiga and takasu I don’t think I need to mention any specific scene or thing they are the main focus of the story, but for kitamura the foreshadows about him being in love with the president start from 1 episode before his arc starts, it’s suddenly revealed that he had a crush on student Council president (arguably that’s the reason he played like a total idiot when taiga confessed to him) a side character who until now we only saw two times… not a very convenient way for starting an arc which you could easily set things up for from the first episodes imo… And after his arc ends there is no information about kitamura and student council president’s love life, because she’s just overseas, and his character arc ends, not having a clear conclusion may be a bit too subjective to criticize in an analytical level (I personally didn’t like the way their arc ended, the student council president suddenly becomes a key character in a main character’s character arc and after that she just vanished like she even didn’t exist) but it was still weird and annoying, not having clear goals and points in that arc makes me think the writer placed that arc there so kitamura can have a character arc for himself just like the other characters in the main cast
The side characters are not bad but it’s not like saying they couldn’t be done better (takasu’s mom, taiga’s mom and dad could be better imo), their screen-time is short and in a high portion of their screen-time they only have comic relief and comedy roles not some kind of development/progression type of role (where they function as something more than a typical background character that is only there for the sake of being there), they are far better than many romance anime background characters because the subtlety in showing their personal lives (as small as it is) makes them actual people if not necessarily people who the viewer actually understands and loves (I especially liked the subtle details about high-school background characters like kihara and tube-chi and that other glasses-kun with brown hair) But there is something that I want to mention: is it only me or everyone thinks yuri-sensei is annoying? She’s such an absurd character (always moaning how she doesn’t have a boyfriend that it becomes just who she is, it becomes her whole identity, just a teacher with boyfriend obsession/complex thing) that I personally think the comedy parts about her were too exaggerated that the comedy parts become her only identity, and as a result any time she tries to be useful in something other than being a comic relief it doesn’t match with the image the viewer has from her, because suddenly making a very thickheaded teacher say something serious in a very dramatic situation (because it’s devoid of balance between her character traits) it makes the scene absurd and it doesn’t make the scene impactful or resonating at all
Spoiler, click to viewI’m not personally a fan of the way that the author handled taiga’s father arc, the only reasonable foreshadowing we get for taiga’s father being a jerk is minori’s reactions because she is the only person in that situation who seems both knowledgeable and serious enough at the same time, taiga’s reaction when she first meets her dad might be interpreted in the way of taiga being too harsh on his father because his father says he wants to “supposedly” make things right, takasu’s actions who never has seen his father are reasonable because it’s natural for him to want his friend (getting to account his kind and supportive nature) experiences the love of her father, something he himself didn’t and will never be able to experience, the beginning of this arc is promising and actually I liked it until this part a lot (maybe because I also have severe parental/familial issues) but from that part onward I think there was a bit of lost potential (keep in mind it’s not bad, I loved the race scene and taiga coming to terms with her father leaving her again) As I said the only serious foreshadowing for taiga’s dad being a jerk is minori’s reaction, yasuku’s(takasu’s mom) reaction to taiga’s father’s sudden appearance doesn’t work because most of her reasoning behind being suspicious of taiga’s dad is just selfish illogical reasons like “I don’t want taiga to go”, which is a shame in my opinion, rather than portraying yasuku as a knowledgeable experienced person (take into account she was dumped by takasu’s father and has somewhat of a similar experience) she is just babbling selfish things, which cheapens both the impact of the foreshadowing and her overall character’s impact/presence and usefulness because she doesn’t even get that much screen time and the main screen-time/characterization she gets is in the end of the series (takasu’s father cheating on her with another woman and leaving with another woman being revealed), she’s not a bad character but I think she could have been used better because her presence in the scenes she is in is also dim(except some really well done parts like her role in the final episodes with overworking and that stuff onward, I liked that part a lot) It seems the author didn’t actually cared that much about taiga’s familial problems because it’s just revealed with one dialogue that her father leaved because he got bankrupt and her mother just comes in the show for two minutes and then everything related to taiga’s familial problems is solved off-screen, the reason why taiga’s dad suddenly just comes to “supposedly” make things right is not even revealed because “he’s just an asshole he’s selfish and doesn’t care about his daughter’s feelings, treats her like and object bluh bluh bluh…”, so why he would even give a shit about acting like he wants to make things right (twice) and then dump taiga? Does he enjoy it? What’s the case with this dude, why the fuck he just didn’t vanish sooner? I mean I can’t see why he would want to “supposedly” make things right (twice) and then dump her daughter (twice) wasting his own time in the process when the only thing he achieves with doing this is guaranteeing another kick into his balls from his daughter for the next time he sees her (which makes it clear that if he wants his balls to not be exploded by taiga he should never see her again), it’s not saying that the show necessarily needed to explore these things in depth but a bit more subtlety and care would have enhanced the experience in my opinion, the show is still great and fantastic on the things it’s good at though
>Adoration never leads to a balanced relationship
