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Hey, sorry to upset you. In all honesty I would consider myself a fan as well, just a weird one who didn't find the ending good. Also I'm sorry if something I said didn't make sense, I was trying to hold back from ranting the entire time. XD


Anywho, sorry my review was specifically vague, I wanted to avoid spoilers.


But here I'm sure we both are good and won't be spoiled, so let's get right down to it. *cracks knuckles*


First off, if you did read the review fully, my key problem is the ending eps, but I know that the key to you proving me wrong is in the earlier episodes, so let's start there.


I will admit there are one or two points where one can define "chemistry" between the two. Initially, I would have thought it so as well, but truly reviewing the characters and what we know of Taiga's past proves that Taiga is emotionally immature due to poor family relations and therefore is, to put it lightly, "clingy." This is seen with Minori as well, if not more so. If we then take the key points of the earlier episodes where the chemistry can be seen(such as the pool and the couch at the beach house), we can see those points as a part of an extreme lack of intimacy in her life and reaction to that lack. Ryuuji is a nice guy and helps her out without really asking much in return, even when her treatment of him is less than ideal, to put it lightly.


And I do agree with your take on chemistry's import, it is why I reviewed the story so negatively.


However, the chemical points are not what I'd like to talk about. Let's get to the real reason why I can't stand the ending. To start, the whole Yuusaku breakdown was tacky and really only a means to prove to the audience that regardless of what happens, he and Taiga will not happen. That is the beginning of this show's downfall.


Continue on to the Christmas festival episode, and we see Taiga's breakdown when she realizes that she might lose Ryuuji. Have you ever thought to yourself why that might be beyond her affections? The guy became one of the strongest pillars in her life, stabilizing a mad mess. The feelings of then losing said pillar would be amplified, and even if we were to say that Ryuuji and Taiga had remained friends if he and Minori went out, it would not have been the same. You see, like Minori, Taiga didn't want things to change, didn't want this quest to end. But not out of romantic love, but the dependent need for a parental and familial void that Ryuuji and his mother filled. This point can only really be disproven by means of understanding romantic love(which I will separate into two aspects, the passionate and the eternal, for later), which is founded upon emotional intimacy and physical desires, and whether it existed in Taiga, but as I stated earlier, all of it can be attributed to her lack of grounding and desire for a connection period.


Now then, to my final straw before I talk about the terrible ending. The episode where Ryuuji and Taiga have an argument with their respective mothers and run away, and then confess not only love(in Taiga's case), but the desire to elope is where I gave up. To begin with, the heat of the moment, like that. Where passions are wild and thoughts slow, is the worst time to decide any of that, let alone decide in yourself if that is truly what you want. Now, mind you, the emotions of these two were high before hand. Both were struggling with what exactly they were feeling, much of which was brought on by a prior stressful environment, aka the intervention in the prior episode. I'm not sure how old you are, and I won't assume anything, but I will say remember that these two are still in the teen years of their life. This is just when you are supposed to be getting your life together, this is also when your fears, hopes and dreams are confronted and must be faced. Now then, why both are important. First, continual heavy stress can and will deteriorate one's mental capacities and abilities to cope. Push them far enough, and they crack. Usually, when under that much stress, we return to where we find comfort and hold on for dear life. For Taiga that was for Ryuuji, especially considering how not much else of her support system was in any means effective at this point. These fever pitched emotions could have turned mild interest, some infatuation, etc, to exponential proportions. This is why elopement, teen pregnancies, and divorce rates are so high. Why would Toradora be different?


Now, before I move on to the ending. Let this sink in for a moment. If the confession and marriage proposal are all brought up in the heat of passion. What happens when the passion dies? You see, this is a key flaw in people's understanding of romantic love. As it has two forms, one finite and weak, the other strong and resilient. This returns me to passionate and the eternal. Passionate love is like anything, too hot a fire burns too quickly, and too hot a fire can go out if cooled too quickly. So if we can find that the love between Ryuuji and Taiga is then finite. What then happens after a year apart? Do they feel the same way? Are they even the same people as they were a year ago(remember, this is high school, a lot can happen in a year(case in point: pretty much all the episodes prior), who's to say they want the same things? Desire the same, hope the same? You see, what I'm getting at is that these two had the opportunity for passionate love, at best, but never once did they come to grasp the eternal love, which is to say what remains when passion is gone. This is the love one sees when it's not caught up in a tidal wive of passion. It's not the love of the newly wed, but of the ones who made it 30-40 years. It's chains are forged not by togetherness, but complete emotional intimacy, where one has decided, in a calm state of mind, to allow another person to see everything, to know everything, to love everything. This was not present before Taiga left(too much passion, and before that, not enough intimacy), so why would it be afterwards?


