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That dreary boredom that comes between good and original shows can only be broken be finding hidden treasures from seasons past. Gone are the carefree days when I could spot a winner just from the title art or even the synopsis. I have to actually read reviews now. Little did I expect that a subtle review would point my interest to a show that I had already overlooked several times.

Toradora! starts out like any of the other crappy billion slice-of-life high school love stories involving an over the top tsundere and a clueless male lead. There's a subtle twist at the beginning in that the ... two main characters are actually helping one another to pursue outside love interests.

Of course you don't have to be psychically talented to figure out how things end up, but what may surprise you in this case is that the writers here went seven levels beyond 'nailing it' in terms of the story and the execution of the character arcs. This is the kind of show that makes me love Anime (and hate American television).

The characters that seem one-dimensionally shallow at the beginning of the show end up begin developed to the point of exposing hidden depths that reflect those true, painful and beautiful truths about human beings that you simply cannot find in western media. The significant characters in the show start out looking like silly (cartoonish?) parodies of a human beings but by the end of the series they've each been been exposed as a walking train-wreck of broken relationships and shattered emotions. As they struggle to put the pieces back together the beauty of life and the true nature of love shines out from the cracks.

If you can appreciate a love story or even any story with depth then Toradora! is a sleeping gem that will most certainly be worth your time. Give it a chance and watch a few episodes before you make your decision. It does drag on a little in places, but the story is very comfortable and there's always several things to keep watching for. If you can make it to the end without a soft smile and a twinge in your heart then you're either a robot or else you just watched a different show.