# [The love triangle/cube thing]
But now we’re going to the main part I think Toradora did great, the love cube There is a problem in many works of fiction (anime specially) that is very relevant which I personally call “The over-exaggeration and overwhelming of traits” It’s a situation when a particular/a few particular traits in a character are so exaggerated that it completely overshadows the character’s other traits and overwhelms them, making “who they are” a very shallow and problematic thing, in many love triangles the obsession the characters have with the girl/guy they love becomes so out of control that it becomes just who they are, just obsession and one sided dependence (keep in mind it’s different from creating a character who is maddened with love but is a well done character because the writer knows what he is doing with making the madness for love the root of traits and creating connected traits to that in the process, good examples of this type of usage of madness withsomethig(love, excitement and joy, etc…) is kinzo ushiromiya(madness by love and dependence) from Umineko: when they cry visual novel or Beatrice (obsession with excitement and hate of boredom) from Umineko) And it’s a problem that toradora completely (imo) avoids Rather than the characters being just some kind of stupid obsessed person with their crush they maintain the balance between their own established personalities and their feelings, making it a very well done situation in many ways with avoiding the cons of love triangles and using it’s pros. The character’s personalities are not overwhelmed by stupid exaggeration of their love making their love feel natural and real, without sacrificing their development, the show doesn’t try to throw bullshit cheap dramatic effect into the viewer’s face in the love triangle part and when you find tension/crying/depression/ disappointment/heavy atmosphere etc… in the show for this matter it hits very deep if you really care about the characters because the author knows how to make good and realistic yet interesting and well written character relationships, I think toradora is almost perfect in its most brilliant aspect which I think is it’s love triangle/cube and the relationship between the people who love each other, after watching the anime I kinda got why many people want a second season even though the anime is finished in the same part that the light novel did (it’s just what I have heard though, I haven’t read the LN myself, correct me if I’m mistaken please)
Spoiler, click to viewAmi loves takasu because he is the only person who found out about her facade and real self (she being a very selfish arrogant person) and wasn’t completely disappointed because of her expectations from her (she’s a very popular model, many people love her fake personality, when it’s revealed, no one likes her anymore), takasu even encouraged her to be her true self (probably the reason she openly teases takasu, because it’s who she is, and knows that takasu accepts her, showing a side of herself very few people even know much less accept), that’s why she doesn’t force herself to takasu and wants him to do what he wants, be with the person he loves, she learned from takasu to be honest with herself, so she can’t expect takasu to don’t be honest with himself, the reason why she doesn’t try too hard for obtaining takasu’s love (she’s the most imperceptible in her love with takasu compared to the other girls who openly confessed their love, but she did it more subtle in a way that a thickheaded person like takasu might not have even understood) because she’s also (arguably though, minori might have found out quite soon too) the first person who understands taiga and takasu’s situation (that they love each other), and therefore she doesn’t force herself to takasu despite visibly supporting and caring for him And what I just wrote was just the gist of how great the love cube’s chemistry is and only for one of the characters Minori loves takasu (from when exactly? We don’t quite know) but even from the start she encourages takasu to protect taiga (considering that she cares about her friend so much….. right?) to be with taiga and make her happy, but she herself also loves takasu but that doesn’t mean she is going to stop working for her own dream (the softball dream, the reason she has so many part time jobs), the vacation arc, the Christmas arc and taiga’s dad arc etc… make her personality completely visible for the viewer and the author doesn’t throw her personality out the window (unlike many romance/love triangle/ harem stories) for the sake of using her and creating cheap dramatic scenes (the crying waifu for the sake of it), she wants taiga the person who wasn’t loved in her whole life (familial problems) to finally experience love and that’s why when she sees taiga in the Christmas arc crying, she can’t accept to be the only happy person when her best friend (a person she arguably loves as much as takasu, platonic or romantic? Interpret that in any way you want) is crying for takasu’s absence. She is kind and energetic but the fact that she wants to obtain her own dreams with her own hands (not being dependent on others for these matters) and wants taiga to be happy with takasu (as she said herself, taiga is the person who needs takasu the most, when taiga was broken from her parental issues minori couldn’t save her, but takasu came and helped taiga to come to terms with her life) And that’s why she wants taiga to be with takasu, considering that takasu could even do what she (taiga’s best friend) couldn’t do for her best friend Taiga and takasu’s character arcs are relatively more obvious to the viewer (because they are the hero and the heroine, always in front of the stage) so I don’t think I need to praise their brilliance too, because I’m lazy, or maybe because my favorite characters in the show were A-min and Minorin , or maybe both…
>How can I know what I want to do later when I don’t even know what I want to do right now?
# [Art and animation]
The art style is pretty good too; the animation can be a bit annoying in some parts (mainly just one particular fight scene with wooden swords in the end of kitamura’s arc) but it’s not something surprisingly bad like the weird downgrading quality of shinsekai yori’s animation here and there, it just sometimes becomes a bit strange in scenes that have heavy movements
I liked the humor in this show, Spoiler, click to view(from minori’s radar for finding cute girls to taiga putting her finger in ami’s “uncensored” nose) it doesn’t go out of its way to shit on the show’s serious parts but successfully makes an interesting contrast between the show’s tones, some episodes are also mostly comedy focused (taiga’s pull scene to some extent) but the show even uses the humor in those episodes in the benefit of the characters, overall I think the comedy is pretty good in this show
# [Enjoyment/Conclusion]
Ladies and gentleman, do you care about character development in a romance anime? Do you like subtle thematic details in a show about different subject matters? Do you like well written character relationships? Do you like good character writing? Then you will 95 percent enjoy this show, I want to be honest and admit that I am a bit harsh on this show for a few reasons (a bit of a lost potential in the taiga’s father arc and some side character’s usage that I talked about in the spoiler parts) but when the show shines it shines the brightest and when it’s a bit turbid it’s not the most cloudy one by any means, it’s pros outweigh the cons in my opinion and I like this show a lot
>Maximum score with my taste: 8.4 Maximum score without my taste: 8.8 Minimum score: 8.4