To say they could live on and be happy is not impossible, but is it not more likely this tale's final conclusion will be divorce or unhappy marriage? The two went in hot, the fire will die, and what's left might not be enough.


This is why I hate the ending.


But anyway, yes. I have checked out the VN, liked it a lot, despite the amnesia. And it is as you say, far from the greatest love story ever. XD


As for dubs...well, let's just say we will have to agree to disagre. I have been in theater almost all my life(it's been like 15 or so years), and so I hate listening to voices that I can't understand. A dub, even a bad one(unless it is ear splitting), is something I can feel in every aspect of the medium that is voice acting, it is therefore the more fulfilling, especially when done right. All Japanese voices just flow together for me and I can't hardly tell them apart unless I concentrate.


Hope that answers everything. Sorry if something doesn't make sense. I was rushing a bit as I wanted to answer you before I had to go study for a quiz tomorrow. And if I need to reiterate or better explain something, let me know! I like discussion and I think we'll both learn a lot from it.

Firstly. I'll say I've taken a break during the 4th season. I've got like 2 episodes left but I've recently been playing alot Hyperdimention Nepunita Re;birth1. So the 4th season review will take a little longer.

The difference being non non was never action or romance. So it's comedy just went with the flow. I wont say that there weren't some forced jokes, because there was. But ZnT has a bad habit of taking a good scene and ruining it by throwing either abusive or entirely unneeded jokes that are completely opposite to the scenes situation and it just kills the entire mood. Non Non is a slice of life. nothing too extraordinary is meant to happen in it. ZnT is anything but slice of life. it's genres allow for almost anything to happen but barely anything really does.

That's my main problem with ZnT. I can get and am fine with the tsundere part. But the abusive, blow him up 5 times for breathing every episode, part is just too overboard. They could have used that time into making more character development or making events in the story happen over 4-5 episodes instead of just a new situation every episode or 2.

I totally agree. Its entirely possible that I simply didnt put enough hours in to properly appreciate the series. Perhaps I will revisit the series in the future but I just don't see myself ever falling in love with the world presented. For example I hated sword art online in the beginning but still saw that the show had potential and kept watching. I ended up loving it. Perhaps the same is true for Clannad however if I only enjoyed watching the last few arcs, then did I enjoy the series as a whole? Even if I did I still wasted the time it took to endure the "boring" arcs. I guess its a question of how much time you are willing to risk for the potential of a greatly rewarding show.

If it interests you at all at this point in time, I have completed the second season and thrown my review on it up. I will continue on to seasons 3 and 4

When it comes to reviews of squeals, I do my best to include its previous season's knowledge in hand as most people who watch season 2+ of anything should have watch all prequel seasons anyway. This being said when I do write reviews for squeal seasons I always have my review on all it's previous season open too so I can refer back to it and jog my memory should I have missed something. So the review of the 4th season should more or less be the one that will cover the entire series.

I have full intention of watching all four seasons, dont get wrong on that. I plan on going through them one after the other. However the reason why I will be rating and reviewing each season separately is because as I found out from watching Pretty Cure and Pretty Cure: Max heart, anything over about 40 eps, I start loosing interest in it and I cannot recall much of it when it does come time to my reviews.

I'll most certainly have to find a way to get around this if I hope to go through shows with episodes that clear triple digits.

But you certainly are not the first to tell me to watch the rest of Zero, and you probably wont be the last either. However I had full intention from the start in watching all 4 seasons.

I admit I should have probably wrote the review after I calmed down a bit and yeah the reason I had higher expectations for it was because the last pure romance anime I watched was After Story so that's what probably affected my judgement on it, looking back now it actually does a half decent attempt at what happens to a persons psychological mind set given what happens even if the reaction in the end was just a bit extreme. I'd probably bump it's rating up to a 5 or 6 at the most though because I still don't like it.

And no I don't understand the way Japanese people behave because I've never actually talked to one because there's a language and cultural barrier between me and them (I hope that doesn't make me sound like a racist), and to be honest I've only ever played one VN and that was Fate/Stay Night so I might give it a go.

I guess I will have to check the After Story some day. I guess I'm not really into drama that much.

Well I don't consider myself a complete child, but you maybe right, maybe I do need to come back to it later. I'm not saying it is bad, it's just that I heard about it so many times with such praise, so I guess I expected a little too much.
In regards to Anohana, I personally never had such experience as in that show ( And I beg God I never will), but that show was really emotional and it's story overall was more realistic than some of the stories in Clannad.
Then again, it's a matter of taste and of course I haven't seen After Story.

Hmm I think i should, maybe i'll try Angel beats.