Toradora!: Bentou no Gokui

-May contain spoilers-

Ahhhhh, Toradora! One of the animes that really made an impact on me, and after two years they released an OVA! You may be expecting some after story where Taiga could be pregnant (kinda hard for me to imagine though XD), she and Ryuuji are living in an apartment together or maybe even have kids! But much disappointment to a lot of people, it ain't. It's just another story of their everyday lives which could fit in perfectly if they placed this episode in the series. Some people could've gotten angry even. But I believe that this is a smart decision, to release ... a normal story than an after story one. There is that risk of instead of loving Toradora! more, the OVA could've shown an ending that we would not want because I believe the ending in the anime is already perfect as it is. So they released an OVA on a normal school story of their lives but still very enjoyable nonetheless.

Story: 9
So the story is about Ryuuji feeling at loss because Yuusaku's grandmother is beating him when it comes to making ben-tos. And so he tries to make better and better ben-tos but forgetting on why do you make ben-tos in the first place and who you make for it.

The story is fairly simple but still funny and comical.

Art: 8~
I don't really see and improvement in the art but still a relief to see the same old Toradora! style. Oh and I gotta mention the Taiga moe scenes are just...... HNGGGGGGGGGGGG

Sound: 9~
Ahhhhh, I had goosebumps when I heard the OP and ED, brings back so much memories ^^ I was not sure but I think the ED had some added content.

Character: 7~
For some reason some characters didn't feel the way they're suppose to feel in the manga and anime. It really wasn't that noticeable but they still had a very similar feel and it was still fun and enjoyable to watch.

Enjoyment: 10~
I'm pretty sure whatever kind of story they show us here, I'm still going to enjoy it because of the feeling of nostalgia of seeing the characters once more in their comic acts. And it was also fun seeing Ryuuji and Taiga once more developing romance and Minori hiding her true feelings at a certain part :3

Overall: 9~
It was fun watching it is all I could say ^^ and it is obviously worth watching, especially to die-hard Toradora! fans :)

*My first review btw*

I had just finished Toradora! When I did some research and learned that special had just come out only two months prior. Excited, and since the original anime was so darn good, I quickly watched it, thinking it was going to be, at the very least, AWESOME. However, it turned out to be much more disappointing than I originally had anticipated. In fact, it made me almost cry - not with tears of sympathy or sadness or humor, but just plain BORING.

Story: 7/10

Presumedly taking place a couple weeks after Toradora! ended, it started off logically but fell flat on its face in the first ... 5 minutes. Not that I didn't enjoy it, but the fact that I knew this was going to be "one of those specials." Moe-blob, circular plot sort of thing, where the storyline isn't advanced and everyone remains static. Poo. I was really expecting some sort of plot twist or SOMETHING to keep me glued to the screen, but it just wasn't good storytelling. I think they went sort of over the top with comedy as well; the producers seemed to focus mainly on the natural humor and personalities of the characters to create simply a side episode. This was accomplished - halfway. I laughed, oh yes I laughed, but the slap-stick humor really confused me: was this the Toradora! that I had loved only one episode ago?

The background is simple: a couple days (maybe a couple weeks) after Toradora! ended, Ryujji Takasu and Tenori Taiga are back again with Kitamaru, Ami, Minorin, and the rest of class 2-C. The whole episode focuses on one thing (the title of the episode): lunch. Bento boxes, to be precise. The lesson at the end made sense, but this was pretty much lame. Compared to the rugged sort of interactions the characters had in the original anime, this specials really let me down in terms of things like a deeper meaning, or worse: no storyline.

Art: 9/10

I'll stand my ground on the art; like I said with the original Toradora!, the wonderful facial expressions are back! I love their realistic portrayal of anger or sorrow and especially embarrassment. The art was what made this so good in the first place: Takasu's scary face along with Taiga's small stature really made such a great juxtaposition, and continued while viewing this episode. The environment was crisp and clean, the colors bright and cheerful, never skipping a beat on the animation. So yes, the art deserved this great score.

Sound: 8/10

I rated the sound decently high because I always loved the OP and ED; both are on my Ipod and have at least 10 plays already. Great songs; but, again, what irked me a little was the fact that there was almost no background music. I love, even a little, background sound to let the story flow better and to sort of pave the way for the next scene. Again, like the anime, it lacked background sound; but no matter, because what made up for it was, again, the voice acting. I love me some good actors; especially when they make the characters sound so real. You could tell their feelings just by listening to the tone of the voice; no small feat. If you don't believe me, try saying something happy followed by something depressingly sad; can't do it with emotion, can you? Exactly.

Character: 7/10

Why so low of a character score? BECAUSE THERE WAS NO DEVELOPMENT. Static characters always incite my deepest anger; what makes a story good are the CHARACTERS. You can have the CRAPPIEST animation ever with the worse music in the history of nails-on-chalkboard, but if the characters are half-decent, so is the overall show! The only reason we know the characters is from the original anime; if this was a whole OVA or something on its own, I'd give it a 4. There's no development, no internal conflict, just silly moe-blob the entire time. Takasu stays almost exactly the same (though they do show a personality quirk of his the entire time). Taiga acts a little less tsundere, though not by much. Ami hardly appears, Minorin is there for very little time, and Kitamaru says barely anything. Then again, this is simply a "special" and I shouldn't berate it so hard, especially since this isn't part of the main series; however, I was more than disappointed with the work they put into this...

Overall, I WAS entertained; though I may have said some harsh insults, overall it wasn't that bad. It just needs some polish (and a whole plot-rewrite) to be better. The only reason I didn't give this below a 6 was because I knew the background from the original series; if it wasn't for that, like I said, I wouldn't even be writing this review. I loved the comedy; the producers worked so hard on it, I thought I would at least acknowledge it. Wonderful laughs all around. However, I was also disappointed, so don't expect too much. Whatever; a good bento is a good bento.

Review in brief: While this special does have something to offer to fans of the series it also partially disregards what made the main show so enjoyable in the first place. If you weren't a fan of Toradora! to begin with this probably isn't worth watching.

Review in full: Toradora!: Bentou no Gokui is a zany one-off episode that focuses on Ryuuji early in the series. It shows a deterministic side of him that doesn't come up too often in the main series and gives the viewer a better idea of who he is and what drives him. However the plot feels a tad forced in ... that Ryuuji would have to be triggered pretty hard to push the episode's main dilemma like he does if we're going by what the main show told us. Within the main show he typically doesn't become competitive for its own sake, but here that's about all that can be drawn from the situation.

The way the main joke repeats itself doesn't make it as funny as the comedy in the main show either. In fact I can't recall any episode in the main show that recycled a joke as its main premise throughout its duration. It also doesn't help that most of Toradora! relied on and was seemingly built for story arcs that lasted 2-3 episodes. Perhaps this story could have been better if it had more room to develop. While the many characters present are generally themselves and the conclusion to the episode is nice, the episode as a whole just feels off-kilter.

Lastly, Bentou no Gokui's general production quality is simply good enough for what it sets out to do. The visual style is no different than Toradora! ever was, but there aren't any moments where particularly interesting camera angles or special animation changes are used like they were in the main show. At least the sakura scene was nice. Meanwhile the voice acting is just as lively & expressive as ever, but the episode sounds somewhat empty as far as music & SFX are concerned. Of course both are entirely reused from the main show, it's just applied more sparsely than before, which is not to Bentou no Gokui's benefit.

Verdict: It's a good thing they decided to skip out on this story in the main series as doesn't fit very well with the rest of it and would have thrown off the show