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I’m not going to hide the fact that I’m a big fan of romance shows. In fact, Toradora is the first official anime that got me into watching anime and at the time, I believed that this show was a special romantic comedy that I would always cherish and remember.

A few years later, I have watched a lot more anime and I can still say that Toradora is one of my personal favorites. Why? It’s because Toradora does things the right way.

Keep in mind that after about 2 years of watching anime, I say it’s about time that I write a review and ... what better way to start my 1st review than with the anime that started it all for me: Toradora.

[Story]
The premise of Toradora is quite simple, but unique. The main protagonists, Ryuuji and Taiga, both have crushes on each other’s respective friend, Yuusaku and Minori. The story basically follows Ryuuji and Taiga as they agree to help each other win the heart of their respective crushes: Ryuuji with Minori and Taiga with Yuusaku. To be honest, I thought the story was fairly predictable, but it’s still unique because of how they executed it. Both Ryuuji and Taiga start off by heavily disliking each other and are only willing to work with one another to gain the ones that they’re in love with. Definitely not your standard rom-com. The anime does a great job in making it’s concept unique because it falls away from your standard romance clichés and the way how they portrayed Ryuuji and Taiga growing closer with one another was something I never fully expected at first. In fact, the way they decided to develop Ryuuji and Taiga’s relationship was unpredictable in of itself and I really appreciated that. The characters definitely deserve most of the credit for the actual unpredictability of the story and for its overall uniqueness from other rom-com. The story of Toradora also breaks cliches from other romance anime and leaves you with a satisfying ending.

[Characters]
This is definitely the category that Toradora truly excels at. One of the things that ticks me off in any romance anime is how some characters would sometimes “force” drama for the sake of drama. Some of the decisions made by these characters to create drama can be unnecessary and annoying at times. For example, a main character sees his/her love interest talking to someone else and this results in a misunderstanding. But Toradora’s cast avoids these clichés and the interactions that they have with each other feel genuine and real. There are 5 main characters that appear: Ryuuji, Taiga, Minori, Yuusaku, and Ami. All of them go through some impressive development and their bond with each other is only strengthened by the well-executed interactions. Yes, there is still drama in Toradora, but the drama is convincing because the characters actually have a reason and a motive for the actions that they choose throughout the anime. I will have to say that if you’re the type of person who hates tsunderes, then Toradora is an anime that you should probably stay away from because they didn’t call Taiga the "Queen of Tsunderes" for nothing. Taiga starts off pretty much the very embodiment of what a tsundere is, but here’s another major plus point for Toradora: Taiga can also be considered somewhat of a deconstruction of a stereotypical tsundere and the fact that she develops heavily throughout the series, turns her into a great character by the end if you are willing to give her a chance. I almost forgot to mention that Toradora breaks the romance anime cliche of having relationships remain unresolved or left open-ended. Trust me, Toradora actually resolves the relationships of its characters.

[Art/Animation]
Toradora was produced in 2008 by studio J.C. Staff and while I can say that the animation is pretty good for the most part, the art isn’t the best part about this show. Don't get me wrong, I think the art in Toradora is good, but I’m going to be completely honest here; Toradora does not have the greatest art ever. In fact, I’ve seen better art in other anime of the same genre. Unlike most rom-coms that I have watched, Toradora’s art is mainly above average and at first, I was even unsure about watching this show because the character designs weren’t exactly my type. But don’t let this little shortcoming prevent you from watching this fantastic rom-com. It’s important not to judge a show by its cover. Make no mistake however, Toradora's animation should be praised for its consistency. I have to say that the animation in this show does a very good job of being consistent from start to finish and I don't think I can recall an episode where I had to complain about the animation being poor or something. My compliments to J.C. Staff for the animation.

[Sound]
Toradora’s music was composed by Yukari Hashimoto, who composed music for other shows like Golden Time. Besides a few piano tracks that I really enjoy listening to, the soundtrack for the most part is nothing amazing to write home about. Honestly though, I don’t need Toradora’s soundtrack to be godlike or anything cause I watched this show for the story and characters and I got what I wanted. If I wanted to watch an anime with amazing soundtracks, I would watch anime having composers like Yuki Kajiura, Yoko Kanno, Joe Hisaishi, Kenji Kawai or something. One track that stands out to me in Toradora is “Lost My Pieces”. It’s a very nice piece that does a great job in portraying the emotions that’s going on in that specific scene and definitely a track that I could listen to on its own. Lastly, I wasn’t the biggest fan of the opening and ending themes, so yeah. Although I will have to admit that Toradora's first OP is pretty catchy in its own way.

[Enjoyment]
I truly enjoyed watching Toradora and the characters play a huge role in my enjoyment. I think I was able to enjoy Toradora to its fullest because no one completely steals the show here. Instead the 5 main characters I mentioned earlier develop great chemistry with one another that watching them interact with one another is already enough to get me excited. The fact that I’m constantly trying to figure out how each relationship is going to be developed, definitely helped in my enjoyment.

[Overall]
Toradora is a unique and a fantastic rom-com. Honestly, I consider this show to be one of the greatest rom-coms that I’ve ever watched and 2 years later, I’m still saying that. Sure, Toradora is not perfect and in fact has its share of problems though I refuse to mention these issues due to spoilers. Would I recommend watching Toradora? Definitely yes. If you’re a person that wants a unique rom-com with fantastic characters and assuming you can be patient with tsunderes, then Toradora is right up your alley. Thank you for reading my 1st review and remember that this is just my opinion and my opinion alone. If you think my review is helpful in convincing you to watch Toradora then that makes me really happy and if it doesn’t, I’m already happy knowing that you at least decided to read my review in the first place.